This came from the worship committee meeting.  The future we want- What kind of world do we want, obviously what kind of world to we want. 

This is the vision we have… loadstar we keep our eyes on.

Elaborated on some of the Values, Democracy, working for the election.

What part does Sunday morning play in that.

How can we support that on Sunday. 

“Thank you Notes”

Jimmy Fallon is famous for among other comic shticks, a bit where he writes thank you notes that have a twist.  Fallon’s “Thank you notes” involves not traditional notes of gratitude, but thank you notes for weird daily life lessons.  If you watch the show, you have likely seen him dramatically draw his pen up from the desk and with a humorous enthusiasm dive down into his card like an earnest 2^nd grader. As the baby-faced Fallon begins to write his note, we the audience both sees the words he is writing on the screen, and hear him voice the message.  I invite you to imagine me performing my own theatrical version of Jimmy’s act in my cluttered cave of an office.  However, in my case the notes are not comically designed, but earnestly felt.

Here goes… 

Obviously “Thank you, Celia and Kathleen.  Thanks for without drama keeping this community I have felt blessed to be a part of alive, well, and led.  I have only been a part of the First Parish Community for twenty-five months so far, and although I have until now, not known a President before Celia, it feels like the transition in leadership is moving along pretty well.  First Parish needs it’s President(s) to provide steady love and care for this place, and you two are trying to earnestly figure out how to play to each other’s strengths.  Keep it up.  Thanks for stepping up, and stepping back with grace. 

I, want you to imagine me, as Jimmy Fallon does, lift my head up for a brief smile only to dive back down again in thanks.

To our building and operations team.  Thanks, So impressive.  From Stephanie, and Jeanne, to Donna and Brian, to Lise, Kara and Nick Prato thanks!  Although Donna is trying to retreat from her duties here to duties at home, she is still around doing this or that for us.  Kudos.  On a weekly basis, either Stephanie or Jeanne seem to be meeting here with a local contractor, fixing a modem, or mowing the lawn.  I hope, as no doubt you do, that we can all grow into a phase of church life where programming events overwhelms building maintenance.  However, until that heavenly day and shift fully arrive, we are all grateful.  Goddess bless the whole bunch of you.  You are written into the non-existent UU book of life. 

Thank you Olga.  I can only pick on your playing each week with ridiculous juvenile statements like “you missed a few notes,” and/or “don’t quit practicing, you almost got it” because you are just so damn good.  Never forget that you are a big part of what keeps people coming here on Sunday, because I don’t.  The ease with which we work together, should be a model to all Minister/Music teams.  You are the place where talent meets fun.  I speak for all of us when I say, thanks for sticking around.

Are you holding on to imagining me acting like Jimmy Fallon, writing his notes.  Give it one more try.

What a steady resource our little worship committee has been to me.  With Anne gone, I work hard to do a lot of the background work, but I love that I can come to you trusting that I have permission to act on our behalf.  Linda, is first and foremost my first call for advice, or have questions, or really just need something done.  Thanks, but Lisa and Chris are our staple Worship Leaders, and Heather does a lot of behind-the-scenes work too.  In fact, Heather is the source of about half of all the new good ideas we have.  God bless ya’ll.  

Ok, another one.

To that broad sweep of women or if you would rather, the womyn who mostly fill our ranks and step in to contribute to our church.  Thanks.  Thanks for who you are, and all you do.  From Cory hosting knit wits, to Renee and Kathleen hosting Cakes for the Queen sessions, to Caroline, Karen and Sally being the horses of Pastoral Care.  To Alica being our quiet ambassador to Community Meals, I see you. 

Other church traditions might try to overlook that women do most of all churches real work, but I and we  at First Parish couldn’t ignore the power of women’s impact on our church if we tried.  Women are most of our leaders, board members, and doers.  The Taliban might stupidly question the reality of women’s physical capacity to ride bicycles, but here we know they run our church. Thanks.

A special thanks to our Admin Susan.  Susan is pleasant, professional, and without being one of us, is about the best of us.  Everything Susan touches is done well and without drama.  Besides, she puts up with my inadequacies and idiosyncrasies. Thank God, she is so competent because I am neither smart enough or capable of managing her.  All churches should be so lucky.  Oh, yeah, Thanks for picking up the financial responsibilities you were asked to do, and for giving Jeanne an in house person to work with.  

I know I left out a few regulars.  Sorry.  Mostly what I want to share is that I feel blessed that you picked me to be your next minister in the spring of 2024.  I actually look forward to being here and high on my list of favorite hours each month are the ones between 10:30 and 1 on the 2^nd and 4^th Sundays of the month.

I thought I was done, but I am not.

And more reluctantly, thank you Donald Trump.  You are a constant reminder that sometimes the best contribution a person can make is to be a powerful example of how not to be.  God willing you will have to soon put on a jump suit that matches your hair.

And there are more of you not mentioned.  A big swooping thanks to all the regular unpaid volunteers who just so often do something practical to sustain this cool little liberal religious community of ours.  I see most of what you do.  From working the door at our Open-Mic’s; to jumping in to help clean-up tables in the parish-hall after a penultimate pot-luck; to offering to be a greeter or zoom host; to donating more than your pledge to the weekly offering for every good cause that we choose to support in our monthly split plate, thanks.  You all simply show up to make this community function and begin to thrive. 

If any of you who might be reading this want to contribute to this church, in a way you are not already doing, the path is simple but not easy, find some unique thing that you can competently do for our community, and without a lot of drama offer to and do it until people stop worrying about who handles that. 

We have a couple beautiful buildings, but it is not about the building, or the heritage of a church born in the mid seventeen hundreds.  It’s about you.  And, although I think of myself as a pretty good lay sociologist, why this place isn’t fuller is beyond my capacity to understand.

I keep returning to set aside a portion of my ministry here because of all of you, and the standard of care we hold for the world outside our doors is a true expression of the people the world needs more of, and I am happy to stand alongside of you all.

Thanks, Irrev. Steve

Last year we had Nobel Prize winner and representative of ICAN the “International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons,” Dr. Ira Helfland to talk about the now often ignored dangers of nuclear weapons. 

ICAN reports that Global spending on nuclear weapons reached a staggering $119 billion dollars last year.  And over the past 5 years, reached $471 billion!

The chief international group fighting the proliferation of nuclear weapons reports that the 119 billion dollars spent globally in 2025 amounts to $3,768 per second.  That is a 19% increase from 2024.  Probably not shocking you, if you follow global trends is the truth that the good old USA alone spent 69.2 billion alone.  That’s more than all other nuclear-armed states combined.  China, came in 2^nd spending 13.5 billion.

ICAN, asks us to imagine what the world would look like if that money had been spent on something other than weapons of mass destruction.  It’s a simple question, and the answer is simple.  Better! The world would be better.  The good news here is that nearly everyone agrees.

In a world… being taken over by the rapid growth of Artificial Intelligence, a Christianity liberated from the compassion of Jesus, a world either in denial, or at least woefully unresponsive to the real threats brought by climate change, and presently in the middle of a global shift towards autocracy, the world can feel disheartening.  There is no question that like no time before this one, but in a way similar to the way it always has been, the world is ignoring the potential for good, and charting a path towards destruction.  It’s a scary time, that begs us for our own comfort to turn away.  Try not to.

Because, the future is undetermined, either destruction or real healing is possible.  Hopefully here is a little solace.

Most people, and even most countries in the world reject the priorities, and trends of more ai, religions that breed selfishness, paths forward that ignore the fate of planet, and most of the people on it. 

Try to remember that.  Just like most people oppose the proliferation of nuclear weapons, most people want the best for not only themselves, but others. 

 As disheartening as the nuclear weapons statistics listed above are, we must remember, in the course of human history, we do most often…eventually… come to find many of the things we once accepted in the past as normal, to be unacceptable.  I want to say that again, because it is so true, and so hard to hold these days.  In the course of human history, on that way too slow arc of human consciousness we do most often…eventually… come to find many of the things we once accepted as normal, to be unacceptable, cruel, part of what most of us want to leave in the past.

And, although, I believe that the day when nuclear weapons are dismantled and seen as too dangerous for humans to have, that day is made closer by every act of reason and love we can perform.  So…

Don’t give up.  As Reinhold Neibuhr said, “Nothing worth doing will be accomplished in your lifetime.”  Just keep choosing to be good and hold the truths of what could be.

I know it is redundant, but let’s continue to be a people and a place that holds true to a vision of a world if not free of oppression, greed, division, and hatred, at least does not prioritize that as the path forward.  I mean what else can we do.

I know it sounds Pollyanna.  I know it does, and sometimes it feels that way to me too.  But it remains true that most people are with us.  ICAN also bears the news that 93% of the nations of the world want to see nuclear weapons abolished.  93%, if you are bad at math is almost all of them.  And likewise, most people wish nuclear weapons to be added to the dustbin of history.

In this disheartening time, where every news item feels like a slap to human dignity, there is underway an overall global decline in the percentage of people starving, a general trend of more and more women being educated, an increasingly shared understanding that race is a cultural creation, and that one’s sexual identity and preference is a human right, and that the human psyche and in particular that of children need to be protected.

I could go on.  And will never stop.

We see a world truly in crisis.  It is! But in that crisis are the seeds of renewal.

As you likely have heard me say before, slavery is if not eliminated now only mostly practiced in the shadows, ritual human sacrifice and cannibalism is almost non-existent, we have the tools, and have largely defeated a significant amount of disease, and globally the rate of homicides and the percentage chance that any given person will die in a war is way down. 

Let’s be strong in our commitment that, as it always will be, reason and love must be the path forward. 

Thanks for being part of one small church among many trying to save the world.  Cause that is exactly what we are trying to do.

Steve

The following Paragraph is from a letter from an anonymous parishioner who felt put upon by
the troubles of the world.
SHE: “Oh write back.” “Tell me wonderful, esoteric mysteries that hardly anyone knows
about.” “Tell me there’s a heaven.” “Tell me that after this long road there is peace and relief,
and a joy that it is all over now.” “Tell me the end is not just a dark, dank hole and they throw
the dirt on you and then bury you.” “Tell me suffering is not just the random uncaringness of a
sick God.” “Remind me how wonderful life before I took on all these responsibilities really
was.” “Please say something kind.”
NOTE: I actually connected with this person over the phone amidst this period of time. I
remember being very challenged at a Pastoral level. Here is my written response. You can tell
me how I did.
ME: “Offer a life beyond this one and make it a time of peace and rest.”
“Oh, well that is a task isn’t it?”
Ok…I feel your yearning, and can at least say this.”
“The arc of life on earth, if not the broader universe, has been towards complexity and
consciousness. But that trend is vulnerable, fragile even.
Given that the humans, and you personally being here is so slim as to make our very existences a
real miracle.”
“So, given that… ask yourself; seriously ask yourself…
For all the imperfection of this world. Given all the death, and suffering, all the knees that
increasingly will creek, and gutters that eventually will all leak, is it really more likely that all of
the whims and joys we experience came about by a random process that had no agenda or
purpose.”
“I mean, is it really more likely that the joy of sunsets, kisses, and love and the empathy that lies
dormant in our hearts, is really more likely to have no intention behind it, than have one?”
“Ask yourself, putting aside all the holes in the dogma of all the traditional religion; do you
really think that there is not some unknowable force that is rooting for consciousness and life
itself?”
“That is at least a fair question, to if not completely trust in, at least have some hope that
perhaps a force that is not perfect or all powerful, but a force and an ally all the same promoting
life.”
“We may not be able to speak about what such a divine consciousness is like.”
“I would probably argue that we can’t.”
“We may not be able to speak conclusively that such a force exists.”
“I would be even bolder in saying that clearly, we can’t.”

We all mostly have a sense of what “Juneteenth” is.  It’s really not that complicated.  Southern slave owners, didn’t like the news of “The Emancipation Proclamation” and suppressed for obvious reasons that “Lincoln freed the slaves.” In a sentence, Juneteenth is the celebration of the fact and the moment that eventually the news of emancipation spread everywhere.  Here is a little more.

January 1, 1863 was the official day when President Lincoln’s famed “Proclamation of Emancipation went into effect.  That’s what we learned it in school.  It all seemed so clean.  Yet, unbeknownst to me and I believe much of white America it was actually two and a half years later before the news of freedom spread everywhere. 

I believe (said with a cautionary tone) it is still unclear exactly what sequence of events took place, or didn’t take place to hold off the news that slavery had been declared illegal nationwide from spreading.  We have to remember of course that in the 1860’s there was no internet, radio, TV, or even a national newspaper.  I am sure I am behind all the details of how the Emancipation Proclamation was actually suppressed.  I mean I personally never heard the word “Juneteenth” until probably 15 years ago, so I am hardly an expert, but in a time when we know about a Japanese earthquake within a half hour of it happening, how news that there was a federal declaration to end slavery can be suppressed is, or maybe was shocking.  Watching Fox news coverage of the No Kings protests, or better their lack thereof, has made this more understandable. 

One story as to how the news was suppressed was that one of the messengers spreading this liberating news was murdered on his way to Texas. 

Another believable report describes that southern land owners conspired together to censored the news to maintain their labor force for as long as they could.  There has been speculation that Federal Troops were part of that suppression.  They could all be true.  Probably are. What is certainly true is that the suppression worked for more than 2 years.

Finally on June 19th 1863, Major General Gordon Granger with flag in one hand, and a gun in hand, stormed the shores of Galveston Texas.  He was motivated to announce the news, and brought along enough Union troops to make it stick.  This is the moment Juneteenth celebrates.

Understandably on that June day 162 years ago such news brought with is a waterfall of all the different emotions you might expect.  People reacted with all the range of emotions and behaviors you might expect.  There was shock, of course jubilation, relief, and confusion as to what to do next.

Can you imagine being held against your will for your entire lifetime, and then be told you can go!  Followed by where?

For us the closest equivalent might be the day you realize the cancer is gone.  Or the divorce from a destructive ex is final.  Maybe a parallel is the day you meet the love of your life.

Even those examples might not even be enough.

Reports suggest that people could not wait to leave the plantation and start living more freely.  And formerly enslaved people started moving.  

Today, Galveston Texas has become a place of pilgrimage, and as it should be, Juneteenth is a day of joy and celebration. 

However, we should not miss the lesson that when justice is expensive, and inconvenient, it will be resisted in surprising ways.  Insidiously quiet undramatic ways mostly.

Mark your calendars for Monday, May 25!

At present, a handful of people are working above their normal duties towards two different but
complementary goals. The first being the invigoration of the lower, or basement floor of
Parish Hall. The second being the use of our property, buildings, and perhaps a re-examined
marketing structure to better express/advertise who we are, and what we are about.
In regard to revitalizing the Parish Hall basement…we are exploring the possibility of
making the lower men’s bathroom and back doorway both handicap accessible and more
attractive. A group called Beehive, coordinated largely by Jeanne C, has been commissioned to
work on this. This is both in the works, and pretty exciting. Well, at least as exciting as what a
new-er bathroom can be.

Revitalizing the downstairs men’s bathroom into a handicapped accessible one, that doesn’t look
like it is a preserved set piece from a 1950’s movie is only part of a slightly larger, but
manageable vision of cleaning up Parish Hall’s lower classrooms. Although the vision of exactly
what a more attractive, functional, and handicapped accessible lower Parish Hall could become
remains unclear, one possible idea has been to dedicate a room to become a creative
“makers/space,” and see if we couldn’t invite people, both inside and outsiders for some regular,
or even more spontaneous creative arts. In short, although Sai Baba’s need for 5 classrooms each
Sunday, provides some cautions and concerns, creating a room dedicated to crafting has come to
be a real goal.

However, if revitalizing our Parish Hall basement is of any interest to you, keep your eyes peeled
for an upcoming basement workday. It looks like that is coming. The likes of myself, Kathleen,
Jeanne, and really anyone on the board, are open to your ideas of what might be possible.
In terms of better utilizing our location and property, the possibility of a new large highly visible
church sign, or “wayside pulpit” is also brewing. We all agreed that signs and images that would
be clearly seen by traffic traveling in both directions on Church Street should be a priority. If
that idea comes to fruition, there will over the next year be one far larger permanent church sign
installed and accompanying that some version of evolving high-quality provocative signs that
better express to all who pass by, who we are and what we believe. Those will likely accompany
always evolving images inside the sanctuary, like the red and framed list of new UU values, and
our movable history posters.

So, with the understanding that too few people know what our church stands for, and/or ever
enter it, we are taking steps to, step out. We welcome others to join us.

Beginning in February, a small group of parishioners, primarily composed of board members
began meeting to engage in the simple question “what we as First Parish leaders should and
could do to best prepare for the future.” This visioning process was prompted by a felt need to
lift our eyes off the management of the day to day activities. and spend some energy planning
what’s next for the church.
We started our first meeting with a review of where we stood in regard to as many areas of our
collective life as we could imagine. Thus far, we have spent about three hours distilling down
who we are, and brainstorming up anything we could think relevant to our church’s collective
life and future. From membership numbers to our property, from a look our financial resources
to our human one, as best we could we looked at our collective strengths, challenges, fears, and
opportunities.
Basically, given where we thought we stood, we paused to ask ourselves how we could be the
best leaders possible at this unique moment in our church’s long life. It was kinda fun to take a
step back and brainstorm. So far we have laughed more than wrung our hands.
In our analysis, we assessed that as long as the stock market, our pledges, attendance, staff, and
our renters remain static, and we have every every reason to believe they will, we realized that
we have a stability we have not felt for a while. That felt good.
We took stock that our steeple is now fixed, our buildings are basically in decent shape. We took
pride that the Meetinghouse Arts Center is thriving. and we are experiencing at least a slight
uptick in attendance, political activity, and events. The awareness that there is at least some
wind in our sails led us to want to risk beginning to dream up an even more dynamic version of
what First Parish could become.
However, matching the joy that came with our sense of stability, and even thriving, was a
collective concern about how sustainable it is. We spoke with some worry that our present
generation of lay leaders did not have a natural next generation of volunteer-leaders to hand their
responsibilities and roles off too. Likewise, there was also in our conversations a sense of
frustration that all good ideas for what we could be or could do ended up falling squarely on the
shoulders of too few.
In the space we created to plan, we asked hard questions like what the past and future
generations of church goers would wish we do. We wondered if the small uptick in attendance

we have seen in the last couple years would continue to blossom into fuller and fuller pews and
more vibrant church offerings. But, we also dared wonder if and when the next generation
church leaders would arrive.
In order to ensure that we kept our options open, we began by considering the boldest ideas we
could imagine. This commitment to considering all our options led us to spent some time
thinking about our buildings and property as resources and burdens. When we paused to look at
just how big our property is, we felt blessed by the options our general location, regal large yard,
and two different buildings offered. And, again true to form, we also quickly felt a little daunted
by how many relentless demands, this placed on the collective “us” that is First Parish, and our
tired, but heroic few who manage our space and building.
Prompted by this effort to consider all reasonable options, we asked big questions like, should
we sell pieces of our property in order to have the resources to invest in other pieces of our
property, or fund new programs, or relieve some of our Building and Grounds volunteers of their
chores with paid staff. The question of whether we should look to hire a person to manage the
building even got discussed.
In our conversations we briefly, considered the implications of selling off different portions of
our land, buildings, and/or our historic silver. However, in each case selling off church property
and/or historic parts of our legacy seemed moves too big for our comfort level, and quite frankly
not necessary.
Having asked all we could think to ask or imagine, there emerged a shared understanding that
there was- at least at the present moment-both not nearly enough will, and not
volunteer/leadership to make any radical changes. Said another way, although at these meetings,
exploring big ideas seemed appropriate, making big decisions did not!
However, although nothing radical felt right, we have started to move forward with some smaller
goals that we all felt good about.
At present, we are working towards two different but complementary goals. The first being the
reinvigoration of the lower, or basement floor of Parish Hall. The second being the use of our
property and buildings to better express/advertise who we are, and what we are about.
In regard to the Parish Hall basement, we are exploring the possibility of making the lower men’s
bathroom and back doorway both handicap accessible and more attractive. As this vision is
being shaped, collaborating with Si-Baba to clean up our lower classrooms and create the
opportunity to use those spaces in ways we mostly yet can’t see drew enthusiasm. Although the
vision of exactly what a more attractive, functional, and handicapped accessible lower Parish
Hall could become remains unclear, the idea of dedicating a room to become a creative
“makers/space” did excite many of us. And, creating room dedicated to crafting has come to be
a real goal.

In terms of better utilizing our location and property, the possibility of a new large highly visible
church sign, or “wayside pulpit” as they are called is underway. We all agreed that signs and
images that would be clearly seen by traffic traveling in both directions on Church Street should
be a priority. If that idea come to fruition, there will over the next year be one far larger
permanent church sign installed and accompanying that an evolving series of high-quality
provocative signs that rotate in and out of use to more express to all who pass by who we are and
what we believe.
Just for fun, I invite you to right now imagine with us the following. First what a more
functional, dynamic, lower Parish Hall floor with a more inviting handicapped back door might
look and feel like And, second, what opportunities our beautiful and expansive yard, and
dignified inner spaces might offer us in regard to “branding” who we as a church are. I bet it
isn’t hard.
Those two above directions feel like our most immediate goals. That said, I doubt if those two
ideas come to fruition, they will be the last projects to come out of this process. I think we are
learning that gathering up interested people to target specific areas of potential change, and
giving them some freedom to act will be part of our path forward.
Although pretty quickly, jazzing up the lower floor of Parish Hall, and using our space to better
express our values sprung to life. More generally, in terms of pace, we are taking on the task of
preparing for the future with patient intention. At each meeting, as much as is reasonable, we
intentionally pause to revisit all the prior ideas and options that have been considered, and review
everyone’s interests and opinions. We are diligently documenting the path we are walking, in
part because we find ourselves constantly circling back to other ideas and want to remember
systematically what was said and felt by everyone, and about each option we have.
The fact that there are not enough leaders to not only bring to life all good new ideas, but even to
easily sustain all that needs doing is a constantly sobering truth. One clear takeaway is that for
us to be all that we could be, more parishioners and/or perhaps more community partners will
need to emerge to make the best version of what First Parish could be come to fruition.
Nonetheless, slow steady change does appear to be coming.
It’s a little like the church has started playing chess with its potential future self. As we move
forward we will be seeking others to join us. Consider joining in.
Thanks,
Steve

I heard it read at another church event and found it very helpful. It begins
“I heard Joanna Macy talk about a Great Turning many years ago and now we who are on the
ground in metro MN are experiencing a powerful manifestation of it. I, who have been longing
for this all my life, did not truly expect to witness the profound realms of connection and
knowing of our oneness with all of life that we are encountering day by day in multiple ways.
I could write a huge amount about the cruelty, the fear, the widespread trauma, the physical
injuries, the ripping apart of families, devastation of lives, closure of immigrant businesses
throughout the city, and on, but I want this piece to ignite your own visions of who we humans
are when we follow love and connection.
Here are some of the threads of this web we have built through everyone responding from their
hearts to what is happening. There is no sequenced plan organized hierarchically. For those
taking on dangerous pieces, there is a lot of coding underway to protect identities. For every
thread that I have named here, imagine three or four similar supports going on that aren’t listed.
Carpenters repairing doors for those whose houses have been broken into, doors
kicked in and busted with a battering ram.
Tow truck drivers recovering vehicles left behind after an ICE abduction, in which
they leave cars stopped or idling in the middle of the road. Every effort is made to
learn who the vehicle belongs to and return it to the family.
Over 5 million Skymiles donated to help folks get home safely from detention
facilities around the country. Those needing help can reach out for flight assistance.
A Signal Group called Laundromat that assists those sheltering at home with
laundry. They pick up dirty clothes and return them clean. Imagine being trapped in
your home with no way to do laundry.
Various Signal groups for emotional support for people in different 
traumatic situations: commuters, observers, immigrants, medics and
more. Acupuncturists and massage therapists offering free sessions. Audios that
support activists’ self-care at youtube.com/@kaiasvien

People tracking ICE vans, blowing whistles, activating rapid response networks so
that there are many of us witnessing, filming, protesting arrests.
Vets and medics visiting sheltered families at no charge, watching for ICE vans as
they go.
Training of 5000 or so who film arrests, getting as much info as possible about the
victim for family and attorneys.
A system for phones in which an immigrant pushes a button as ICE approaches and
word gets out with birthdate, country of origin, contacts, etc to a select group.
Groups of chaplains ready to help, present at nearly every action, sometimes
kneeling in prayer as they are arrested.
Churches that have turned themselves into huge food-packing enterprises with 150 or so
drivers daily who take a number of boxes out to people who are sheltering. A careful
system that has drivers eating the list of names and addresses if ICE follows and stops
them.
Resistance Singers who travel in groups of 1000 thru neighborhoods where people are
sheltering singing cheerful songs so that they know they are remembered. Last week, 
1500 people singing welcoming songs outside ICE hotels like “You are one of us, you
know. You are one of us who knows that pain and love live in every heart. Don’t let fear
pull us apart.”
Monitors around elementary – high schools with high immigrant populations during drop
off and pick up hours to watch for ICE. People driving kids to and from school if parents
are afraid to leave home.
Three or four huge rallies each week, at the sites of the two deaths, at the airport when
flights are taking detainees to another state, at the Whipple Building where detainees are
taken (before being released into below zero weather without a coat or hat, no money, no
cell.) Small vigils at night on neighborhood blocks, people gathered around a fire with hot
chocolate.
Art supplies collected and given to families with kids who cannot leave for school. 
Immigration attorneys available when a person is released from detainment. Local sheriffs
speaking out against ICE tactics.
Monthly activist meetings that include inspirational offerings, small groups to tend to
emotions, sharing of all ideas coming through and something upbeat and motivational to
end the meeting with.

The Wound is the Medicine
It’s challenging to find words to tell you what this experience is like for us personally. The
tragedy of Renee Good’s death dissolved in one moment the unconscious “othering” that many
of us of European descent have had about “only people of color not being safe in the US”.
Frightening to have our white façade of safety fall, ah, but the liberation of belonging FINALLY
to the larger family of all cultures is magnificent! “A Dozen Roses for Renee” tells a story about this. Yesterday, Feb 7, a Native American collective held an honoring ceremony for Renee
Good. 
Another experience we are having is enormous gratitude for whatever in our lives has taught us
that we have the ability to care for the well-being of those we’ll never meet. You can sense
people reveling in that joy when they smile as their eyes meet on a school block, at a protest,
packing food and so on. Individual egos seems to need much less attention as an excitement
about what collaboration brings us abounds. And the creativity that is unleashed… So many
ideas coming forth that shine like facets of a diamond. There is much more that hasn’t become
words for me yet…
Back to Joanna Macy who knew that people cannot move from Business as Usual to the Great
Turning; they must go through the Great Unraveling to get here. We are in the midst of a
gigantic Unraveling and that pain opens our love since they come from the same source: our
interbeing with all of life. And, no one person or group is orchestrating this. It is coming from inside each of us involved.
Thanks for reading this.

Wish you were here
Kaia Svien

About this time each year we begin to plant the seeds for the upcoming pledge drive in March.
Obviously, you can’t see my hands right now. However, if you could, and you imagined my
hands spaced out in a similar manner to the picture of the fisherman above, my hands wouldn’t
probably be quite as far apart as the fisherman’s. Maybe a little closer in. That is because as we
look forward to the 2026 2027 church year, and attempt to set our a budget for it, I am only
asking that we be reasonable in this unreasonable times.

It isn’t that a successful pledge drive isn’t important; they are. They are crucial in fact. Nor am I
embarrassed to ask for your support for a church that I don’t think deserves to be supported.
Quite the contrary. I’m not the least bit embarrassed. First Parish is worth supporting. The truth
is, the pledge drive must be successful, or we are in trouble.
It’s just that what interests me are not the dollar amounts. What interests me is talking about
what we are doing, starting to do, have the potential to do, and how well we are managing the
challenge of our times.

So, in that spirit, as I did in the pledge sermon a week ago, I am asking you to apply a test to
your life. Ready?
Where… seriously where…outside your own home or apartment do you get all you get from one
place than you get from First Parish? This is not a rhetorical question.
Honestly, where else that you support, or regularly find yourself spending time do you get to feel
a part of a tribe; a place outside your own residence where you can freely roam around and call
yours?

Is there another place you freely go where nearly “everybody knows your name?”
Do you have another place that doesn’t charge you for every little thing you do? Another place
where you can jump in to be involved, or not at a pace you wish?
Where are you given a variety of opportunities, like you are here where you can actually make at
least a little bit of a difference?

What other place cares enough about your soul and conscience that it actually risks challenging
you to be a better person?
Where? Where are you more known and cared for than here. Please seriously think about that
as you give.
If you got a better place, a better tribe, a better representation of how and where your values find
form, well…a very earnest lucky you. Most people don’t.

As you think about your pledge, be mindful that ours is an economy run by large corporations
who are constantly trying to trap us into contracts that bind us. Please remember that the
economy outside our beautiful big doors is an environment anxious to get you into methods of
payment they hope you will forget is silently pulling money out of our accounts. I love that a
pledge to our church is a little old fashioned. I mean where else are you asked to pick what you
pay. Seriously, where?

You may not know this, but the idea of small un-monitored farm stands where a box or jar is left
out for people to honestly pay for what they take is-at least as I understand it- is mostly a new
England thing. I love that. And as the owners of those stands report, sure some people
underpay, but many leave more than they need for what they take.

Pledging to contribute to an organization what you think you can and/or should, rather than what
one HAS TOO is to me an antiquated practice in the loveliest of ways.
I likely need not tell you that pledges are more than essential. Pledges, as Alan often reminds us,
are not only our church’s overwhelmingly single most important source of church income, what
he does not often say is that pledges are the only source of income that comes without the
additional expense of wear and tear on our building, or very importantly, a tax on our base of

loyal but overtaxed volunteers.
I just wanted to pause in this newsletter to remind us of the blessing we have. We have a
building that although classic in its design is relatively new. We also have a now fully repaired
steeple, new railings adapted for physically challenged folks to more fully participate in worship,

a new sewer line that replaces a faulty septic system. Overall, we are in pretty good shape. We
are blessed not to have to pay property taxes. And we are blessed that we sit in the center of
town, in a population of people roughly half of which more or less share our values, and half of
them don’t have enough community connections or a religious home. I guess I snuck that last
one in as much as a challenge as a blessing, but you get my point.

One guide for what you should pledge is that you find a number large enough that you feel good
about it but not so large that you feel deprived or resentful to have to fulfill it.
I obviously care about the financial well-being and capacity of our church, even if I frankly don’t
care that much about spending a lot of our time discussing your pledge.

Please, be mindful that the pledge drive this spring is for the upcoming 2026-2027 church year
that begins in at summer’s end. You might also be aware that people arrange to pay their pledge
in any number of ways. All at once, monthly, etc.

I’ll close with two quotes. The first being what the Gospel of Luke says so poetically nearly 2
thousand years ago, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:34). May
that sentiment be your guide. However, if that does not motivate you, please consider the less
poetic words of John Dillinger who said, “Hand it over and nobody gets hurt.”

Let’s pause and remember that the fate of how strong First Parish is, and how easy it is for our
leaders to do their job and be all that we can be as a church is in our hands.

We appreciate the many generous contributions of our members and friends to support and improve
our Community: attending church services, planning church services, leading lay church services,
listening, forgiving, committee work, donating food, mowing the grass, organizing fundraisers, helping
each other materially and spiritually, and performing the myriad other jobs that enable our Community
to thrive. 
We also appreciate and depend upon generous financial contributions from our members to fund our
minister and staff salaries, and to maintain our buildings. In our annual pledge drive, we reach out to our
members to commit to funding the largest income source in our budget, pledge fulfillment from our
members. Financially, many of us are in good shape, some of us manage without much to spare, and a
few of us struggle to pay our bills due to lost jobs or fixed incomes. Whatever your circumstances, all of
us belong in our Community, our Church. All of us. 
Last year, we exceeded our pledge goal of $80,000. WooHoo! We are discussing this year’s pledge goal
and will announce it soon. If you are doing well financially, please consider a 10% increase from your
pledge last year**. If you are struggling financially, please know we understand that you also love our
community. Pledge what you can. If you need a confidential pledge waiver to remain an active voting
member, contact Rev Steve Wilson at (617) 852-2292 or stevewilson22@yahoo.com or Celia Brown at
508-523-3856 or Celiabrown0@gmail.com. Whatever you do will be generous and appreciated.  
If you are ready to commit to a financial contribution to our Community, go to First Parish Northborough
2026-2027 Pledge and Membership Questionnaire. If you have questions or prefer to pledge by email,
contact Alan Brooks at abrooks729@gmail.com. We hope to complete the pledge drive by the end of
March. Your earliest decision will be gratefully appreciated.
 
Thanks for your generous support! 
** Your pledge amount for 2025-2026 is in the Charitable donation statement for CY 2025 mailed in
January. Or available from Alan Brooks.

I will abdicate my freedom of my Minister’s Corner in newsletter to the recent words of Heather
Cox Richardson. Following our meaningful MLK gospel concert, and the drama of the political
moment we are living through, I just found her words inspirational and practical all at once. She
writes…
“You hear sometimes, now that we know the sordid details of the lives of some of our
leading figures, that America has no heroes left.
When I was writing a book about the Wounded Knee Massacre, where heroism was pretty
thin on the ground, I gave that a lot of thought. And I came to believe that heroism is
neither being perfect, nor doing something spectacular. In fact, it’s just the opposite: it’s
regular, flawed human beings choosing to put others before themselves, even at great cost,
even if no one will ever know, even as they realize the walls might be closing in around
them.
It means sitting down the night before D-Day and writing a letter praising the troops and
taking all the blame for the next day’s failure upon yourself in case things went wrong, as
General Dwight D. Eisenhower did.
It means writing in your diary that you “still believe that people are really good at heart,”

even while you are hiding in an attic from the men who are soon going to kill you, as Anne
Frank did.
It means signing your name to the bottom of the Declaration of Independence in bold
script, even though you know you are signing your own death warrant should the British
capture you, as John Hancock did.
It means defending your people’s right to practice a religion you don’t share, even though
you know you are becoming a dangerously visible target, as Sitting Bull did.
Sometimes it just means sitting down, even when you are told to stand up, as Rosa Parks
did.
None of those people woke up one morning and said to themselves that they were about to
do something heroic. It’s just that when they had to, they did what was right.
On April 3, 1968, the night before the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. was
assassinated by a white supremacist, he gave a speech in support of sanitation workers in
Memphis, Tennessee. Since 1966, King had tried to broaden the civil rights movement for
racial equality into a larger movement for economic justice. He joined the sanitation
workers in Memphis, who were on strike after years of bad pay and such dangerous
conditions that two men had been crushed to death in garbage compactors.
After his friend Ralph Abernathy introduced him to the crowd, King had something to say
about heroes: “As I listened to Ralph Abernathy and his eloquent and generous
introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about.”
Dr. King told the audience that if God had let him choose any era in which to live, he
would have chosen the one in which he had landed. “Now, that’s a strange statement to
make,” King went on, “because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is
in the land; confusion all around…. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark
enough, can you see the stars.” Dr. King said that he felt blessed to live in an era when
people had finally woken up and were working together for freedom and economic justice.
He knew he was in danger as he worked for a racially and economically just America. “I
don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t
matter…because I’ve been to the mountaintop…. Like anybody, I would like to live a long
life…. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s
allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised
land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people,
will get to the promised land!”
People are wrong to say that we have no heroes left.
Just as they have always been, they are all around us, choosing to do the right thing, no

matter what.
Wishing us all a day of peace for Martin Luther King Jr. Day 2026.”
Thank you Heather.
I remember being a junior in college and being twenty and the President of three student activist
groups, I was filled with a pretty inflated, frankly ridiculous sense of my potential.
One Saturday afternoon having returned from a Habitat for Humanity workday, I stood in the
shower and for one fleeting moment as I scrubbed my scalp I pondered the question that if by the
end of my days I would have accomplished all Martin Luther had, would I be satisfied. There
was a brief pause, and then a fairly quick, and reluctant shrug as I said to myself that I suppose I
would have to be.
I am chuckling with a touch of embarrassment to even write this.
Thankfully, although I suppose with a touch of wistfulness, I must confess those heady, frankly
ridiculously ego driven days of me saving the world are long gone.
Today, as I write this, Wed Jan 21 st, clergy from all around the country will begin to convene in
Minneapolis. Trek was among them. I would love to be there. But, having just returned from
three weeks away, I choose not to be among them. However, now not with my fingers in soapy
hands, but on a keyboard, I will be with about 500 others will stand in front of an ICE facility in a
protest that I have watched expand from simply a Wednesday gathering at noon of a hundred
people to a nearly daily protest.
I guess the lesson in Heather’s piece, and my own reluctant experience, is that you don’t have to
expect yourself to be perfect in this, or any one moment. However, I believe, as she does that we
do need to hold ourselves to a standard of resistance that is linked not only to our comfort, but an
unrelenting calling as a citizen and person of conscience.
If you are active in the resistance to this general assault on our collective values…well, …then
thanks. If you are not, take a minute to pause and ask yourself how much hero you feel like you
can, should, and need to be.
That action, that pause, and subsequent action might help you get through this difficult moment as
an American, and person of conscience. And, I will be in that struggle between comfort and
conscience right beside you. Steve