This Sunday we will look at the ways that we face into loss, sadness, and grief and how we work with our Emotional Intelligence to locate the silver linings that may exist just below the surface. Join Rev. Dr. Marjorie Matty as she honors our losses and uncovers and embraces the learning held within all of our experiences big, small, painful, or enlightening.
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Can speaking our minds have disastrous consequences? What about the old adage of not talking about religion and/or politics being a good idea, does it still hold? When we do speak from our heart, does anyone really listen, or do we just tune out? Are truth-telling and authenticity truly an important skillset to cultivate for oneself and expect from one another, or does a person’s word really mean far less than it once did? Join Rev. Dr. Marjorie Matty as she wonders about the importance of what might be considered “old notions” of integrity and communication.
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Join us as three generations of First Parish members come together to share their beliefs and the experiences that contribute to what sustains and inspires them. Come hear Gail Hardenbergh, Sheila Davison, and Ben Reiner share their thoughts — and Peg Espinola share some music!
We push forward to encourage the introduction of a holiday to replace Columbus Day. Can we atone, the white progeny of colonialist forebearers, for what has been perpetuated in the name of expansion? Let us consider the injustice that this country was built upon the backs of enslaved Native Americans, indentured European immigrants, African Slaves. Many worked to build this nation to then be excluded from the benefit of the expansion. Join Rev. Dr. Marjorie as she wonders how the implications of our past have created the current climate in this country that will have ramifications on our future.
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Who was St Francis, and why would a Franciscan Nun claim to be a Unitarian Universalist? Join Rev. Dr. Marjorie Matty as she unpacks the beliefs of the Franciscan tradition in comparison to Unitarian Universalism. Please invite your non-human familiars for a blessing of the animals.
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What does it mean to save the soul of a Nation? Is it possible to create a place of peace during a pandemic, devastating wildfires, and the hottest recorded temperatures on the planet? What does it take to save the soul of a Nation, or a people who inhabit a planet? Join Rev. Dr. Marjorie Matty as she considers competing ideals, agendas, and ambitions to “Keep America Great” and/or “Save the Soul of the Nation.”
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On September 19th, 1836, Ralph Waldo Emerson in response to a letter from Frederick Henry Hedge calling for a “symposium” gathered with like-minded thinkers to engage in a free discussion of theological and moral subjects. Those who gathered sought a way to find meaning that was inherently and personally grounded in a sense of connection to the divine deemed by Emerson as the Oversoul. Is there such a thing as the divine and are human beings innately created in the image of the divine? Join Rev. Dr. Marjorie Matty as she considers a walk-through transcendentalism and our connection with something larger than oneself.
Rev. Marjorie looks forward to welcoming you to our online* Homecoming Service on Sunday, September 13, at 10 am.
It is our tradition on Homecoming Sunday to share in a water ritual. Like in past years, we will collect water from the places that have meant so much to us over the summer—streams, lakes, rivers, ponds, garden hoses—or even from summer rainfall.
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It’s a tradition at FPS to end summer services with a poetry slam. Gather with us online on August 30th to share poems that speak to you: contemporary, classical, free verse, haikus… all are welcome. And, if you write poetry, bring those to share. The service will be...
Join us in a follow-up discussion to the recent sermon by Rob Kinslow. We will discuss why we try, even against all odds, to create good. The divine part of our human nature, the angel part, the part that can hear angels or the universe whispering, is that part of us...