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Vicki Dyer: Protector of the Church
a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association,
26 Pleasant Street, Newburyport, MA 01950
Summer Office Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon, 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
July 2 - Rev. Thomas Wintle
Pastor, First Parish Church, Unitarian-Universalist, Weston, Massachusetts
July 9 - Rev. Janet Bowering
Minister Emerita, Universalist-Unitarian Church, Haverhill, Massachusetts
July 16 - Rev. Kenneth Clarke
Pastor, First Unitarian-Universalist Church, Wilton Center, New Hampshire
Services begin at 10:45. The church is located on Route 88, near Applecrest Farms. Parking in the rear of the church. More information
For the week of June 25, by Bruce and Wendy Ford in loving memory of Wendy's father, Wendell Phillips Chapin.
For the week of July 2, by the Raschke family in loving memory of Wilhelm L. Raschke, our beloved Opa and Vati.
For the week of July 9, by Betty Gillette in memory of her parents, Russell and Rachel Gillette.
Harold's letter of agreement with the First Religious Society calls for one month of vacation and one month of on call/study time. Harold will be in St. Louis, MO, from June 20 to June 26 attending the UUA General Assembly. He will return to the office June 28 - 30. In the event of an emergency (death, accident, or serious illness) during his absences, the church office, which will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon weekdays, will be able to provide ministerial back-up.
Preparing for the next church year, we are beginning lists of those who would like to usher, to sponsor a week of Steeple Lighting for $50.00, or to donate flowers for a Sunday service. If you are interested in any of these, please call Vicki Dyer at (978) 465-0602 x401 or send her e-mail at vdyer@frsuu.org.
You don't?
Frieda Marion, our oldest member, not in years of life but in membership of the FRS, joined the church that year, at age 12, as a third-generation Unitarian. She remains alert and avidly interested in FRS doings and would love to hear from you on your sense of the church. Call the church office for her address.
from the FRS History Committee
Question: What revolutionary patriot's family produced the bell in the FRS steeple?
Watch this space for an answer. The answer to this, and many other questions, can be found in the two-volume history of the First Religious Society. Boxed sets of the history are available at $40.00 from the FRS office, open from 9:00 a.m. to noon weekdays during the summer.
Save Your Water . . . Young Church children are asked to get a small sample of water from some place their summer travels may take them: a lake, the ocean, a pond, a puddle in the driveway. The water will be used in our annual Young Church water communion service in September, when the waters of our separate journeys are mingled into one bowl. This is a service common to UU congregations across the continent and has been celebrated in our Young Church for four years. A film canister is an appropriate size.
Congratulations to our Up and Coming group and profound thanks to their mentors:
- Anita Wright and Scot Cawley, mentors to Westy Ford, Katrina Turner, and Riley Gallagher
- Mike Dorsey and Dottie DiChiara, mentors to Dustin Kelly, Liam Wilbur, Avery Cullinan, and Julia Petras
- Mary Wilkins Haslinger and Bill Zarakas, mentors to Kit Dyer, Joe Nocera, and Kathryn Tolley
Thinking for myself is one of the things that I value most about me. Everyone has the ability to do this, yet some refuse to utilize it to its full potential. They abuse this gift that they have been given.
I think that this ability has shaped me from the beginning. I was always a curious child, and my parents, both very inquisitive and well spoken themselves, helped nurture this in me.
I have always been very opinionated; ask anyone in the mentee group, they know. I never take anyone's word for something without proof, and I can never walk away from a debate or argument. Perhaps this is not my best quality, but it is the most important to me.
One of the ways that I have been able to develop this skill is by reading a lot. Books give you the tools to think for yourself by being informed and eloquent. People who say "I don't read" are basically surrendering to a life of believing what others tell them. Also, doing something like watching the news every night is important in order to think for yourself. You are given facts, and you can interpret them to form opinions.
When you think for yourself, you develop an inquisitive mind, that needs to know, to learn, to see the truth at the core of every statement. This makes life more difficult, but it makes it more rewarding as well. When you learn something, you own that particu1ar piece of knowledge and you make it yours to use as you will.
I am happy to say that the environment presented by our church is one that encourages free thinking. Our church doesn't tell you how to think, nor does it frown upon one way of thinking or another. I believe that this is also one of the reasons that I have turned out the way I am now.
The sermons, the Sunday school classes, all of it was great because it allowed and encouraged freedom of thought. Through the church, I have been encouraged to form my own thoughts and ideas. That is why it is such a special place to me.
All in all, I feel that I have in my inventory of skills, the ability to think for myself and to formulate my own opinions. This is thanks in part to my parents, my love of books, and my church. All together, those factors have made me the opinionated but informed person that I am today.
Need Help with Summer Reorganizing? Would you like to reorganize your home and get rid of clutter this summer? A charming college-aged young man is willing to help you rearrange or remove unwanted items and take them to the Salvation Army or the dump. Also great with computer questions or bringing your old clunker to recycling. To set up an appointment, call the church office.
Rev. Harold Babcock receives a scrapbook of statements, pictures, and celebratory writings marking his tenth anniversary at the First Religious Society.
Pacific Intercultural Exchange (PIE), a non profit agency, is desperately searching for host families for exceptional scholarship students from Pakistan, Yemen, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Russia, and Ukraine. Students arrive in late August and stay for an academic school year. All students speak English, have medical insurance, and their own spending money. Host families provide room, board and a supportive environment for their student. None of our students smoke. For more information, please contact: Mary Armstrong at armstrong.mary@comcast.net / website: www.pieusa.org Students must be placed by July 15th, so help is urgently needed to secure host families for these students right away.
The Church of the Larger Fellowship offers online classes and e-mail discussions. On the web, go to www.clfuu.org (click on Resources), or call 617-948-6166.
from the FRS Vision Subcommittee
An optional step of the visioning process allows for an individual reflection period during the summer. We hope that individuals will reward themselves by exploring some writings, internet references and questions for reflection. Of course, this is optional, and you can do as little or as much as you want. At a recent meeting with Alice Mann of the Alban Institute, these book titles, available in the FRS Library, were recommended:
Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation by Parker J. Palmer - illustrates various senses of call and helps one notice things about oneself
Women's Ways of Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice, and Mind by Mary Belenky, et al - shows a vision being exercised out of a relationship
Memories, Hopes, and Conversations: Appreciative Inquiry and Congregational Change by Mark Lau Branson - chapter available for downloading from Alban website - http://www.alban.org/BookDetails.asp?ID=1817
You might also consider reading Holy Conversations, by Rendle and Mann. Read, enjoy, and envision!
To help you develop your FRS dreams, here are some questions to consider that might be helpful:
- Given our community and the particularities of our congregation, what would FRS be like if it were to be a truly great church five to ten years from now?
- How would a great FRS serve its parishioners?
- What would a great FRS offer its community?
- What would programs you're involved with be like as components of a great FRS?
- From a personal perspective, what would make FRS a great church for you?
Our Annual FRS Yankee Homecoming Book Sale is scheduled for August 3rd through 5th, from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. To make the sale the success as it has been for the past two years, we will need lots of volunteers and lots of donations. We are asking for books in good condition as well as specialty magazines if you have complete sets (National Geographic, Gourmet, and the like). CDs are welcome, too. Please bring your gently used donations to the church office. Please join us! For questions or to volunteer your time, please call or e-mail us.
| June 12, 2006: Thank you so much for your very generous contribution to the Let Justice Roll initiative of the National Council of Churches, which we received via check # 3502, dated May 31, 2006 in the amount of $732.00! You will be pleased to know that the Let Justice Roll initiative is thriving. We have now passed increased minimum wage bills in West Virginia, Michigan and Arkansas, a set of actions that will put nearly $350,000,000 into poor people's pockets in the coming year. A minimum wage bill has passed both houses in North Carolina and a conference committee is ironing out differences. In Louisiana, a minimum wage increase has passed in the senate and was approved by committee in the house last week. We now have staff in Ohio (3), Missouri, Arizona and Colorado and are hiring in Montana and Tennessee. We are supporting efforts in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Georgia and probably Texas. A recent national poll revealed that 86% of all Americans support an increase in the minimum wage. In short we are on a roll! Your contribution will be put to good use in the near future. Please thank all your congregants for their generosity and tell them that we stand ready to put any "loose cash" that they may find to work for compassion and justice. Peace and Justice, A. Briscoe, Director of Development |
To Reverend Harold Babcock: As president of the Local NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), we wish to thank you for the use of space for the teaching of our 12 week "Family -2-Family program". This program helped primary caregivers on the all aspects of living with a loved one who suffered from severe mental disorders. Our class members ranged in ages from mid 20's to 65+. Their loved ones were children, grandchildren, siblings and spouses. The skills learned helped them from the very first class. As one woman, who had cared for her schizophrenic sister for 30 + years said at the end of the final class: "For the first time that I can remember, I went through a week without her screaming at me, thanks to the skills I learned here". Another woman who took the class with the declared intention to learn if she should leave her ill mentally ill husband so that she could have a life of her own told us at the end that she had learned how to have both - a meaningful life with her children and still have an intact family. That is our goal and we consider ourselves blessed that we have been able to assist other people with similar problems. Unfortunately, as it is with every program, we had a woman who found the class so intense that she never returned after the fourth class. We appreciate you and your congregation allowing us use of the building for this most important community service. Again our thanks to you for your support of NAMI in our community. Charlie Lambert, President |
Donating blood is a great way to serve your community. Summer brings fine weather and chronic blood shortages. Anna Jaques Hospital has a blood donor program and we are welcoming new donors.
- Men must be 5'1" tall and weigh at least 130 lb.
- Women must be 5"5" tall and weigh at least 150 lb.
Remember that all blood donated at Anna Jaques Hospital (AJH) stays at Anna Jaques Hospital. To book an appointment, please call the blood bank at AJH.
Beth Cawley reports that on May 31, 2006, former FRS member Anne Minster, now of Maine, had surgery in Portland, an intricate ankle operation that will require a two-month recuperation. She'd appreciate cards. Call the church office for her address.
The large dying tree on the right, as one approaches the Parish Hall, was removed on Monday, June 19th, in a dramatic and delicate operation that attracted a good deal of street attention.
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