NOVEMBER MINISTRY THEME: TIME
Annual Ministry Theme: Life
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2025
A THANKSGIVING SERMON BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON
SERVICE STARTS
AT 10:30AM
Sunday, November 30, 2025
A Thanksgiving Sermon by Thomas Wentworth Higginson
10:30am with livestream on YouTube
Listen to Reverend Rebecca read the text of Rev. Thomas Wentworth Higginson’s Thanksgiving Sermon. Higginson’s critique of slavery led to a quick ending of his ministry in Newburyport. The message in this sermon applies to our country today and needs to be taken seriously. The service will conclude with a special ritual of peace as we enter the holiday season.
“All… religions show the same disparity between belief and practice, and each is safe till it tries to exclude the rest. But falsehood begins when you measure the ebb of any other religion against the flood-tide of your own. There is a noble and a base side to every history.”
–Rev. Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Minister of FRSUU (1847-1849)
The Latest News & Events
Easter Worship
Join us on Sunday, April 20, to celebrate the coming of spring and Easter with the traditional story as well as choir and brass music. Children are invited to join us outside after the service for an Easter egg hunt. All are welcome!
Justice Sunday Louis D. Brown Peace Institute
Please join us as we welcome representatives from the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute following worship on Sunday, March 30. Our guests will share information on the upcoming 29th Mother's Day Walk for Peace to be held on Sunday, May 11. This gathering will also...
Congregational-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...
Earth Month Event – Birds: The Gateway to Conservation Action
Please join us on Sunday, April 27 at 1pm. As climate change accelerates, biodiversity is challenged, and our natural environment is at risk, the new federal administration shows little concern about any of these threats. Thus, it falls to us to organize and work...
Wilson Music Series: Champlain Trio on 3/30
March 30, 3:00 p.m. (please note different start time) – Champlain Trio – Violinist Letitia Quante, cellist Emily Taubl, and pianist Hiromi Fukuda came together as an ensemble in the spring of 2020. All three musicians earned degrees from The Juilliard School among...
Maker Mondays Craft Circle with Rev. Laurel
Rev. Laurel (and her dog Henry) invite you to join her on the first and third Mondays of the month during lunch hour from 11am-1pm for a chance to knit, stitch, draw, and create in community with other FRS members and friends. Don't have a project? You can just stop...
FRSUU Fourth Century Campaign
The Fourth Century Team of FRS is excited to support a bold initiative to revitalize our Parish Hall building. Their vision for this building looks for inspiration to its 19th-century roots as a community meeting space; a space where congregants and the wider...
Wilson Music Series: Justin Murphy-Mancini on 3/23
Sunday, March 23, Sanctuary, 4pm Justin Murphy-Mancini, organist, presents this concert in honor and memory of Barbara Owen, former FRSUU Director of Church Music and international organist. Former Director of Church Music at First Religious Society UU and current...
Meeting the Moment
Join Marianne Vesey, Guardian of Local Justice Newsletter, and Rev. Laurel Gray, Assistant Minister of Congregational Life, for this three-part series about different ways to take action against authoritarianism, discern the work that is best for us to do, and make...
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. Organ music provided by former Director of Church Music Justin Murphy-Mancini on our 1834 Joseph Alley organ. Piano music provided by Director of Church Music Nick Place. We close with a view of the bell from the foundry of Paul Revere and Sons bell.
