The Spire

the electronic newsletter of

First Parish of Norwell,

Unitarian Universalist

In - Spire - ing News UUs Can Use

December 13, 2023

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In This Issue

Sunday Worship

From the Minister

Advent Reflections

Spiritual Snack

Caring Corner

Safety Update

Book Signing

From The Director of Community Engagement

Winter Weather Issues

Helen Fogg Outreach Committee

Invested Funds Committee

From the Church Office

New Year's Eve Party

Yoga

Lunchtime Poetry Series

First Parish Book Group

Holiday Happenings poster

Multiplatform Services on

Sundays at 10 am

Rev. Susan Chorley preaching

unless indicated otherwise

The Soul Matters theme for December is Mystery

December 17: Yule School

The RE program's presentation will focus on the solstice and Saturnalia.

Donation item: new twin sheet sets for families at Carolina Hill

December 24 at 10 am: Joyful Beginnings Join us for an interactive telling of the Christmas story and the miraculous birth in a stable with animals, angels and shepherds

Donation item: diapers (any size) for migrant families in Rockland,

December 24 at 5 pm: join us for a traditional Christmas Eve service with carols, scripture and candles.

December 31: join us for a lay-led service

please click here to join any morning service in December

Meeting ID: 823 4971 7448

Passcode: Mystery

Dial by your location

+1 301 715 8592

Meeting ID: 823 4971 7448

please click here to join the 5 pm service on Christmas Eve only

Meeting ID: 834 1659 0319

Passcode: Xmas

Dial by your location

+1 646 931 3860

Meeting ID: 834 1659 0319

Please send your joys and concerns to Rev. Susan by 8:30 am on Sundays. be sure to tell her if your news can be shared with the congregation or if it should be kept private. The 4th Sunday of each month will include am "open mic" component to Joys and Concerns.

From the Minister

Dear Ones,

What a joy to be in this moment together. There is so much in the world that directs our minds towards pain and negativity, isolation and difference. So, to get to be a part of a community that is seeking to stay connected across difference, reach out to our neighbors with care and learn and explore together about varied faith groups and practices - is a true gift.

Just in the last few days the highlights of joy I've witnessed include

delivering the giant card with your messages of care, plus a financial donation to Temple Sha'aray Shalom in Hingham to defray the costs of increased security there
joining staff and members in helping the social workers fit *all* the presents for foster care children in their cars
delivering food to the Norwell Food Pantry and witnessing all the hands involved in our December Community Dinner (including hands to play ukulele!)
planning our next 3 worship services with Gingy, Hope and Amanda and the joy that is to come
the deep connections shared on calls and pastoral visits, when people express their appreciation for our community of faith
standing on Peggotty Beach and reflecting with gratitude on the personal and vulnerable sharing of worship associates this season

As we move towards the winter solstice, may we be aware that amidst the great darkness in the world there is, in fact, a balance of light and joy. There is a shared and deep desire for a new and, perhaps, communal incarnation. No matter how old or how young we are, new life can be born within us.

How will you continue to be light and love in our broken world?

With gratitude for shared ministry,

Rev. Susan

Advent Reflections

Rev. Susan will lead a brief Advent devotional on Monday, December 18 for all who wish to join. The devotional will be on Facebook Live at 1 pm on both days - or you can choose to watch it any time after as it will be posted on the First Parish of Norwell FB page. The season of Advent is a sacred time as we wait for the mystery of what is unfolding in our lives and in the world. Consider giving yourself the gift of a few moments to pause and reflect amidst the busy-ness of this month. You can connect to our Facebook page by clicking on the blue and white Facebook logo at the very bottom of this newsletter.

Spiritual Snack

"I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

~Maya Angelou

Caring Corner

Denise Petrino is recuperating at home following knee replacement surgery.

Prue Miller is at Harbor House in Hingham and appreciates short visits and cards (Harbor House, 11 Condito Road, Hingham, 02043).

Deanna Riley continues to receive treatment and medical testing at South Shore Hospital due to complications from COVID.

From the Director of Community Engagement

Happy Holidays to my First Parish Family!

I’ve been having so much fun preparing for this Sunday’s play, “Yule School,” an RE presentation on the Pagan traditions that inspire so many of the ways we celebrate Christmas and other winter holidays. As part of the service, we’ll listen to Dar William’s song “The Christians and the Pagans.” In the song, a character explains the overlap between her Pagan beliefs and her cousin’s Christian faith: “We love trees, we love the snow, the friends we have, the world we share, and you find magic from your God, and we find magic everywhere.”

That line always hits me! Love and magic – those elements are so intrinsic to our celebration, so universal, and so ancient. Researching Celtic and Roman history while working on the play taught me about the reverence that humanity has always had for the magic of the solstice – a deep-seated love for the sun and gratitude for its return as the days begin to lengthen. In the past, violent tribal wars would halt for the solstice, creating a time of truce and peace based on love for the light. The strict hierarchical construction of ancient Rome would relax for the solstice, making space for equality and fraternity in celebration of the light.

To me, it was truly magical to learn that those ancient rites and ceremonies were baked right into Hanukkah and Christmas – whether or not we know it, when we decorate a tree or light a candle, we are holding hands with long-ago ancestors and finding magic in winter rituals. How powerful – and how unifying! Even as we have separate ways to celebrate, different family traditions or religious rites, we are connected by our past. And our present. And our future.

As Dar Williams says, “the magic’s in the learning.” Come and learn more with us this Sunday! The RE program is excited to share what we’ve learned with you.

With winter joy,

Amanda

Winter Weather Issues

As we move into the winter months, extreme weather may require us to reschedule or cancel events. We will post a message on our website, as well as on our Facebook page. You don't have to be a Facebook user to view these posts. Simply click on the blue and white "f" logo at the bottom of any Spire or Weekly Update. Power outages or lack of internet access may make it harder for us to be in contact with you. Please be cautious and use your best judgement!

Helen Fogg Outreach Committee

You won't believe what we've already accomplished this year!

In the early stages of our congregational discernment on purpose, it was pointed out that both intergenerational understanding and getting to know our geographic neighbors are needed in this world. The list below demonstrates that we can and are helping make the world a better place for everyone and specifically in those two ways.

Working through YOUR Helen Fogg Committee, YOU have really made a difference in the first months of this church year:

On the third, “Giving”, Sunday of each month, you provided

$1000 to South Shore Peer Recovery’s work with people and families in addiction recovery (Summer Services)
$2000 to Bay State Community Services for their work with immigrant families in Quincy (September)
$1000 to the UU Service Committee for their international work (October)
$1588 (so far) to support children in foster cre during Christmas and beyond (November)

Through your support of our Director of Community Engagement, Amanda Adams,

200 patients at Boston Children's Hospital have their stays improved
350 bagged lunches for Father Bill’s shelter will feed, 10 different times, the 35 people or so who habitually request lunch on a Monday
5 toddlers in Uganda will have sturdy shoes + many others will receive medical care and training about how to prevent mud-borne parasites
4 different charities will receive some portion of the $600 Easter egg charity money – last year that meant life-saving surgery for a boy named Aman in Ethiopia and contributing to the Habitat for Humanity house that was just finished on Route 53 in Hingham, plus donations towards a chimpanzee reserve and a playground in an underserved area. This year it will probably be a different impact if we choose different charities
Six different children living in transitional housing will have a better birthday celebration
40 children will receive brightly colored soft blankets to cheer their hospital stays
Diverse communities will come together to learn more about and celebrate Juneteenth

Your Justice Teams put your generosity to work

Community Dinner volunteers (Food Justice) baked, set up, served and cleaned up after feeding nearly 500 people. Our guests left full of food and fellowship, and some took a meal home with them. Our guests donated $513 to local food pantries
The LGBTQ+ Support Team has brought us the Transforming Hearts Collective and has scheduled a movie and SpeakOut.
The Mental Health Action Team has a busy year of programming, including speakers, funds for treatment and workshops
The Climate Justice Team has started a composting program provided by the Black Earth Company which picks up compost weekly and will deliver completed compost for use in our flower gardens. Removing organic material from landfills or incinerators will reduce release of greenhouse gasses

That is just the outward focused impact. The inward focused impact includes:

Giving adults and children at First Parish more opportunities to work together and get to know each other
Getting to know our neighbors, as many of these activities bring people into our church
Raising our awareness and perspective on the needs of people in other communities and circumstances
Developing and cementing the habits of global stewardship and helping others
First Parish of Norwell becomes known as a place where people do good work, helping to raise our profile and make us more attractive to like-minded people – and when we grow, we can become a larger and better-funded community that is able to do MORE of all of the impacts listed above.

If you have questions, or want to help, please call Jack Wallace at 781-834-4696. To have a say in how we do outreach in our community, please join us! Meetings are at 11:30 after Coffee Hour, usually the third Sunday of each month. Why not join us and check us out? Thank you!

From the Church Office

If you itemize your charitable donations on your tax return, please be sure to get any donations or pledge payments in by December 31.

The Church Office will be closed December 23-January 1 so that staff can relax and celebrate the holiday with their families. We will reopen at 9 am on Tuesday, January 2, 2024.

Safety Update

Our automated external defibrillator (AED) has fresh pads installed to working smoothly.
We have added a severe bleeding kit to be used in the event of a severe hemorrhage. It is in the labeled drawer in the kitchen with the other first aid supplies.
We are in the process of stocking Narcan, to be used in the event of an opioid overdose on our property.

We are grateful to John Dalco for his advice and assistance!

Book Signing and Meet-and-Greet

First Parish Church of Cohasset is hosting author Scott Shane for a signing if his new book, "FLEE NORTH: A Forgotten Hero and the Fight for Freedom in Slavery's Borderland". It's about the underground railroad and the domestic slave trade in the 1840s, and one of the three major characters, Charles Torrey, was born in Scituate in 1813 and died in a Maryland prison after being sentenced for helping people escape slavery.

The event is happening at First Parish Cohasset (23 North Main Street, Cohasset) on Saturday, December 16 from 2-3:30 pm. Please click here for more information about the event. To learn more about the author, please click here.

All Are Welcome – New Year’s Musical Memories

For many years the Kitchenham’s had a live New Year’s Eve party at their house. Then there was COVID. This year we thought we might do one at the Parish Hall starting about 4:30 on New Year’s Eve and showing as many of the DVD’s of prior First Parish musical events as we can.

In the early 1980’s for 4 years we did a musical show every year that we called a “Night on Broadway” with excerpts from some of the big Broadway shows like “My Fair Lady”, “Fiddler on the Roof”, “Sound of Music”, “Oliver” and “Annie”. We also have other musical events on DVD thanks to Dexter Robinson.

Everyone can bring appetizers to share. There is also the pizza place across the street. Please reach out to Peg and Chris Kitchenham with any questions.

Yoga

The Mental Health Action Team is sponsoring yoga classes on Thursdays at 7 pm in the Parish Hall. This is a relaxing, restorative class. The instructor, Susan Walsh, teaches for all levels and is skilled at offering options for injuries or other special needs. The class is $10 per week. Bring your yoga mat!

Monthly Lunchtime Interfaith Poetry Series

Rev. Susan will be leading an Interfaith Poetry group on a monthly basis this year. On the second Thursday of each month from 12-1 pm we will learn about a unique world religion, as well as a poet who represents that religion. We will then read a poem by that poet and reflect on its meaning for us in this moment as well as its illustration of the religion we are centering. Join us for a lovely and unique way to learn together through the arts. Our next meeting is Thursday, December 14 in the Fogg Parlor.