There will be an opportunity to register children for Young Church classes, and our Young Church choirs begin rehearsals today. I look forward to seeing you back in church!

Steeple Lighting for the week of September 2: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated by Dorothy and Howard Fairweather in loving memory of Howard's mother, Molly Fairweather.

Steeple Lighting for the week of September 9: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated by Susan Nickerson and family in loving memory of Josephine P. and Robert M. Driver and Henrietta Larson.

Ushers: Jay and Nancy McCarthy.

Steeple Lighting: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated in loving memory of Bob Smart from his wife, Joan, and their family.

Ushers: Susan Ricker and Bill Zarakas.

FRS Current Events Forum: 9:30 in Lower Meetinghouse Conference Room

In July, Sabrina and I traveled to the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park and other attractions in the American Southwest. We hiked, rode mules, and put lots of miles on the car. We especially enjoyed visiting ancient Indian sites at Betatakin, Hovenweep, and Canyon de Chelly, and the tall grass prairie preserve in northeast Oklahoma.

Over the summer I performed four weddings and two memorial services. One of the memorial services was for my friend, the noted American poet Philip Booth, in my hometown of Castine, Maine. I also preached at the Hampton Falls Unitarian Church. This fall we will welcome into our midst our new intern minister, Christina Sillari, a student at Andover Newton Theological School, who will be with us for the church year. (Internships are a requirement for students seeking ministerial fellowship with the Unitarian Universalist Association.) I hope that you will take the time to introduce yourself to Christina and to make her feel at home here at the FRS. Though I am officially Christina's internship supervisor, you will be her real teachers as she hones her ministerial skills over the next twelve months.

We are fortunate to have an experienced and responsive staff in Julie Parker Amery, Frances Burmeister, John Mercer, Vicki Dyer, Carol Lattime, and Claudia Keyian. I feel grateful to be part of a team that includes these talented and hard-working folks, and consider each of them to be an essential part of the ministry and outreach of our church. And I am grateful to all of our volunteers for their willingness to serve and to help make and keep the FRS the wonderful place that it is. It will be good to be together again; I look forward to seeing you in church!

Teacher Orientation
The orientation for fall Young Church teachers/leaders is Saturday, September 15, from 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. in the lower meeting house.

Water Communion Service
Young Church families, don't forget-bring a small sample of water to church on Sunday, September 16. If you forgot to get a sample over the summer, don't fret. Something from your kitchen tap is just fine.

Up and Coming Program Informational Meeting
The coming-of-age program will be offered this year to 9th and 10th graders. Generally speaking, meetings will take place one or two Sunday evenings a month, beginning in late October. An informational meeting will be held after church on September 23, in the lower meeting house. Please plan to attend to learn more about the program. If you're interested in the program but cannot attend the meeting, please contact Julie Parker Amery.

If you have some good keyboard skills and are willing to help out, please contact me.

FRS members P. J. Tetreault and Barb Riley were married in the church on June 30 by the Rev. Babcock.

Clint Swallow and Meredith Collander were married in Hampton Falls, NH on August 18. (Clint is the son of FRS members Steve and K. C. Swallow.) The Rev. Bert Steeves performed the ceremony.

Michael Leonard and Stacey Moynahan were married in Henniker, NH on August 11 by the Rev. Babcock. (Michael is the son of FRS member Laurie Christiansen, and Stacey is the daughter of FRS member Barbara Moynahan's late husband Bob.)

Former FRS members Scott Hill and Lois McNulty were married in Gloucester on August 17 by the Rev. Steeves.

Best wishes to Marion deParolesa who is recovering from a bad fall, and to Nancy Sullivan, who also fell and broke her arm this summer.

Ruth Adams is now a resident at Seaview Nursing Home in Rowley.

• Wendy Krump's photos - "Seeing the Light" - www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/287972/
• John Mercer's photos - "Wendy Gets the Picture" - www.tabblo.com/studio/stories/view/287940/

Pictures from that day can be seen at this website: http://picasaweb.google.com/jsmercer/FRSInTheMovies?authkey=1zaQQERt3MQ

Great Marsh Tour
Bring your whole family to the Yankee Clipper from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m., Saturday, September 22, for an ecological tour of the Great Marsh behind Plum Island. The fall bird migration will be underway. On a calm late summer morning it will be absolutely beautiful in the marsh, and we can drift nearly silently along for as long as time and tide allow. The cost is $10 for adults; children under 6 free. There is a limit of 48 people. Deadline for signing up is September 20.

To sign up for either of these programs, or any Adult Education program, call (978) 465-0602, x401.

• Use of speakers/PA system the evening of the event.
• Professional design assistance to create a logo, banner and flyer.
• Help in crafting public relations messages for local media outlets.
• Ushers and concessionaires from ranks of Young Church.
• Donations of Dessert and Paper goods for intermission.
• A persuasive soul who can effectively sell tickets during intermission for a couple of quality raffle items (one item will be a piece of Waterford crystal donated by Our Neighbor's Table Executive Director, Rosemary Werner, whose brother is a master cutter at Waterford).

• Boxwoods - Prune and trim
• Weed & Trim - Church property
• Pews - Stuck, warped, or need repairs
• Shrubs - Planting according to plan and maintained
• Wells - Window Wells on right side of church - clean out
• Bricks - Bricks in front of church and Parish Hall need to be sprayed with vinegar to kill the weeds and then brushed off
• Sign - Sign to right of Parish Hall needs painting and plantings at the base

Let us know if you are interested in attending this event, by the first of September, if possible; program and registration details for the day will be sent along. You can reach us by e-mailing damck0l @verizon.net or lyssaandersson@yahoo.com. If you have questions, call (978) 922-0732.

We have all heard a lot recently in regards to our impact on the environment, and for those of us who truly care, it can be sad and frustrating to come across people who couldn't be bothered because they'd prefer to see themselves and their needs as superior to other living things.

When writing this, I went back to an essay I had written last year for school on the environment, hoping for inspiration. I have to say, it was a real slap in the face. The essay was full of anger, bordering on sarcasm, for the way we as humans have mistreated the environment. I made comments about humans, for the most part, being lazy and selfish and unwilling to accept responsibility for the actions. Don't get me wrong, I still agree with these sentiments to an extent. But I'm finding more and more that many of them do care and wish something could be done - also that just because a person is not doing all they could be doing does not mean they don't care. Let's face it; old habits die hard, and sometimes individuals find it hard to believe they can make a difference. But one thing I have learned this past year is that ranting at everybody for not doing enough probably achieves very little, so I've taken a different approach.

I think it's safe to say that everyone has been self-centered at one point or another. In our struggle through life, we have all had our moments when we have been entirely consumed in our own problems. But what we as human beings need to do is learn to take a moment and look outside ourselves, at the big picture.

I had a strange revelation, in a biology class no less. We were watching a movie on the Galapagos, and hearing about these creatures who have been here for millions of years made me think there was a time when humans did not exist, and there may well come a time when we are no longer here. And this was the first time this idea did not inspire fear or hopelessness in me. And really, why should it? Because life finds a way of going on through whatever changes, and ultimately, that is what matters. It's a humbling thought. People need to take a moment to remember how small they really are. Someday, the world may be in someone else's hands. With that said, the things we do for ourselves are not really significant. The things we do for the well-being of the entire world are the things that will last, and we should want to make sure that the impact we make is a good one. Everything on this earth has an equal right to be here, and everything contributes something different. We are a part of that, but we are not the only part. Everything that has life has the right to worth and dignity. Someday, the world may be a very different place, with different inhabitants, all of equal worth. We should be proud to be in the beautiful life cycle we are in, no matter how things end up for us. We should be proud to call our fellow creatures equals. Life will go on, and we should respect the life of everything living alongside us. I'd like to end with a quote from the Haudenosaunee Address to the western world, which speaks this message:

The people who are living on this planet need to break with the narrow concept of human liberation, and begin to see liberation as something that needs to be extended to the whole of the natural world. What is needed is the liberation of all things that support life - the air, the waters, the trees - all the things which support the sacred web of life.

Katrina Turner
When I was maybe seven or eight I used to play with my brother Justin and his friend Luke at Luke's house. Luke lived only a few streets away and was one of the most entertaining people I knew. He loved to cook, and maintained that he would eat anything except for dandelion milk. He and Justin would make mini villages out of sand, mud, and water in Luke's backyard. I would sometimes sit and watch them play, and I noticed that in all the times they would make villages with rivers, the water would never once flow through an anthill. Luke never stepped on anthills, always over them. It didn't strike me as odd at the time, but it's something that stands out in my memory now.

I think Luke understood something at age ten that a lot of us struggle to understand now. How can an ant, a crawling little bug that might bite, have as much worth as us? Why should we feel sorry if we step on one? It's just a bug after all. But everything in this world, bug or human, has a place that it fits into. The one ant I accidentally step on may have been an important part of its ant colony. It could have been a builder of great ant passageways, a master of ant architecture. It could have been a father or a mother of many ant babies that will grow up and serve the colony. Did it deserve to die? No. Should I have an ant funeral? Well, that might be overkill. But I shouldn't feel so nonchalant about killing something, even if it was an accident. An ant has as much inherent worth and dignity as I do.

One might ask what I mean when I say worth and dignity. I mean that all lives are equal and important. There is a balance on earth created by the ebb and flow of existence. For every creature that dies, another is born in its place. Even if they are completely different and lead different lives, they are of the same value to the world. If at the same time I die, an ant is born, then the earth is in balance. If our whole species dies, then there will surely be another to take our place. And as humans, we have to learn to be okay with that reality, that we are not the most important or special creatures in the world. In truth, I have as much worth as ant. There are billions of humans on earth just as there are billions, maybe more, ants as well. I won't step on an ant simply because I wouldn't like getting stepped on either.

The public is invited. After the performance there will be the opportunity for feedback. There is a suggested donation. The first reading will be September 15, 2007, Saturday morning, at 10:00, at the Actor's Studio at the Tannery. Thereafter there will be a reading at the same time at the Actor's Studio on the second or third Saturday morning of the month.

The play on Saturday, 15 September 2007, is Enemies of The People by FRS member Ron Pullins, directed by Bonnie Jean Wilbur. This play was recently given a stage reading under the aegis of Shadow Boxing Theater Workshop at the Boston Playwright's Theater in Boston. It is a play about the deep-seated suffering hidden sometimes in the world around us. A scientist reveals his dark history of being imprisoned in Argentina during the Dirty War of the late 1960's and 70's. A woman who has given up her child for adoption thirty years ago reveals the pain of her long kept secret. Condoned in both cases by the political structure, hope resides in the individuals' ability to bear witness. No reservations required. For more information and a snippet of the play see http://ronpullins.com/Txt/TheaterCollaborative.htm

However, we also provide a rocking chair in the vestibule for those times that it is necessary to calm your child or to just let him or her move around. A speaker in the vestibule allows you to hear the worship service.

While families with young children are welcome to sit in the balcony facing the choir, they need to be aware that sound carries well from this area. Concerns also frequently are expressed about children leaning over the edge of the balcony. We do ask all friends and members of the First Religious Society to bear in mind that for many, this is the only hour in the week for quiet reflection, and we request your assistance in helping us to maintain a calm and peaceful atmosphere. Your child's early experiences in church may form his or her attitude towards church and Sunday school in later years. We recognize the importance, therefore, of providing children ages one to three with warm, welcoming, consistent nursery care. Our nursery care provider has become a beloved figure in the life of our children in the nursery. Though it sometimes takes a couple of weeks for children to get used to being in the nursery, virtually all come to love it. We hope that you will take advantage of this wonderful service.

Your child is invited to begin in a religious education class when he or she turns three. Please speak with Julie to learn more about our program. Thank you for being here! We look forward to getting to know you and your family.