The First Parish office will be closed on Tuesday, June 24, and Wednesday, June 25, due to expected high temperatures. We will reopen on Thursday, June 26.
Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kūpono Kwong, Interim Lead Minister
Rev. Dr. Jonipher Kūpono Kwong (he/they) will become First Parish’s Interim Lead Minister in August 2025 and welcomes being called either “Jonipher” or “Rev. Jonipher.” Born and raised in the Philippines, of Chinese descent, most of Jonipher’s adult life was spent in California and Hawai’i. He has served as a minister at the First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, the Fourth Universalist Society of the City of New York (where he was the Interim Senior Minister), and UU congregations in Sepulveda, the Temecula Valley, and Toronto. He has also served Metropolitan Community Churches in Honolulu and Orange County, CA. He worked for the UUA as the Ministerial Credentialing Director and a member of the Congregational Life Staff for the Pacific Western Region. Raised with an ecumenical background, Jonipher values pluralistic religious experiences. Process theology speaks to him most deeply, but he was christened at a Gospel church, baptized as a Chinese Mennonite, and a member of the Honolulu Mindfulness Community, a sangha influenced by the Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hahn. Rev. Jonipher brings to First Parish a deep interest in congregational cultures, structures, and healing.
Rev. Erica Richmond, Parish Minister
Rev. Erica Richmond joined the First Parish team in August 2020. After several years as a hospital chaplain and one year at the Unitarian Universalist congregation in North Andover, Rev. Erica is thrilled to be settling into Arlington. She brings humor, warmth, and curiosity to her ministry, all the while making space for grief and injustice to be heard and honored. Rev. Erica grew up as a Unitarian Universalist at the First Parish in Brookline- she will be forever grateful for the faith formation she received there. She then went onto Clark University in Worcester where she studied International Development and Gender Studies. After completing her undergraduate degree she stayed at Clark to earn her Masters in Community Development. Next it was onto New York City- she graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 2013. Rev. Erica spent two years in Seattle at Harborview Medical Center and then served as the Palliative Care chaplain at Hartford Hospital from 2015-2019. In this complex and aching world, she believes we must hold each other tenderly, creating a beloved community that can journey together, through joys and sorrows, through triumphs and challenges. She loves all things New England, including our sports teams, our autumns, and our history. Beyond that, she loves reading psychological thrillers, going on rambling walks with friends, and perfecting her newly-discovered commitment to biking.
Marta was voted by the congregation Minister Emerita on May 18, 2025. Retired from full time parish ministry She lives in Vermont with her husband, Charlie Duffy, and works as a spiritual director.
For sixteen years Marta served First Parish as Lead Minister (2009-2025) during which the congregation grew in membership and engagement. During her ministry the current Lay Ministry and Worship Associates programs were developed, social justice efforts expanded, and a deepening of spirituality in the congregation experienced through lectio divina, silent retreats and the approach to theological diversity in worship statement in the phrase adopted by the Worship Associates “You Sing My Hymn, I Sing Yours.”
Marta is a graduate of Smith College and Harvard Divinity School. She was trained as a spiritual director at the Mercy Center in Burlingame California and was affiliated as a spiritual director at Bethany House in Arlington MA 2001-2008. For nearly forty years she served congregations in New England. She was the first woman minister in the city of Salem serving the Universalist congregation 1987-1997. She served as co-minister of South Church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire 1997-2005, and Interim Minister in Montpelier, Vermont (2008-2009) before coming to Arlington MA.
We began our ministry in August 2020 with a three-day private consultation led by an outside church consultant.
The following was born out of those conversations.
We periodically update it to reflect our learnings together and the ways we might call each other and this congregation forward in love. –
Rev. Marta Flanagan, Lead Minister & Rev. Erica Richmond, Parish Minister
June 2021
Our Shared Core Commitments Our ministry together is grounded in:
a sense of a Spirit moving within and among us
service to First Parish, its leaders, and members
a call to work for justice, both within and beyond the walls of the meetinghouse.
Together we will work and serve; share joy and delight; engage in prayer and devotion. In this time of returning to post-pandemic life, we keep before us the call to
help others and ourselves discern what is important and life-giving in our days and in our community and
turn outward even when our society’s temptations to go inward can be so great.
In this ministry, we are grateful that we are not alone. We support and are supported by a larger staff team, lay leaders, and volunteers. We are also connected to the community of greater Boston and Unitarian Universalism.
Our Individual Core Commitments We know too that we bring to our ministry our separate stories, passions, and commitments. We will encourage one another in those pursuits that make our hearts and souls sing.
Of particular note, Rev. Erica is committed to:
Lifting up and giving attention to what is deeply important; this includes issues of justice, trauma, and grief in our aching world.
Honoring complexity as a spiritual endeavor — that many things are true at the same time.
Companioning with and being led by a Holy Presence in her work and encounters with others.
Encouraging experimentation and agility in service to this liberal religious community.
Marta is committed to:
Ministering to others in times of death and grief.
Advocating for the outsider, the outcast, the misunderstood, and those peoples often made absent.
Fostering spiritual awareness and transformation in others
Promoting racial justice – made even more pressing in this time of pandemic.
Our Covenants Knowing that the ways we are and work together are important, we covenant to:
Underscore the joys of this work and take delight in the opportunity to work and learn from one another. We will celebrate one another’s successes and those of the congregation.
Speak the truth in love in our work with the congregation the staff, and one another. We will maintain confidentiality in staff conversations and meetings. We will share pastoral care concerns of those we serve with each other as needed and will inform the congregation of that policy.
Model direct conversation and discourage triangulation within the congregation. If someone complains to one of us about the other, we will coach that person to be direct with their feedback. We will publicly support each other when issues arise.
Consult with one another before initiating new or uncharted public stands or actions.
Be open to new ideas and learn from one another’s approaches and frameworks.
Recognize difference as a good thing and honor one another’s perspectives. We aim for a spirit of playfulness and curiosity when we hold different perspectives.
When disagreements arise, we will not speak disparagingly or invite others to take sides. We will take time and approach any disagreements with intention.
Support each other in finding balance in our work and in our lives. This means encouraging one another to take time away from ministerial responsibilities for rest and refreshment.
Give each other feedback; knowing that we have a shared commitment to growth and to building a partnership of trust and support.
