March 2025 kicks off First Parish's Stewardship Drive, with brief testimonials on Sundays, and enthusiastic appeals throughout the month to help the church reach its financial goals for supporting the work of the church. As the Canvass committee sows the seeds to grow financial support, the March newsletter details how Religious Ed is sowing actual seeds (as part of their curriculum — and for the May 17 Spring Fair), and Social Justice is sowing the seeds to sustain justice and democracy! All this plus music and fellowship.

This February 2025 newsletter details opportunities for fellowship, support, and resistance — although, as Rev. Erin says in her newsletter message, "Even in this time of resistance it is important to think about the moments in our lives when surrender is an act of claiming power." The theme for this month is Surrender. Through our parish activities, and those of the larger community, which include music and workshops and civic action, we explore the unexpected nature of surrender.

Rev. Erin's message for January 2025 begins by quoting Frederick Douglass: “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.”  Justice is our worship theme for the month. See if Erin's questions resonate with you: What is your experience of justice in your life?  What does the common good look or feel like?  How do you contribute to the work of justice and the common good?  What inspires you to work for justice?  How have you witnessed others around you create the common good?
This month's newsletter also announces the renewal of our Caring & Concerns tradition; a workshop on Gender in the 21st Century"; and another all-ages game night to lighten our spirits!

December's message from the Minister: "As we near the end of a very long year and look to the beginning of another, may we wake to life with our hearts open to love. I wish us all happy and calm holidays." Look to this newsletter for updates on preparations for the Snowflake Fair, for a Solstice blessing, for information on pageant and Christmas Eve services, for social justice activities, and other goings-on in parish life. Have a wonderful holiday season!

November's worship theme is "Courage", as we head towards the conclusion of this long and unsettling election season. This month we will celebrate the values that hold us together in love— through the Sunday sermons, in our social justice activities that both mourn and celebrate the complicated facets of our democracy, and through the fellowship we find in gathering together. Look to the newsletter for details on all the events that will bring us through the election and towards a holiday season of peace.

Welcome back to church! The joyful work of reconnecting and welcoming is our focus this month, beginning with the annual water ceremony and Blessing of the Backpacks, as the congregation reconvened on Sept 8 after the summer break. We also welcomed Tricia, our new Religious Education coordinator, who will start RE on Sept 15. We're gathering again in the next weeks for game night and preparation of homemade goods to be offered at December's Snowflake Fair fundraiser — all great opportunities for people to gather and get to know each other better. There are many other opportunities for fellowship and committee leadership; reach out to the Parish Committee to see what might be a good fit for you.  

The work of the church continues whether we gather on Sundays or not! The Search committee is diligently learning and gathering information in the ministerial search process. Social Justice co-hosted a successful Pride Breakfast at the end of June and continues now to work on voting rights issues. Fiddidlers are crafting, as well as canning all the fresh fruit and veggies that the summer is yielding. (And Erin got married - congratulations!) Details in the newsletter!

The end of the church calendar year in June is marked by Pride Month celebrations, notifications about General Assembly and UU summer camps, but also the continuation of governance, social justice, and fellowship. June 9th is Flower Communion and Annual Meeting. Happy summer!  

Spring comes to First Parish, in the familiar form of Spring Fair preparations (planting! digging!) and the Annual Meeting— and in large part, planning for even bigger activities in June (Pride month, General Assembly, and the final services of the church year). Social Justice begins its Welcome Renewal activities this month; those and other parish activities detailed in the newsletter bring us together as a congregation and in the wider community.

April's theme is Grace. Rev Erin quotes Matthew Fox for this month's newsletter: “Community is another source of grace. In community we are meant to grace one another; to be sources of grace; healers by way of grace." Our community offers these sources, with information in the newsletter: the April 21 kickoff of our Welcoming Renewal program, that demonstrates 'our ongoing commitment to being welcoming and learning about and supporting the current needs and concerns of LGBTQ+/TGNB people;' inspiration via the June 2024 Virtual UUA General Assembly; and parish activities including the anti-racist working group, Social Justice conversations, our next Game Night, and volunteer opportunities.

In this March newsletter you can see First Parish is bursting with springtime energy: another spirited, intergenerational Game night; the 15th Blue Boat Coffeehouse (the first since the pandemic); Canvass kickoff; a show of support for Trans Visibility Day; gearing up for the Spring Fair in May; the start of an 8-part anti-racism workshop; a member's book launch; the kickoff of UU Mass Action initiatives for both local social justice advocacy or national efforts like UU The Vote.

February for First Parish is a time for both reflection and for taking action. Our theme is Silence, for this cold winter month “when we share the silence of sacred space.”  The newsletter provides options for engaging in quiet learning about (or actively engaging with) social justice issues with the UUA Side with Love programming or with BLUU; about denominational policy as the GA approaches; or in fellowship with our own Fididdlers crafting group. We are also taking time to think about our church history, to understand who we have been and who we can be — one of the most vital tasks a congregation in transition needs to accomplish.

The New Year brings a little peace back to First Parish after the busy-ness of the Snowflake Fair, and the children's pageant and the holiday services. We move into a time of introspection now, guided by Rev Erin, in keeping with our ministerial search process. Continuing social justice work and parish activities can be explored in the newsletter.

December at First Parish UU starts with the flurry of activity of the Snowflake Fair! Everyone's contributing their talent, time, and treasure to our annual fundraiser, which looks to be as polished and festive as ever — and as successful, we hope. Then the season of Advent ushers in a time of reflection. At this time, Rev. Erin is preparing the congregation for the work ahead in the new year. She says: : "The interim years are 'a time for looking back and for looking ahead, for uncovering who you have been and discovering who you want to become together.' An interim period is intentional time you have given yourselves so that you can do the best you can to ensure a solid foundation as you create your next chapter together." In the coming month, First Parish members will learn more of the specifics of what a two-year interim period is like, and what happens when.  Sometime in January or February, there will be more small group conversations similar to the ones conducted last fall.

Over the last weeks, we have discussed ways the testimonies, memories, and wishes collected during Rev. Erin's intro conversations could be used as a basis for our church's future understanding and growth. In November, we continue this work even as the busy-ness of the holidays approach, and as we engage with Erin's worship theme for the month, Gratitude: "What are you most grateful for right now, and why? What does 'having enough' mean to you?  What practices help you to express gratitude; for others, for life, for the earth, for the Sacred?"  

October finds First Parish setting its pace for the season ahead... We are creating connections between ourselves, and connections with our Interim Minister. We are making time for reflection on the questions posed by Rev Erin for this month about how we recognise and even cultivate reverence, awe, and humility. We are setting goals, rolling out our social justice initiatives, rallying help in meeting community needs, and fundraising so that we can continue to do all of the above (currently, with the help of Grandma's Can-Canners and a team of elves!).

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 group conversations with Rev. Erin, and continuing our activities to help "grow our souls and serve the world."

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!

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.

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.  

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."

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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!

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!

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.

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.