Adult Choir
LMH Main Room 26 Pleasant St, Newburyport, MA, United StatesLower Meetinghouse Main Room
FRSUU Events Calendar
This calendar lists FRSUU activities inside our buildings and in the community. It also shows when FRSUU spaces are being reserved by outside groups. Click on an event to see its location and more information.
If you need to reserve space space for your meeting or event, please fill out [this form].
For questions regarding church ministry related events and meetings, please contact the Church Administrator at diane.carroll@frsuu.org.
For external inquiries including private events and rentals please contact nick.place@frsuu.org.
Lower Meetinghouse Main Room
LMH Room A. We meet weekly and read both fiction and non-fiction books chosen by participants. Each book is read and discussed over a period of several meetings, with the reading for each determined by the group.
Meets weekly on Friday
LMH Room A
Reserved from 10:00am-11:30am
Join us for services at 10:30am on Sundays, from the Sunday after Labor Day through late spring. Experience elements of the world religions, including our Christian roots and humanism. Find inspiration in choral and instrumental music (including organ), congregational singing, a time for children, readings, an offering, and meditative silence. Hear a sermon on social justice, spirituality, dealing with life’s challenges, or other issues. We may celebrate a holiday, act out a skit, hold a coming-of-age ceremony, or hear a member’s Journeys of Faith. Services end around 11:30am and are usually followed by a 30-minute fellowship gathering. For a relaxed service with music from the jazz tradition, come to a Jazz Vespers. Our Christmas Eve service and Christmas Candlelight service are community traditions.
Young Church is for children up through 8th grade. Children sit with their families for the beginning of worship service (about 15 minutes), and then head downstairs to the Lower Meetinghouse with volunteers and the Director of Youth and Children’s Ministry, Mara Flynn. We offer nursery care for children under age 5 – and “littles” are also welcome to join us in Young Church with a parent/guardian in attendance. Our Young Church programming engages and allows our K-8th grade children to experience and create meaningful connection through: Ritual, stories, crafts, games and joyful community building Special guests, activities and projects that support curiosity and spiritual growth Explorations of the 7 UU Principles and social justice engagement If your child will be attending, please fill out our registration form HERE Questions? Email Mara Flynn, Director of Youth and Children’s Ministry at mara.flynn@frsuu.org.
Justice Sunday - Banned Books, 11:30am-1pm, Lower Meetinghouse Please join us for our 1st Justice Sunday! Each month throughout most of the church year, we will host a program focused on the justice work that takes place within and beyond our congregation. Programs take place after Sunday worship and start with a community soup & salad lunch, followed by a justice program. Banned Books Week is an annual event that highlights the value of free and open access to information and that brings communities together in shared support of the freedom to seek and express ideas. Reverend Laurel and Mara Flynn, Director of Youth and Children's Ministry will be leading a program with support from August Mead and Rebecca Lobb that will include information from the American Library Association about censorship, book readings and calls to action. The FRS Youth Group will be hosting this event! Please click below if you are able to provide a soup! Justice Sunday Soup Sign Up
Meets in the Hayward Room with David Turner, 8:30-10am. Three-week course on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, September 30 – October 18. This specially designed program integrates gentle yoga practices with mindfulness techniques. Whether you are new to yoga or have some experience, this course offers a supportive environment to enhance physical, mental, and emotional well-being. David Turner is a Kripalu Certified Yoga Instructor and a Unified Mindfulness Certified Coach. No fee to attend, but freewill donations to the church gratefully accepted. Questions? Contact David Turner: davidyturner@comcast.net, 617-669-1950.
Monday Night Meditation at 6:30pm in Lower Meeting House (enter via Unicorn Street entrance). These weekly sessions are led by Joyce Haydock, Senior Dharma Teacher with the International Kwan Um School of Zen. She has been with the school since 1989. This FRSUU Monday group was established over ten years ago. Our sessions consist of two or three chants, two readings/teachings and 30 minutes of sitting meditation. Beginners are welcome. Contact Joyce at 978-363-5457 or email joycehaydock@outlook.com to be added to our list and receive access information.
Meets in the Hayward Room
Introduction to the Science and Practice of Mindfulness: A Four-Week Series with Effie Stavrulaki Offered by North Shore Insight and Meditation Center When: Monday evenings, 7-8:30 pm, Sept. 30, Oct. 7, 21, & 28 (no class Oct. 14) at the FRSUU Mindfulness is the ability to be fully attentive to the present moment with the attitudes of nonjudgment, kind acceptance, and curiosity. A large body of scientific research suggests that formal mindfulness training reduces stress, increases wellbeing, and even increases the chance of acting in pro-social ways to help others. By reducing how much time we spend worrying about the future or fretting about the past, our capacity to appreciate what is actually happening and to choose how to act with more clarity and compassion increases. The more we develop this capacity, the less we feel overwhelmed by changes and challenges in our lives. During this four-week class series, you will be introduced to the practice of embodied mindfulness and learn several skills for managing stress and enriching your life. We will discuss the latest science about the benefits of mindfulness, but mostly we will practice together. And we will encourage each other to establish a meditation routine that you can integrate with your daily living. Like learning any new skill, mindfulness meditation requires repetition and patience. Working in a group setting increases the chance of developing and sticking with this important skill. Beginners as well as anyone who would like to get back to regular meditation practice are very welcome. Effie Stavrulaki is a meditation teacher with NSIMC as well as a management professor at Bentley University. Read more about Effie at her teacher page. The fee for this program is $85 ($80 cash or check). To register and pay online, just click below; for alternate payment methods, email northshoreimc@gmail.com.