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 Candlelight Service Choir Collage Click the Picture to See a Larger View |
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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 |
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Family Service Marlyn Miller "The Last Straw" Marlyn Miller, assistant to FRS Director of Religious Education Julie Parker Amery, will lead this service. A family-oriented service with music by our young church musicians and opportunities for participation, this service features the story of Hoshmakatu, the reluctant camel who is asked to bear the gifts of the magi to Bethlehem. Along the way, he learns something about himself and his capacity for strength and something about courage and love. Steeple Lighting: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated by Rev. John B. Fox in memory of Rev. Thomas B. Fox, a former minister of the parish. Flowers: The holiday flowers are donated by Joan Atkinson and Richard Abbott in loving memory of their parents; Carol and Stan Kilty in memory of David Kilty; Anita Wright and Dottie DiChiara celebrating the beauty of the season; Marj Babcock, Merry Christmas!; Leanna and Nemesia Sorcar, Joy to the World!; Mary and Karl Haslinger in memory of Peggy Morrill and Dr. Robert Wilkins; Patrice O’Brien and Peter Litwin in memory of Bob, Jackie, and John O’Brien; the Ricker and Zarakas family, in thanks for all the wonderful gifts of life and the optimism of the spirit; Ann and Robert Poirier, missing you, Abigail; the Madden family, in celebration of all children at Christmas time; Peter W. Chatman and Alice Wiggin Beal in memory of Lenwood D. Wiggin and Albert “Joe” Wiggin; and Carol A. Young, Merry Christmas to all. Ushers: Jim and Jack Dyer. Coffee Hour Hosts: Lark and Anne Madden, Russ and Kathy Seidel, and Nancy Herbison-Evans. Collection for Cause: One half of the loose plate in December will go directly to the Salvation Army's Fuel Assistance Fund. Rev. Harold Babcock "In the Sun Which Is Young Once Only" "Time is a river of passing events, and strong is its current," wrote Marcus Aurelius. "No sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by, and another takes its place, and this, too, will be swept away." As we begin another new year, my sermon will investigate the perpetual challenge of change. My title is taken from Dylan Thomas's great and poignant poem about change and the passage of time, "Fern Hill." I look forward to seeing you in church! – Harold Babcock Steeple Lighting: The steeple lighting for this week has been donated by Tempa and Tom Pagel in remembrance of Harold Bondurant Jones. Flowers: The flowers this Sunday are given by Elaina and David Sayles in loving memory of Elaina's grandfather, Dominic Franco, and David's grandmother, Agnes O'Keefe. Ushers: Carol and Stan Kilty. Coffee Hour Hosts: Tim Kelleher, Susan McIntire Kaplan, Sue Johnson and Kelly LeComte, and Phil and Pat Hurzeler. Collection for Cause: One half of the loose plate in January will go directly to Community Action of Amesbury, which empowers individuals, families and communities to overcome poverty through education, training, advocacy and prevention, and services to meet basic human needs. FRS Current Events Forum: 9:30 in Lower Meetinghouse Conference Room. 8:00 p.m. Jazz Vespers Madden & Co.
You can't make 'em move Sabrina, Ben, Josh, and I wish to thank you all for your cards, gifts, and well wishes during the holiday season; it is a joy to serve as your minister! Lunch with the Minister will meet next on January 6. Our short story for discussion will be "Pictures of the Ice" by Alice Munro. (Sounds timely!) FRS Parishioner Bob Allison on the front page of the Newburyport Daily News of December 16, dapper in a Santa hat, entertaining at the ice-storm shelter at Amesbury Middle School.
Your Guest At Your Table boxes and contributions, supporting the UUSC, were due back at the church by December 21. But what the heck, it’s never too late to return those boxes and contributions. Boxes can be brought to the church office during the week or to the church itself on Sunday. Monday, January 19, 2009 from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. at Newburyport High School The FRS has purchased a ten-person table for the breakfast. Our support, along with that of other community sponsors, will enable over 150 area high school students to attend the breakfast and celebrate the life and work of Dr. King at no cost. Our vision is that this breakfast will again inspire and energize community members and students to make the dream of racial justice a reality. Further, our support will back the ongoing work of the Teen Racial Justice Group, a teen-led YWCA Greater Newburyport initiative working to foster dialogue and action around issues of race and discrimination among young people. The program for the breakfast will feature an interactive format between and among participants and presenters, as students and adult community members engage in discussions and activities with each other. We are looking forward to this exciting and dynamic morning, which will include the annual presentation of the Nancy E. Peace Action Against Prejudice Award. Tickets are $20.00 a seat, and they often go quickly. Call the church office to reserve yours. In Praise of (in Search of) Volunteers Thanks to Ed Anderson for putting out the sand and snow shovels and generally preparing the church for winter weather. Thanks to Jack and Andrea Petras for hanging the Christmas wreaths on the front of the meeting house. On February 6, 1870, Thomas Wentworth Higginson delivered an address, “The Sympathy of Religions,” in Boston’s Horticultural Hall. It describes the similarity, or “sympathy,” of all religions. His words seem fitting at the Winter Solstice and the many religious and secular holidays that cluster around it. TWH first reminds his audience of Christianity’s relatively brief existence, and the far briefer lives of the varied Protestant sects which had emerged since the Reformation. “If one insists on being exclusive, where shall he find a home? What hold has any Protestant sect among us on a thoughtful mind? They are too little, too new, too inconsistent, too feeble. What are these children of a day compared with that magnificent Church of Rome, which counts its years by centuries, and its votaries by millions, and its martyrs by myriads . . . It is the superb elder brother of our little sects, and seems to have most of the family fortune.” “But the whole fortune is so small...and even the elder brother is so young!” he notes, when compared with all the world’s religions, citing Judaism, Buddhism, Mohammedanism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, and Taoism. “When we fully comprehend the sympathy of religions we shall deal with other faiths on equal terms. We shall cease trying to free men from one superstition by inviting them into another. “For us, the door out of superstition and sin may be called Christianity; that is an historical name only, the accident of a birthplace. But other nations find other outlets; they must pass through their own doors, not through ours; and all will come at last upon the broad ground of God’s providing, which bears no man’s name. The reign of heaven on earth will not be called the Kingdom of Christ nor of Buddha, -- it will be called the Church of God or the Commonwealth of Man. I do not wish to belong to a religion only, but to the religion; it must not include less than the piety of the world.” “The Sympathy of Religions,” Thomas Wentworth Higginson, reprinted from The Radical and available in the Church library. sponsored by The Greater Newburyport Clergy Association Thursday January 15, 7:00 p.m. St. Paul's Episcopal Church 166 High St., Newburyport, MA 01950 Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better. – Martin Luther King, Jr. This year we will be offering the documentary "Traces of the Trade: A Story From the Deep North." This film chronicles the journey of descendants of the DeWolf family of Rhode Island in tracing their family roots to involvement in the trade of Africans as slaves in the American colonies. Dain Perry, a DeWolf descendant who appears in the film, will be present with his wife, Constance Perry, to lead a discussion of the issues this film raises. If you would like to learn more about this film, you can visit www.tracesofthetrade.org. We will begin and end the evening with some simple prayers. This is a different offering from those the Clergy Association has made in the past for the MLK holiday. We hope that it will honor the work of Dr. King by engaging our community in this important look at the past. Please come join us. from Community Service of Newburyport, Inc. Dear Congregation, Please accept our sincere thanks for your very generous donation of $1,180 from your weekly offering. We are very grateful for your continued support of our efforts to feed and clothe needy people in our community. Happy Holidays to all of you!
Sincerely, New Year's Eve – December 31, 2008 9:00 p.m. to midnight 7th Annual Sacred Circle Dance with Ellen Kennedy and musical intuitive Deirdre Drennen dance, song, ritual, meditation
The Belleville Church Hall, Newburyport A Presentation by Dudley Glover Hosted by Pennies for poverty: 2 cents 4 change, Inc. January 4, 2009, 2:00 p.m. Belleville Church, 300 High St., Newburyport, MA Invite your friends, family, and neighbors to follow this walking adventure. Pass the word to walk. Walk as if your life depended on it. Dudley Glover, an insulin-dependent diabetic with coronary heart complications combats, his disease by walking. Three times he has made a 500-mile trek along ancient footpaths across northern Spain. The goal for Dudley, as with thousands of pilgrims before him, has been to reach Santiago de Compostela, a city north of Portugal on the Atlantic Ocean. The web site – www.RoadtoSantiago.org – chronicles his trips in Spain, highlighting interesting people and places he has encountered along the way. The site includes striking photos of the Spanish countryside. "¡Buen Camino!" For more information, write to 2cents4change@gmail.com.
February 8 — Music at Eden's Edge March 8 — Beth Pearson, cello, Paul Dykstra, piano  |
