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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
Deadline for submission for next Steeple Biweekly is Friday, April 7, 2006, at noon.
Rev. Harold Babcock
Choir Appreciation Sunday
"Spring in Our Souls"
Last year around this time I received the following e-mail from a Transylvanian minister through the Partner Church Council chatline: "Dear Friends: In the name of the Unitarians from the Maros District we wish you Happy Easter. Usually we have a warm springtime for this holiday but this year it came a little bit late. Mostly we have spring in our souls." What would it take for us to have spring in our souls? There is so much to be discouraged about, but our faith calls us to be hopeful, if not optimistic. The sermon will investigate. We will dedicate Kaylee Jean Litcofsky during the service.
Flowers: The flowers for this morning's service are donated by Amy Weickert and Peter Cullinan in loving memory of Barbara Shaw Weickert, whose birthday is April 7.
Steeple: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated by John Harwood.
Ushers: Marge and Jerry Peterson.
Chalice Lighters: The FRS Choir.
Coffee Hour: Barbara Burnim & Ruth Rankin.
Make sure to thank our choir members for their splendid commitment and talent; they'll be the ones in robes at the coffee hour.
FRS Current Events Forum: 9:30 in Lower Meetinghouse Conference Room. The topic is "What is Soul?"
Rev. Harold Babcock
"Radical Hospitality"
This is the Sunday traditionally celebrated in the Christian churches as Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his teaching there. That teaching was not welcomed by the authorities then, and I suspect that it would not be particularly welcome now. None of us likes to listen to what we disagree with, especially when it threatens our power or prestige. Religious writer Kathleen Norris has written (in The Cloister Walk) that " . . . hospitality is at the center of it all. In a world in which we are so easily labeled and polarized by our differences--man/woman, Protestant/Catholic, gay/straight, feminist/chauvinist--monastic hospitality is a model of the kind of openness that we need if we are going to see and hear each other at all." The sermon will investigate the challenge of "radical hospitality."
Flowers: The flowers for this morning's service are donated by Esther Macomber in loving memory of her husband, Blair; her son, David; and her daughter, Cynthia.
Steeple: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated by Carol Young, in memory of her husband, Kenneth H. Young.
Ushers: Lisa and Mei Li Johnson.
Coffee Hour: Cynthia Williams & Scott Cawley
Looking ahead to our Easter/Passover Intergenerational service on April 16: "The Life That Now Is." Harold Babcock preaching.
Clothes, Clothes & Clothes
March 31 and April 1
Bring your clothes donations to the church office Monday through Thursday mornings, March 26 through 30. We will sort Thursday and Friday afternoons, preparing for the sales Friday night 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. and Saturday morning 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. We need shoppers and workers: you'll see many friends and bargains too.
Sunday, April 2, 7:00 p.m.
The Candlelight Choir and Soloists under the direction of Frances Burmeister with pianist Robert Littlefield present the Petite Messe Solennelle by Gioacchino Rossini on Sunday, April 2 at 7:00 P.M.
By the year 1829 the Italian composer Rossini had written many operas and orchestral works and retired. No one really knows why, but there is a lot of speculation - perhaps he was ill, maybe he was totally disgusted with the way his works were altered and downright mangled by producers trying to reach a larger audience. But in 1864 he began to write again and referred to these works as "sins of my old age." Tongue firmly planted in cheek, he wrote the Mass using the complete sacred text. It is neither petite (248 pages!) nor is it particularly solemn. This effervescent work is one of the most outrageous of the 19th century. Clichés are everywhere-sequences that go on forever, a grand coda followed by another coda and maybe even another one, the piano running scales as fast as possible, and arias as schmaltzy as anything out there. As a matter of fact, the great tenor Enrico Caruso sang the Domine Deus as his favorite encore. Soloists are FRS favorites Jane Niebling, Anne Spraker, Ann Tucker, Bettina Turner, and Elizabeth Vitale, sopranos; Joan Carroll, Sue Ellen Creed, Suzanne Munroe, and Catherina Tymann, altos; Neal Ferreira, Bill Heenehan, and Emery Rice, tenors; and Jim Gustafson, Bill Holloway, Frank Murgida, and John Vetne, bass. Join us for a fun evening of sacred music in the grandest of grand opera tradition! A $10 donation will be accepted.
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from the FRS Membership Committee
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. The Host also coordinates the dishes that the various guests will provide. If you have never hosted before, please consider it this year. We can adjust the number of guests if your space is small!
Guests bring a dish for the shared meal (hors d'oeuvres, main dish, side dishes, or dessert) plus their own beverages.
Depending on the level of interest, we try to organize the parties into adult dinners, family dinners, and this year, for the first time, we will try a Singles Dinner. Please sign-up at coffee hour after the church service or contact Vicki Dyer in the church office.
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The start is good, but the end is nigh. The annual canvass, which began last week, and has thus far raised $190,000 for annual operations next fiscal year from 120 pledgers. The goals are $300,000 from 255 pledgers, and the scheduled end of the canvass is April 2. If you are eagerly awaiting a call that is not apparently coming your way, call John Mercer at (978) 465-0602, x404. He'd be glad to direct you toward your canvasser or take your pledge for the FRS's annual operations.
On Saturday, April 8, at 3 30 pm., Youth Group members are going to meet at the church for a beach clean-up (Plum Island), to be followed by our annual pizza-movie party at the lower church. We will finish up by 8:00 or 9:00 p.m. All Youth Group members, past and present, as well as UU kids who are at least 14 years old, may join us. It is a lot of fun!! For info, contact Becky at dillokaya@comcast.net.
Tuesday, April 11, noon
The April meeting of the Women's Alliance will be held on Tuesday, April 11 at noon. Bring your lunch. Beverages and dessert will be provided. After our lunch and meeting, we will move to the upstairs hall where we will be treated to a piano concert by FRS Youth Choirs Director Claudia Keyian. She has also offered to participate in a sing-along.
from the FRS Adult Education Committee
America's Heart and Soul - Saturday April 1, 7:00 p.m., Lower Meetinghouse - Free - No registration required. Please join Marie Murphy and the Adult Ed Committee for an evening of film and conversation about what inspires and heals. America's Heart & Soul tells the stories of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things, revealing through their joy and passion their greatest gifts. Patriotism has rarely looked as heartfelt as in this documentary by Louis Schwartzberg. The film captures everyday Americans from all walks of life doing extraordinary things. Balance the negative news about our country with the spirit of our fellow citizens and the beauty of our land. The film will be shown Saturday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m. in the Lower Parish Hall. It's free, all are welcome.
Too Young to Retire: What's Next for You? - Seven Wednesday mornings from April 5 through May 17, from 10:00 10 12:00 noon, Lower Meetinghouse Conference Room - materials fee of $25.00 includes copy of Too Young To Retire - facilitated by Alexandra Mezey, LICSW, Life Coach - To register, call Alex or email her at alex@lifeclaritycoaching.com. Registration deadline is deadline April 1.
This is a workshop for Ageless Adventurers. Are you already in or nearing retirement and unsure how to reshape your life? Are you wondering which way to turn, or turning so many ways you've lost direction? Would you like more structure and meaning in your life? This interactive workshop, based on the popular book Too Young to Retire and other resources, will help you discover new perspectives and possibilities for a meaningful Post Career Life. By tackling key issues like money, work, civic engagement, wellness, lifelong learning, relationships and leisure, you'll explore options, set goals and take action as you re-balance your life based on choices that matter to you. Join the conversation-you may be retiring from a career, but you're not retiring from life!
Exploring Unitarian Universalism and FRS Membership - Sunday, April 9, 23, and 30 - from 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Have you been considering becoming a member of the First Religious Society but wanted to know more about Unitarian Universalism and what it means to be a member? Here's your chance. Meet with Rev. Harold Babcock and FRS Administrator John Mercer to talk in a small group after church on April 9, 23, and 30. Bring your coffee to the Conference Room and join in.
from the FRS Building & Grounds Committee
Mark Saturday, May 6, as spring clean-up day on your calendar. More news to follow.
A rich, new volume recently appeared on our shelves: The Peabody Sisters - Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism, by noted biographer Megan Marshall. Elizabeth, Mary, and Sophia Peabody, "the American Brontés," had a central role in shaping the thinking of their day, a time of spiritual and intellectual transcendence. Elizabeth was a "mind-on-fire thinker" and powerful influence on the great writers of the era, including Emerson, Hawthorne, and Thoreau. She not only published some of their earliest works, but prodded them away from Emerson's individualism toward a greater connection to others. Mary was a passionate reformer who found her soul mate in the great educator Horace Mann. The frail and hypersensitive Sophia, who married Nathaniel Hawthorne, was a widely admired painter. Ms. Marshall focuses on the point at which the Peabody sisters made their indelible mark on history, during the American Renaissance. Arts and ideas flourished in an environment of intellectual freedom, spawned by the new Republic, its visionary Constitution, and electrifying thinkers such as William Ellery Channing, "America's first nationally prominent liberal theologian." Ms. Marshall uncovered thousands of letters never made public before and other unmined original sources. Twenty years in the making, this is a "landmark biography of three sisters who helped shape the American ideal -- a female Metaphysical Club."
If you are looking for a summer camp experience for kids that provides UU values, an exceptional staff-to-camper ratio, a warm welcoming community, and lots of fun, check out the brochure in the Lower Meetinghouse. Unirondack also offers a number of wonderful adult and family programs, with new programs being added every year. Some highlights in this year's program include: canoe camping and backpacking in the Adirondack Park, a new UU Pagans' Retreat, Men's and Women's Retreats, as well as a fantastic line-up of Theme Leaders for our youth camps. Come enjoy some relaxing time in an idyllic setting of unspoiled wilderness!
Would you like to help?
Would you like to help decorate the church for Easter? You may order lilies in memory or celebration of friends or loved ones. After the Easter service you may pick up your plants to enjoy in your home, plant in your garden, or give as gifts. A list of donors will appear in the Steeple Biweekly and the Order of Service. Please complete this form and return it with payment to the church office.
Wording: _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
I wish to pick up my plant(s) after the service. _____ Yes _____ No
Name:_________________________________________________________________
Telephone or e-mail: ______________________________________________________
presented by THE PHOTO INTEREST GROUP OF THE NEWBURYPORT ART ASSOCIATION
including FRS Member Pat Bashford
Showcasing the photography of the North Shore’s most talented artists.
April 8th to the 29th, 2006
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
POST ROAD FRAMERS
225 Newburyport Turnpike (Route 1)
Rowley Market Place, Rowley, MA 01969
978-948-2710
www.postroadframers.com
Sunday, May 7
Join Project Bread's Walk for Hunger on Sunday, May 7. Enjoy a festive day walking through Boston and the surrounding neighborhoods while you help our hungry neighbors in Massachusetts. With the current economic downturn, your neighbors need your help more than ever. Your pledges will support 400 food pantries, soup kitchens, food banks, and food salvage programs in 136 communities across the state.
Celebrate the spirit of giving along with 40,000 other concerned citizens by participating in this exciting and rewarding Massachusetts tradition. For more information, call 617-723-5000 or visit www.projectbread.org.
Conversations on Democracy, Beloved Community and the Legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tuesday, April 4, at 7:30 P.M.
Free public lecture at the Academy Building, Phillips Exeter Academy
53 Front St., Exeter NH.
The public is invited to hear historians Dr. Vincent Harding and his daughter Dr. Rachel E. Harding lead a public conversation on the current state of U.S. democracy and the resources of culture, spirit and struggle available for sustaining its vibrancy. This lecture is sponsored by Phillips Exeter Academy and the "We The People" Series of the Congregational and Unitarian churches of Exeter.
Vincent Harding is co-chair of the Veterans for Hope Project: A Center for the Study of Religion and Democratic Renewal at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. He has long been involved in movements for peace and justice, including the southern Black freedom struggle. Rachel Harding is adjunct professor at Iliff and lead consultant for the Veterans for Hope Project. She specializes in the religious traditions of the Afro-Atlantic diaspora and the intersections of faith, culture, and activism in social justice movements.
