Flowers: The flowers for today's service are donated by John and David Dodge in loving memory of longstanding FRS members Caroline and Allen Dodge.

Steeple Lighting: The steeple lighting this week is donated by Roxie and Janet Kalashian in loving memory of Carol Ann (Kalashian) Mullen.

Chalice Lighters: Laurie Christiansen and Richard George

Steeple Lighting: The steeple lighting this week is donated by Melanie Larocca in memory of Michael Tye.

Chalice Lighters: Peter and Kelly McNamee.

Current Events Forum: at 9:30 a.m. in Lower Meetinghouse Conference Room - Topic: Can There Be Justice for All?

Young Church Flower Communion: The Young Church flower communion service will be held Sunday, May 8. All children should plan to bring a flower. This year, we will NOT go to Maudslay State Park, but will stay on church grounds for the service. Please contact Julie Parker Amery if you have any questions.

Coffeehouse Report: The UU Coffeehouse, held to raise money for our eight youth planning to go to Transylvania this summer, was a huge success. The youth raised close to $700 that night, and more the next morning at a bake sale. Thanks to emcees Justin Turner and Mackenzie Mathieu-Busher, to all performers, and to those who came to show their support. Special thanks to Michael Fosburg for his invaluable assistance in organizing the event.

Photos courtesy of Ken Okaya

Young Church Social Action Term: Registration forms for the YC Social Action term will be distributed on May 8 and are asked to be returned by May 15. All children and youth are invited to participate in one of three projects for the remaining Sundays of the church year. Please contact Julie Parker Amery if you do not receive a form.

It's Not Too Early . . . to sign up to teach in Young Church next year! Teaching is a great way to get to know other people in our community, to learn more about FRS and Unitarian Universalism, and to have fun. The commitment is approximately eight Sundays throughout the church year. All teachers work as part of a team, so you are never alone. Training, supplies, and curricula are provided. What could be better? A sign up sheet is located downstairs in the Parish Hall, or speak to Julie Parker Amery if you're interested.

Thank you to those who have already signed up to teach next year: Ruth Allen, Bonnie MacDonald, Anne Ganzenmuller, Alex Gramling, Ellen Wolff, Julie Menin, Beverly Lacey, Traci Gere, Marie Murray, Cecilia Healy, Ellen Sheehy, Celeste Royce, and Patricia Reeser.

For those who have signed up to bring food: Please come by the Parish Hall on Friday evening, May 6, between 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. for drop-off. If you have questions or have forgotten what you signed up to bring or do, please call Marilyn Archibald or send her e-mail her at jamesmil@greennet.net.

The rummage mavens, Florence Mercer and Anne Verret-Speck, thank their tireless workers: Lorraine Adelman, Marj Babcock, Barbara Bell, Linda Buddenhagen, Beth Cawley, Vicki Dyer, Pam Fenner, Wendy Ford, Coddie Fraser, Pamela Herman, Janet Howell, Penny Johnson, Janet Kalashian, Ruth Lang, Leslie Lipkind, Judy MacGregor, Karen McCarty, Susan Moses, Judith Niles, Pat Ouelette, Barbara Owen, Anne Power, Marge & Jerry Peterson, Betty Pike, Cary Plumer, Jane Purinton, Joan Smart, Forrest Speck, Anne Spraker, Maxine Steeves, Anne White, and Cynthia Williams. Their thanks also go out to all the generous donors and eager buyers. Start planning for next fall!

The Dove Campaign Goes National . . . with your help -The Social Action Committee is looking for people interested in spreading peace throughout the nation and the world. If you have a friend in a city far away (or close by!) whom you think would be interested in initiating a Children As Peacemakers campaign in their city, we have materials ready for you!

What is the Dove Campaign? The Dove Campaign is a project created to raise awareness of peace and to help children realize the importance of working together in a peaceful and cooperative way. You have probably seen the billboards outside our church and in front of other schools, churches and social organizations in the area.

What is the vision of the Dove Campaign? To sum it up, imagine that the 22 "Children As Peacemakers" billboards we see in our town were repeated in towns across the country and the world, creating a network of billboards spreading peace everywhere!

How can you help out? Order a copy of the Dove Campaign Video ($10, to cover production costs) and brochures, then send them to a friend in another city and encourage them to start a Children As Peacemakers campaign in their area. It's that simple!! To order a video, write to Liss Campbell (lisscampbell@earthlink.net).

NAMI Walk - On May 14, 2005, Carole Bisgrove, a parishioner here at First Religious Society, is going to be participating in the inaugural NAMI Massachusetts WALK for the Mind of America. Walking in memory of her brother who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, Carole hopes to raise awareness about mental health issues and the impact on individuals living with mental illness and their families.

NAMI, The National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, is a non-profit "grassroots" organization established in 1979 by family members of individuals with severe mental illness. NAMI coordinates local support programs, community education and awareness building activities, and advocates for better services and funding for people with mental illness. All net proceeds from the WALK will be used to increase community outreach and education, build future leaders, and further NAMI's mission to new families and individuals living with mental illness.

Carole will be walking with the NAMI North East Essex Team. She can be reached at family@bisgrove.com. You can get more information about NAMI and/or the WALK by going to their web site www.namimass.org, or by calling 781-938-4048.

These are dinners for eight, a wonderful way for all adults in our community to get together in small informal groups in the homes of various volunteer hosts and hostesses. Those new to the community are particularly welcome! This is a strictly social event. If you prefer, you may sign up to attend or to host a family circle dinner that includes your child or children.

You can sign up to be a host or a guest. Hosts open their home and provide the table settings and something for the shared meal. Hosts also coordinate the dishes that the various guests will provide. Guests bring a dish for the shared meal (hors d'oeuvres, main dish, side dishes, or dessert) as well as their own beverages.

Emerson Country Tour: On Saturday, May 21 (rain date June 4), Harold will lead his annual Emerson Country Tour. You will walk in the footsteps of famous Unitarians and Universalists at Harvard Divinity Hall Chapel where Emerson made his famous address. You will stroll in the beautiful Mt. Auburn Cemetery seeing the graves of John Murray, William Ellery Channing, Dorothea Dix and other famous people. You'll visit Walden Pond where Thoreau wrote his memorable text. And finally, in Concord you will visit the Manse, where Emerson grew up, and the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where he is buried along with Thoreau and the Alcott Family. Bring a lunch, wear comfortable shoes, and carpool with your church friends. Call the church office at 465 0602 to register.

John wrote to Wendy
Thank you for the idea, Wendy. It's just what's needed, for people to understand, before they pledge, what their giving and commitment support mean and what will be lost without their full support. And that is what we try to get across with the canvass brochure and the canvasser training. There is, in our church, a reluctance, however, to take time with money matters, to discuss them thoroughly. People often act as if they just want to get through the canvass process with the least communication possible: "Just put me down for what I gave last year," they often say, trying in the most expedient and expeditious way to be generous but not to discuss money, commitment, the FRS.

The greater difficulty is, of course, hinted at in your last sentence. Many people give to our church as if it were one of their charitable obligations, say, like National Public Radio or OxFam, or some other worthy cause. That's new and different. The church in the past had been a major community commitment that people made, an investment in community, not a charitable transaction. I say this having seen many, many people this year when canvassed generously offering up a once-a-year check for, say, $200 rather than a considerably larger pledge to be paid over a year's time. So, what the FRS really needs financially is a rededication to what community and church giving is about, as opposed to a good-cause check.

As you can see, I would disagree somewhat with the implications of your last sentence: your church is not some group; it's your church. You don't spend your Sundays singing with the wonderful people from the Women's Crisis Center, don't sit in silent meditation with the good people at the Red Cross, don't roll up your sleeves and wash dishes with the earnest people at WBUR, don't share your secrets, and cry over them, with the nice people at Planned Parenthood. A church is considerably different from a cause or a well-intentioned group. It's the thing finally that we have committed to or are on the way to so doing. Onward, John

Wendy wrote to John
Dear John: Thank you for your thoughtful response. Yes, I'm reminded now, of the entire process, starting with the brochure, etc., and the word does get out about the need, in a fairly specific way. Perhaps when people see the actual cuts that need to be made, there will be additional pledges (I hope). Your last point in response to mine about the competition was a bit of an eye opener. So many cherish the church, but your statement makes me wonder if people stop to distinguish their affinity for the FRS v. their other favorite non-profits, and, as you put it so well, to realize the many ways in which the church is different. As parents whose children are benefiting from the church in different but equally profound ways, we are certainly reminded of the great value and meaning of the FRS on a weekly basis, at least, and then some. What a privilege it is to be able to support the liberal religious tradition, which is now more important than ever, and to convey that notion to our children. I suppose the issue hearkens back to the age-old advertising challenge of trying to figure out what message will get through. Wish I had the answer, but I think you may be getting close with that message you just sent to me. Why don't you publish it in the Biweekly? Very best, Wendy

Dear Brothers and Sisters of Newburyport,

I feel very glad that I can be here and that I can talk to you in this holiday.

First of all I would like to greet you personally, in my name, then on behalf of the group coming from Transylvania, which hereby I introduce to you. These are Borika, my wife, then Jozsef, president of our congregation, Suzy, his wife, and last, but not at last instance, my brother, Denes, standing near by me.

Besides, I would like to transmit to you the warmest greetings of my congregation, those people who, according to our expression, are staying home to keep warm the fireplace and household. Some of you already know several people from my congregation. Sanyi, Hajni, Anne, Kati, Bela, Zoli, Misi, Ilonka, Eva, Piroska send you their love and greetings.

After this I want to thank you from all of my heart for the immense effort and work you put in, making possible our present visit in the United States. I know that it took great endeavor, some sacrifices, and a lot of moral and financial support. In this way I would like to express our gratefulness for this support.

After all this, let me on this Sunday to transmit the message of God, as it percolates through my own personality, and as with all my effort I can present and portray it to you in the following parable.

I would like to confess to you that after one week's presence in the US, I feel myself as the hero, the main character of our well known Hungarian novel, The Glaucoma-blacksmith, written by Kalman Mikszath.

The story is about a blacksmith, living in a small village, doing his job and healing people suffering from glaucoma.

He had a simple sharp knife, and cut off the glaucoma from the sick eye with a natural preciseness.

After a while, all the country came to know about this brave and simple man, and his extraordinary healing skills. Then scientists and scholarly doctors invited the blacksmith to a hospital to demonstrate his skills in public. Unfortunately, one of the professors and doctors present at this demonstration first explained the very complicated anatomy of the eye and made clear that the least needless movement can hurt the patient's eye and make him or her blind for a whole life.

Needless to say our hero did not become wiser or more skillful, but scared of the possible consequences of his deeds, and gave up the idea of healing forever.

After a one week visit in your country I almost feel like the blacksmith from the above story: I changed my perspective, my former opinions about world, human beings, and the partner church relationship.

Experiencing the achievements of science and technology, the beauty of the nature of New-England, the loveliness of the people living within, the splendor of the accumulated human culture and arts, I wonder what novelty the future can bring to you and us? What is that you expect in the future? What is it that we can help to you with?

These are the thoughts and questions of a Transylvanian minister who thought of himself as somebody knowing everything that such a minister is supposed to know.

At this moment I turn my attention toward my homeland, where quite simple people, mainly farmers, perform their best for their living. This makes me deeply conscious with the parable of the sower from the Bible.

Using this parable, Jesus wanted to induce his interlocutors and disciples to understand that not only the land needs the seeds, but the human soul also needs to flourish; if not it becomes barren, similar to a piece of land full of weeds.

Taking in further consideration this parable of the sower, I think you, Unitarians from Newburyport, have the seeds, and we, Unitarians from Ujszekely, have the land, which has to be planted.

Human beings are happy when they cooperate with God in His creative work, happy when they preserve the fertility of the land. Take as an example the flowerpot. Is there anyone of you who would not feel sorry when seeing a dying flower?

Hereafter, I ask you not to regret the seeds you have sown, the effort you have invested in this partner church relationship. Do not hesitate to sow your seeds also in the future, because these seeds will not be wasted, they will be productive and alive.

The seeds of sacrifice, goodness, thoughtfulness, tolerance, friendship and love, but also the initiatives coming from the world of science, technology, arts, culture, and language, are of divine origin, highly valuable and of durable substance.

The farmer needs at the same time the seeds and the land. These two are in mutual relationship, neither can exist without the other.

Taking as a basis human life, the great farmer, sower and harvester is nobody other than God. God knows our particular life, as He knows the laws of nature and history, His laws are the frame of existence for all creatures and systems of being.

Let us thank God that as seed and land, or as land and seed we got near to each other, and in this way we can promulgate the beauty of His world. The parable of the sower and the story of the blacksmith in this way help me to refine my hope and to conduct my thoughts in a proper way. Thank God for this hope!

Amen.

Zsolt and Borika Photos courtesy of Jakab Denes

Zsolt in the Atlantic