Sermons from First Parish Unitarian Universalist of Arlington Massachusetts

Rev. Erica Federspiel Richmond, Parish Minister, preaching Worship service given January 5, 2025 Prayer by Bill Licea-Kane, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 Come join us for a worship service about Epiphany and the New Year. The three magi followed a star in the East, what will guide you in 2025? Rev. Erica...

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 Givin...

Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan, Lead Minister, preaching Worship service given December 24, 2024 Prayer by Rev. Erica Federspiel Richmond, Parish Minister Reading of "The Christmas Story" by Robin Richstone by Rev. Stevie Carmody, Minister of Religious Education https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 Join us for our annual Christmas E...

Led by Rev. Erica Federspiel Richmond, Parish Minister, and Rev. Stevie Carmody, Minister of Religious Education Worship service given December 22, 2024 "The Solstice Badger," adapted by Rev. Kimberlee Tomczak Carlson from the book by Robin McFadden Prayer by Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan, Lead Minister https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathe...

Credo Statements from Elizabeth Hunter, Mara Prentiss, and Lyn Fulton-John Worship service given December 15, 2024 Prayer by Rev. Erica Federspiel Richmond, Parish Minister https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 Credo means "I believe" in Latin. Periodically, First Parish invites members to offer personal statements of belief. Bas...

Rev. Marta Flanagan, Lead Minister Worship service given December 13, 2024 Prayer by Rev. Erica Richmond, Parish Minister https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 For the 16th year at First Parish we offer a special evening worship service during the holiday season, a worship service to "Embrace the Darkness." Diane Taraz (Shriver)...

Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan, Lead Minister, preaching Worship service given December 8, 2024 Prayer by David Whitford, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 On the second Sunday in Advent Rev. Marta Flanagan, Lead Minister, will consider what we might learn for ourselves today from Mary's response to the Angel Ga...

Rev. Hank Peirce, Guest Minister, preaching Worship service given December 1, 2024 Prayer by Loren Gomez, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 Plato's description of the cave illustrates the philosophical roots of our Unitarian Universalist theology. Yet our theology and the way we see the world is changing, wh...

Rev. Erica Federspiel Richmond, Parish Minister, preaching Worship service given November 24, 2024 Prayer by Mary Breen, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 As we look towards the Thanksgiving holiday, many of us are feeling a particular heaviness this year. How do we honor both grief and gratitude? How do we...

Worship service given November 17, 2024 Prayer by Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan, Lead Minister Reading by Dr. Daniel Parsley of "I Choose Love" by Tammy T. Stone Featuring "Five Hebrew Love Songs" by Eric Whitacre, performed by the First Parish Choir and  First Parish String Quartet https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 Join us at F...

Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan, Lead Minister, preaching Worship service given November 10, 2024 Prayer by Rev. Erica Federspiel Richmond, Parish Minister https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 In the wake of a contentious Election Day, Rev. Marta Flanagan will preach.  After worship, she and Rev. Erica Richmond, Parish Minister, will...

Rev. Erica Federspiel Richmond, Parish Minister, preaching Worship service given November 3, 2024 Prayer by David Whitford, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 Twenty years ago, the Red Sox finally broke the curse and won the World Series after an 86 year drought. They sustained a sense of belonging and connec...

Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan, Lead Minister, preaching Worship service given October 27, 2024 Prayer by Loren Gomez, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 Join us for our Annual All Souls Day service. Please bring a photo or an object that reminds you of a loved one who has passed- we will make an altar during the...

Featuring testimonials from Jamie Aronson (read by Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan), Peggy Gardiner, and Lois Fine Worship service given October 20, 2024 Prayer by Bill Licea-Kane, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 Join us on Sunday to hear from three First Parish congregants about how they live out their spiritu...

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 I...

Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan, Lead Minister Worship service given October 6, 2024 Prayer by Loren Gomez, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 In her sermon Marta will take up nuggets of wisdom from the Jewish High Holidays. Rosh Hashanah began on Wednesday evening, October 2  Yom Kippur begins Friday evening, Oct...

Rev. Stevie Carmody, Minister of Religious Education Worship service given September 29, 2024 Prayer by Rev. Erica Federspiel Richmond, Parish Minister https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 So you had a bad first go of it. Luckily there's always the Second Act. Join Stevie this Sunday as we explore trying again. Offering and Givi...

Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan, Lead Minister Worship service given September 22, 2024 Prayer by Elizabeth Hunter, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 This Sunday Marta will consider the question of truth and deception in our times. What is the truth? When have your felt deceived? When have you deceived? Offering...

Worship service given September 15, 2024 Prayer by Rev. Marta Morris Flanagan, Lead Minister https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 As we look towards the election in November, as we protect and fight for democracy, what role will each of us play? Using Deepa Iyer's social change ecosystem map, Rev. Erica will invite each of us to...

Worship service given September 8, 2024 Prayer by Rev. Erica Federspiel Richmond, Parish Minister https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 In her sermon, Marta will consider what do our times call for from us as people of faith?  The choir will offer music and we will launch the religious education programs for our children for the...

Worship service given September 1, 2024 Prayer by David Whitford, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 Do you run before the wind? Tack to windward? Both at different times? What has gone according to plan in your life? In every detail? A lot? Not a single thing? How do you feel about that? What now? During the...

Worship service given August 25, 2024 Prayer by Ruben Hopwood, Worship Leader https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 How does reflecting on our belief in the interdependent web of life help us as Unitarian Universalists to attend to Disability Justice in our own congregation? Drawing on writings by Julia Watts Belser and Reverend...

Worship service given August 18, 2024 Prayer by Jitendra Singh, Worship Leader https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 I hope to talk about respecting the world around us, people but also other sentient beings, even trees and rocks. Annie Dillard speaks of "teaching a stone to talk." The Tao Te Ching speaks of "being like water," t...

Worship service given August 11, 2024 Prayer by Elizabeth Hunter, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 What does it mean to be open to the world? It is at once terrible, gorgeous, life-threatening, life-affirming, tragic, comic. How much light do we let in? In confronting the climate crisis, we need to confront...

Worship service given July 28, 2024 Prayer by Bill Licea-Kane, Worship Associate https://firstparish.info/ First Parish A liberal religious community, welcoming to all First gathered 1739 Stories about perseverance in the context of community. During the summer our worship is led each week by a member of our congregation. Julius Pereli has been a member of First Parish for about 25 years. He has b...