First Parish Unitarian Universalist of Arlington, Massachusetts

Service Summaries from the year 2010/2011

Here we'll provide occasional highlights of services to give a sampling as web publication is requested.

LEAF SELIGMAN GUEST PREACHER THIS SUNDAY, January 23rd.

Rev. Marta Flanagan will be offering the prayer.
Jim Ptacek will serve as Worship Associate for the service.
Last summer Leaf Seligman served as the Minister of the Week at Star Island, where many at First Parish raved about her participation.
Leaf serves the Unitarian Universalist congregation in Fitchburg. She is a preacher, poet and writing professor. She came to Unitarian Universalism through our congregation in Portsmouth when Marta served there as minister. In fact she was a Worship Associate in Portsmouth before studying for the ministry at Harvard Divinity School.
Leaf is a student of the banjo and a lover of gospel. Marta calls her a beloved friend and a spiritually awake soul.

Our summer services are lay-led and a listing has been provided for us in the June Spire. For your convenience in reference we'll publish that listing here as well.

June 19 — Grow Up and Pay Your Taxes
Rachel Stark
Every family benefits from things it cannot easily pay for alone — clean water, electric wires, sidewalks and streets, schools, libraries, trash pick-up and emergency help. So why are taxes so controversial? How can we make sure that everyone pays their fair share and also has fair input into how taxes are used?

June 26 — Poetry as Celebration and Spiritual Path
Cathie Desjardins
Openly welcoming to the poetry-impaired, this participatory service will explore the delights and possibilities of poetry.

July 3 — Loving My Country
Lori Kenschaft
UUs are often reluctant to talk about patriotism; it can fit uncomfortably with our affirmation of the worth and dignity of all people, and we can be painfully aware of harmful things our country has done. Yet love of country is also the foundation of citizenship, democracy, caring about the common good, and asking our country to live up to its ideals.

July 10 — The 1975 Church Fire and Rebuilding
Oaks Plimpton-Magee
After our church burned, the rebuilding brought our congregation together. But the modern design caused some to leave, and the town was very upset. Oakes hopes to persuade others to tell their stories of the old church, the fire, its aftermath, and the rebuilding process.

July 17 — Compassion and Empathy
P. J. Gardner and members of the Compassionate Communications Group
Most of us seldom engage in real outward violence, but all conflict grows out of a way of thinking and speaking that alienates one person from another. Our group’s goal is to look for ways to nurture connection with others and resolve the conflicts of everyday living.

July 24 — Green Sanctuary/Climate Change
Bill Gardiner, David Landskov, and Ricky Carter

July 31 — The Sources of Our Faith
Michelle Bates Deakin, Dave Deakin, Carolyn Hodges, Chris Jones, Sandy King, and Jim Hall
Join us as we explore the six sources for the “living tradition” we UUs share: direct experience of transcending mystery and wonder, words and deeds of prophetic women and men, wisdom from the world’s religions, Jewish and Christian teachings, principles of humanism, and spiritual teachings of earth-centered traditions.

August 7 — What’s On Your T-Shirt?
Ricky Carter and Janet Blodgett
Many members of our congregation live their faith through activities that involve social-justice work, from individual generosity to professional activities. Join us as we celebrate the many ways people at First Parish make social-justice work a part of our lives.

August 14 — Muddling Through: Engaging in a World that Has No Right Answers
Robin and Sam Richardson
We often long for the certainty that we are doing the right thing. Yet in many aspects of our lives, there is no guarantee that our labors will get us anywhere worth going. One of the hardest things to do is to “do” it all when we have no way of knowing whether we are right!

August 2 — Practicing Gratitude in Meditation and Everyday Living
Tom Hogan and Daniel Zabel
The Buddha identified gratitude as an essential part of living a life of integrity, and linked it with the practice of kindness. We will explore how gratitude can enhance both one’s meditation practice and daily life.

August 28 — “It Makes My Love Come Down” — Thoughts About Sexuality and Spirituality
Anna Watson
Over 80 years after Bessie Smith released her deliciously raunchy and eminently sensible celebration of sex and sexuality, we live in a society that continues to struggle with this most basic of human attributes. Human sexual expression in all its glorious variety is routinely discounted, corrupted and pathologized. Our major religions view anything of the body as a distraction to the work of the soul, and yet our sexual selves cannot and should not be ignored. When we give ourselves and each other permission to explore, honor, and fully inhabit our diverse sexualities, our connection to the sacred grows, and the entire world benefits.

September 4 — Being Wrong
Elizabeth Hunter
We’re wrong every day in little ways, and we make some really huge mistakes on occasion, but our minds and our culture have a very hard time dealing with it. We equate error with sin, we strive to be always right(eous), and we construct elaborate screens of denial and excuse in order to reframe ourselves as eternally correct. In her book Being Wrong, Kathryn Schultz talks about the need to understand errors, deal with them in a healthier manner, and celebrate our mistakes as opportunities for learning.

Summaries of Previous Services:
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006| 2007 | 2008

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