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This Week
leading the discussion at the January 5th Leadership Retreat
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
Christina Sillari, Ministerial Intern
Martin Luther King, Jr., Sunday
Rev. Darrick Jackson
"Revisiting Martin"
This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. What message would he have for us if he were alive today?
Guest Minister: The Rev. Darrick Jackson is a recently ordained Unitarian Universalist minister. He is currently serving as the Assistant Director of Youth Ministries at the UUA.
Flowers: The flowers for today's service are donated by Trent and Stratton Lloyd: peace on earth.
Steeple Lighting: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated by Ben and Linda Labaree in gratitude for those leaders who have stood for racial equality and justice around the world.
Ushers: Ann and Walter Power.
Chalice Lighter: Leanna Sorcar.
Coffee Hour Hosts: Jim and Nancy Warner, Nancy Whilton, and Peter Cullinan and Amy Weickert.
FRS Current Events Forum: 9:30 a.m. in Lower Meetinghouse Conference Room. The topic is "What are the changes our next president should make?"
Collection for Cause: One half of the loose plate in January will go directly to Cankatola (chan kha toh la) Ti Ospaye (tee oshe pay yeah) Foundation. This organization's mission is focused on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota, the lowest per capita income region in the country. The Foundation works with tribal leaders in their struggle to preserve families by promoting native cultural ways and spiritual traditions. The Foundation also serves as a financial resource in times of crises.
Rev. Harold Babcock
"When Life Gets Messy"
In a prayer entitled "When Life Is Messy," Unitarian Universalist minister Richard Gilbert writes, "It is easy to feel religious impulses well up inside us/ When inspiration lives at our elbow and walks on our path./ It is hard to feel religious when we are tired with work to be done/ And discouragement seems to mark our every move." An emerging theme of my sermons so far this year seems to be that all of us will encounter those messy, dark-night-of-the-soul times of life. It is at those times that our religious practice can sustain us: even if that means only the habit of showing up for church on Sunday. The sermon will investigate.
Flowers: The flowers for today's service are donated by Jennifer Badger from Jenny, Vin, Carol, and Will in loving memory of Dorothy Plumer Beard.
Steeple Lighting: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated by David Stickney in memory of his big brother, Jack, and the Stickney family.
Chalice Lighters: Stan Barrett and Leslie Lawrence.
Ushers: Stan and Carol Kilty.
Coffee Hour Hosts: Anne and Alec White, Nathan Wilbur and Merryl Maleska Wilbur, Edson Worden and Megan Williams, and Ray and Darlene Wilson.
Interfaith Martin Luther King, Jr., Service
Sunday, January 20, at 3:30 p.m.
Belleville Congregational Church, 300 High Street, Newburyport
The preacher for the service will be the Rev. Jim Antel, Minister and President of the Massachusetts Conference of the United Church of Christ and former President of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, the oldest and one of the largest national religious interfaith peace organizations in the United States, of which Martin Luther King, Jr., was a member.
Monday, January 21, 7:30 to 9:00 a.m
Newburyport High School
The FRS has once again reserved a table at the annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Breakfast, to be held this year at the Newburyport High School. We still have a few tickets left at $20.00 each. Please call the church office if you wish to attend. You can also purchase individual tickets by calling the YWCA at 978-465-YWCA.
The next Lunch with the Minister will be held at 12:00 noon on Tuesday, January 22, when we will be reading "Resurrection of a Life" by William Saroyan. We will meet again on January 29 when the story for discussion will be "A Night in the Poorhouse" by Isaac Beshevis Singer. We meet in the lower meeting house at noon. All are welcome!
The First Religious Society will be hosting the Friendship Table dinner at the Salvation Army on Water Street in Newburyport on this Thursday, January 17. The committee is asking church members to sign up to bring a main dish (baked ziti, salad, dessert) or to serve at the dinner. If you have any questions please call Ginger Bard.
Deadline: January 27
Guest at Your Table Boxes are due back at the church. Please remember that your donation of $40.00 ($75.00 per couple) will make you a member of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC). In 2007, the FRS was once again awarded a Creating Justice banner for having 25 to 49 percent membership in the UUSC (95 members to be exact). Thanks in advance for your generosity!
This year's Christmas Eve offering to benefit our Unitarian partner church in Ujszekely, Transylvania (in Romania) raised over $1000.00. Minister Zsolt Jakab informs us that the money will be used to make needed repairs to the roof of the minister's house. Many thanks for your generosity!
Man was not made subject to woman, nor should woman be subject to man. Neither men's rights nor women's rights should be considered, but human rights, the rights of each, the rights of all. Men and women rise or fall together. - Phebe Ann Coffin HanafordPhebe Ann Coffin Hanaford was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, on May 6, 1829. She was influenced by her Quaker upbringing and her studies with an Episcopalian minister. When she was a child, she began preaching to other children in a barn and then a lighthouse. At the age of sixteen she became a schoolteacher. During her twenty-one year marriage to a physician, Joseph Hanaford, Phebe became a mother of two, a writer of fourteen books, and a Universalist minister. Her interest in the rights of women led to an introduction to Reverend Olympia Brown in 1866. Mrs. Hanaford was invited to preach in her church, and Reverend Brown was so impressed with her message that she urged her to become a minister. Phebe was ordained into the Universalist ministry in Hingham, Massachusetts in 1868 at the age of thirty-nine, as the first ordained female minister in New England. She served congregations in Waltham, Massachusetts; New Haven, Connecticut; Jersey City, New Jersey; and Portsmouth, Rhode Island. While in New Haven, she served as chaplain for the Connecticut Legislature, the first woman ever to do so. Her congregation in Jersey City doubled in membership during her stay though a controversy erupted. The church split over Reverend Hanaford's personal intimate relationship with Ellen Miles who was her life-long companion, separated after forty-four years together only by Miles's death in 1914. In addition to her congregational work, Reverend Hanaford's ministry also involved her work in many women's organizations as a speaker, leader, preacher, and advocate for women's rights and the suffrage movement. She officiated at the funeral services of her friends Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. She spent the last few years of her life with her granddaughter, Dionis, and died peacefully and consciously on June 2, 1921, at the age of ninety-two.
Put the Jazz Vespers on Your Calendar: February 6 at 8:00 p.m. in the Sanctuary - John Curtis, local guitar legend, will be the guest artist. Tunes are Black Orpheus and Stella by Starlight, among others. Cyd Rashke will be the reader.
| Please join the Committee on the Ministry for an interesting discussion of the road to ministry. Click poster for a larger version. |
 |
 Jean Wilson |
Our concerts this year will continue to celebrate the life and influence of Jean C. Wilson. As ever we endeavor to present concerts of the same high quality she expected. We hope you will support our music series generously as we rely on our supporters to meet the rising costs of presenting first-class performers to Greater Newburyport audiences. Would you become a supporter at one of these levels of suggested contributions?
The suggested contribution for attending each concert will be $10.00 for seniors and students and $15.00 for all others. Contributions are tax deductible. Please make your check out to the First Religious Society or FRS, put "Wilson Music Series" in the memo section, and send it to Florence Mercer, 167 Main St., Amesbury, MA 01913. |
- February 3 at 3:00 p.m. - Très: Jane West, soprano; Donald Wilkinson, baritone; Lisa Brooke, baroque violin; Daniel Rowe, baroque cello; John Finney, harpsichord
- March 9 at 4:00 p.m. - John Hines, bass/baritone
- April 27 at 4:00 p.m. - Elliott Fisk, guitar
Barbara Owen, Frances Burmeister, Florence Mercer
The next Candlelight Chorale project will be Creation by Franz Joseph Haydn. It's a very fun piece to sing, and it is within the Chorale's ability. Jayne West has offered to sing it with us. Rehearsals began on Thursday, January 10, and will continue on Thursdays from 8:30 - 9:30 p.m. There will also be two Saturday rehearsals: Saturday, March 29, from 10:00 .a.m. to noon and Saturday, April 5, from 9:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with orchestra. The performance is on Sunday, April 6, at 7:00 p.m. There is a $20 singer's contribution to help cover expenses.
Since this is a BIG work, you should try not to miss more than two rehearsals. And if you miss a rehearsal, please come prepared for the next one. It causes problems when a singer sight reads something that we worked hard on in rehearsal a week or two ago. Hope to see you!
Welcome to the First Religious Society! It is a great pleasure to see so many young families come through our doors on Sunday mornings. We hope that you and your family find this a welcoming community. And we hope that your time with us will be meaningful and that you might even call this your spiritual home for years to come. Our resources prevent us from caring for children under the age of one at this time. We welcome these "babes in arms" into the worship service. Indeed, the peaceful coo of a baby is for many a welcome enhancement to their Sunday morning experience.
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.
Julie Parker Amery, Director of Religious Education
The FRS Worship Committee
Thursday, February 26 to Sunday, March 1, 2009
Houston, Texas, USA
The goals of the Convocation are to gather together to:
- Discover common interests, emergent ideas and future priorities
- Worship together, connecting spiritually with our individual and collective power, caring and humility
- Explore the major challenges that lie before all women around the globe
- Learn from women's accomplishments and how their work has improved women's lives
- Showcase vibrant, relevant model programs to empower women
- Create personal action plans to enrich and transform our lives, while expanding opportunities for women's equality, development, social justice, security and peace
- Economic participation -- Women produce more than half of global food crops; yet, 70% of those living in hunger are women. Women seldom control land or resources. Women's low economic participation worldwide is reflected in wage differentials, higher unemployment rates and glass ceilings.
- Community leadership and political expression -- Around the world, women have unequal access to political participation and community leadership. Of the 200 members of the United Nations, only 10% have female leaders and less than 18% of the world's parliamentary seats are held by women.
- Education -- Of the world's children who have no education, 60% are girls. Two-thirds of the world's 780 million illiterate adults are women.
- Healthcare and safety -- 200 million of the world's women lack access to family planning; over 500,000 die annually from complications in pregnancy and childbirth. Up to 1 billion women now living have been beaten, raped or otherwise abused. In war-torn regions 80% of the refugees are women and children.
From a single mother whom the FRS has helped over the past ten years
Mr. Harold Babcock and everyone at the First Religious Unitarian Church:From St. Paul's ChurchI want to thank you so much for all your help. I'm finally in [my new apartment]. Three months delay, but moved in September 1. I feel like a human again. I can pay my bills and get food in the same month! I love it.
I have been able to buy a few Christmas presents for [my son]. My gas bill (for heat) last month was $36.00, not $600 to $800 per month in [my former apartment]. I am happy! happy! and I'm not freezing. I'm warm.
I just wanted to let you know I'm going to be OK.
Happy New Year! (I finally look forward to it.) Love
Dear Harold,From the Annunciation Greek Orthodox ChurchOn behalf of the congregation of St. Paul's Church, I write to thank you and your congregation for the support you recently showed to the Among Friends ministry. The money raised and shared from your Concert Against Hunger is a blessing as it will translate directly into meals shared from our tables. But further, the moral support means so much to those who put many hours into extending the table of the church to all who need or desire its hospitality. Thank you for partnering with us in these ways.
Please extend our gratitude to all who had a hand in this blessed effort.
Faithfully, The Reverend Martha L. Hubbard, Rector
December 16, 2007From Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations
Dear Mr. Mercer:Thank you for your donation to St. Basil's Soup Kitchen-a distribution from the Concert Against Hunger held by the First Religious Society. As you know, the soup kitchen is a haven each Monday to approximately forty faithful patrons who seek a warm meal and fellowship. 100% of your donation will go directly toward serving the needs of the patrons. Please accept our sincere thanks to you for your thoughtful and generous donation.
Sincerely, Gina T. Dussi St. Basil's Kitchen-Treasurer
Dear Congregational President or Board Chair,In this season of gratitude and thankfulness, on behalf of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, we want to thank you and your members for your support of our larger faith community through the Annual Program Fund for the fiscal year 2006-2007. We especially appreciate your contributing the full requested amount ("Fair Share"), set by the UUA Board of Trustees, which will allow us to list First Religious Society as an "Honor Society."
Please be assured that the money you give so generously does not "stay in Boston" but is returned to your congregation and to neighboring congregations in the form of programs, services and resources. These include:
Your District also benefits from your willingness to give so generously in the fiscal year 2006 - 2007. Over $674,000 is being returned nationwide for district programs and services this fiscal year. For more information about our Association's giving and funding programs, visit: www.uua.org/giving.
- Interconnections newsletter, sent directly to congregational lay leaders and available online with an archive of past issues
- A number of online resources found on the UUA website (www.uua.org). including links to congregations, districts and UU affiliate organizations, more than 200 electronic mailing lists, the Congregational Handbook, the brand-new Spirit of Life adult curriculum and more
- Fundraising consultation and building loan, loan guarantee and grant programs available from Congregational Stewardship Services
- Training, conferences and workshops for lay and professional leaders
- A social justice internship program at the UUA Washington Office for Advocacy and Witness for young adults
- "How-to" resources for congregations on advocacy, organizing, public policy issues and the theological motivations for our justice work from the Advocacy and Witness group
- Books, pamphlets, lifespan faith development curricula, audio, visual and other materials available through our Association's Bookstore
Enclosed is the certificate acknowledging your congregation's commitment in supporting our Association and Unitarian Universalism. Please display it in a prominent place so that all in your religious community will know of the Association's deep appreciation.
In faith, Rev, William G. Sinkford, President Unitarian Universalist Association, and Barbara W. Brown, General Chair Annual Program Fund Committee
Seeking small, broken appliances
Do you have any broken appliances lying around? We're looking for a few for one of our upcoming Young Church classes, when we'll be taking things apart to see how they work. If you've got anything that sounds like it would be safe, and not too tough to take apart, please let Julie Parker Amery know.
from FRS Members Jessica Brown and Brent Mitchell
