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Jan 2, 2026

From Rev. Rob - Flourishing in the New Year

Jan 2, 2026

Dear First Parish,

Happy New Year! I hope you found opportunities over the holiday for rest and connection with loved ones, and that this message finds you and yours well.

Let’s face it, friends: 2024 was a long year… It feels good to turn the page on the old and welcome the new! In that spirit, I invite you to begin the New Year from a place of spiritual grounding by joining us for worship this Sunday.

My message this week is called From Surviving to Thriving. I’ll invite us to take to heart the central imperative of our religiously humanist tradition: that the goal of the spiritual life is human flourishing. How can we shift out of “survival mode” and embrace life fully in the New Year?

Sunday’s service will include beautiful music from the First Parish Choir, as well as a children’s story. After service, we’ll gather in the parlor for a warm lunch of soup and bread. I hope you’ll join us.

In the meantime, I leave you with a poem by Lucille Clifton that invites us to consider one of the important spiritual practices of this season of new beginnings: forgiveness.

i am running into a new year

By Lucille Clifton

i am running into a new year

and the old years blow back

like a wind

that i catch in my hair

like strong fingers like

all my old promises and

it will be hard to let go

of what i said to myself

about myself

when i was sixteen and

twenty-six and thirty-six

even thirty-six but

i am running into a new year

and i beg what i love and

i leave to forgive me

From Rev. Rob - Flourishing in the New Year

Dear First Parish,

Happy New Year! I hope you found opportunities over the holiday for rest and connection with loved ones, and that this message finds you and yours well.

Let’s face it, friends: 2024 was a long year… It feels good to turn the page on the old and welcome the new! In that spirit, I invite you to begin the New Year from a place of spiritual grounding by joining us for worship this Sunday.

My message this week is called From Surviving to Thriving. I’ll invite us to take to heart the central imperative of our religiously humanist tradition: that the goal of the spiritual life is human flourishing. How can we shift out of “survival mode” and embrace life fully in the New Year?

Sunday’s service will include beautiful music from the First Parish Choir, as well as a children’s story. After service, we’ll gather in the parlor for a warm lunch of soup and bread. I hope you’ll join us.

In the meantime, I leave you with a poem by Lucille Clifton that invites us to consider one of the important spiritual practices of this season of new beginnings: forgiveness.

i am running into a new year

By Lucille Clifton

i am running into a new year

and the old years blow back

like a wind

that i catch in my hair

like strong fingers like

all my old promises and

it will be hard to let go

of what i said to myself

about myself

when i was sixteen and

twenty-six and thirty-six

even thirty-six but

i am running into a new year

and i beg what i love and

i leave to forgive me

Christmas Eve at First Parish

Join us on December 24 at 4:00 pm for our Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols. Rev. Rob Hardies, Lead Minister, will offer a Christmas Message and our Choir will lead us in beautiful music of the season. Everyone is welcome!

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