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Our draft revision of Article II lifts up six values centered on the connecting value of Love. Rev. Anne will explore how Pluralism celebrates our diversity in culture, in experience, and in theology. After church Sunday, we will have a chance to explore this draft so that the congregation can vote in June on whether or not we support this new language.
This Sunday, Elisabeth Jas and the sanctuary choir will sing the powerful and courageous song “I Ain’t Afraid,” written by Holly Near. Kelly and Jamie Willis, with the sanctuary choir, will sing David M. Glasgow’s inspiring song “Here Together.” Singer and accordionist Madeline Ostrander, joined by Michael Bruce (guitar), Rip Jackson (piano) and Paul Reynolds (drums), will sing Dar Williams’ thought-provoking song “I Had No Right.” For the centering music and postlude, the band will play instrumental arrangements of Billy Joel’s “Piano Man” and “Just the Way You Are.”
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Crisis Management: Resources in Mental Health
You Are Not Alone!
Join us in learning about the resources available to you during a mental health crisis. Hear from experts in the mental health field, as well as Lexington services available to you.
When: May 9, 2024
Time: 7-9 p.m.
Where: First Parish in Lexington
Register: https://tinyurl.com/4svekzys
(requested, not required)
Thank you to our co-sponsors: The Town of Lexington, Collaborative Reform Group, Commission on Disability, Lexington Human Rights Committee, Human Services, LPD, Lexington Recreation & Community Programs, SEPAC, LICA, CAAL, IAL, CALex, BALex, CALex, LexPride, ABCL,KOLex, Youth Counseling Connections
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Sunday, May 12th from 1:00 to 4:00
Register for the workshop at chanmindwork.com
Seating will be available in the form of chairs as well as floor cushions. Attendees can sit in whichever manner is most comfortable. There is no requirement to sit cross-legged.
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Ferry Beach Retreat
for
Memorial Day Weekend 2024
Friday, May 24 – Monday, May 27
First Parish in Concord &
First Parish in Lexington
As we have for many years, First Parish in Concord and First Parish in Lexington will have an official retreat together at the Ferry Beach Retreat and Conference Center in Saco, Maine over Memorial Day Weekend. Families, couples, and singles of all ages are welcome and encouraged to attend! The joint Ferry Beach Retreat Committee is busy making plans for our weekend!
Registration is by a new process that has two parts this year as follows:
1) Register and pay for lodging, meals, and fees directly with Ferry Beach, using the this website that is specific to our weekend: FB Registration. Information about lodging options are also found on the Ferry Beach Website. If you prefer, you can call 207-282-4489 x1 to speak to a member of the Ferry Beach registration team and register that way. Be sure mention you are a member of FP Lex to get the special rates they are offering us.
Registration is first come, first served, so the sooner you register, the more choices you’ll have for lodging! Please register soon and latest by May 9, if at all possible.
2) Complete your Registration by filling out our Google form (Registration, Part 2) with info that will come directly to the joint Planning Committee. Please find the form here: FP Info Form
Activities that we’ve loved over the years are being planned again – Sunday night Talent Show, Croquet Tournament, Sand Structure Contest, Bingo, Bracelet Making. Let the Planning Committee know if you’d like to offer an activity or help with something!
Information is available here: Ferry Beach Registration! - First Parish in Lexington (fplex.org).
If you have questions about Ferry Beach, especially if you have never attended before, feel free to contact your co-chairs:
Deb Weiner Soule (djweiner101@gmail.com) or Elisabeth Jas (svenjas@msn.com)
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A Wake-Up Call to Preserve — or now Save?! — Our Democracy
Last February the Preserving Our Democracy team started a book-read of Saving Democracy by David Pepper. Quoting the author, we learned that “In state after state, a faction of politicians [had rigged] legislative districts to eliminate accountability and guarantee outcomes in its favor. With their election outcomes pre-ordained, few members of this faction face accountability from voters in their entire careers.
“Some of that rigging violates state or federal law, but that doesn't seem to matter. In fact, it's rewarded. Successfully violating federal or state law helped that faction seize the majority of the of the US House of Representatives after 2022.”
In the months since then our team has been shocked and seriously concerned that no news correspondents in the media appear to even know how seriously the prime tenet of our democracy —the right of every citizen to be represented through their vote — has been compromised across many state legislatures. And despite the repeated actions and autocratic statements of the presumptive candidate of the GOP to destroy our American democracy, the newscasters have treated this as a normal political race between two candidates qualified to become President of the United States.
Last Monday Heather Cox Richardson, an American historian (and recommended political correspondent in an earlier announcement in the Weekly Update) revisited the series of assaults on the basic right to vote tenet of democracy. [Heather Cox Richardson]
“As Republicans have embraced unlimited power for the president, they have also turned against the right of American citizens to have a say in their government. Beginning with so-called ballot integrity measures in 1986, they embraced methods to knock voters off the voting rolls. …After voters nonetheless elected Democrat Barack Obama in 2008, the Supreme Court handed down the 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, permitting unlimited donations to political campaigns, and corporate money flowed into them. In that same year, Republican operatives launched Operation REDMAP to elect Republicans to state legislatures ahead of the redistricting required after the 2010 census. Operation REDMAP resulted in extreme partisan gerrymandering that would make it virtually impossible for Democrats to win elections even if they won a majority of the vote.“ [Confirming David Pepper’s analysis.]
Richardson goes on to quote President Joe Biden's entreaty to the press last weekend to take the threat of dictatorship seriously:
“I’m sincerely not asking of you to take sides but asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment; move past the horse race numbers and the gotcha moments and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalize our politics; and focus on what’s actually at stake,” he said. “Every single one of us has…a serious role to play in making sure democracy endures…. I have my role, but, with all due respect, so do you.”
Richardson then notes, “George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s This Week apparently took this reminder to heart.
'Until now,' he said in the show’s opener on Sunday, '[n]o American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse…' ”
Robert Huddell (another political correspondent recommended at our last Democracy team meeting on April 22) wrote: “ The ongoing failure of the press to “rise to the seriousness of the moment” is especially puzzling—and galling—given the emerging consensus that the media was complicit in Trump's disinformation campaign over the non-story of 'Hillary’s emails.' Most of the media appear to have learned nothing from their failures in 2016. Indeed, most outlets continue to defend their non-stop coverage of a story about nothing. (Looking at you, NYTimes. See Vox, Study: Hillary Clinton’s emails got as much front-page coverage in 6 days as policy did in 69.)
The scale of the abnormality is so staggering, that it can actually become numbing. It’s all too easy to fall into reflexive habits, to treat this as a normal campaign, where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power. But, that is not what’s happening this election year. Those bedrock tenets of our democracy are being tested in a way we haven’t seen since the Civil War. It’s a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens.”
Your Democracy team asks you to pay attention to these aberrations in the news that you follow.
References:
David Pepper, Saving Democracy: A User’s Manual for Every American © 2023, Introduction, page 5
Heather Cox Richardson, Letters From an American, April 28, 2024
Robert B. Hubbell, Today’s Edition Newsletter “Rise up to the seriousness of the moment” April 29, 2024
| From choir rehearsals to Soul Matters, Building Bridges to Meditation Group, Urban Ministry to Democracy Team, Climate Action Team to Youth Groups and all of the other wonderful ways to get involved here at First Parish, please check the church calendar. | Submissions for The Weekly Update are due by the end of day, Mondays. To submit an article or information for consideration, please use this form. | |
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CHILDREN'S RE
Join us this Sunday as we are exploring the gift of many views and the idea that we need each other in order to become caring participants in a world that includes everyone. We end our morning with a yummy treat to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, a holiday that honors Mexican heritage and pride!
Caroline and Annelie
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Tickets Available for
June 1st Garden Party
For those who were not at our Fall Auction, or who may have started to attend First Parish more recently, Rev. Anne wants you to know that there are tickets available for the Garden Party she and Simon host at their home. The event is Saturday June 1st from 4 to 6 p.m., and will include light appetizers and a glass or two of something bubbly! Please let Anne know if you would like to attend, and send a check to the office for $25, with “Auction Event” in the memo line. All money raised will be a gift to the church, so check your calendars for June 1st and see if you want to come out to Westford and tour the garden!
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Call for Delegates to General Assembly
June 20 - 23
Every June our national body of UUs join together for an exciting convention of representatives from each congregation who make up our Unitarian Universalist Association. Everyone is invited to attend this convention, and this year it is all online. We will hold a watch party at First Parish for anyone who wants to participate, so do not let cost or travel be a barrier for your ability to participate. There will be exciting lectures, workshops, worship services, and above all - the chance to connect with Unitarian Universalists from across the country.
First Parish is allowed to choose 5 delegates who will vote in all business matters. This year one of the most exciting items is the new draft of Article 2 in the by-laws. We all know this as the 8 Principals and 6 Sources - but that language is supposed to be revised regularly. This is the year when we will be voting on a new draft of the theological definition of our central truths. Would you like to be involved in this important national discussion? In addition to all the workshops and worship services, there will be other items of important UUA business which will be brought to the floor. Would you like to be a delegate? If so, please contact Rev. Anne. This meeting will be online only, so the ability to travel is not a barrier. We will prioritize people who have not yet had a chance to attend this event which is central to our national connection as UU congregations.
I look forward to your increased involvement!
Rev. Anne
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The DEIR Comment Toolkit is here!
Together, we have been working tirelessly to prevent a massive expansion of private jet facilities at Hanscom Field. The proposed project would add capacity for super-emitter private jets, consume an expected 5.5 million gallons of aviation fuel annually, and emit a staggering 255,000 new tons of CO2e per year.
In their Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR), the developers make the astonishing claim that this expansion will decrease flights, decrease emissions, and help meet Net Zero goals. These assertions are deeply flawed and misleading.
The public comment period for the DEIR is now open, and we have until May 10th to make our voices heard. It is crucial that the MEPA (Office of MA Environmental Policy Act) receives a flood of comments opposing this project and exposing the DEIR's flawed arguments.
To help you craft a powerful, unique comment, we have prepared a comprehensive Public Comment Toolkit, available at spje.org/DEIRtools. This toolkit provides:
- Background information
- Step-by-step guidance to make the process as easy as possible.
- Resources for strengthening your comment
- Resources for spreading the word
Please take this action to express your objection to this climate atrocity. The number of comments matters, and so does submitting an informed critique. Our toolkit is designed to help you make the greatest impact possible with your comment.
The SPJE Campaign & CAT
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GOOD SAMARITAN FUND
Through the generosity of Bruce and Eva Gordon, long-time Lexington residents, humanitarians, and members of First Parish in Lexington, the Good Samaritan Fund was established “…to provide financial awards to needy individuals.” In offering guidance on the selection of individuals to receive these awards, the donors stipulate that the major beneficiaries be those people whose lives would be significantly improved with modest amounts of money, such as senior persons needing specific medical aids or other items, refugees needing a first month’s rent or food, a special gift for a disabled child, or a first year scholarship for a person who would otherwise be unable to attend college or technical school.
The deadline for this year’s award process will be June 8th. Selected recipients will be notified before June 30th. Late applications will be considered in the subsequent grant cycle. If you are aware of any individuals or families who qualify based on the Gordon terms reproduced above, please encourage them to apply.
Application Form
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