Expressing Thanks We have much to be grateful for at UU Middleboro, from Sunday services that engage the mind and heart to coffee hour times for socializing, to those who care for the Memorial Garden, those who make sure the building remains in good repair, those who rehearse on Tuesday evenings to be able to be in good voice for singing in the choir on Sundays.
In 2011 our church music community started something called “Caring Choir,” designed to bring the uplifting gift of music to members and friends who are homebound. A Caring Choir is made up of singers from any of our choirs – Chalice, Ensemble, Alumni, Family, and Song Circle. A Caring Choir may range in size from a few singers to a larger group, depending on the individual request and how large a space is available. We bring familiar and comforting music from our two hymnals: Singing the Living Tradition and Singing the Journey. Sometimes we can accommodate additional requests. Christmas Carols can be worked into a lovely program, as well as songs from the folk-music resource Rise Up Singing.
A Note from the DREPlease consider joining us for one of our RE classes. All our children this year are “Building Bears of Wholeness” and collecting badges that support our values. Our goals for our children are to have time for faith, fellowship, food and fun; and we work hard to provide this! There are always new bears for newcomers no matter the age or how long they join us. We have a nursery with two babysitters each week for young children and infants as well as a Religious Exploration class for children. Enrollment is ongoing and can be completed
This is an update about our on-going monitoring of the Haitian refugee situation here in town: The refugees continue to be housed at the Quality Inn, and the state is committed to covering the cost of both housing and food through June 30. All school-aged children are attending Middleboro schools; and last we knew, the town is offering at least some “English as a second language” training at the town hall. We are attending monthly UU Mass Action Immigrant Justice Team meetings. Several Massachusetts UU congregations are now providing temporary housing to immigrants (the state has contracted with the Brazilian Worker Center to manage those logistics for all refugees) as is the UUA, which has converted 2 floors of its Boston building into housing for refugees.
Our congregation’s March Cash in the Plate (CIP) will be donated to Brockton-based Health Imperatives that has as its mission “to improve the health and well-being of low-income, vulnerable people in Southeastern Massachusetts.” Because March includes a fifth Sunday this year, the proceeds of the CIP that day (3/31) will be given to the Mashpee-based Native Land Conservancy, a Native-led land conservancy that is working to purchase additional land to expand the conservancy.
My friends in South Central Kentucky have been posting pictures of flowers, crocuses and daffodils, on their social media pages for weeks now. Here in southeastern Massachusetts, we’ve been watching the snow melt ever so slowly over that same period of time. Now February has come to an end, and March holds the promise of Spring, a real Spring “with flowers and everything” as the youngest among us might say. By the end of the month, Spring will have made real progress. There will be more light in the day each and every day, earlier sunrises and later sunsets. We will be encouraged to look
On April 6, we have a unique opportunity to hear a world-class jazz concert right in our church! Our former music director, Jeannie Gagné, will be joined by Stan Strickland, Bruce Gertz, and Alberto Netto, all globe-trotting Berklee jazz artists. Anticipating our jazz concert, I’ve been thinking about Leonard Bernstein’s lectures to young people about music. He debunks the idea of “Classical Music” as static, long-haired, boring, or (worst yet) DEAD. He defines Classical Music as composed European music from about 1750 to 1820. Before that, historically, were Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music. After Classical were the Romantic, 20th and 21st century periods.
Please consider joining us for one of our RE classes. We have a nursery with two babysitters each week for young children and infants as well as a Religious Exploration class for children. We are a small but mighty group and welcome all newcomers. If your children are older, we have a youth group bi-monthly on Sunday evenings. All our children this year are “Building Bears of Wholeness” and collecting badges that support our values. There are always new bears for newcomers no matter the age or how long they join us!
Our team has been researching how our congregation can maximize its impact on the critical 2024 elections. We’ve reviewed non-profit organizations that can help us increase both voter turnout and knowledge of the issues voters need to know when casting their votes. And on the first Sunday in April (4/7), we will present opportunities that we believe can offer all of us effective ways to become engaged and have a significant impact on our democracy at local, state and federal levels.
I have learned that some parishioners are concerned about the congregation's role in selecting the new minister. The contract minister process is very different from the settled minister process.
