Sunday Services 10:00 am

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1 February 15, 2013 ELECTRONIC EDITION Volume XI, Issue 14 Sunday Services 10:00 am Rev. Dr. Victoria Weinstein preaching unless otherwise indicated February 17: Dwelling in Winter: Listening for the Still, Small Voice Rev. Martha Niebank, Pulpit Guest Rev. Martha Niebanck is the recently retired minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church in Brookline, a wonderful and inspiring preacher. She will talk about the late winter/lenten season as an intentional blue period of the soul that yields deeper truths and important if uncomfortable insights. February 24: Be a Lamp, a Lifeboat or a Ladder The recent storm revealed both our vulnerability and our interdependence. This date marks the Jewish holiday of Purim, found in the Biblical Book of Esther. Sue Robinson, our Interim Director of Religious Education, has an appropriately raucous Purim story planned for the children. March 3: Fear Knocked, Faith Answered Our February 10 th service, re- scheduled. We will take our Second Sunday offering for the Habitat for Humanity Special Projects this first Sunday of March since we will not be worshipping at our church on March 10 th but will be joining with five other local UU congregations at Second Parish of Hingham, Unitarian Universalist, that morning for Union Sunday. March 10: UNION SUNDAY Second Parish Church in Hingham (10 am) The congregations of First Parish in Norwell, First Parish in Scituate, First Parish in Cohasset, Old Ship Church in Hingham (UU) and Second Parish Church in Hingham (UU) celebrate our historic ties with a union service. This is a happy day and full of lively spirit. There will be a special activity for the children. Second Parish Hingham is located at 685 Main Street (Route 228). Please note that there will be NO services in Norwell that day. IN THE SPIRIT Dear friends, what a scary, dangerous time we have had of it. I hope by the time you are reading this that you are dug out and thawed out from the blizzard. I hope that you are safe and that your homes are sound and all our children back to school. I hope to talk with you in more detail in days to come about emergency preparedness. For now, here is a checklist I hope you will all consider so that you can reach out and be reached when something like this occurs:

2 1. Do I have a cell phone for emergencies? And if so, does the church have that number where I can be reached if my power goes out? If you are elderly and/or live alone, we would very much like to have it. 2. Do I know how to set up the voice mail on my cell phone? 3. Do I know how to send and receive a simple text message like SOS or I am OK? 4. Do I know how to program a GPS? Is it pre- programmed with directions to the hospital, police department or local safe place? 5. Do I have a get out fast bag packed in case I need to be rescued by the police or fire department, or need to go to the hospital or shelter? This bag might contain a comfortable change of clothes, an old pillow, a small toiletry case, spare eyeglasses, and a supply and list of current prescriptions. 6. What is my local network of support if my children or family are too far away to get me out of a dangerous weather area? Does the church know about this support? Please do let us know. 7. If I have a smart phone, do I know how to check in with the church s Facebook page for updates and to let everyone know how and where I am? 8. Do I know how to check the local police, emergency services, WATD and church Twitter feed from my smart phone if I am away from my computer and want up- to- the- minute information about local safety and utilities, etc? 9. Do I need to know more about how to safely use a woodstove? Have I been fully informed about the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning? 10. Do I own a phone charger for my cell phone? We seem to have all come through this storm in one piece. We have many stories to share about it and many thanks to offer those who were first responders, and those who offered so many of us hospitality when the brutal cold and fierce snows made it impossible to remain at home. I am sure we will be especially grateful to gather again in one strong body this coming Sunday. Be safe and warm. In faith, hope and love, Rev. Vicki CARING CORNER Special thanks to the members of First Parish who reached out to your neighbors during the blizzard. Whether you checked on your neighbors, shoveled someone s front steps, opened your home to those without power or heat, chauffeured someone in your 4WD vehicle or simply checked on someone via phone or computer, it was much appreciated! The Church Office will be closed throughout school vacation week. We will re- open as usual at 9 am on Tuesday, February 26.

3 Should severe weather necessitate cancellation of any church activities, we will make every effort to leave an outgoing message on the church s voic and send an all- church with the cancellation. If you have not been receiving all- church s, please take a moment to Hope at office@firstparishnorwell.org. Depending on the amount of advance notice, check our website as well: We will also notify WATD radio in Marshfield (95.9 FM), WCVB TV (Channel 5), WHDH 7News and radio/am 680. Rev. Vicki will also make every effort to post updates on our Facebook page. Just go to our website, scroll down under Upcoming Events and click on the link. Then like our page. However, power outages or lack of Internet access may affect our ability to communicate with you all. Please be cautious and use your best judgment! AMERICAN RED CROSS BLOOD DRIVE First Parish Church is hosting a blood drive for the American Red Cross on Wednesday, February 27 from 9 am to 2:30 pm in our Parish Hall. For an appointment, please call RED- CROSS or visit Walk- in appointments are also available. Four volunteers are also needed to help the Red Cross staff. We could use two people to work each shift (one volunteer to help register people and one volunteer to sit at the snack table) from 9:30-12 and 12-2:30. Please contact Bev Gardner (bevgardner@comcast.net or ) if you can help. NEWS FROM RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Hopefully everyone is back to normal following our blizzard event that created so much havoc! From all I have heard most damage is minor and inconvenient but still stressful - though some specific locations took a more significant hit. I look forward to seeing all of you back at church very soon and sharing our storm stories. Here are some important updates for church school: The Chocolate Auction sponsored by the Youth Group is postponed until March 17, St. Patrick s Day - more info to follow! This Sunday, February 17, there will be no Church School or OWL. However, children are invited to the Skylight Room during church to view the video Snow Cat, hosted by Rev. Vicki and Sue Robinson. Regular church school classes will be held on February 24 and March 3. March 10 is our annual Union service with four neighboring UU churches. This year it is at 2 nd Parish, Hingham. There will be no church or church school at our building but all are invited to attend the service in Hingham.

4 If you have any questions or concerns feel free to me at or call me at Take care and as my British coffee mug states: Keep Calm and Carry On Sue Robinson, Interim Director of Religious Education FIRST PARISH BOOK GROUP Our next book is The Transcendental Murder by Jane Langton. This light- hearted mystery takes on scholarly infighting, Emerson, Thoreau and a dead minuteman. Will sleuth Homer Kelly solve the mystery in time? Join us on Wednesday, March 6 at 7 pm in the Fogg Parlor and find out! MEETINGHOUSE ORGAN UPDATE Thanks to a generous donation from the children of Lewis and Marguerite Pierce, the organ loan used to purchase additional pipes has been repaid in full. This early payment saved the Organ Committee over $1,000 in interest. The April Organ Recital will be dedicated to Lewis and Marguerite Pierce. Mark the date: Sunday, April 7, at 3 pm. Concert and recording artist Peter Sykes will be performing a recital on the Meetinghouse organ. Peter is one of the most distinguished and versatile keyboard artists performing today. In demand as a teacher and mentor of aspiring professional performers, he is Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Historical Performance Department at Boston University. Since 1985 he has also served as Director of Music at First Church in Cambridge, Congregational. He has appeared in recital for the American Guild of Organists, the Southeastern Historical Keyboard Society, the Organ Historical Society, American Institute of Organbuilders, International Society of Organbuilders, at the Library of Congress, Boston Early Music Festival, New England Bach Festival, and throughout the United States. He is frequently heard on the nationally syndicated radio program Pipedreams. Peter also appears regularly in concert and on recordings with Boston Baroque. With Christa Rakich who performed here last April he created Tuesdays With Sebastian, an independent two- year benefit concert series in which he and Ms. Rakich performed the entire keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach for the organ and harpsichord in thirty- four recitals. This should be a memorable concert not to be missed. STEP INTO SPRING! The Music Committee is sponsoring a Spring Swing Dance on Saturday, April 27 from 7-10 pm in the Parish Hall. Roger and Claire Vaka, professional dancers, will instruct all participants in dance lessons, which include mambo, waltz, fox- trot, tango, rhumba, cha- cha, swing and more. The admission fee is $15 per person. Light refreshments will

5 be served. All adults are welcome: singles, couples, triples. A partner is not necessary! Tickets can be purchased after church from members of the Music Committee. UPCOMING MEETINGS AND SPECIAL EVENTS: Tuesday, February 19: Parish Committee, Fogg Parlor at 7 pm Sunday, February 24: Budget- Setting Meeting, Fogg Parlor at 11:30 am Wednesday, February 27: American Red Cross Blood Drive, Parish Hall 9 am- 2:30 pm Thursday, February 28: Sustainable South Shore, Parish Hall at 7 pm Sunday, March 3: Activities Committee, Office at 11:30 am RE Committee, Fogg Parlor at 11:30 am Monday, March 4: SPIRE deadline (hard copy) Wednesday, March 6: Alliance Board Meeting, Fogg Parlor at 10 am First Parish Book Group, Fogg Parlor at 7 pm Sunday, March 10: Union Sunday service at Second Parish Church in Hingham, 10 am (NO SERVICES IN NORWELL) The deadline for the next hard- copy edition of The Spire is Monday, March 4, For more information, or to review archived issues of The Spire, go to The full First Parish calendar can be accessed online at the website by selecting News then scrolling to the calendar option.