November 9, 2022

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Sunday Worship Service
• Special Post-Election Gathering Friday, November 11
• Justice Sunday with Soup and Salad (this Sunday)
• Special Congregational Meeting, December 4: Please Register!
• NEW: Monthly Animal Bereavement Support Group
• An Invitation to Submit a Visualization of Peace Photo
• Images from New Member Sunday
• Pioneer in American Organ Music: Honoring Barbara Owen
• Volunteer & Donation Opportunities
• Joy of Giving
• Community Service of Newburyport Personal Care Drive
• Bakers and Volunteers Needed for Cookies For Peace
• What Is Service?
• Upcoming Events
• Guided Tour of Sleepy Hollow with Rev. John Gibbons
• Tuesday Short Story Group
• Friday Book Group
• Download November Worship and Church Events Calendars
• Community-Wide News & Events
• Amesbury Cultural Council Open Studio Weekend
• Weekly Wellness Programming
• Monday Night Meditation
• Tuesday Spiritual Practice
• Wednesday Guided Relaxation

Annual Ministry Theme: Peace

November Ministry Theme: Justice

“Never forget that justice is what love looks like in public.”

-Cornel West

Sunday, November 13, 2022

"Lessons for Future Ancestors"

10:30am in person and livestream on YouTube

Reverend Rebecca and guest speaker Matt Meyer will co-lead this special service, with Matt sharing his newest children’s book, Desmond Gets Free, and his exceptional drumming. What does it mean to be successful in this life? Let’s explore this together.

Attend on YouTube: http://bit.ly/FRSyoutube

This Month's Sunday Shared Collection

Essex County Habitat for Humanity brings people together to build affordable homes, strengthen families, and foster hope. Habitat families buy their homes after they provide between 240 and 360 “sweat equity hours” to build their own home and other families’ homes. Since 1985, 114 new homes have been built and 41 homes rehabbed. This includes a current project in Salisbury. Please give so that one day everyone will have a decent place to live.

To attend worship in person, you must be vaccinated. Those who are unvaccinated are welcome to attend services online. Masks are not required for in-person worship. Socially distant seating is available in designated areas of the sanctuary.

When: Sunday, November 13, from 12-1:30pm

Please join us for soup and salad at noon in the Lower Meetinghouse Main Room, followed by an open forum from 12:30-1:30pm, in the sanctuary and via Zoom, for discussion about the continued use of Parish Hall as a residence for the Mirzayee family through June 2024. We will also open the floor for ideas about how to address housing for the family on a longer-term basis.

To join the open forum at 12:30pm via Zoom, please click on the link below:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://zoom.us/j/95834091662?pwd=ekxiaFE2YTBLbHozckYzZm42QWRaQT09

Meeting ID: 958 3409 1662

Passcode: 172577

One tap mobile

+16469313860,,95834091662# US

+19292056099,,95834091662# US (New York)

If you have questions that you would like to submit prior to Justice Sunday, please email Tina Benik at tiben1989@gmail.com. This forum is in preparation for the Special Congregational Meeting scheduled for Sunday, December 4.

Immediately following Sunday worship on December 4, FRS will hold a special congregational meeting to ask that the congregation vote to extend the Mirzayee family’s use of Parish Hall as their home through June 30, 2024. 

Register for the meeting here: https://bit.ly/CongMeeting12-4-22

Join Us to Create Fellowship and Stewardship at FRS

We need your help to create new and fun ways to get together in fellowship, and possibly even raise funds in the process. The next event we are creating is "Cookies for Peace," a cookie walk fundraiser on Friday, December 9, 3–8pm in the Lower Meetinghouse Main Room during the first Newburyport Invitation Night. We are raising money for our beloved community and to support peace in Ukraine.

The Stewardship Committee meets every third Wednesday of the month, at 6:30pm, via Zoom. Join us and have some fun! Our next meeting will be on November 16.

Zoom meeting link: https://bit.ly/3Rvp2FK.

Any thoughts or questions, please contact Vern Ellis at vellis@ellisdesign.net.

Monthly Animal Bereavement Support Group Begins on Friday, December 2

When: First Friday of the month, Lower Meetinghouse Main Room, 6:30pm

If you have ever had to say farewell to a beloved animal companion, then you have known the heartache and grief that follows such a loss. Yet as a society, we don’t recognize, understand, or honor how heartbreaking that experience is, nor the impact it can have on someone’s emotional and physical well-being. Those who grieve often feel isolated, afraid to talk about their loss, and risk being embarrassed for caring so much about “just” an animal. There are many in our beloved community and beyond who have had this experience, and felt the need to carry their grief in silence – for far too long.

Rev. Rebecca, Nancy Kidd, and Renee Wolf Foster invite you to come together on Friday, December 2, at 6:30pm to share our stories, our photos, and our sorrows in a loving, listening group of kindred spirits. All are welcome.

Reverend Rebecca leads the congregation in the New Member Covenant.

Danny Harrington, special musical guest, on saxophone.

The congregation welcomes new members.

Barbara Owen served FRS as Director of Church Music for an astonishing 38 years, from 1963 until 2002; this dedicated period of service rivals many pastorates in FRS history! When Barbara arrived, the choir was still a new group at the church, as for most of its history church music was provided by a vocal quartet and the organ. She greatly expanded the choir and increased the popularity of singing for the Candlelight Service. Barbara was instrumental in acquiring Christmas carols from all over the world to sing at the annual service.

While serving at FRS, Barbara was also an organ builder with C.B. Fisk of Gloucester, was the librarian for the American Guild of Organists Library at Boston University and was (and still is) a trustee of the Methuen Memorial Music Hall. At the same time, Barbara wrote and published several important books for organists, including biographies, instrument studies, and a technical manual on organ registration. Her most recent book, concerning the organ-playing activities of classical composers in Boston, was published in 2021. After Barbara's retirement, she served several other churches in Essex County and was a reliable substitute organist until 2020.

Photo: child "shopping" for a holiday gift

The Joy of Giving



Get your donations ready! Once again, this year we will be collecting new/unused gifts so the children of Kelleher Gardens can holiday “shop” for the important adults in their lives. Do you have lotions, gloves, decorations, tools, hats, jewelry, kitchen items, etc. that you’ve been given and never used? Can you pick up one or two small items while out holiday shopping? Donations of gift bags and tissue paper are also needed. Donations can be left in the back of the Sanctuary (look out for the sign and gift packages). Questions? Email Nancy Crochiere at ncro27@comcast.net. 

Community Service of Newburyport Personal Care Drive

Our annual Community Service of Newburyport Personal Care Drive will be held Sunday, November 6 and November 13, sponsored by our Community Human Services Committee. You can support this project by bringing items the Sanctuary, and/or you can make a donation and we will do your shopping. A member of the committee will be collecting cash donations after church each Sunday. Personal care items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, toilet paper, paper towels, soap, shampoo, deodorant, feminine hygiene products, and diapers are gratefully appreciated. This agency counts on our donations in November to resupply their shelves for the winter months.



For further information, please contact Linda Buddenhagen, 978-463-0882.

Photo: Mount Kenya

What is Service?  

Can "service" be the engagement that moves us into a more aware and open life?  There are many opportunities for service, but those that take us out of our own bubble into another culture have the potential to provide that transformation of our world view. This is my experience with the many trips I have made to Kenya, visiting schools in many communities and meeting with local leaders. We are not there to solve their problems, but to become allies and resources for the community. 

It is everyone’s dream to visit Africa, with its broad plains, expansive horizons, and thundering herds of elephant and wildebeest. After some days there, deep connections are stirred up.

You may have thought that a trip to Africa was out of reach for you and your family. We hope to make this possible, comfortable, and rewarding for you. The trip length may depend on some of your own choices about safaris or trips to special places to visit. We ask you to join and bring your talents and interests for one week of service. You will get to know our youth leaders, local families, and the women. 

Consider joining us for an informational session on Friday, November 18th.  

To sign up, send an email to kenyatrip@smallsolutionsbigideas.org

Guided Tour of Sleepy Hollow with Rev. John Gibbons

When: Saturday, November 12 at 2:30pm, Concord, MA

Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord is one of the first “garden cemeteries” in America - not a graveyard to be feared but a place where the living and the dead may peaceably commune. This concept was advanced by Unitarians and Transcendentalists in the early 1800s. Buried here are Thoreaus, Hawthornes, Alcotts, Emersons, and two of the Peabody sisters, along with many other luminaries.

This will be a fun, fascinating, and entertaining afternoon with our personable tour guide, Rev. Gibbons, who invites us to share a libation at the nearby Colonial Inn after the one-hour tour.

Carpooling from Newburyport can be arranged. Please register by November 10 by clicking on the blue button below!

Questions? Contact Julie Parker Amery at julie.amery@frsuu.org.

Tuesday Short Story Group

When:1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month, LMH Main Room

The Short Story Group will meet next on Tuesday, November 16, noon-1pm. We will meet in person in the Lower Meetinghouse Main Room. Please note that masks are no longer required for indoor meetings, but are recommended.

We have the capability to do hybrid meetings, meaning people can join by Zoom as well as in person. IF you are interested in joining by Zoom, please let Tom Himmel know. (The former Zoom link is still available for our use.)

We are currently reading the anthology, The Art of the Story.

The Short Story Group focuses on reading and discussing anthologies. Contact Tom Himmel at thimmel43@mac.com for more information. All welcome to join!

Friday Book Group

When: Fridays from 10-11:30am, LMH Room A and on Zoom

We meet weekly and read both fiction and non-fiction books chosen by the participants. Each book is read and discussed over a period of several meetings, with the reading for each determined by the group. 

We are currently reading The Peabody Sisters by Megan Marshall, who spoke at FRS on November 5.

In Part VI, our lively discussion covered the chapters starting with “Chastity” (focusing on Horace Mann and the two eldest sisters), Sophia’s art work - and then her and Mary’s sojourn to Cuba for a long stay with much writing back and forth. We also prepared some questions to ask author Megan Marshall at her talk at FRS at which many of us were present.

For the next meeting on Nov 11, we are reading Part VII (chapters 25-27) which runs through page 375 and continues the next stage of the sisters’ lives. Note: for the meeting the following week we plan to be choosing our next book, and then will finish The Peabody Sisters.

Feel free to join us in progress, even just to listen in on the discussion - summaries of discussion to date are available. We meet in the Lower Meetinghouse Main Room; currently we are doing hybrid meetings for those who need/want to join by Zoom at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87043885100

For more information, contact Tom Himmel, thimmel43@mac.com.

To download and print the FRS November Worship Calendar and November Events Calendar, click on the blue buttons below!

Amesbury Cultural Council Open Studio Weekend

When: Saturday, November 12 from 10am-5pm at 14 Cedar Street, Amesbury

Parishioner and artist knitter Linda Buddenhagen, owner of LindyWare, will be showing new designs titled "Random Acts of Color Mitts," "Walking together Cowl," plus more. She will also have the old favorites - "Hug Me Cowls," "Hug Me Mitts," "Cake Cowls," "Journey Mitts," etc. 

All made with Peace and Love! Please forward this info to any friends who might be interested. If these dates are not convenient for you, please contact Linda at 978-463-0882, and we will arrange a LindyWare Popup Shop at a time that works for you. Thank you for your support.

Minister–The Reverend Rebecca Bryan; Affiliate Minister–Rev. Stan Barrett; Affiliate Minister–Rev. Helen Murgida; Affiliate Minister-Rev. Jane Tuohy; Minister Emeritus–The Reverend Harold Babcock. Staff: Director of Church Operations–Rob Authier; Office Administrator–Diane Carroll; Audio-Visual Engineer–Rob Close; Director of Children's Ministry–Mara Flynn; Director of Church Music–Justin Murphy-Mancini; Director of Faith Formation and Spiritual Exploration–Julie Parker Amery; Sexton–Donny Rogers; Director of Congregational and Community Engagement–Cynthia Walsh. Parish Board: Chair–Tina Benik; Vice Chair-Jim Supple; Finance Chair–Renée Wolf Foster; Governance Chair–Tom Himmel; Endowment Treasurer–Kim Kenly; Finance Treasurer–Laurie Evans-Daly; Stewardship Chair–Vern Ellis; Parish Clerk–Kathy Desilets; Holly Cashman, Marissa Dewey, Minnie Flanagan, Michelle Kimball, Annie Maurer, Tom Stites.

First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist | 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport MA 01950

978-465-0602 | frsuu.org