The Spire The Newsletter of First Parish of Norwell May 14, 2014 ELECTRONIC EDITION Volume XII, Issue 19 Sunday Services 10:00 am Rev. Dr. Len DeRoche preaching unless otherwise indicated May 18: Flower Communion We will tell the story of Flower Communion. Please bring a flower to share so we can create an enormous and varied bouquet that represents the beauty of our individual lives. May 25: The Green Bag Using a story from Norwegian folklore, you will learn the truth about trolls and gnomes. June s worship theme is Praise. June 1: Music Sunday The Music Committee will present the music of Malvina Reynolds. CARING CORNER A celebration of Chris Detwiler s life will be held at First Parish on Saturday, May 31 at 11 am. If you can help at all with the collation afterwards (set up/clean up, providing food, serving), please contact Sue Robinson at 781-294- 8840 or artsue45@hotmail.com. Help us to keep in touch, celebrate the happy moments in life and support you during the difficult times. Please send your news to Hope in the Church Office at office@firstparishnorwell.org. ATTENTION, COMMITTEE CHAIRS Annual reports from each church committee are due to Hope in the Church Office by 9 am on Friday, May 23. Considerable time and energy is needed to prepare, collate, paginate and copy the reports. Reports will NOT be printed if they are not submitted to Hope by the deadline. If your report is not submitted in a timely manner, you will be responsible for printing and distributing your committee s annual report yourself. Please let Hope know if you would like a copy of your committee s report from last year.
GREETINGS FROM THE SEARCH COMMITTEE! The Search Committee had our orientation retreat this past weekend. Roles were assigned and we discussed the upcoming tasks involved in finding our future minister. We are looking forward to the congregation s insight and feedback regarding who we are and where we want to go as a community. In the upcoming months we will be developing a survey to send out to all members. We will also be conducting cottage meetings - small gatherings of congregants who will discuss issues pertaining to hiring a new minister. Our goal is transparency! We will share with everyone the data we collect as well as the commentary offered. This will, of course, be anonymous; but we want everyone to view the snapshot that emerges from asking our community to reflect upon itself. I look forward to staying in touch. Ingrid Carlson Search Committee Secretary ANNUAL MEETING OF FIRST PARISH OF NORWELL Sunday, June 8 at 11:30 am Deadline to submit articles for the warrant is Friday, May 16. Articles should be submitted to Dexter Robinson, Parish Clerk. Child Care Provided - Bring a Light Lunch! Important business to be voted: Full- time Director of Religious Education Budget for Search Committee Reports from all Standing Committees Report from our Interim Minister This is your opportunity to have input into the future of your church. FIRST PARISH BOOK GROUP Join us on Wednesday, June 7 at 7 pm in the Fogg Parlor. Our book for the month is An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11- Year- Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny by Laura Schroff and Alex Tresniowski. Stopping was never part of the plan... She was a successful ad sales rep in Manhattan. He was a homeless, eleven- year- old panhandler on the street. He asked for spare
change; she kept walking. But then something stopped her in her tracks, and she went back. And she continued to go back, again and again. They met up nearly every week for years and built an unexpected, life- changing friendship that has today spanned almost three decades. (amazon.com). All FPN bookworms are welcome! FAMILY BOWLING NIGHT Please save the date of Saturday, May 31 for our annual family bowling night. It will be held at Boston Bowl in Hanover on Rockland Street (Route 139), just west of Route 53 and CVS. The fun starts at 7 pm. The cost should run approximately $10 per person (bowling shoes included). All ages are welcome! If you plan to join us, please RSVP to Les Taylor at (781) 837-2929 or lestaylor@me.com. HOP ON THE BUS, GUS! What is it like to sing Spirit of Life with thousands of other UU s? You can find out by joining with folks from First Parish of Duxbury. They have invited us to join them on Sunday, June 29 for a bus trip to General Assembly 2014 in Providence, RI. You will have the opportunity to participate in Sunday Worship, where the Reverend Mark Stringer of the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines, IA will be giving the sermon. Rev. Stringer is a graduate of Meadville Lombard Theological School in Chicago and holds a Master of Arts degree from Bowling Green University. Along with his ministry to the First Unitarian congregation, he takes an active leadership role in local and regional organizations devoted to building community and promoting social justice. After the worship service you can have lunch and visit the GA Exhibit Hall. The hall is over 50,000 square feet of exhibit space and features a marketplace of exhibits and sales by UU related organizations, individual UU artisans, and a variety of other organizations and vendors. Also, there are food concessions, a cyber café, and gathering space. These are no- cost events, open to the public. The schedule for the bus trip is: 8:30 am Meet at Parking Lot of First Parish Duxbury, 842 Tremont Street (Route 3A), Duxbury 10:00 am Arrive at Providence: Doors Open for Sunday Worship at 10:30am 12-3:00 pm Lunch and Visit to GA Exhibit Hall 3:00 pm Depart Providence (Should arrive at Duxbury around 4pm)
To make reservations for this bus trip to GA, contact Hope in the Church Office at 781-659- 7122 or email her at office@firstparishnorwell.org, no later than Thursday, May 29. Please Note: Anyone under the age of 18 years old must be accompanied by an adult. With GA right in our own backyard, don t miss this opportunity to worship with thousands of UU s! Your GA Delegates, Betsey Detwiler, Ellie Handleman, Mary Mercier, Joyce Pickel and Deanna Riley ALL- CHURCH BIRTHDAY PARTY AND POTLUCK Saturday, June 14-5 pm - 8 pm Come celebrate all our birthdays with fun family games and good food! We hope everyone can come and share in this fun tradition for ages 0-100. We will again be collecting gifts for Birthday Wishes, a local charity which provides birthday parties for homeless children living in shelters. You could bring one of the following or donate on line at www.birthdaywishes.org. (Note: they have a link to www.amazonsmile.com through which you can make your future Amazon purchases and each time designate a charity to receive 0.5% of your purchase price.) Toddler gifts (new, unused toys) $10 grocery store gift cards for Birthday- in- a- Box cakes $35 Target gift cards Solid- color tablecloths and other party supplies Streamers and decorating materials We will have a sign- up sheet in the Parish Hall and will need people to bring dishes for the potluck dinner and to bake frosted cupcakes for decorating. Contact Peg Kitchenham (781-447- 5831 or chrispegk@verizon.net) or Linda Goodwin (781-925- 1248 or lgbythec@verizon.net) to sign up. FROM THE DRE Hello, First Parish! My last Spire article was very nuts and bolts about the program, so this week I will be talking more about the philosophy of Religious Education, and how RE impacts the development of churches. As the UUA states, there are a few major emphases for Religious Education: Ethical growth internalizing enduring values like justice, equity, and compassion, and gaining tools to act on them in everyday life. Social growth connecting with peers and people of all ages on a deeper level. Finding acceptance among people who see beyond the superficial.
Spiritual growth feeling a connection with the sacred within, among, and beyond us. I would personally add one more emphasis however: Development of UU Identity. While I do not think it is productive or in anyone s best interest to tell children and youth what to believe, I do think it is important to develop an identity as a Unitarian Universalist. This identity has a different meaning for each person, but allows people to have a framework to examine ethical and spiritual questions, and I believe it is this concept which truly sets our denomination apart from the smorgasbord of religions in the world. A key aspect of developing this UU Identity is involving children and youth in both worship and critical thought from a young age. I personally first got interested in UU worship because I sang with the junior choir, and helped the other members with the church s PA system. If I had not been offered those options of using my interests in worship, I don'ʹt know whether I would be serving Norwell today. Because I believe that this connection is vitally important, in my time as a Religious Educator I have consistently looked for ways that children of all ages can be included in worship. When I first started here in Norwell, I was very happy to have found a number of these possibilities already in action. Some of the particularly influential activities which children and youth help with are lighting our chalice, performing music during the service and special events, helping in worship for themselves and adults, and ringing our Parish bell (which we ve just started, but I hope will become a new ritual). Involving children and youth in these and other ways are what helps to encourage young UUs to want to come to church (sometimes even early!), and hopefully bring their own children to our loving and supportive communities one day. We speak a great deal about missions in religious discourse, and in my personal opinion, building this idea of community and identity is a vital mission for Religious Education, which also has significant ramifications on the future of all of our congregations. Unitarian Universalism is often couched in very intellectual and adult language, and we have to remember that there are many different ways to seek the meaning we look for at First Parish of Norwell. As I m sure some of you can relate, it is often the mundane, not the magical, which can feel the most powerful or spiritual. I look forward to talking with you all about how we can make Norwell a bastion of multi- generational worship and Unitarian Universalist identity. Julian Baptista Director of Religious Education TAI CHI CLASSES As part of adult programming to the congregation and greater community, First Parish of Norwell will continue to offer Tai Chi/Qigong. The session of four classes
will be held on Tuesdays: May 13, 20, 27 and June 3 from 9:15 to 10:15 am at the church Parish Hall. No special equipment, clothing, or shoes are needed. The four- week session will cost $20 ($5 per session), payable at the first class to Mike Showstack. New students are welcome at any time and prior registration is not necessary so invite your friends and neighbors. Tai Chi/Qigong is an ancient Taoist system of exercise to preserve health, mind and body and to cultivate physical and spiritual harmony within oneself. It is a meditation in motion, balance and harmony. Practiced daily, it is an excellent stress management technique. Mike Showstack, our instructor, has over 25 years experience in Shaolin Hung Gar Tiger Crane Kung Fu and Yang Tai Chi Chuan and can be contacted at www.wuliacademy.com or 508-254- 2587. He teaches extensively throughout the South Shore area. AFTER- CHURCH PLAYGROUND ACTIVITIES As we enter warmer weather, our children enjoy going onto the playground area after church school. Remember that this is a shared space and all equipment is there thanks to First Parish Preschool that operates out of our facility Monday through Friday. Please use the space as a gracious guest. Supplies belonging to the Preschool should be left as found. Any plates, cups, etc. should be disposed of properly, whether inside or outside. We have a wonderful relationship with all the Preschool staff - most of our Sunday morning classes take place in Preschool classrooms and our church school teachers do an awesome job returning them ready for Monday morning. Your help and support with the playground area will be very much appreciated by all! MEETINGS AND SPECIAL EVENTS: Saturday, May 17: Golf Tournament at Squirrel Run in Plymouth, noon Dinner to follow in the Parish Hall Sunday, May 18: Search Committee, Fogg Parlor, 11:30 Al- Anon Leaders Meeting, Skylight Room, 5:30 pm Tuesday, May 20: Tai Chi, Skylight Room, 9:15-10:15 am Preschool Graduation, Parish Hall 9 am- noon and Fogg Parlor 12:30-3 pm Parish Committee, Fogg Parlor, 7 pm Wednesday, May 21: Preschool Graduation, 9 am- noon and Fogg Parlor 12:30-3 pm Alliance Board Meeting, Fogg Parlor, 10 am Friday, May 23: ANNUAL REPORTS DUE AT 9 AM Tuesday, May 27: Worship Committee, Parsonage, 7:30 pm The deadline for the next hard- copy edition of The Spire is Monday, May 26. The full First Parish calendar can be accessed online at the website by selecting News on the toolbar, then scrolling to the calendar option.