January Theme: Bravery
Annual Ministry Theme: Truth
SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2025
A General, a Poet, a Pub, and the Power of Integrity
SERVICE STARTS AT 10:30AM
Sunday, January 26, 2025
A General, a Poet, a Pub, and the Power of Integrity
10:30am in person and on YouTube
In 1759, British General James Wolfe led future Newburyport tavern keeper William Davenport, captain of the Newbury militia, on the battlefield in Quebec and became a hero after his sudden death. Historian (and Davenport relative) Bethany Groff Dorau, Executive Director of the Museum of Old Newbury, will discuss how the town dealt with the legacy of General Wolfe as allegiances shifted in the run-up to the American Revolution. What can we learn from the complicated story of General Wolfe? And what did Emily Dickinson have to say about it? And what does any of this have to do with the parking lot next to the library?
Congregational-Wide Read: Caste
The Anti-Racism Initiative team invites you to join us for a congregational-wide reading of the book Caste, by Isabel Wilkerson. We will host seven group discussion sessions in February and March that will address specific sections of the book and help us better understand how we as a community can live into the 8th Principle we adopted in 2024. Watch the Steeple newsletter for more information.
Rev. Rebecca’s Faithful Response After the Election
The Latest News & Events
Justice Sunday: The State of Housing in the Greater Newburyport Area
On Sunday, February 2 following worship we will have a Justice Sunday (and soup sunday) focusing on housing in the Newburyport area. Rents are high and apartments are few and far between. The cost of buying in this area continues to climb. Judy Tymon of the YWCA...
Board Congregational Relations Meeting
We will meet on Sunday, February 9 from 11:45am-1pm in the Lower Meetinghouse and address the following: Where are we in our work to renovate the Parish Hall? How are we going to pay for it? Join the Board on February 9 after church to find out the answers to these...
Congregation-Wide Read: Caste
Beginning on February 3, we will be reading Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents by Isabel Wilkerson. Isabel Wilkerson explores how America has been shaped by a caste system that influences people’s lives and behavior and our nation’s fate. Linking the caste systems...
Valentine Making with Tinkerhaus ($20)
For the sixth year in a row, Tinkerhaus will be hosting a Valentine Making Event. This year it will be at Parish Hall starting at 6:30pm. Learn from Barbara Burns Dore for paper crafting tips and make Valentines for your own sweeties and some to share with local...
FRS Green Team Potluck and Beyond Plastics Presentation
On Wednesday, January 29 we invite all to share a potluck supper at 6 pm, followed by a talk and discussion on the risk of plastics and the associated plastic waste in our lives and for our environment. Molly Ettenborough, of the Newburyport Department of Recycling,...
Contemplative Worship at FRS: Touching the Sacred Within
Led by Rev. Alan Seale. When: The first Sunday of January, February, March and April at 8am in the Sanctuary Contemplation has been described as “a long loving look at the real” and “a pure intuition of being, born of love” (21st-century mystic William McNamara)....
Mystic and Contemplative Circles and Services – Winter 2025
The Mystic and Contemplative Circles and Services will begin again this winter on February 18. This program designed to create opportunities to explore pathways for opening to Spirit and sharing in sacred circles. These gatherings are intended to be opportunities to...
Wilson Music Series 2025: Cuban Art Song Project
Cuban Art Song Project. Isabella Lamadriz and Pablo Zinger will perform an hour of Cuban love songs in celebration of Valentine’s Day. The Cuban Art Song Project (CASP) seeks to promote underperformed Cuban art song, zarzuela, and popular music and to encourage the...
Men’s Group Breakfast: Celebrating Women
On Saturday, January 11 from 8–10am The FRS Men’s Group will be cooking a deluxe breakfast honoring women as an FRSUU auction item. We hope to sell 100 tickets to this event. All women are welcome regardless of payment. The suggested donation is $20/person and...
Tour the FRS Campus and Buildings
Follow our drone footage as we fly to the top of FRS’s steeple featuring a glass-eyed gilded weathercock which overlooks downtown Newburyport and Merrimack River. From there, you’ll get a first-hand look at our campus grounds and the interior of our meetinghouse and Sanctuary which dates back to 1801. Rev. Rebecca, our Senior Minister, welcomes you and ALL who seek a place of spiritual community and faith here. To close, Nick Place, our Director of Church Music, plays the organ which dates back to 1834 and we close with a view of the bell from the foundry of Paul Revere and Sons bell.
