Please note: The church elevator is temporarily out of service. The Buildings & Grounds Committee are working with an elevator tech to address the problem. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope that if this poses a barrier for you that you'll join the service on Zoom.

Dear First U Friends,

During our drop-in hour at the picnic tables this past Wednesday the question, “How do we find hope in times like these?” arose. 

Oof, big question, right? 

THE question, right? 

When asked, the handful of us gathered nodded knowingly to its pertinence and then took turns responding, each of us offering an answer that aligned with those who spoke before us. Though we expressed it differently, our common answer was “being present,” and in particular, being present to joy, peace, creativity, and beauty when it arises in our lives: laughing and really enjoying laughing, hearing the birds and really listening to their song, sitting in the sun and sensing the light and the warmth on our bodies, breathing and appreciating the fresh air, acting with kindness and trusting that no act of goodness goes to waste. 

Though of course, when you get a bunch of UUs sitting at a picnic table discussing big topics like hope and despair, you know that conversation is going to cover some ground. Over our hour together discussion topics ranged from good and evil and progress and history, to technology and capitalism, Dante’s Inferno, public libraries, and the age-old divide between dog-people vs. cat-people. (If you haven’t made it to a Wednesday at the picnic tables, just know, it can be a happenin’ scene.) It was a conversation that certainly assuaged the feeling of hopelessness by way of its creativity, curiosity, laughter, and openness. All you had to be was present to it, to each person, to the possibility inherent in the moment at hand. 

I appreciated our drop-in hour this Wednesday for many reasons, but most of all because we all actually answered the question, “How do you find hope in times like these?” The question is so common a refrain these days, it’s pretty much become rhetorical - no longer a question that many of us actually try to answer, but rather a statement about the despair we feel in these times. 

And what happens when we actually answer it, though? What do we discover? 

My friends, how are you finding hope in times like these?

Yours in finding all kinds of things, 

Rev. Hillary 

Families are invited to come to a special coffee hour after church on Sunday, March 27th. Parents are welcome to enjoy coffee and chat while kids are invited to have a special snack and play games outside, weather permitting, or in the Sanctuary. We hope you'll join us for this RE-welcome back to our in person community!

It’s a busy home stretch in the State House. Now is the time to write to your legislators, regardless of their committee assignments, asking them to support the bills you most care about. For more details please go to MUUSAN.org or contact me, Nancy Read: nafread@gmail.com.

Sponsor: President Jackson of Aroostook Committee – HCIFS Partner: Maine Family Planning & Planned Parenthood Northern New England (PPNNE)

Please contact your legislators. This bill came out of committee with a divided report and will be challenged by Republicans. Click for legislator contact information.

Donations gratefully accepted until April 1 at the UUA’s crowdfunding platform, Faithify. The Hungarian Unitarian Church (in Romania) is opening its doors and hearts for those fleeing from Ukraine to provide women and families immediate aid, such as transportation from the border, emergency shelter, food, water, hygiene kits, infant supplies, clothing, pet care, and psychological support.

Last year 20 adults and 10 youth with 4 parents/facilitators went on two separate Black and Indigenous History walking tours of the Portland Peninsula with Seth Goldstein, History Professor at the Maine College of Art and principal of the Atlantic Black Box Project.

In May, we will offer one or more 1 ½ - 2 hour walking tours with Seth Goldstein.  You are invited to participate in an Indigenous and Black history walking tour led by Seth.

Please click here for more information, for praise of the walking tours, and for a questionnaire that will help schedule future tours.

On Wednesdays from 12:00 - 1:00 pm Rev. Hillary will be holding an outside drop-in space at our church picnic tables. All are welcome to come by and check-in. (Weather permitting.) Throughout the week, Rev. Hillary will be holding office hours for individual conversations. These conversations can be on Zoom, over the phone, or in-person. Please reach out to Rev. Hillary directly to schedule a conversation, firstuminister@gmail.com. Note that Rev. Hillary is not available to meet on Saturdays and Mondays.