Sometimes life brings us to tears. But can those same tears also point us back to life’s blessings? What can we learn from our tears? What do they teach us? What do they mean? Rev. Rob Hardies preaching

Join us for a sermon by Rev. Mary Margaret Earl, Executive Director of UU Urban Ministry. She will lead us in reflecting on navigating the overwhelming noise and news without losing sight of our work for justice.

Biography
The Rev. Mary Margaret Earl has served as Executive Director and Senior Minister of the Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry for 11 years. In this ministry, she works for racial justice and to strengthen connections between UUs and the Roxbury neighborhood where the UUUM operates. She has served on the leadership team of Moral Movement Massachusetts, the Roxbury Cultural Network, and the search committee for the Roxbury Community College president. Prior to her arrival at the UU Urban Ministry, she spent 10 years at a faith-based nonprofit in RI serving the homeless community, She is past president of the Board of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, recipient of the Heroes of Faith Award from the Rhode Island State Council of Churches for her interfaith work, and received a Courage of Conscience award from the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, MA. She is a longtime vegan committed to standing up for nonhumans.

Join the Environmental Justice Team as we stand out for Climate Justice and Earth Rehydration (instead of sea-level rise). Now is the eleventh hour for action, and so on the eleventh of each month, we toll the church bell to sound the alarm. The Boston Area Brigade of Activist Musicians (BABAM) will first rehearse indoors. We’ll provide signs to hold and wave at people passing by. A good time is had, even during these troubled times, when people applaud, and MBTA buses honk in solidarity. “And when the Earth comes marching home. . . “ You know the tune, join us with others to belt out common sense. Together we can. 

Late in the day on Easter, the disciples were walking along the road when they encountered their rabbi Jesus—whom at first they failed to recognize. The story suggests that Easter is not complete—new life is not possible—until we can see in another’s countenance, the face of a friend, or even the image of God. Rev. Rob Hardies preaching.

Link to video of the sermon

As the poet Naomi Shihab Nye wrote, "The river is famous to the fish, the loud voice is famous to the silence, the cat sleeping on the fence is famous to the birds." As we go through life, we cannot help but to be famous to the people and communities we spend time with and leave our imprint on, whether it through our words or our actions. The question then remains, if we cannot help but be famous for something, what fame, no matter how small, do we want to be known for? Ministerial Intern, Valentin Frank preaches.

Link to video of the sermon

Do you or your loved ones find yourselves spending too much time staring into the black screens of your smartphones, doom scrolling through the news and the social apps? Are you looking for more meaningful connections? If so, you are not alone! According to former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, loneliness and social isolation are a public health crisis. Luckily, there is a solution. Come explore the wisdom of the ancients on the life-affirming value of cultivating friendships. We are never too young or too old to make a new friend. Rev. John O’Connor preaches.

Bio for Rev. John O’Connor:

Rev. John has been an active member of Arlington Street Church in Boston since 1990. John graduated from Harvard Divinity School in 2022 and then served as the Intern Minister at First Church in Belmont. He was then ordained at Arlington Street Church where he currently serves as the Community Minister for Good Works. John’s work centers on pastoral care and counseling, social justice organizing, and serving as a guest preacher at many of our local UU congregations. Outside of church, John is an avid reader, and when time permits, he noodles around a bit on the piano.

Link to video of the sermon

Our lives are rarely simple and often overwhelmingly complex. We are quick to fix, to solve, to save - to rush past what is difficult on our way to something sweeter. But what if the full flavor of being alive comes from welcoming every taste?  In the midst of it all, what does it mean to truly savor life? Sophia Doescher preaches.

Link to the sermon

Someone said to me recently: “Rob, I feel like the church is the only place I can believe in love anymore.” How do we keep loving when love itself strains credulity? Perhaps this is precisely what our faith calls us to embrace: a Love Beyond Belief. What might such a love mean for our lives and our world? Rev. Rob Hardies preaching.

Link to the SERMON

Legend has it that the great religious reformer Martin Luther was once asked what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow. He answered: “I’d plant a tree today.” What can this brief story teach us about hope, grief and love in the face of the climate crisis and other losses? How do we love what we may one day lose? Rev. Rob Hardies preaching.

Link to the sermon

Harvard Book Store welcomes Michael Pollan―New York Times bestselling author of ten books, including This Is Your Mind on Plants and How to Change Your Mind―for a discussion of his new book, A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness.

Buy tickets here

Please Note: Tickets to this event are sold out. There will have a stand-by line at the church. If any seats are still open five minutes before the event begins, Harvard Book Store will sell tickets to those in the stand-by line on a first-come, first-served basis.

Harvard Book Store welcomes Matt Dinniman―artist, musician and bestselling author of several books, including the bestselling Dungeon Crawler Carl series―for a discussion of his first stand alone novel Operation Bounce House. He will be joined in conversation by Laura Martens―Arts Editor-at-Large for The Harvard Crimson and president of the Harvard Pops Orchestra. 

Hymn writer Harry Emerson Fosdick expresses the longing of our hearts in a time marred by fear: Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of the hour, for the living of these days. Increasingly, our daily lives and our moment in history call on us to be courageous. But where does courage come from? And how can we become more brave? Guest Minister, Rev. Lauren Smith preaches.

Link to the SERMON

In Unitarian Universalism, we often speak about the love at the center of our values and principles, the love that guides us. But what is this thing we call love? And what if we don't all agree? Join us this morning to hear members of First Parish's Young Adult Group reflect on the meaning of Love in this heartbreaking world. Assistant Minsiter Sophia preaches. 

Link to the SERMON

Since the pandemic, facial coverings have become a regular—and now sinister—feature of American life. Once a staple of PPE, masks are now a significant element of urban streetwear, protest culture, and, chillingly, federal “law enforcement.” My concern about masks is as much about what they hide as what they reveal. What they reveal about who we’ve become, and how we’ve allowed ourselves to be governed. What’s the meaning of a mask? Rev. Rob Hardies preaching.

Link to the SERMON

Our spiritual ancestor Thoreau wrote: “Heaven is under our feet.” With these words he encourages us in our religious search to “get our head out of the clouds,” as it were, and discover the sacred all around us. What does it look like to build a spirituality not from thin air, but from the solid matter of our beautiful world. Rev. Rob Hardies preaching.

Please Note: Tickets to this event are sold out. We will have a stand-by line at the church. If any seats are still open five minutes before the event begins, we will sell tickets to those in the stand-by line on a first-come, first-served basis.

Harvard Book Store welcomes Margaret Atwood―prize-winning author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays, including The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments, and a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature―for a discussion of her memoir, Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts. She will be joined in conversation by Robin Young—Peabody Award–winning documentary filmmaker and host of NPR's Here & Now.

Thin Places and Narrow Passages: Musical Pathways to the Unbound Spirit features the bold expression of Eudaimonia Voices in an entirely vocal and choral concert that transports and transcends, to the mystical realm, to ecstasy, to a sweet safe haven.

With Eudaimonia’s characteristic diversity of repertoire from the 16th century through the current day, this program centers around Benjamin Britten’s Hymn to St. Cecilia,  while also encompassing otherworldly period works by Byrd, Blow, and Billings, and dipping into contemporary and Appalachian song.

Eudaimonia’s Social Action Partnership for this event will highlight the freeing work of Lesley University’s program for Dance and Movement Therapy, which teaches the power of dance as a channel for trauma recovery and community repair. 

Eudaimonia continues their connection with the social justice initiatives and music program of First Parish in Cambridge where Eudaimonia is Artist-in-Residence. 

Admission is Pay-What-You-Decide ($20 recommended). Follow this link to purchase tickets.

Worship on ZOOM Only at 10:30 am  

The City of Cambridge has issued a Snow Emergency Parking Ban beginning at 10:00 am tomorrow, therefore, in-person worship at First Parish is cancelled.  Instead we will gather at 10:30 am on Zoom (Meeting ID 155 025 783).  Guest preacher, Phoebe Eckart-Lee will deliver a morning message and Assistant Minister, Sophia Doescher will assist with the rest of the service.  

One of our ongoing rental groups, Rock Voices Chorus will be having a fundraising concert in the Meeting House on Sunday, January 18 at 5:00 pm.  The concert will feature songs by The Beach Boys, Ozzy Osbourne, Supertramp, Sly and the Family Stone, Adele, Prince, The Bangles, Cyndie Lauper, James Taylor and more!

This concert will benefit Food For Free. Tickets available at the door and online at Eventbrite. $20/$15/$10 (children 12 & under are free)

For more information go to www.RockVoices.com

We will hew out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. – Martin Luther King, Jr. 

In his I Have a Dream speech, Dr. King speaks of a faith that allows us to fashion hope from despair. What is this hope born of despair? And what are the practices by which we chip away at our mountain of despair until all that remains in our hands is small, sturdy stone called hope? Rev. Rob Hardies preaching.

Once upon a time, there were people who believed wealth and power could be hoarded and kept forever. And once upon a time, there were those who knew how to take it back: the tricksters, the mischief-makers. How might we be the mischief-makers of our time? Sophia Doescher preaches.

Video Recording

The psychiatrist Rachel Naomi Remen writes, “What we do to survive is often different from what we need to do in order to live.” And the religious life is an invitation to live life fully and abundantly—to not merely survive but to thrive. After a year of collective hunkering down and survival, how can we reclaim our lives and thrive in the New Year? Rev. Rob Hardies preaches.

Video Recording

Please join us at 4 pm on Christmas Eve for our annual Candlelight Service of Lessons and Carols. The First Parish Choir is preparing some beautiful music for this service, and I will offer a Christmas homily. Invite your friends and family to join us for this special celebration! Our earlier start time allows you to return home in time for Christmas Eve meals and celebrations.\

Video Recording

On Christmas Eve, help us prepare and serve a special Christmas lunch for our Wednesday Meals guests. You can sign up here for volunteer shifts throughout the day. Thank you!

On the winter solstice, on the shortest and darkest day of the year, it is easy to dwell on all the things that make us fearful and and uncomfortable in the dark; so instead, let us respond with joy. Come join us for an intergenerational service to ring in the new solar year with smiles on our faces and music in our hearts. Valentin Frank preaches

Video Recording

Serenade shoppers and strollers from the front steps of the church! Kids can pass out candy canes while we fill the air with festive song. Meet in the Meeting House at 12:00 to run through the carols, then sing out front starting around 12:30. 

Christmas Play December 14

Follow Mary, Joseph, and the donkey on their journey to the place where they welcome new life and light! We warmly invite you to join us for our annual Christmas Play at First Parish, produced by the RE Team and enacted by our children and teens. This year we will offer three magical advent stories, along with musical accompaniment directed by Kenneth Griffith and narration by Rob Hardies. There will be baby lambs, wise shepherds, angels, a stubborn ox, and Christmas Mice! 

Too often peace feels elusive and fragile, outside of our control, beyond our understanding. It is tempting to look for a peace we can truly know so that we can cultivate it in our lives. So what do we do when the only peace we find is one we cannot know?

Video Recording

At the holidays, some of us will dust off recipes handed down from our families: instructions for making holiday meals, cookies and other treats. Our families also pass down recipes of faith, instructions and models for what it means to be a person of faith. How do we relate to and reckon with the religion we inherited from our families in ways that allow us to develop a life-giving spirituality of our own? Rev. Rob Hardies preaches