JULY MINISTRY THEME: POSSIBILITY
Annual Ministry Theme: Life
SUNDAY, JULY 12
GROWING INTO HARMONY WITH THE DIVINE
SERVICE STARTS
AT 10AM
Sunday, July 5, 2026
Reading Frederick Douglass Together
10am, Brown Square, rain location: FRSUU, no livestream
Please join us for the annual community reading of Frederick Douglass’s speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Meet in Brown Square across from City Hall (rain location, FRSUU) at 10am. No sign-up required. Light refreshments will follow. Lawn chairs are encouraged. Co-hosted by the Friends of William Lloyd Garrison, the YWCA of the Greater Northshore, Museum of Old Newbury, and Congregation Ahavas Achim, with support from Mass Humanities and Mass Cultural Council. No livestream. More information at www.WLGarrison.com.
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Growing into Harmony with the Divine
10am, Sanctuary and YouTube
Drawing from Steve McIntosh’s Evolution’s Purpose, the story of cosmic, biological, and cultural evolution, the service will explore how familiar phrases from our FRS Affirmation of Faith and Doxology can speak to our lives today. The service will be led by David Turner and will include harmonies from choir members and video reflections and songs from Alban and Erinda in Albania.
FRSUU Welcomes New Interim Minister!
The FRSUU Board of Trustees and the Interim Minister Search Team are excited and proud to announce the selection of Rev. Connie Simon as our new interim minister. Rev. Connie, who is completing her interim ministry at the River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Bethesda, MD, will start her two-year ministry at FRSUU on August 1. Her first official Sunday in the pulpit will be September 13, Opening Sunday for the 2026-27 church year.
Rev. Connie explains her approach to interim ministry on her website: “I’ve chosen to focus my ministry on transitional work because I genuinely love it. There’s something deeply meaningful about accompanying congregations through periods of change—helping them reflect on their history, clarify their identity, strengthen their leadership, and step intentionally into their future. Transitions are challenging, but they’re also extraordinary opportunities for growth, healing, and renewal.”
Read the full announcement HERE.
Summer Sunday Worship
July 19 and 26
10am in the sanctuary with livestream on YouTube
Click here for the full schedule of summer services and events.
The Latest News & Events
In the Spirit: “When the world is on fire” by Reverend Rebecca M. Bryan
Published in The Daily News on April 11, 2025 The recent months have ushered in tremendous and devastating changes in our country. Our democracy, government agencies and international relations, which we assumed were staples of our nation, are being torn...
Exploring Elderhood Together: Better Vision, Movement, and Balance
Thursday, April 17, LMH Main Room, 1-2:30pm. Exploring Elderhood presents: An Experiential Program to Support Better Vision, Movement, and Balance with Ree Coleman We are all keenly aware of our sense of sight and how our sight and eyes support us each day. Also...
Know Your Rights!
Tuesday, April 15, Sanctuary, 6-8pm Join us for a Know Your Rights workshop. Learn about essential legal rights of immigrants, how to handle interactions with law enforcement or Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and information to protect yourself and your...
Be the Light: Make Love Real
On Sunday, March 2 we kicked off our 2025 Annual Giving Campaign! Our theme: Be the Light: Make Love Real! This theme is both a statement of our values and a call to loving action. There is no better time, no time more deserving than now, to show how we can answer...
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)....
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...
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.
