20170122_0488-supremacy_wagner-sermon Worship Service Sunday, January 22, 2017 10:30pm in the Meetinghouse Ken Wagner, preaching (Note that Ken will be leading a seven-part workshop series in February, March and April.) How can I live with courage and integrity when the culture provides unearned benefits to me in my identities as white, male, heterosexual, able-bodied and middle […] The post Resisting White Supremacy — What’s in it for White People? appeared first on First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist.

20170115-reflections Worship Service Sunday, January 15, 2017 10:30pm in the Meetinghouse Rev. Catie Scudera, preaching For our multigenerational Martin Luther King Sunday, we will be singing! Come to worship to sing and hear protest songs of the Civil Rights Movement, to learn the history of the individual pieces, and to consider how music from the […] The post The Spirituals and the Blues appeared first on First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist.

20161211_0453-catie-waiting-sermon “Tomorrow Will Worry About Itself” PDF Worship Service Rev. Catie Scudera, preaching Sunday, December 11, 2016 10:30am in the Meetinghouse During the season of Advent, Christians are asked to wait in anticipation for the birth of Jesus. For many of us, “waiting” causes anxiety and drags us out of the present moment. In times […] The post Tomorrow Will Worry About Itself appeared first on First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist.

20161127_0452-sermon-oconnell Worship Service Rev. Phyllis O’Connell, preaching Sunday, November 27, 2016 10:30am in the Meetinghouse What are some of the spiritual questions that come with time passing as the decades behind us quietly accumulate?  We’re not alone in thinking about them, fretting over them, and exploring them. Time passing is a universal experience for us […] The post How Time Goes By appeared first on First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist.

20161120_0451catie-homily “The Gifts of Diversity” PDF Worship Service Rev. Catie Scudera, preaching Sunday, November 20, 2016 10:30am in the Meetinghouse During this multigenerational Thanksgiving worship, we’ll celebrate the gifts present in human diversity in our own congregation and the wider community. In particular, we’ll reflect on gender and sexual diversity in recognition of Trans Day […] The post The Gifts of Diversity appeared first on First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist.

20161113_catie_sermon “Faith in Ourselves for the Future” PDF Worship Service Rev. Catie Scudera, preaching Sunday, November 13, 2016 10:30am in the Meetinghouse For newer members and friends of First Parish — including your minister! — it’s hard to imagine there were times when the congregation seriously doubted the generosity and abundance present in our faith community. On […] The post Faith in Ourselves For the Future appeared first on First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist.

20161030_0448-homily Worship Service Rev. Lisa Perry-Wood presiding Sunday, October 30, 2016 10:30am in the Meetinghouse The celebration of Dia de los Muertos offers a chance to remember loved ones and free them from the “third death.” We’ll learn about this Mexican seasonal tradition, as well as what slipper shells and skeletons have in common with […] The post Skeletons Don’t Have To Be Scary appeared first on First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist.

20161023_0447_due_form_catie_sermon-1 “A Due Form of Government” PDF Worship Service Sunday, October 23, 2016 10:30am in the Meetinghouse Rev. Catie Scudera preaching In 1630, Governor John Winthrop preached his famous sermon A Model of Christian Charity, in which he declared that the Puritans traveled across the Atlantic “to seek out a place of cohabitation and consortship […] The post A Due Form of Government appeared first on First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist.

20161009_0443-catie-sermon-erred Worship Service Sunday, October 9, 2016 10:30am in the Meetinghouse Rev. Catie Scudera, preaching With the High Holy Days arriving late in the Gregorian calendar this year, we have the unusual liturgical opportunity to honor both the High Holy Days and Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same Sunday. We’ll contemplate the Hebrew term chatanu, […] The post Chatanu — We Have Erred appeared first on First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist.

20161002_0442-catie-sermon-mostly-plants Worship Service Sunday, October 2, 2016 10:30am in the Meetinghouse Rev. Catie Scudera, preaching At the 2015 First Parish auction, church member Jen Robins bought Rev. Catie’s sermon theme. This Sunday, timed in honor of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday and St. Francis’s feast day, Rev. Catie will preach on ethical eating and the inherent worth and […] The post Mostly Plants appeared first on First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist.