It’s September, 2023, and the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Middleboro enters its 134th church year with a mixture of hope and anticipation. From all reports, our summer services were well-attended most weeks and succeeded in advancing the cause of our mission– to provide a sanctuary where people can come together as a community to foster spiritual and personal growth through education and open discussion, offering the opportunity for meditation and worship, and serving as a liberal religious voice in Middleboro. Our “Celebration Sunday” in June recognized the many accomplishments of our church body, from providing quality pastoral care, responsible
As I write this, the month of May is coming to a close and June is just a few days away. Our June worship services promise to be celebratory as we recognize the work of our Religious Exploration program, Pride Sunday, and, of course, Celebration Sunday itself, before we move towards closing the books on the 2022-23 church year and the beginning of a well-planned series of summer services.
I write this note from Paris on the 26th day of April, the day following the memorial service for my brother John who died on the first of the month. “Peace be unto him,” as we used to say as young Catholics.
On St. Patrick’s Day, two days after our last snowfall, the yard in front of the house where I live was suddenly alive with color: purple, white, yellow, blue– the crocuses seemed to have blossomed spontaneously and indiscriminately. In between the blossoms, here and there, were snowdrops, delicate blooms with demurely nodding heads. Spring had arrived. I’m still waiting for my first glimpse of forsythia, which should occur just around the time the daffodils bounce their jaunty heads in the wind. Maybe your daffodils have arrived by the time you’re reading this. If past years are a reliable indicator, the passing of the daffodils will
I write this on the last day of February as a strangely mild winter (interrupted by double digit sub-zero temperatures early in the month) begins to wind down. According to the astronomical calendar, Spring will arrive with the vernal equinox on March 20 this year– just a few short weeks away. According to the meteorological calendar, though, Spring will be starting tomorrow, the first day of March. I’ve been following the pattern of sunrises and sunsets for the past year and felt especially cheered when the length of daylight in the day passed the eleven-hour mark this past week. Let there be light! Last night’s
Have you ever felt yourself in a kind of vortex where one piece of bad news — or one unsavory development– seems inexorably to another and another until you don’t know where the madness will end? As the comic says, “Well, I have.” In fact, I’ve felt caught up in such a vortex all month. We’ll skip the whole COVID episode (though even post-COVID has its challenges). And we’ll leave the car crash for another time. (Painful.) The vortex I’m thinking about is a financial one. A financial drain, so to speak. It all started when I couldn’t find the
As a new year begins we at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Middleboro look forward to a year of opportunity. We can expect to discover a number of ways to grow in our dedication to the church and in our influence as a religious and spiritual institution in the community.
Hope, love, joy, and peace. The qualities celebrated during the Advent season are not always easy to embody. In the Christian story the figure of Jesus of Nazareth brings them to fulfillment. No wonder his birth is celebrated with such exuberance! The Advent season does not hold nearly as much meaning for non-Christians– and most Unitarian Universalists find themselves in that camp these days. After all, if you honor the historical figure of Jesus as a great teacher (“rabbi” in the Jewish tradition), prophet and healer, but not the Son of God on earth, why should his birth be a cause for celebration?
Halloween and Samhain have passed. That “thin veil” between the living and the dead that some experience this time of the year foreshadows the thin line between late autumn and early winter. The air temperature is still warm on many days, but come November 6, when daylight savings time ends, we’ll be well aware of the time of the year that holds the most darkness as the sun sets an hour earlier. A time that some will dread– for others, it’s the time for hygge, warming the winter with coziness and comfortable conviviality. Perhaps we’ll all experience a little of
To ensure a successful Interim Ministry at FUUSM, we want to share with you our intentions for our Collegial Covenant with each other. A covenant is a promise ministers make to one another that addresses how we will interact with each other and you, the congregation. Basically, we respect each other’s roles and avoid getting in the middle of important communications and relationships between the minister and a congregation member, whether publicly or privately. Rev. Sarah will refrain from attending any church meetings, program, potluck dinners, Parish Committee events or church activities held on- or off-site. Rev. Sarah will gladly
