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?

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

"Come with whatever seed of faith you can muster, and listen…” -Enfleshed Liturgies

Join us for a celebration of faith and doubt through story and song. Matt Meyer will reflect on a high stakes wager, a secret doubt, and what it takes to stand up to bullies in heaven and earth. 

Matt is an itinerant troubadour and worship leader who has led hundreds of services for UU congregations across the country. He has a degree in hand drumming and serves as Director of Community Life for Sanctuary Boston.

One consistent element in our worship service is the hymn Spirit of Life. More than a song, it is a prayer - a plea, even - for Spirit to draw near: Spirit of Life, come unto me. For the hymn’s creator, Carolyn McDade, this hymn and this plea emerged from a difficult political moment, not unlike the one we face today. What wisdom can McDade’s hymn offer us now? And what does Spirit of Life reveal about our shared understanding of the sacred? Rev. Rob Hardies preaches.

Video Recording

17th century Japanese pot Matsuo Basho writes:

Deep into autumn
and this caterpillar
still not a butterfly.

As we find ourselves deep into autumn - deep into this long, tender transition of our lives and our world - let us come together amid the uncertainty of what comes next, holding one another in possibility. Sophia Doescher preaches.

Pema Chodron writes: “To. live is to be willing to die over and over again.” As we grow and change, we are constantly “dying” to our old selves and being “born” anew. Perhaps, then, we know more than we think we do about the border between life and death. Perhaps we’ve already glimpsed our lives from both sides. This All Souls Sunday we remember our dear, departed loved ones, and consider how accepting our mortality can be a source of power and strength in our lives. Rev. Rob Hardies preaches.

Video Recording

As the days grow cooler and shorter, we find ourselves turning to our community for a sense of warmth. With the autumn holiday of Samhain just around the corner, we take this time to reflect on all the things that hold us together, from the solemn and serious to the light-hearted, joy-filled and serendipitous. Valentin Frank preaches.

Video Recording

There is within each of us a place of inner peace and strength. In a time when we so often feel buffeted and worn down by the world, how do we re-discover and regularly return to this place? How can we move through the world from this place of peace and strength? Rev. Rob Hardies preaches.

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What is lost when we place the "objective” above lived experience, memory, or the truth of our interconnected lives? Join Sophia Doescher and our Indigenous Justice Working Group as we gather the threads of perfectionism, urgency, and objectivity to practice truth-telling that resists erasure and reclaims our shared humanity. Sophia Doescher preaches

Video Recording

After the US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two communities—one American, one Japanese—sought to forge a relationship based on peace and reconciliation. In honor of Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, Rev. Rob will share perspectives on forgiveness and atonement from his involvement in a decades-long relationship with Japanese Buddhists and survivors of the atomic bomb. Rev. Rob Hardies preaches.

Video Recording

The poem "Outwitted" by Edwin Markham tells us what to do:

He drew a circle that shut me out--
Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!

Join us so we can draw the circle together, with The Rev. Dr. Thandeka guest preaching.

Video Recording

These days, it feels like many of the causes and institutions we believe in are facing devastating setbacks; the values we cherish and the people we love are threatened. How do we find the spiritual and emotional fortitude to persevere in our struggle for the good, when so much we care about seems ‘lost’? Rev. Rob Hardies preaching.

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We live in a world saturated with urgency: urgent news, urgent crises, urgent demands. Even our search for self understanding presents with a looming deadline. Yet, the function of urgency persists, so how do we know when urgency is truly necessary—and when it hinders our search for wholeness? Sophia Doescher preaching

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Join us for Homecoming Sunday! As we come together to celebrate the beginning of a new church year, we’ll reflect on the importance of community and friendship in our lives. When times are tough, we must nurture our relationships, turning to one another for encouragement and support. Only in relationship, can we discover the meaning of our lives. Preaching: Rev. Robert Hardies

The phrase “Good Morning” may be just about the most universally used set of two words in the English language. For many of us, it is the first thing that we speak on any given day and we repeat it dozens of times. But does “Good Morning” mean that every morning is automatically good? What about mornings that are not good? Join us to reflect on the nature of beginnings, the intentions we put into the world, and the art of connection. Preaching: Valentin Frank

We live in uncertain times filled with both possibility and peril, not to mention the daily joys and challenges of living. What are your hopes, dreams and fears in this moment? What are the urgent spiritual, moral, ethical, and religious questions that are on your heart as we face these turbulent times? Please submit your questions ahead of time to Rev. Rob and on Sunday he’ll answer as many as we have time for. Preaching: Rev. Robert Hardies

Join us for a perfect sermon—which, spoiler alert, might not be perfect at all. Many of us carry a quiet belief that if we just try hard enough, we can get it all right. How can we practice letting go of the temptation of perfection? What might happen if we do? Preaching: Sophia Doescher, M.Div.

The summer months remind us that a vacation can be a beautiful thing. But it has its limits. While we can take a vacation from work and from the routines and stresses of our daily lives, I’ve discovered to my dismay that I can’t take a vacation from…myself! From my imperfections, attachments, insecurities and foibles. How do we learn to accept ourselves for all of who we are? Preaching: Rev. Robert Hardies

Stories, wisdom and tales on keeping going. Of course, there’s a lot to be said for the wisdom of quitting too but this morning we’re focused on how to keep going – from potty training to pilgrimage! Preaching: Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen

Stories, wisdom and tales on keeping going. Of course, there’s a lot to be said for the wisdom of quitting too but this morning we’re focused on how to keep going – from potty training to pilgrimage! Preaching: Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen

We are seeing, across the country, attempts to legislate transgender individuals out of existence. The long history of transgender and gender queer experience teaches us that this effort will not succeed. Join us this Sunday in holding up our trans siblings in their full and divine personhood and envision the kind of future we can work towards together. Preaching: Caleigh Grogan

My faith calls me to work in service of peace and justice; I believe it is not only the right thing to do, but the only thing to do if we desire a future for the human race. Join us in exploring what makes us human and how we might affirm and promote humane ways of being in the world especially in the face of international violence and disregard for human life. Preaching: Caleigh Grogan

“This land was made for you and me” the famous folk song goes. It feels particularly important this Fourth of July to think about who is included when we think about “Americans” and who is left out. Join us in exploring national identity and honoring the diversity of people and perspectives that make this country what it is. Preaching: Caleigh Grogan

In times of disaster, people find courage and form extraordinary communities to bring hope and aid to each other. At times like this it’s important for us to be reminded of the power we have to make a difference in the world and in doing so transform ourselves. Preaching: Rev. Hank Peirce

Join us in celebrating Juneteenth, the holiday that commemorates the end of chattel slavery in the United States. Let us rejoice in what it means to be free and reflect on the work of continued liberation for ourselves and one another. Preaching: Caleigh Grogan