Jan 2, 2025
Led by Lillian Povey, Worship Associate
Worship service given December 29, 2024
Prayer by Lillian Povey, Worship Associate
Reading of "How to Be a Poet" by J.M. Farkas, read by Lillian
Povey
https://firstparish.info/
First Parish
A liberal religious community, welcoming to all
First gathered 1739
Join us for our annual Christmas Eve candlelight worship service.
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 The Children's Room. The Children’s Room, based here in Arlington, provides children, teens, and their families an opportunity to find connection and community after the death of a parent or sibling. The Children’s Room creates safe, supportive communities, so that no child, teen, or family has to grieve alone. Services for families are provided free of charge so that families have no financial burden.
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.