Current News

  • Sunday services return to the sanctuary

    Join us as we kick off a new program year at First Church Boston. Starting September 8, we return to the sanctuary for Sunday services at 11am each week. Each week is an opportunity to experience a time of spiritual community and reconnection to deeper values as well as excellent music by the professional First Church Boston Choral Ensemble. Services are also available live and recorded on YouTube.

    Each Sunday service is collaboratively crafted by First Church ministers, staff, and lay leaders to connect with the spiritual and religious needs of living in our diverse, multi-religious world. Drawing from both religious and secular resources, the texts and music of each service explore that day’s theme from multiple angles. Following the Sunday service, attendees are invited to linger over coffee and light snacks for conversation. On some Sundays, additional programming is also available from our Social Justice Community, Learning Community, or others.

    Tree with sun shining through branches with large roos "Monthly theme: Rootedness"Over the course of the month, the Sunday services will also examine the monthly theme of “Rootedness.” As a community, First Church in Boston began by forming a covenant—a set of promises with each other and the God of their understanding. Beginning with the words, “In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,” this 1630 covenant roots the Puritans within a particular religious tradition and understanding which may not be one that speaks to us today. What could it mean for us to be “rooted”?  What traditions, communities, and ideas frame our sense of how we belong in the larger world?  To learn more about this theme and the larger project of revisiting the 1630 covenant, please read Rev. May’s September Community Voice column.

    To stay up-to-date on each Sunday service theme as well as weekly events at First Church Boston, please sign up for our weekly e-news. Or, to learn more about First Church or Unitarian Universalism, please reach out to our minister, Rev. Dr. Stephanie May, or intern minister, Lindsay Donnelly-Bullington.

     

  • August 25: Join us for a book discussion of our Common Read!

    We are gathering on Sunday, August 25, after church for lunch and discussion of Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World by Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, recommended by the Unitarian Universalist Association. There will be a Zoom link for those wishing to join remotely.

    This first discussion will focus on the introduction and first two chapters, so you still have time. Check your public library for a copy or order from the UUA InSpirit bookstore: ($18 plus shipping)

    A copy of the book O together with a calendar date of August 25th. Repentance and Repair

  • Rev. Stephanie’s Reflection: Summer Renewal

    Welcome to summer! With the arrival of summer, what are you looking forward to? Do you have summer rituals you enjoy—or have enjoyed in the past? Perhaps there is a favorite body of water that calls to you to come, sit, and rest a while. Or maybe you have a particular tradition for where you watch fireworks on the 4th of July. From favorite summer foods to special places to a change in pace, the season of summer holds a multitude of possible delights.

    As a minister, summer brings a period of vacation and study leave for me. Beginning June 25, I will be on a break, returning August 15. During this time, I will enjoy vacation days spent with friends and family, as well as some ‘stay-cation’ attention to my neglected yard. I will also spend four weeks of this time on study leave—reading and researching about various topics that support my ministry here with you. These weeks renew my mind and spirit enabling me to return invigorated for another church year. During these weeks away, the Rev. Ken Reeves will be on-call for pastoral support, with the Rev. Sheldon Bennett covering Rev. Reeves’ vacation (July 19-August 1). To be connected with them, please contact the office. If needed, either they or Barbara Martin, Chair of Standing Committee, will reach out to me directly for my support.

    How will you renew yourself this summer? Are there season specific activities that bring you joy and feed your spirit? Or is summer one part of an ongoing flow of actions that sustain you year-round? Whatever the date may be, I believe we all benefit from being intentional to nurture our spirits in the ways that are meaningful to us. In the same way the farmers pay close attention to the inputs of water, sun, and nutrients to the plants they grow all summer, so too we can actively seek to cultivate our own spiritual well-being. Whether through a concert at the Hatch Shell, a new or ongoing meditation practice, visiting with loved ones, attending a Summer Service, engaging in some activism, or simply taking a walk in the Public Garden, I hope you will choose to tend to your sense of inner well-being. Reflecting on the nature of spirituality, UU minister and Zen Buddhist priest James Ishmael Ford wrote, “My spiritual practice of Zen meditation and frequent Zen retreats is about noticing the luminous quality of the ordinary. I sit still and notice.” I hope we all find ways to notice the wonder and gift of Life throughout these summer days.

    At some point over the summer, I invite you to collect a sample of water that symbolizes how you are nurturing your spirit. Perhaps the water will be from a special place or gather. Or maybe the water is from the bottle you take on walks or your favorite fountain in a cherished park. On Sunday, September 15, we will gather for Water Sunday and pour our collected water into a common bowl as symbol of our community nurtured by what we each bring from our spiritual journeys. While Water Sunday is the traditional ingathering service, our first Sunday back in the sanctuary and with the choir will be September 8 for Charter Sunday. This service honors and explores our long history as a congregation founded in 1630 alongside Boston. The sermon topic will align with the fall series of the Partnership of Historic Bostons.

    Until we connect again, may your summer unfold with wonder and gifts that renew and nurture you.