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August Steeple - 2005
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a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association,
26 Pleasant Street, Newburyport, MA 01950
Office Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Monday through Friday
Church Phone: (978) 465-0602 - Minister's Line: (978) 465-6504 - Fax: (978) 462-0384
Web Page: www.frsuu.org - e-mail: frsuu@netway.com
The Rev. Harold E. Babcock, Minister The Rev. Bertrand H. Steeves, Minister Emeritus
Rev. Harold Babcock
"Acedia"
Acedia (ah-SEE-dia) is sometimes defined as "spiritual torpor and apathy," sometimes as "ennui": boredom or indifference, and sometimes even as "stupor." It's an old monastic term that we might even translate as "depression," or at least as "feeling blue." I don't know about you, but for me it covers a host of evils to which I am occasionally subject and to which I suspect that you are, too. It is especially so as I begin to long for the return of spring. The sermon will investigate.
Flowers: The flowers for this morning's service are donated by Jennifer Day and Marc Cendron in loving memory of Harold and Betty Whiting and Brice Day Cendron.
Steeple: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated in memory of H. P. Hale and his beloved wife, Laura Marquand Hale.
Ushers: Jim and Jack Dyer.
FRS Current Events Forum: 9:30 in Lower Meetinghouse Conference Room. The topic is genocide in Darfur.
Association Sunday
Tom Stites
This is our annual Association Sunday, when we celebrate Unitarian Universalism as a faith that encompasses the more than 1,000 congregations from coast to coast that come together in the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. Recent guest preachers for Association Sundays have included UUA President Bill Sinkford; the UUA's Massachusetts Bay District executive; and last year, John Hurley, the UUA's director of information and public witness. This year we turn to our own congregation, to FRS member Tom Stites, who is the UUA's director of denominational publishing and, most visibly, the editor and publisher of the UUA's national magazine, UU World. Tom says he will be preaching about how each and every one of us, as individual religious people in this non-creedal, non-hierarchical faith, come together as the highest authority this church knows, and how the 1,000-plus UU congregations come together as the highest authority the Association knows. The Association's purpose is to serve congregations and our faith by doing things whose scope is too large for any one congregation to handle - and this is a year, as FRS embarks on envisioning a vital future, that the UUA's services will be especially important to us.
Flowers: The flowers for this morning's service are donated by Ginger Bard, in memory of her mother, Margaret Dubuc, and in memory of Dottie Small.
Steeple: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated by Roxie and Janet Kalashian in loving memory of Carol Ann (Kalashian) Mullen.
Ushers: John and Florence Mercer.
Blue Heron - February 26
Eliot Fisk - March 12
The Jean C. Wilson Concert Series is fortunate to have two spectacular concerts this season beginning on February 26 at 4:00 with the Blue Heron vocal ensemble.
Blue Heron (www.blueheronchoir.org), directed by Scott Metcalfe, is a vocal ensemble from the Boston area specializing in Renaissance polyphony. Blue Heron combines a commitment to vivid live performance with knowledge of the latest research into source material and historical performance practice. The ensemble's principal repertoire interests in the last few years have been late 15th Century Franco-Flemish polyphony, sacred and secular Spanish music between about 1500 and 1575, and neglected early sixteenth-century English music, especially the rich and unexplored repertory of the Peterhouse partbooks (c. 1540). Founded in 1999, Blue Heron presents its own series of concerts in Boston, appears regularly at Monadnock Music in New Hampshire, and was featured at the Boston Early Music Festival in June 2005 about which the Boston Globe commented, "When Metcalfe and his exceptional group are performing it, this becomes music to listen to intently--and blissfully."
The second concert on March 12, also at 4:00, will feature the internationally renowned guitarist Eliot Fisk (www.eliotfisk.com). He will play works of Albeniz, Paganini, J.S. Bach, and Domenico Scarlatti.
Tickets for each concert are $15 and $10 for seniors and students.
The Alliance will be meeting on Tuesday, March 14, in the Parish Hall at noon. Bring your lunch; the Alliance provides dessert and coffee. The program will be Jessica Gill on Homeopathy.
Some purchased more than one
- Marquita Jackson - in memory of her cousin, Carol Kalashian Mullen
- Barbara Owen- in memory of Jean C. Wilson
- Mary Wilkins Haslinger - in loving memory of her mother, Margaret Gayden Morrill Wilkins
Some long-time canvassers (fundraisers) for the FRS find canvassing to be a yearly opportunity to interact with fellow members and friends of the FRS in a spiritual way; others claim it as the best way to get to know people in the church. Still others see in canvassing an easy-to-grasp short-term job with defined duties and short time-lines: you have only to meet with and talk with three or four others in the church, and then you're done! So when you get the call to canvass, consider it not as yet another call on your time, but instead as an opportunity, whether spiritual, social, or philanthropic, or even all three. To volunteer to canvass, call John Mercer at (978) 465-0602, ext. 404.
If you have been thinking of taking a pilgrimage to Transylvania this spring, there is still room on the UU Partner Church Council (UUPCC) Spring Pentecost Pilgrimage. Registration will close at the end of February. The trip departs from Budapest May 26 and returns on June 6th. May is a beautiful time of year in Transylvania. Come renew your spirit and celebrate this special time of year with your partners. For complete information on the Spring Pentecost Pilgrimage including detailed itinerary and registration materials visit the UUPCC website at http://www.uupcc.org/trips.html or send e-mail to travel@uupcc.org .
from the FRS Parish Committee, its senior committee
At its meeting on February 8, the Parish Committee unanimously approved calling a post-church-service meeting of the Parish to consider various issues, the most important of which is releasing $3,500.00 from a reserved status and using it to fund the hiring of a Field Education Student for the next fiscal year. Many of you may recall Frank Clarkson, who worked here two years ago under such a program. The basis of the Parish Committee's decision was to benefit from another ministerial voice, to help to train a young minister, and to prepare the FRS to accommodate an intern minister in the following fiscal year. The meeting of the Parish will be held on Sunday, March 12.
Friday, February 17, 2006
The Riverwide Music Series presents a concert on the third Friday of every month. The producers of the concert are determined to bring to a Newburyport stage the very best song writers and performers who do not currently have a large following. In that way, they may deliver concerts of extremely high quality and a reasonable ticket price, $10.00. On February 17, the opener will be Marc Herman and the headliner John Schindler. See http://www.frsuu.org/riverwid.htm for more details.
FRS member Kathy Kondylas has chosen to remember two friends by donating memorial plantings to our growing memorial garden. She celebrates the life of Eleanor P. Hall with the planting of a China Girl Holly and the life of Charles M. Parkins, Jr., with the planting of a China Boy Holly.
If you too would like to make such a memorial donation, please call Vicki Dyer at (978) 465-0602, x401.
What do you do with your winter?
Sheveport, Lousiana, February 2, 2006: I thought you and others may want to know where old Max has been this winter-certainly not sun bathing.
I first went to my favorite place that I have been going to for the past eleven years in Americus, Georgia, home of Habitat for Humanity International. I usually work on homes sponsored by the local affiliate. However, work was so slow there that I took ride down to Biloxi, Mississippi, and New Orleans to see what was going on and whether I could do anything. What a mess! Only a personal visit can really describe the destruction that happened in that area.
From Biloxi to New Orleans the homes were just washed out by the wave of water-including large fishing boats. In New Orleans the flooding completely destroyed whole communities. I just said that I've got to help here. I ran into a group called Samaritan's Purse, founded by Franklin Graham, Billy Graham's son. They do disaster relief all over the world. So I signed up with them. I just hope they don't try to convert me! I go there on February 6th for two weeks-should be interesting.
I am currently in Shreveport, Louisiana, working for The Fuller Center for housing and the local Habitat affiliate here. On my way back to Americus, I ran into Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat and now head of his own Fuller Center, separate from Habitat. Millard wanted me to go to Shreveport to help him build 60 houses for some of the 10 to 12,000 New Orleans evacuees living there. So you guessed it, I have spent the last four week here. I leave Monday for New Orleans.
It is just wonderful that I have had the opportunity to do something good for mankind.
PS: You should join me on my trip to Transylvania this summer for a couple of weeks to help the Partner Church flood relief near our partner church in Ujszekely. I will be heading up one of the work groups.
That's all for now; I'll let you know what it was all about when I return around February 25th.
Winter Film Series
from the FRS Welcoming Congregation Committee
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March 10: Priscilla Queen of the Desert Click on the movie title for a description of it. |
Join us in the Lower Meetinghouse on three Friday evenings at 7:00 p.m. for movies and refreshments, all free.
from the FRS Adult Education Committee
Our American Roots, facilitated by Alex Mezey and Julie Parker-Amery, will meet in the lower church five Tuesdays from Feb. 28 to Mar. 28, 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. This video-based discussion group will address the history of Unitarian Universalism. Each meeting will feature a video clip and readings on the significant issues and people in our faith history including commentary by contemporary UU ministers. These are our springboard for discussion. This is a continuation of the course started last fall.
We'll be starting with a brief review and move on to discuss Emerson, Thoreau and the Transcendentalists, Theodore Parker, the concepts of the Free Pulpit and the Free Pew. This course will give you a unique perspective on the significant role our religious forebears had on the development of our nation. Call (978) 465-0602 x401 to register and order the workbook ($12). Deadline to sign up is Friday, February 17. Please register even if you took the first five sessions.
Newburyport: Three Centuries of Change, 1640-1940, led by Ben Labaree will meet in the lower church Thursdays Mar. 2, 9, and 16, from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. Parishioner Ben Labaree is a local historian and former professor of history at Williams College. At each session Ben will focus on Newburyport as it was in the years 1640, 1770, and 1940. Our church figures in that history, though much else was happening. Ben has studied Newburyport area history for many years and presents it in a very engaging way. Back by popular demand! Call (978) 465-0602 x401 to register. Deadline to sign up is February 23.
Stop by the FRS office for a full catalog of winter and spring Adult Education offerings.
Saturday, March 18
For your to-do list ==> Now that you've written the material and practiced it, it may be time to call a director and producer or hire that harmony singer.
All during February, the Community Human Services Committee will be collecting for the Pettengill House. Donations of personal items are badly needed: toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, combs, brushes, diapers, hand cream, shampoo, conditioner, deodorant, razors, shaving cream, feminine hygiene, band aides, essentially anything from CVS. There is also a need for financial aid toward fuel assistance. Donations can be cash or check (made to Pettengill House) and given to Eileen Fitzgerald, Ann Power, or Carol Kilty.
The next meeting of Lunch with the Minister will be on Tuesday, February 28, at noon. The short story under discussion will be "Watching Her Die," by Reynolds Price. Read the story, and bring a sandwich. All are welcome.
