TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Sunday Worship Service
- Easter Sunday and Special Congregational Service of Remembrance
- Update from FRS's Governance Committee
- Upcoming Opportunities to Explore Faith & Spirituality
- Stories from the Congregation
- Church Programming Updates
- Upcoming Events: Jazz Vespers Tonight
- FRS in the Community
- Thank a UU
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Annual Ministry Theme: Unity
April Ministry Theme: Wholeness
"Life is a great tapestry. The individual is only an insignificant thread in an immense and miraculous pattern."
-Albert Einstein
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Sunday Worship Service
April 10, 2022
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Image designed by FRS member Lance Hidy |
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Sunday, April 10, 2022
"Climate Change is a Social Justice Issue"
10:30am in-person and livestream on YouTube
This Sunday’s service, in recognition of Earth Day, will be led by the FRS Climate Action Project. Every year, Earth Day is a special moment to both reflect on our relationship with our Earth and to hear more clearly the call to be in harmony with our Earth. This year we focus on issues of climate justice, knowing that many impacts of climate change are falling most heavily on disenfranchised people – people of color, the poor, and nations of the third world. We believe their stories deserve to be heard as a call to action.
“The one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.” – Greta Thunberg
Following Sunday worship service we will host a 30-minute social outside the church (weather permitting).
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"Love Our Earth" signs designed by Lance Hidy will be available for purchase after Sunday Worship service for $45.00 each. Proceeds will support FRS. Supply is limited! |
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Upcoming Worship Services |
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Easter Morning Worship Service
Sunday, April 17, 2022 at 10:30am
In-person and on YouTube
Celebrate the coming of spring and Easter in story, music, and song.
All ages welcome. We are welcoming congregation open to all people.
Children are invited to join us outside after the service for an Easter egg hunt.
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Help Bring Spring into Our Sanctuary for Easter Worship Service!
Order your Easter flowers, in memory or in celebration of friends or loved ones, to decorate the Sanctuary for Easter Service. A list of donors and their messages will be included in the Easter Sunday Order of Service. You may bring your plants home after the service to enjoy in your home, plant in your garden, or give as a gift.
The cost is $25 each for an Easter lily or a potted tulip plant.
The deadline for placing your order is Monday, April 11th at noon.
Payment may be made by check payable to FRS, or via our online giving form -
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Special Congregational Service of Remembrance
Wednesday, April 20, 2022 at 5pm
In-person and on YouTube
All are invited to join us in this special Service of Remembrance. We will name our members and friends who have died since 2020, recognizing that we were not able to be together to mourn these losses during COVID.
This reflective service will include poetry, music, and silence, inviting contemplation and comfort. Everyone is welcome to attend. Reverend Rebecca will be leading the service along with Julie Parker Amery and others.
To submit a name to be included in the service, please email Susan Ricker, Pastoral Care Associate, at smricker@aol.com. All names are encouraged; they do not need to have been a member of FRS to be included.
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Greetings from the Governance Committee!
As we approach the Annual Meeting of the First Religious Society on June 12, we are seeking nominees to fill three open positions:
- Chair of the Finance Committee (serves on Parish Board)
- Finance Treasurer (serves on Parish Board)
- One Trustee of the Endowment
Please contact Juliana Beauvais at jbeauvais99@gmail.com if you are interested in serving or would like to suggest nominees.
Over time, a self-governed church community like ours should periodically reflect upon and update its governance documents. We are at such a point in our history. The Governance Committee, in collaboration with the Parish Board, is proposing numerous changes to the bylaws, each of which will be voted on at the Annual Meeting. The changes center around three main areas:
- Create a Stewardship Committee based on a three-year trial period
- Move to gender-neutral pronouns
- Align discrepancies in written bylaws with actual church operations to provide greater flexibility
Please see a complete list of proposed amendments to the FRS bylaws here!
The full current bylaws and Parish Board Manual with adopted policies are available on the FRS website - click here!
Following the service on May 1, we will be offering congregational listening sessions - one virtual and one in-person - about these proposed bylaw changes. This will be an opportunity to ask questions, provide input, and learn more about why these changes are being proposed and why now. Look for upcoming invitations to these sessions.
Regards,
The FRS Governance Committee
Juliana Beauvais (Chair), Maureen Adams, Lori Clark, and Renée Wolf Foster
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Upcoming Opportunities to Explore Faith & Spirituality |
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Sources Of Our Faith: Monthly Discussion Groups with Reverend Rebecca
When: Wednesday, April 13 from 6:30-7:30pm
This month we will explore the 4th Source: Jewish and Christian teachings which call us to respond to God's love by loving our neighbors as ourselves.
Please come prepared to discuss any or all the following questions:
- What three or four words describe your feelings about or relationship with Judaism and Christianity? (3 or 4 words for each)
- Which ritual, tradition, sacrament, or holiday from either of these religions is most meaningful to you, and why?
With Passover starting on April 15th, we will also spend time discussing that and what it offers us as UUs, regardless of our historical and current theologies.
Zoom link will be provided in next week's Steeple.
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Foundations of UUism
When: Mondays, April 11, 18, and 25, 7-7:45pm
Whether you're a newcomer considering membership, or someone who's been around awhile, this series will help guide you toward a greater understanding of Unitarian Universalism, or fill in some gaps in your knowledge. Come to as many as you'd like. Each session will be at least partially interactive to keep things moving.
Session Two—Faith Without a Creed (April 11): How can a faith without a unifying creed be considered a religion? Is it true that UUs can believe anything they want? What are some basic beliefs about God, evil, an afterlife? Aren't the Seven UU Principles a creed?
Session Three—The Sources of Our Faith (April 18): An exploration of the Six Sources to which UUs look for wisdom.
Session Four—Q&A (April 25): What lingering questions do you have? Just ask!
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Forest Walks and Meditation
When: Fridays, April 15 and 29, May 13 and 27, from 9-10:30am
Maudslay State Park, Newburyport
Much research in recent years has brought to light the benefits of being in nature mindfully, using all the senses, giving rise to practices such as Forest Bathing (Shinrin-Yoku) in Japan and Scandinavia. Join us for four such walks, experiencing the emergence of spring. Walks will be silent and will include a number of mindfulness practices, and will be followed by tea and conversation.
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Stories From Our Congregation |
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Why I am sticking my toe back in the water (hesitantly)
by Lea Pearson, FRS parishioner
This is what COVID taught me:
I am afraid of people.
All of you: vaccinated, boosted, quarantined.
All of you: those I have sung with, served with, mourned with, had coffee with, broken bread with.
I'm 70 years old. I have diabetes. That puts me in a high risk group for COVID.
A breakthrough infection could be disastrous to my health and my essential livelihood. It's a risk I will not take. Especially after having spent two years secluded in one room to avoid getting sick.
I share this not to elicit sympathy, but because I suspect there are others who may be having similar experiences and may need to hear that they are not alone.
First, a word of gratitude for all that staff and volunteers have done to get us through this nightmare. It's truly phenomenal.
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I survived the first year well enough, basking in the solitary silence of my one room in Byfield, enjoying being in the country, and still able to do my work online. I nurtured connection and love with people, because I knew that avoiding anxiety was the best boost to my immune system.
But something happened this past summer, perhaps a cumulative effect of not engaging with people.
One of my greatest joys became a source of great pain, physical and emotional. I’m talking about church.
The place I needed most to be felt inaccessible.
So for reasons both physical and emotional, I backed away from almost all engagement with the church.
Physical barriers
Our beautiful sanctuary is literally surrounded by a moat of inaccessibility.*
Broken curbs, with dips and warping in the sidewalks, make it dangerous for anyone with mobility issues to get out of a car. Add ice and snow to that and it's a challenge just to get to the door. After watching two people trip and fall over the Pleasant Street curbs, I felt even more hesitant to make the effort.
There are few handicap parking spots, and no easy place to park and get into the church if you don’t have a handicap placard. When each step is painful, you count every one, and the handicap spots are still quite a distance from any accessible entrance. Without a Newburyport parking pass, I need to leave home a half hour early to make sure to find a space within a block.
I need to be around people who are masked, yet because I have hearing loss (too many years of playing piccolo) I can't understand people without lipreading. When we gather in front of the church, I flee - it's too painful to just smile and nod and pretend that I can hear. (And, I haven't been able to get my hearing aids updated.)
All of these things made me want to stay away from church. I did take the risk and return for most of the in-person services this past fall.
But in the service, it was difficult to see, because I haven't been able to get the glasses that I need, and masks partially obscure my vision. It was also difficult to hear, although I found that the hearing assistive devices from the sound booth were helpful. When the Order of Service was on our phones, I couldn't read it because it was too small. After a year and a half of sitting in a comfortable chair at home, the pews felt unbearably hard and uncomfortable.
So I came away from fall services feeling overwhelmed, overstimulated, and defensive, driving me further into isolation.
Emotional barriers
But more painful than the physical challenges are the emotional ones. All my life I have looked to church for love and support and joy, as a place where I can connect and give as well as receive.
But I couldn't connect. I felt my heart, like the Grinch's, growing three sizes too small. I've wept through many services, none more so than Stan Barrett's on February 27.
Like many of you, I've been in survival mode. The primitive brain is literally afraid of dying, so it shuts us down into a whole-being state of contraction. We don't feel capable of openness or expansion.
As with most people I know, COVID isolation has triggered my deepest fears. For me those are ancient wounds of feeling left out and not belonging. Even though Reverend Rebecca assures us we all belong, I often can't fully believe it because I feel so many barriers to connecting.
My faith is Love. I believe it is why I was put on this earth. My love language is touch. After two years of barely seeing or touching anyone, I now recognize that I've been having a crisis of faith.
So why am I bothering to return to church?
I feel most alive when I am working with people, especially in church: creating worship, sharing experiences, making music, fomenting change for our faith to become more inclusive and embodied. I need this community. I need to find ways to receive and express love. And, I want to sing again. So, I've taken the baby step of rejoining the choir. You may see me sitting in a corner, but it will be marvelous to lift my voice up in song again, physically present.
And I'm developing a new spiritual practice: gratitude for uncomfortable and painful feelings. It's helping me be more accepting of my current state.
I hope that those of you who have felt separated or alienated from church will find some comfort in knowing that you are not alone, and be encouraged to find your next baby step of returning to us.
We need you as much as you need us!
Love, Lea
*The AIM team (Accessibility and Inclusion Ministry), led by Helen Murgida, is beginning to work on some of the accessibility issues, so I have hope that things will gradually get better.
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Church Programming Updates |
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FRS's MUSIC PROGRAM
by Justin Murphy-Mancini, Director of Church Music
Please enjoy the First Religious Society Adult Choir's first efforts as a "virtual choir," featuring Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell's song "We Are."
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ADULT FAITH FORMATION AND SPIRITUAL EXPLORATION
by Julie Parker Amery, Director of Faith Formation and Spiritual Exploration
"Where do we come from? Where are we going?"
A Community Art Project at FRS
During the pandemic, we invited you to participate in a couple of community art projects. First we made houses. Then we created birds. And now we have something new! And all are invited to participate! The title of the project, "Where do we come from? Where are we going?" is borrowed from a famous painting by Paul Gauguin. It may speak to you on a personal level about your roots and your vision, or you may prefer to amplify the theme to reflect on history, the state of our community, and the future of the world. All interpretations are welcome.
How does the community art project work?
You will have several weeks to respond to the theme by using writing, photography, visual art including painting, collage, fiber art, found objects, and more. You may choose quotes and images by others (attributed) or your own originals. If you wish to respond to the theme musically or with a short performance, we will try to accommodate you.
Please pick up an unfinished wooden frame/shadow box after church beginning on April 10 and take it home to finish with your interpretation of the theme. One per person, please. We will collect all contributions at the church by May 8 for a group exhibition, exact location and time TBD. On April 10 during Coffee Hour, you can also visit with some of our creative members who will help get you inspired by sharing ideas and materials!
Everybody is an artist! All ages are invited.
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YOUNG CHURCH UPDATE
by Mara Flynn, Director of Children's Ministry
Greetings from Young Church!
Spring is here, and Young Church continues to be a place of joy, learning, connection, and living into our UU Principles!
It has been wonderful being back in person and seeing faces and smiles! It's so lovely to have our families back in church, and so meaningful to invite our children to participate in the Time for All Ages. We're looking forward to centering more youth voices in April as part of the Climate Action Service and the Easter Service.
In the meantime, we have been sharing joys and concerns, and learning together about so many things - gender identity, climate change, and what it means to be a refugee, to name a few! We also zoomed with Sandra Thaxter and some of the children she works with in Kenya – the children met one another, asked and answered questions, and sang songs.
We are now preparing for the Climate Action Service and the upcoming Climate Justice Rally on Earth Day sponsored by FRSUU in partnership with local nonprofit arts, cultural and environmental organizations.
For more information about our event, click here!
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Photos: Young Church Engaged in Sign Making |
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Jazz Vespers Service - Cuppa Joe
When: Wednesday, April 6, 8pm, Sanctuary
Join us at the next Verspers service featuring Cuppa Joe, a swing and blues ensemble from Newburyport, MA. The group performs a classic selection of jazz, soul, and rock-n-roll of the ’50s and ’60s from artists like Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles, George Gershwin, and Cole Porter. Vocalist Josh Babcock is joined by Max Pearl on guitar and Chuck Walker on bass. With classic style, Cuppa Joe celebrates the Great American Songbook at every performance.
No tickets required. Donations are welcomed and can be made to the church!
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Climate Sign Workshops
When: April 9 from 11am-2pm at Tinkerhaus in Newburyport, and April 16 from 11am-12pm at Heron Pond Farm, South Hampton, NH
We are getting ready for Earth Day on April 22nd! This year, FRSUU in collaboration with community partners is hosting a Climate Justice Rally that will take place in Waterfront Park in Newburyport. Click on the link for more information on this event: https://www.frsuu.org/earth-day-climate-justice-rally/
We hope you and your family and friends can join us at one of our Climate Sign Workshops. This is for all ages!
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Retired Old Men Eating Out (ROMEO)
When: Tuesday, April 12 at 12pm, Brown Sugar by the Sea, Newburyport
No reservations required. The Officer of the Day is Les Ferlazzo, phone, 617-429-2087 or email, sealore@live.com.
Please bring money along with yourself.
"Presence is more than just being there" Malcolm Forbes.
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Exploring Elderhood Together
When: Thursday, April 21 at 1pm via Zoom
RIGHTsizing Your Life and Space
If you're trying to figure out next steps for how and where you want to live, you're not alone. These questions can loom large for anyone—especially later in life. There is much to consider about housing itself, not to mention what to do with a lifetime's accumulation of everything from "stuff" to important and treasured belongings. It can be overwhelming.
Beth Munro and Corinne McKeown have helped scores of people get started or get unstuck—not to "declutter and downsize," but to "RIGHTsize" their lives. RIGHTsizing looks to the future, plays to your strengths, and helps you reassess and redefine your life and space.
This program will cover a variety of housing options and highlight emerging living trends. It will also help you make decisions that are comfortable, meaningful, and realistic for you about what to keep and what to release. Along the way, we'll share some fun ideas, tips, and resources to support you moving forward. Whether you are moving or not, RIGHTsizing can be for you.
Speakers: Beth Munro, MAE, Personal Organizer, Certified Professional Coach (CPC) and Corinne McKeown, Senior Real Estate Specialist (SRES), Author, Artist
Join Zoom Meeting:
Meeting ID: 966 8876 5086
Passcode: 517079
Dial in by phone: 301 715 8592
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Seeing White Spring Session
When: Mondays and Thursdays, Monday, April 11 through Thursday, May 26, 5-6pm on Zoom
When and why did the concept of race begin? What does it mean to be white in the United States? Where do we, as "good white people" fit into the national reckoning on race? Join us for a discussion of the podcast series Seeing White, which examines race by turning the lens onto white people. We'll discuss one episode at each meeting, beginning with how and why race was created, and ending with actions to take to dismantle white supremacy. Join the more than seventy other FRS members and friends who have been moved by the experience of Seeing White!
"My eyes were opened, by many episodes of Seeing White, to the history I never learned about in school. It's a compelling and engaging series. The meetings provided a safe space to share our own experiences, feelings, and thoughts, and gave participants an opportunity to really get to know each other. I would really recommend taking part!" –Ann Haaser (Seeing White participant, spring 2020)
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"Living the Pledge" Spring Workshops Now Offered
Gain confidence in your ability to talk about and confront racism wherever it lives. Join our Pledge to End Racism by attending a "Living the Pledge" workshop series. FRS has eight trained facilitators to guide you through a national curriculum, specifically developed by and for UUs.
There will be three 6-session workshops that start the week of April 18 and end the week of May 23:
- Wednesdays, 9–11am, via Zoom
- Thursdays, 6:30–8:30pm, via Zoom
- Fridays, noon–2pm, in-person at FRS
The workshops are an important learning opportunity to grow and transform together and make a difference in our community. We have found that each session builds upon the previous one, and we hope you can commit to attend all six sessions. For more information, please contact Julie Parker Amery at julie.amery@frsuu.org.
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Welcoming Congregation Workshop with CB Beal
Constellations of Gender – April 24, 12:30-2:30pm
This interactive workshop will explore varieties of how people experience gender. We will use the framework of Preemptive Radical Inclusion as a way for individuals and congregations to be present, bear witness, and identify actions that will embody love.
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The 26th Mother's Day Walk for Peace
When: Sunday, May 8, 9-11:30 am, in Dorchester
Here is what one FRS walker, Susan Cooper, said about the prospects of joining the walk again this year – "Count me in! The walk a few years ago filled me with increased compassion and feeling connected with hundreds of other women who walked. To support this cause was an honor!" And from Annie Maurer, "Can't wait…loved doing it a couple years ago. It was so exciting to walk with so many people from so many neighborhoods and towns in the Boston area. It was heartening to see the number of people who came out to support families that have been impacted by violence and to feel part of a large community of people working together for a more peaceful society."
The walk is a fundraiser for the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in Dorchester which supports families suffering from loss related to violence. The Peace Institute is a survivor-led organization which provides service, advocacy, and training to work for more peaceful communities. Here is Rev. Rebecca's take on the walk and the Institute: "I love the Institute. We used to take 'church on the road' in Brookline and many of us did the walk as the worship service."
For us here in Newburyport, this event is an opportunity to walk together with mothers and families who have lost loved ones to violence. Violence doesn't belong to any particular neighborhood and the responses and solutions belong to us all. Please join Lark and Annie Madden and others from FRS who are planning to be there. Of special note, our Ministerial Intern David Livingstone will join us. Let's bring a big team to the Walk for Peace this year! If you cannot make it to Dorchester, you can participate virtually, and/or support an FRS walker.
You can register here on the FRS Team page:
For more information about the logistics of the walk, scan the QR code below with your mobile device:
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SAVE THE DATE!
FRS Auction at the Newburyport Community Center
When: Friday, June 10, 2022
Plans are in the works for a night filled with merriment and fellowship!
Do you have a vacation home or a unique experience you can offer as an auction item? Tickets to events? Love to cook? Host a dinner party in your home!
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FRS Participates in the Pinwheel Garden Tour!
Breaking the cycle of abuse
April is Child Abuse Prevention Month, and the Exchange Club of Greater Newburyport will be creating blue Pinwheels for Prevention® gardens throughout the community to raise awareness around the prevention of child abuse and neglect. Child Abuse Prevention has been the charter service project for the National Exchange Club since 1979.
Pinwheel gardens will be located at the First Religious Society, the Central Congregational Church, and the Salvation Army in Newburyport, and the Public Library and the Main Street Congregational Church in Amesbury.
The blue pinwheel, representing innocence, is a national symbol for child abuse prevention. Pinwheels reflect the bright future all children deserve. The pinwheel is a positive emblem of the effect we can have when we work together to prevent child abuse.
Pinwheels for Prevention® gardens were first created in April 2008 by Prevent Child Abuse America®, and since then over 2.3 million pinwheels have been displayed across the country.
Children are society's most vulnerable members. What happens to them in their early years impacts the rest of their lives. Child abuse can involve physical harm, sexual abuse, emotional trauma, or simple neglect. The measure and the consequence of child abuse is "the failure to thrive," whether physically, emotionally, or cognitively.
Individually, child abuse undermines the development and the dignity of each child. Collectively, society as a whole is negatively impacted. Abused children often do less well in school, face more dire medical issues, suffer emotional issues, come into more frequent contact with the law, and often require a lifetime of economic support.
How can we overcome the harm caused by child abuse and neglect? The most desirable solution is to prevent it to begin with. Stable families in decent housing with a sustainable income are under less pressure and therefore less likely to transfer stress onto a child. If, however, such an environment does not exist, early intervention may be necessary to break the cycle of abuse.
The Michael B. Christensen Community and Family Support Center in Lawrence (978-681-4900) is the New England District Exchange Club's model for changing parenting behaviors in the Greater Merrimack Valley. The Christensen Center teaches parents skills and provides information to raise a stable family.
The Exchange Club of Greater Newburyport is very grateful for the kindness and generosity of our community neighbors who are allowing us to create the pinwheel gardens on their grounds. Together, we invite the community to visit one of the pinwheel gardens and take a pinwheel to show support for this worthy cause to work towards a world where all children feel cherished and safe.
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Give the Gift of a Book to FRS's Little Free Diverse Library (LFDL)
Help us amplify and empower diverse voices and stories in our community by donating a book to our Little Free Diverse Library on Pleasant Street.
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THANK A UU!
Once a month we will publish a list of thanks to all who help to make our day a little brighter and our community stronger!
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We are grateful to the many talented graphic designers in our parish who donate their time and talents.
A special thank you this month to Vern Ellis who designed this year's Annual Campaign brochure, and to Andrea Healy who designed it for years prior.
Thank you to Sam Kimball who designed the logo for our Values, Mission and Ends.
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Minister–The Reverend Rebecca Bryan; Ministerial Intern–David Livingstone; Affiliate Minister–Rev. Stan Barrett; Affiliate Minister–Rev. Helen Murgida; 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–Holly Cashman; Vice Chair–Tina Benik; Finance Chair–Tim Fountain; Governance Chair–Juliana Beauvais; Endowment Treasurer–Kim Kenly; Finance Treasurer–Micah Donahue; Parish Clerk–Kathy Desilets; Vern Ellis, Minnie Flanagan, Michelle Kimball, Lucy Litwin, Annie Maurer, Jim Supple, Renée Wolf Foster.
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First Religious Society, Unitarian Universalist | 26 Pleasant St., Newburyport MA 01950
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