This September brings unsettled weather, and the potential for an unsettled beginning to our first church year in a decade without our settled minister... but another potential beginning is apparent, as you'll see in this month's newsletter— the First Parish community is well into planning many ways to renew our connections and recall ourselves into covenant, beginning with opportunities for small...  Read More

Summers are quieter at First Parish, but there's still lots going on as we gather for relaxed lay-led services and plan ahead for fall activities. Our new Interim Minister, Rev. Erin Splaine, begins work August 1, committees continue their work, and we continue to gather as a community — the newsletter contains all the details! Click here to access the newsletter....  Read More

June's newsletter details several upcoming celebrations (parades, lobster rolls, inspiring speakers, ice cream!), which include our Pride-month activities, celebrating our Religious Education youth, and of course bidding farewell to Pam's family and her remarkable 10-year ministry at First Parish.  Read More

May's newsletter brings announcements of a flurry of end-of-year activities. The Spring Fair approaches; Religious Education celebrates the children; First Parish celebrates Pam Barz and begins a search for our interim minister... all in addition to the parish's ongoing social justice and community activities.   Read More

April brings us another step closer to the end of the church year, the beginning of our annual fund drive, and the changes that lie ahead for First Parish, which Pam addresses in this April newsletter: "You are the church today, building on the work and worship of those who were the church before you. Through your worship and work you are preparing the church which will come to share good news with the world to come. Your stewardship of this church - your money, your time, your gifts and abilities - this is what allows this church to be here, sharing good news with the world. As you welcomed new members today who will change the church through their gifts and graces, so you’ll welcome a new minister who will be part of the church of the future."  Read More

In this October newsletter, you'll find information on all the activities under way in this new church year: Sermons; music programming; how you can schedule a time with Pam Barz to 'minister to' your needs; Religious Education classes and extra programs like Coming of Age and Youth Group; social justice activities centered on getting out the vote, and on Indigenous People's rights; and many volunteer opportunities!  Read More

The end of summer brings us, as Rev Pam Barz puts it in the Sept newsletter, a sense of opportunity, and of coming home. With that in mind, the church year begins with a new goal set by the Council of Leaders from feedback from the congregation: “Our goal is to celebrate the rich spectrum of artistry within our congregation, cultivate a sacred space to explore and share these gifts, and create a radiant and vibrant community. Guided by all the elements of our Great Covenant, we can create beauty and transformative change.” Many ideas had come out of the urgent needs left by the Pandemic’s isolation. People wanted to revitalize the bonds of community and love within our core, to spread our welcome outward to new members, to dramatically improve and enable communication both within the church and out to the town and beyond, to increase transparency among the working bodies of the church, and to enhance the welcoming quality in the church’s spaces, both tangibly and intangibly. Religious Education classes are starting, as is the adult RE fall discussion series "Faith Like a River". All details are in the newsletter!  Read More

In this August newsletter, Rev. Pam writes of reconnecting with each other as we head into a new church year and return to the sanctuary. She's been inspired by reading The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt and the novel Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson. During the summer, Pam met with members for spiritual check-ups, to talk about what we're dreaming about for our own lives and for the church. She says two themes came up often in those conversations - "gratitude for the work and presence of our church in the crazy, disorienting, disturbing times we live in, and desire for more connection with one another in exploring the “why’s” and the “what’s” but also just in having fun together." Going into the fall, our newly formed Council of Leaders is considering how to focus our energy in these areas, and the worship series for autumn is on the “Quest” — to live into these goals. Read details in the newsletter about registration for the adult and youth Religious Education programs, book discussions, voting rights action by the Social Justice team, and more.  Read More

Summer is a great time to practice loving, understanding, and doing justice. The long days invite us to bask and reflect. Our summer services are less formal with time for conversation, art, music, games. Our theme this summer is “Feed Your Soul.” There are links in the newsletter to Fall RE registration; social justice initiatives being planned through UU the Vote; and an invitation to a reading group discussion about slavery in Scituate (sparked by our Juneteenth service). Words from the minister for this month of July: On Friday June 24 following the Supreme Court decision taking away the right to an abortion, members of the First Parish community gathered at the church, along with people in the area who saw it announced on Facebook and through Bans Off Our Bodies. We grieved; we raged; we shared stories; we named our fears; we lit candles; we sang. Our gathering didn’t change the reality, but it made us better able to deal with it. We remembered we were not alone. And that connection gave us hope - hope which increased the next morning at the Scituate Pride parade and program as we remembered that we can and have made the power of Love more real in our world. In our tradition the power of church comes not from our belief in a certain truth or doctrine but in our understanding that together we embody Love in ways we cannot do on our own; together we increase our understanding of what is important in ways we cannot do on our own; together we “do justice” in the words of the prophet Micah in ways we cannot do on our own.  Read More

For this Juneteenth service, three of First Parish's congregants joined Pam Barz in reflecting on the legacy of slavery and what this day means in our in our community.  Read More

June is the end of our regular church year. RE classes and scheduled activities take a summer break—but we jump into action in other ways. This month's newsletter describes the "Spiritual Practice" theme driving our summer lay-led services (for which volunteers are needed, for sharing any spiritual activity that grounds you); the Adult Faith programs for the summer, which include Spiritual Autobiography, and another Brene Brown small-group discussion series. The newsletter also includes a celebration of what the kids and teachers achieved in Religious Ed this year, and a farewell message from our RE Coordinator Eileen Knight ("As I reflect back on my 3 years as RE Coordinator, I'm in awe of this wonderful community of children and adults who hold each other up spiritually, champion all human, animal and earthly rights, and embrace change with open hearts and minds.")  Read More

At this time of year, towards the close of the church year, the activities at First Parish involve a good deal of looking back and looking ahead, all while continuing to do the work needed in the present. This newsletter informs the community on the upcoming Spring Fair and its celebration of spring growth and the beauty of Kay Shaw's artwork, and on the continuing work of the Social Justice team and community organizations. We look back on all the religious education program has accomplished with the youth of the church, and prepare to review ALL the other programming offered this year, as the Annual Meeting approaches. The Meeting will acknowledge past accomplishments, propose funding for future challenges, and decide on changes to the by-laws in order to help church governance work more effectively. At this time of self-assessment, Pam's message asks us to reflect on how we as a church can root ourselves more deeply in Love as we offer its warmth to others.  Read More