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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
Mother's Day
Rev. Harold Babcock
"'Everything is not Lost'"
Climate change, genocide, war, corruption, mayhem-there's a lot in the news to bring one down these days. Perhaps it has always been so. Recently a poem that has been making the e-mail rounds crossed my desk and offered a glimpse of hope. It seemed like an appropriate subject for a Mother's Day sermon. In the face of all that seems overwhelmingly wrong, the sermon will attempt to show that "everything is not lost."
Flowers: The flowers this Sunday are given by the Blagg and Staples family in loving memory of Deb's mother, Norma McGrath Blagg.
Steeple Lighting: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated in memory of Bob Tesar by his family.
Ushers: Ginger and Jeff Bard.
Coffee Hour Hosts: Lark and Anne Madden, Maryann Malarkey, Rebekah and Alby Marshall, and Amy Smith Marshall and Robert Marshall.
Young Church Sunday
Intergenerational Worship
Please join us as we celebrate our year together and honor our graduating high school seniors and eighth graders. The Young Church Choir and Teen Choir will sing, and we will reflect on the ways that we can each do something to make the world a better place.
Flowers: The flowers this Sunday are given in loving memory of Arthur and Ruth Roche by their daughters Linda, Buffy and Barbara.
Steeple Lighting: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated by Anne Dodge in memory of her grandfather, L. P. Dodge, and her mother, Anne Green.
Ushers: Ann Marie Salmon and Pam Girardi.
Coffee Hour Hosts: Nancy Peace, Robert and Ann Poirier, Peggy Mayes, Jay and Nancy McCarthy.
Current Events Forum: Lower Meetinghouse Conference Room at 9:30 a.m.
Please join us on Saturday, May 12, from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. in the Parish Hall. On the menu are eggs, fried or scrambled, homefries, baked beans, fruit salad, lots of yummy pastries, and a variety of beverages. Adults are $6.00, children $5.00, with a family maximum of $18.00. Also, many folks have signed up to help out--if you think you have signed up, but aren't sure, call Marilyn Archibald. For people who are bringing food, we would like most of the food brought to the Parish Hall on Friday evening from 5:00 through 6:30 p.m.
Young Church Flower Communion
The annual Young Church Flower Communion service will be held on Sunday, May 13 for children in preschool through 6th grade. All children are asked to bring a flower to church that morning. Extras will be on-hand for anyone who forgets.
Social Action Term
Adults are needed to help out with our Young Church social action term, which takes place May 27 through June 17. A variety of projects will be offered, and we need adults to serve as project leaders for those four Sundays, during church. Projects include baking desserts for Our Neighbor's Table, beach cleanups, and creating our Kids as Peacemakers mural. This is a really fun way to get more involved in FRS, to get to know some great kids and other adults, and to do good work for the community. Please contact Julie Parker Amery to let her know that you're interested.
Knitting for All Ages
Love to knit? Never learned? Are you a kid? An adult? Want to have fun, get to know other FRS folks, and contribute to a great cause? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then you should take part in our ongoing Afghans for Afghans project. We'll meet for the final time of this church year after church on June 3 in the upper parish hall. Please contact Julie Parker Amery for more information.
Violent Toy Turn In & Peace Sculpture Project
May 20 - 11:30 to 3:00 - Bartlett Mall, Newburyport - Sponsored by Kids as Peacemakers
At this event, kids can turn in toys that they feel are "violent" and help build a peace sculpture from the discarded toys. There will be loads of other fun, peace-related activities, as well. Hope to see you there!
Ten people joined the FRS on May 6: Yvonne Chabrier, Nancy Cribari, Katherine Dyer, Dan Iascone, Rinda Iascone, Philip Loring, Lisa Johnson, Ann Peterson, Paula Renda, and Fran Sullivan. Make sure to extend the right hand of fellowship to your new brothers and sisters.
Harold will be away May 14 and 15 attending the spring meeting of his ministers' study group. He will return on May 16, when the FRS will be hosting a meeting of the UU Ministers Association Mass Bay Chapter.
from the FRS Community Human Services Committee
Our last Friendship Table for the year will be on Thursday, May 17. The Friendship Table provides a hot meal for local residents at the Salvation Army on Water Street. Please consider bringing a main dish, salad or dessert. We also need volunteers to help serve the meal. There will be sign-up sheets at Coffee Hour. You can also call Ann Power if you would like to participate.
sponsored by the FRS Social Action Committee
Third Thursday of every month at 7:00 p.m.
Amnesty International Merrimac Valley Group 708 invites you to join our group to defend prisoners of conscience throughout the world. The next meeting, on May 17, will feature a film about the International Criminal Court. Contacts: Steven Brzozowski or Rob Burnham.
from the FRS Music Committee
Bring your old stuff (treasure to someone else!) for the spring yard sale to benefit the Candlelight Choir concerts. We need your old toys, athletic equipment, kitchen utensils, decorative items, small electronics (no printers, TV's, or computers), and furniture. Save your books for the book sale and your clothes for the rummage sale.
Drop off times are Thursday, May 24, and Friday, May 25, from 8:00 a.m. until noon. We'll be pricing on May 26, so we'll be happy to still take more items then, especially if they are sorted. The sale is Sunday, May 27, from noon until 5:00 p.m. and Monday, May 28, from 11:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.
Committee annual reports are due in the church office by the end of the business day on Thursday, May 17.
Friday, June 1st
Lower Parish Hall
Our Annual Partner Church Transylvania Hungarian Music Pot Luck Dinner will feature a silent auction of craft items from Transylvania, musical entertainment, as well as a continuous slide show. Come see what the buzz is about. For more information, call Michael Fosburg.
. . . will be held on Tuesday, May 22, at 12:00 noon in the Lower Meeting House, classroom A&B. We will be reading the short story "Voyage Four: 1661," by James A. Michener. All are welcome.
from the FRS Adult Education Committee
Emerson Country Tour - On Saturday, May 26 (rain date June 2), Harold Babcock will lead his annual walking tour of UU historical sites in Cambridge and Concord. You will walk in the footsteps of famous Unitarians and Universalists at Harvard's 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 UU's. You'll visit Walden Pond, where Thoreau wrote his memorable text. And finally, in Concord you will see the Old Manse, where Emerson grew up; the Old North Bridge, which Emerson wrote about and where the American Revolution began; and the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, where Emerson is buried along with Thoreau, the Hawthornes, and the Alcotts. Bring a lunch, wear comfortable shoes (there's a fair amount of walking), and carpool with your church friends. We will gather at the Newburyport Park n' Ride on Storey Ave. at 8:00 am. Call the church office at (978) 462-0602 to register by May 18.
The FRS Team for the Women's Crisis Center's Walk Against Violence is gathering walkers and donations on Sundays after church on May 13 and May 20. On the 20th FRS Team walkers will gather at the statue of George Washington on the Mall at 12:30 and walk together. The walk itself begins at 1:00. Please bring all your pledges to church by the 20th or mail them to Florence Mercer. We have to turn in all the donations at once to be counted for the team. See you there!
All retired, semi-retired, wanna-be-retired, or mistakenly-believe-they're-retired men of the church are welcome! The next meeting is on Tuesday, May 15, at The Loft, on Route 125 in North Andover.
FRS member Judith Grohe has taken over management of the book sale, which occurs during Yankee Homecoming in the summer. Watch these pages for news of when to give and how to help.
One Way the Vision Process Can Change the Shape of the FRS
Anne Dodge and Alicia Raddatz would like to start a group to help make cushions for the pews. They are looking for others who would like to do the work with them. Those who can sew, and like to sew, are especially sought. If you're interested, please write to Anne at chuckanzie@gmail.com or to Alicia at raddatza.sec@comcast.net.
Responsible adult church member available for house sitting this summer starting June 1st through August. Is willing to relocate once or twice in the summer, if necessary, and would prefer longer term options. Will tend plants and animals. If interested, please call the church office at (978) 465-0602.
A Talk by Margot Adler
Saturday, May 12 at 7:00 p.m., Old Town Hall - Andover
Margot Adler, New York Bureau Chief for NPR and host of Justice Talking, as well as a well-known correspondent on NPR's All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Weekend Edition, will give a talk, followed by a brief ritual and book signing of her newly revised Drawing Down the Moon. Tickets are $20 per person and can be purchased in advance from Susan Foster (susanjfoster@comcast.net) or at the door. Seating is limited.
Margot gives us a brief description of her talk: "There are at least a million contemporary Pagans worldwide, and in the US, members of contemporary earth religions outnumber Quakers or Bahais and equal UUs. In a world increasingly defined by religious wars, the earth religions do not proselytize; they are not based on scriptures or the words of prophets, but rather on seasonal ceremonies: on what people 'do,' not what they 'believe.' These traditions are comfortable with evolution and modern science and technology, and yet they are at home with ecstatic rites and rituals, with magic, shamanism and other techniques that usually are at odds with modernity. These religious movements have important insights to give to our society at this perilous moment."
UUSC is excited to announce the 2007 Freedom Summer: A Civil Rights Journey, a JustWorks camp that will take you to the most significant sites of the civil rights movement.
Join UUSC for the fourth annual Civil Rights Journey to Atlanta, Selma, Montgomery, and Birmingham, July 7-14, 2007. During this intergenerational trip, we will travel together by bus to visit historical sites that were significant to people who worked, often at great personal peril, to register new voters during Freedom Summer 1964. Participants will also hear inspirational stories of people who were there.
The Civil Rights Journey will conclude with electoral-related skills training that will equip participants to return to their communities and campuses as activists.
Freedom Summer 2007: A Civil Rights Journey (intergenerational 14 and over), fee $500. For a flyer you can download, visit http://www.uusc.org/info/flyer07.pdf
Join us for this or one of our other JustWorks camps, meaningful social justice experiences and action opportunities for people of all ages. For more information, visit www.uusc.org/justworks.
