Oct 15, 2024
Rev. Erica Federspiel Richmond, Parish Minister
Worship service given October 13, 2024
Prayer by Loren Gomez, Worship Associate
https://firstparish.info/
First Parish
A liberal religious community, welcoming to all
First gathered 1739
Using Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, “Braiding Sweetgrass,” Rev. Erica will explore how theological pluralism came to be a priority in Unitarian Universalism and what Indigenous wisdom might teach us today.
Offering and Giving First
The Giving First program donates 50% of the non-pledge offering each month to a charitable organization that we feel is consistent with Unitarian Universalist principles. The program began in November 2009, and First Parish has donated over $200,000 to more than 70 organizations. This Sunday half of the offering supports Native Land Conservancy of Mashpee, MA, founded in 2012, is the the first land trust east of the Mississippi led by Indigenous people. Their mission is to "protect sacred spaces, habitat areas for our winged and four-legged neighbors, and other essential ecosystem resources to benefit Mother Earth and all human beings."
The remaining half of your offering supports the life and work
of this Parish. To
donate using your smartphone, you may text “fpuu” to 73256. Then
follow the directions in the texts you receive.
About our Lead Minister: Rev. Marta Flanagan began her ministry as
our twentieth called minister at First Parish in the fall of 2009.
She is a genuine and forthright preacher. In conversation she is
direct and engaging. She speaks of prayer with as much ease as she
laughs at human foibles. We call her “Marta.” Marta is a religious
liberal, a theist, a feminist, and a lover of the woods. As a
student of American history at Smith College she was captivated by
the stories of social reformers who were motivated and sustained by
their faith. That led her to consider the ministry and to study at
Harvard Divinity School from where she was graduated in 1986. She
was the first woman minister in the city of Salem, Massachusetts,
serving at the First Universalist Church there (1987-1997). She
served in a co-ministry at South Church (Unitarian Universalist) in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, (1997-2005) from where she is minister
emerita. Marta served as interim minister in Montpelier, Vermont
(2008-2009). She is trained as a spiritual director. For three
years she lived in the Vermont woods practicing voluntary
simplicity and the spiritual life. Marta enjoys the vitality of
First Parish and our strong sense of community. She celebrates the
yearning for depth and the desire to make a difference in the world
that she finds here.