Annual Ministry Theme: Unity
February Ministry Theme: Integrity
“It takes courage to create a meaningful life of integrity. It also requires good company. And practice.”
-Shelly Francis
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Table of Contents
- Sunday Worship
- Information on Sunday's 30-Minute Social Following Worship
- Our Sanctuary Reopens Sunday for In-Person Service
- Calling All Stewards
- Welcoming Congregation Conversations
- Upcoming Events
- City of Newburyport Decides on Gender Neutral Bathrooms
- Weekly Wellness Programming
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Sunday Worship
February 20, 2022
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The Art of Communication
10:30am in-person and streamed on YouTube
Join us as we return to in-person and livestreamed worship! We will be hearing from members of our congregation working with the Afghan Resettlement Partnership. Reverend Rebecca will be preaching on the art of communication, drawing especially on the work of the beloved Thich Nhat Hanh. It’s easier to think about effective communication, but what do we do when the stakes are high, and it becomes challenging? Lynne Taylor will be our guest musician, sharing her beautiful voice and music on the piano.
Attend service in person or join on YouTube:
This Sunday following worship service, we will host both an in-person and online 30-minute social with members from the FRS Afghan Resettlement Working Group, who will answer questions about our parish work supporting the resettlement initiative. If you have a question that you would like to submit in advance of this discussion, please click on the link: https://forms.office.com/r/Xr94sAq5Ek
The in-person social will take place in the Sanctuary and the online social will take place on Zoom. Please see below for the Zoom link.
Masks are required for in-person worship, and inside church buildings at all times.
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30-Minute Fellowship on Zoom Following Sunday Worship Service
Meeting ID: 936 5374 9041
Passcode: 729630
One tap mobile:
+13017158592,,93653749041# US (Washington DC)
+13126266799,,93653749041# US (Chicago)
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Reopening Team Update
Starting on February 20, the church will be open for in-person attendance at worship services for up to 200 people.
To attend services, you must wear a mask and be vaccinated. Those who are unvaccinated are welcome to attend the service online. Children may attend the service as well and will, after the service gets started, go down to the Lower Meetinghouse for Young Church.
Starting on February 27, the choir will be singing in person at the front of the church. No congregational singing is being planned at this point.
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During this past Sunday's worship service, Reverend Rebecca called upon us to consider serving as a steward for our upcoming Annual Giving Campaign. We need at least 50 stewards to support this very important initiative, which raises the funds necessary to cover the annual expenses of our church.
Serving as a steward is a wonderful way to volunteer and serve, meet new people, and build connections with the church.
What does it mean to be a steward?
- One hour training via Zoom (training dates - two to choose from - will be announced soon).
- Emailing, calling, and/or texting an assigned list of members to ask them to make a pledge (the total number of people you are asked to call will depend on how many stewards we get, but the range is likely to be between 10-15 calls).
- Working as a team and sharing your ideas and talents to help FRS achieve its Pledge Goal which in turn will enable us to achieve our goals as a congregation!
The Campaign will officially kick off with our first Giving Sunday on March 6, 2022 and will be followed by two more Giving Sundays. Most of your calls will take place during that time frame.
The more Stewards we have join the effort, the more successful our Annual Giving Campaign will be! We are excited to be working on the Campaign and hope you will join us.
Please let us know if you are willing to help by emailing Tina and Greg Benik. Tina's email and cell phone are: tiben1989@gmail.com, 401-263-4076 and Greg’s cell phone is 401-480-2782.
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Annual Giving Campaign Mailing – Volunteers Needed!
When: Tuesday, March 1, 10am, Lower Meetinghouse
Can you give an hour of your time to help with this very important mailing? We’re asking for some volunteers to help complete the assembly of the Annual Giving Campaign packets for mailing to our members and friends. Diane will stuff the campaign letter and add the mailing address label for each packet; volunteers will insert a campaign brochure and return envelope, seal the packet, and add a return address label and postage stamp. Many hands make light work!
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Community Human Services Gift Card Drive!
If you’ve gone food shopping lately, you know that feeding a family is getting more expensive! Community Human Services will be having a Market Basket Gift Card drive during February for our Afghan guests. Cash donations also welcome.
Other churches in Newburyport will be having similar gift card drives in the coming weeks, as we collectively support our growing community of Afghan families!
At our in-person services on February 20 and 27, members of the Community Human Services committee will be in the vestibule collecting gift card and cash donations. You can also mail donations to Cynthia Walsh at First Religious Society, 26 Pleasant Street, Newburyport, MA 01950.
Many thanks for your continuing kindness and support!
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2021 Giving Statements
With the new year and the anticipation of spring comes tax season. 2021 giving statements, which detail all tax-deductible gifts from your household to FRS during the 2021 calendar year, are available to you through one of the following options:
- Log onto FRS Connect/Realm and click on “2021 Contribution Statement” in the blue box on the right, above “Giving Information.” Then click “Print” and you will have the option to either download the statement or print it.
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Contact Diane Carroll at diane.carroll@comcast.net or 978-465-0602 ext. 401. She will email your statement to you or send it by postal mail if you prefer.
If you would like to set up login access to your FRS Connect profile, please contact Cynthia Walsh at cynthia.walsh@frsuu.org. Thank you for your support!
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Welcoming Congregation Workshops
Preemptive Radical Inclusion – March 24, 6-8pm
Inclusion is frequently misunderstood as an outcome, a destination, a goal. CB frames Inclusion as a process that calls upon us to preemptively and radically create the conditions for inclusion. The successful outcome of this process is increased equity and then justice. This interactive workshop will offer opportunities to listen, share, and reflect.
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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Congregational Discussions
Over the next few months, FRS will launch an important initiative having to do with how we talk with one another. This work is an outgrowth of our annual meeting last year, the proposed bylaw changes, and our discussion about pronouns.
Everyone will be invited to a series of congregational discussions later this winter and in the spring. Each discussion will be the same format and informed by those who participate.
We need an additional ten people willing to serve as facilitators for those discussions. There will be a training. Please email Renee Wolf Foster at rwolffoster@gmail.com if you are interested in helping or have questions. The training for facilitators will be on Saturday, February 26th from 9 am – noon on Zoom.
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Exploring Elderhood Together
When: Thursday, February 17 from 1-2:30pm on Zoom
Writing a Spiritual Will with Julie Parker Amery, FRS Director of Faith Formation and Spiritual Exploration.
A spiritual will (also known as an ethical will or a legacy letter) is similar to a regular will in that it passes assets on to those we leave behind, and to future generations. But while a will is concerned with material assets, a spiritual will offers an account of our values, what we have lived for, what has mattered to us—the wisdom we have accumulated through years of living.
Join us for a rich, lively, and life-affirming program that will begin to lay the groundwork for preparing your own spiritual will. We invite you to come prepared to tell or share a (brief) story from your life, based on one of the following prompts:
- a life lesson you learned from someone else
- a loss or failure, and how it impacted you
For those interested, Julie will offer a series of three additional small group sessions (dates and times TBA) where you can continue to be guided on writing your spiritual will.
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Friday Book Group
When: Friday, February 18, from 10-11:30 am on Zoom
On Friday, February 18, we will discuss the introduction and chapter 1&2 from our new book that we are just beginning. We will be reading White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson by Brenda Wineapple.
For our upcoming meeting we will finish our discussion of The Brothers Karamazov.
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How To Save a Planet
A Climate-Change Podcast Discussion Series
When: Thursdays (February 24-April 14 - no session on March 24), 7-8pm on Zoom
Climate change. We know. It can feel too overwhelming. But what if there was a show about climate change that left you feeling... energized? One so filled with possibility that you actually wanted to listen?
Join Julie Parker Amery and members of CAP (Climate Action Project) for a discussion of smart, inspiring stories that explore climate change from various perspectives, and specific steps we can take to start to make a difference. Each week we'll listen (independently) to an episode of the series, then come together to discuss, and check in with whatever actions we've taken from the week before. We'll also covenant to spend time engaging with the natural world on our own each week—through walking, photography, watching the sunrise, reading poetry, whatever it is that will connect us with the beauty and wonder of our Earth.
Topics might include: What are the causes of wildfires and what can we do to address them? Are electric vehicles really better for the environment? Is recycling all that it's cracked up to be? How will we reach President Biden's goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035? How does climate action relate to Indigenous rights, Black Lives Matter, and gender justice?
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This Land Is Their Land Book Discussion
When: Wednesday, March 2 at 7pm (in person, or on Zoom—TBD based on COVID protocols)
Didn't get to the Community Read book in the fall? It's not too late! We'll be having a discussion of this book about the Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the "first Thanksgiving" in early March.
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Soul Stories
When: Sundays (February 27-April 10) from 3:30-5pm (in person, pending COVID protocols)
"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms." ― Muriel Rukeyser
We are made of stories, and it's by sharing our stories that we come to know each other at a deep level. In this program, we'll have prompts each week to work with to help us mine the stories of our lives, then come together on Sunday afternoons to share them.
If you have questions about any of the above programs, please contact Julie Parker Amery, Director of Faith Formation and Spiritual Exploration, at julie.amery@frsuu.org.
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FRS Habitat for Humanity Speaker Event
When, Tuesday, March 8 from 5:00 to 6:00 pm on Zoom
Our FRS Habitat team invites you to an informational meeting with Willie Gerard, a new Habitat homeowner at the Habitat site in Salisbury, and Heather Johnson, a staff member at Habitat.
This meeting will be informative for experienced FRS Habitat volunteers as well as people exploring Habitat for the first time. We will share information on the Salisbury build, brief you on new projects throughout Essex County, and describe what it’s like on a typical volunteer day at the build site. And we will identify other volunteer roles available through FRS Habitat.
No Registration is required. A Zoom link will be shared closer to the date. Please email questions to FRSHabitat@gmail.com.
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Attention Newburyport Residents!
The Newburyport City Council will be deciding on gender neutral or gendered bathrooms as part of the new planned visitor center on the waterfront. Some City Councilors, and members of the public, are resisting the idea of gender-neutral bathrooms, noting myths that often accompanies efforts to pass transgender rights bills.
Showing your support for gender neutral bathrooms allows:
- non-binary people to avoid making difficult and public decisions, declaring a gender that may not feel comfortable to them
- allows fathers to accompany their little girls into bathrooms, rather than sending them in alone
- prevents the excessive waiting periods for women-only bathrooms
To learn about the potential plans, please click on this link:
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Weekly Wellness Programming |
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Click on the boxes below to learn more about these wellness programs! |
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Thank Our UUs
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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Minister–The Reverend Rebecca Bryan; Ministerial Intern–David Livingstone; Affiliate Minister–Stan Barrett; Affiliate Minister–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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