Please note: During the month of February, Rev. Terry Burke will be on leave, using up a month of accrued sabbatical time. Rev. Marshall Hawkins will be on call for pastoral emergencies.
11 a.m. Sunday Service: Our preacher is Rev. Marshall Hawkins, the affiliate minister at First Church. Rev. Hawkins will deliver a sermon titled “To Save and To Savor.”
Please join us following the service for coffee and light refreshments. Thank you to Courtney Feeley Karp and Roy Karp for hosting Coffee Hour.
Please note: During the month of February, Rev. Terry Burke will be on leave, using up a month of accrued sabbatical time. Rev. Marshall Hawkins will be on call for pastoral emergencies.
11 a.m. Sunday Service: Our guest preacher on Sunday is Rev. Clyde Grubbs, who serves as the minister-at-large of the Tuckerman Creative Ministries for Justice and Healing. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Please join us following the service for coffee and light refreshments. Thank you to George Smith for hosting Coffee Hour.
Mick Hirsch, Director of Religious Education, writes:
This past Sunday, our inaugural group of “Neighboring Faiths” kids shared with the congregation their experience over the month of January studying Judaism. Our 10-13 year olds were most excited about their visit to a neighborhood Jewish temple, Nehar Shalom, just down the street from First Church in JP. From that visit, where we were welcomed to a “good Shabbos!” our kids treated our own congregation to a special treat: they taught us how to sing the signature spiritual of the Civil Rights Movement, “We Shall Overcome,” in Hebrew! Needless to say, both the kids and the congregation did a great job singing through the transliterated text.
Next Sunday, February 5, our Neighboring Faiths class will begin a month-long segment on Buddhism.
Rev. Terry Burke writes:
On Wednesday nights in March, I will be leading a study group on worship and our service. It will be especially for those who might want to participate in our liturgy in various ways. Please email the church if you are interested.
Rev. Terry Burke:
Today we are celebrating Candlemas, a church holiday including the blessing of candles. This should be done closer to February 2nd, but it’s a little early as George Wardle will be preaching next Sunday. Later, for Candlemas, we will be sharing candles and flames as part of our service.
There are many related layers to the holiday of Candlemas. It’s associated with St. Brigid of Kildare, Ireland, whose distinctive cross is on the cover of our order of service. St. Brigid died in the 6th century, and legend has it that when the rite was being conducted to consecrate her as a nun, she was made a bishop instead. St. Brigid was noted for her concern for the poor. We used to celebrate Medieval Feasts at this church, and children of the parish once dramatized the story of the saint’s cloak. A stingy king promised as much land for the poor as St. Brigid’s cloak would cover – her nuns ran with its corners in the four directions as it magically covered his kingdom. There are still Brigidine nuns, and as part of their work they keep an eternal flame.
11 a.m. Sunday Service: Join us for our regular Sunday service and a sermon by our church historian, George Wardle, entitled “How We Became Unitarian.” Join us following the service at “Coffee Hour” for coffee and light refreshments. Children’s religious education classes will be held during the service as usual.
5 p.m. JP Forum History Talk: The History Of Jamaica Plain and its First Church. Presented by George Wardle. More information here.
11 a.m. Sunday Service: Join us for our regular Sunday service, which will include a sermon entitled “Worthship.” Please bring a candle to give away for this service, which will involve a celebration for Candlemas. Join us following the service at “Coffee Hour” for coffee and light refreshments. Children’s religious education classes will be held during the service as usual.
12:30 p.m. Congregational Meeting: Church members are asked to stay after coffee hour for a short congregational meeting, which will include updates from the Strategic Planning Committee and Stewardship Committee, a discussion of the “Garden Project” proposal for the church’s front lawn, and a report from the Finance Committee. Non-members are welcome to attend and observe.
11 a.m. Sunday Service: For Martin Luther King, Jr. Sunday, Rev. Burke is speaking about Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin.
Rustin convinced Dr. King to follow a path of non-violence, helped found the Southern Christian Leadership Council that supported King’s work, and was the chief architect of the 1963 March on Washington. He was also was head of the peace groups Fellowship of Reconciliation and the War Resistors’ League. As a gay Black man, his important contributions have not been properly appreciated.
At the end of the service we will also have an optional rite of racial reconciliation and healing using Jamaica Pond water.
11 a.m. Sunday Service: Join us for our Epiphany service. During our Epiphany service, individuals are invited to light a candle and share hopes and concerns for the New Year.
Religious Education: Join us today for the first classes of the winter term. The winter calendar is available at this link.
12:30 p.m. Social Action Group: The Social Action Group will hold a meeting and potluck at Farnsworth House, 90 South Street in Jamaica Plain. All are welcome!
New Year’s Day, Sunday, January 1, 2012, at 11 a.m. Our first Sunday Service of the New Year. “The Burning of Grudges, Grievances, and Sins.” The religious education classes will gather as a plenary group in the parish hall for Children’s Chapel and a discussion about “resolutions,” “goals,” and “promise-keeping.”
Everyone is welcome to attend. Join us after each service for coffee in the Parish Hall.
(Peter Finch as Howard Beale. Image from Wikipedia.)
Mick Hirsch, Director of Religious Education:
My hope for today, my hope for tomorrow and my hope for the New Year is that those of us who are angry remain angry. Of course, I want to be careful and assure you that I am in no way advocating unbridled, anarchic or what I used to call “alcoholic” anger, the kind of anger that is unrestrained, beyond control and that does harm. Rather, what I am talking about is the sort of anger so brilliantly characterized by Peter Finch’s portrayal of Howard Beale in the iconic 1976 film Network: Beale, a newscaster derisively known as “the mad prophet of the airwaves” commands his television audience, “I want you to go to the window, open it, stick your head out and yell: ‘I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore.’”
Christmas Eve, Saturday, December 24, at 7 p.m. Christmas Eve service — candles and caroling with a homily entitled “Home.”
Christmas Day, Sunday, December 25, at 11 a.m. Our Christmas Day service. “Christmas Memories: It’s Really for Kids.”
New Year’s Day, Sunday, January 1, 2012, at 11 a.m. Our first Sunday Service of the New Year. “The Burning of Grudges, Grievances, and Sins.” The religious education classes will gather as a plenary group in the parish hall for Children’s Chapel and a discussion about “resolutions,” “goals,” and “promise-keeping.”
Everyone is welcome to attend. Join us after each service for coffee in the Parish Hall. Directions to First Church are available here.