Sunday Worship
First Parish
A liberal religious community, welcoming to all
First gathered 1739
Worship Service
Sunday, December 7, 10:00am
Worship at the Meetinghouse and online
“Music Sunday”
Led by Dr. Daniel Parsley, Music Director
Join us for our annual Winter Music Service, led by First Parish Music Director Dr. Daniel Parsley and featuring the First Parish Choir, accompanist and Music Director Emeritus Kenneth Seitz, flutist Robin Baker, guest harpist Colleen Murray, alongside reflective vignettes from congregation and staff members. This year’s theme—memory—invites us to reflect on how shared remembrance shapes the holiday season and why we are drawn, year after year, to the singing of carols. The service weaves together Benjamin Britten’s iconic A Ceremony of Carols, Stephen Paulus’s A Savior on High, and beloved congregational carols and hymns from across traditions, creating a musical space where memory, meaning, and community meet.
Sunday, December 7“Music Sunday” |
Service details |
View or download the Order of Service. Generally updated with this week’s order of service the Friday before the service. |
View or download the Sunday Teaser. Generally posted the Friday before the service. |
View or download the First Parish Words for Worship (blue cards). These are the words for parts of our worship service that do not change each week. |
Giving First for December 2025
The Giving First program donates 50% of the non-pledge offering each month to a charitable organization that we feel is consistent with Unitarian Universalist principles. The program began in November 2009, and First Parish has donated over $200,000 to more than 70 organizations.
For December 2025, The Welcome Project will share half the plate. The Welcome Project, founded in 1987 in Somerville’s Mystic Public Housing Development, now provides programming citywide that strengthens the capacity of immigrant youth, adults, and families to advocate for themselves and influence schools, government, and other institutions that shape their lives. TWP’s culturally responsive approach builds on immigrants’ existing strengths to forge connections across language and culture. The organization provides essential services to the vast and increasingly diverse immigrant community, including Brazilians, Haitians, individuals from the Northern Triangle of Central America, and so many others worldwide who strive to find success and community in their new city.
The other half of the offering supports the life and work of First Parish.