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December 15, 2004
The Spire The Newsletter of the First Parish Church of
Norwell
The Newsletter of the First Parish Church of Norwell,
Massachusetts 781-659-7122 December 15, 2004 Vol. III Issue 7
Dec. “Th
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““IInn tthhee SSppiirriitt”” Rev. Victoria Weinstein
It’s Christmas time once again, and your minister is ringing in
theseason by staggering around on stage in a kimono and fright wig,
drinkingfrom a flask (it’s filled with water, really), ripping
heads off of rag dolls andterrorizing orphans. Seasons’
greetings!
For as far back as I can remember, I have been enchanted
andtransformed by my hours spent in dark theatres, watching actors
sing anddance and bring to life the extraordinary, unforgettable
characters of theAmerican musical theatre. I suppose I was born to
it, since my parents metwhile doing a community theatre production
of “Guys and Dolls.” I startedperforming at age 4, singing “If I
Only Had a Heart” at our UU church’s talentshow, dressed as the Tin
Man! I gather that by now I have been in well over30 productions,
and I have loved every character I’ve ever had the honor ofplaying
(especially the villains!).
When “Annie” opened on Broadway in 1977, I was eleven years
old.By that age I had already memorized the entire score to over
fifty musicalsand had appeared in over a dozen shows. I was 100%
theatre kid, and I wasobsessed with this show that actually starred
young actresses my own age. Iread every word printed about Andrea
McArdle, “Annie’s” young star, and Idrove my siblings and parents
crazy playing the cast album (rememberalbums!?) day in and day out.
I wanted to play that red-haired orphan sobadly I would have run
away from home to do it -- if anyone had asked meto.
girls fall in love with the theatre themselves. Leapin’ lizards,
itsure is
activities are, if not quite as literallydramatic, every bit as
soul-warming.
, hope and love, Vicki
No one did ask me, and I soon outgrew Little Orphan Annie,
butnever “Annie.” It’s corny and the score isn’t brilliant, but
it’s a story I’vealways wanted to be part of. It’s never too late
to honor those things you onceloved dearly. Having waited this
late, of course, I get to watch with great joyas nine little
fun. I hope your own pre-holiday
In faith
SSuunnddaayy SSeerrvviicceess 1100::0000 AAMM
19th: is Little Light of Mine” holiday season celebrates ght of
the world that is in f us. The Church School ren will present
ations” on this theme in our al Children’s Presentation. s: Bob and
Mary Lou Sutter Flowers: The Vercollone Family Hour:
Marianne and Colin Schofield Joyce and Jim Pickel
stmas Eve r Finest Gifts We Bring”
5 & 7:30 pm me All Ye Faithful to our tmas Eve services,
where ope to delight your eye and nd soothe the shopping-
ed soul. Join your lights all the other lights that
, and prepare your hearts e holiday.
mber 26th: lay –led service A Participatory
Celebration of Light s for what we hope will be
rm and comforting sharing dings, songs and stories to in the
Solstice. hurch School today. Hour: nda Metzger and June
Gustafson
e information continued on p.2
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The Spire December 15, 2004 Page 2
We extend ou
loss of Dan, who dieDecember 5th. We w Our
condolenbrother-in-law passe Marge Prescmemorialized in a
seMeetinghouse.
Please check your enthe Parish Directory are available at
Coffyour email address aedition are added. If you are new to
theinformation so we ca
ServJanuary 2:
“The G
A folk singesaid something like good in a world dambreaking and
how tr2004 in religion as wBowl ritual. Ushers: open Pulpit
flowers: open Coffee Hour: Pearl Jay
January 9: “
Launching ocontemplate the ratour news and our pParis Hilton?
Ushers: Les and MarloPulpit flowers: open
FFIIRRSSTT PPAARRIISSHH CCHHUURRCCHH of Norwell,
Massachusetts
24 River Street, P.O. Box 152 Norwell, MA 02061
Office Hours: 9-Noon, M&F
9-1, T,W, Th PHONE: 781-659-7122 FAX: 781-659-7939 E-MAIL:
[email protected] HOME PAGE: www.firstparishnorwell.org
MINISTER: Rev. Victoria Weinstein Office: Tues.-Thurs.
11 a.m.-2 p.m. or by appointment
In an emergency, call the Parsonage:781-659-7288 Director of
Religious Education Stuart Twite, 781-837-8791 Director of Youth
Programming Becky Smock, 781-826-2708 Music Director: Berni Nadeau
PARISH COMMITTEE: Deanna Riley, Chair
(Home) 781-837-4964 Committee Members:
Scott Babcock, Jack Christensen, Bob Detwiler, John
Meddaugh,
Chris Silva, Donna Wilson Treasurer: Marta Reese Collector:
Roberta Fairbanks MINISTER EMERITUS: Richard M. Fewkes
The next Spire deadline is
Sunday, January 2nd and will be mailed on the 5th of
January.
Please drop off submissions in the church office or email to
[email protected] by Sunday night.
Unformatted submissions are preferred
Coffee Hour: Helen K
Sharing and Caring
r deepest sympathies to Louise Newcombe on the d peacefully at
Bay Path in Duxbury on Monday, ill miss him.
ces to David Dube and his family. David’s d away in
Colorado.
ott, a friend to many in the parish, will be rvice on December
15th at 10:00 a.m. in the
try in the Parish List which will be used in both booklet and
the new pictorial directory. The pages ee Hour for your review.
Please consider adding nd make sure that any children born since
the last
parish and you are not listed, please write in your n include it
in the new publication.
ice Information continued
ood News of the Year in Religion” Rev. Victoria Weinstein
r whose name I’ll probably never learn recently this: “Religion
is a healing and powerful force for
aged and torn apart by… religion.” How heart-ue! Join us for
some of the good news of the year e step in 2005 together, and
observe our Burning
ko, Jean and Stan Wilderoter
I’m Nobody, Who Are You?” Rev. Victoria Weinstein
ff of these lines by poet Emily Dickinson, we will her insane
cult of celebrity that fuels so much of op culture. What would
Emily D. have to say to
n Taylor
eeler and Persis Sterling
mailto:[email protected]://www.gis.net/%7efpnmahttp://www.gis.net/%7efpnmamailto:[email protected]
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The Spire December 15, 2004
From the Collector:
A friendly reminder to parishioners: please submit your pledge
donations by Sunday, January 2, 2005 to receive credit for tax year
2004. Letters will be issued in later January. Thank you. Roberta
Fairbanks (781) 834-7175 or [email protected].
A Samsung camera was left behind in a WalMart bag at the Womenʹs
Group Holiday Party at my house Monday 12/06. Would you please
publish this and ask whoever lost it to contact me? Thanks so much.
Jeannette Mitchell 781-659-2316
The Norwell Food Pantry
Current “Wish List”
The next ingathering for the Norwell Food Pantry is on December
12th here at First Parish. Current needs include: instant coffee,
crackers, bread crumbs, cocoa, cookies of all kinds, cat food,
pancake mix and Bisquick. Donations can be placed in the grocery
basket outside of the church office on the day of the ingathering,
or at any time during office hours or Sunday church hours.
South Shore Christmas Eve Candlelight Services
5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
N.B. As has been true in the past, funds collected from the
offering for both services will be given over to the Minister’s
Discretionary Fund.
Habitat for Humanity
South Shore Habitat for Humanity serves 29 towns south of Boston
-- from Westwood to Duxbury and Easton to Scituate. Decent homes
are being provided to deserving families at affordable prices,
typically with a $90,000, 20-year, no interest mortgage. This is
possible due to land and materials donations and volunteer labor
for the construction. Unskilled and skilled volunteers are invited
to help in this work. I am actively involved as a construction
supervisor and would very much like to have members of First Parish
form a team and participate with me in one of these exciting and
most rewarding projects. Normally, our team would consist of 10 to
18 men and women (minimum age 18 years) who will devote a Saturday
for that purpose. Last year we finished homes in Norwell,
Marshfield, Braintree, Easton and other communities. No
construction is underway at this time but new homes will be
starting in coming weeks. If you think you might like to ʺbuild and
raise the wallsʺ, please contact me at 781-837-0665 or at
[email protected].
South Shore Cluster Dinner Thursday, January 27, 2005 All Souls
Church, Braintree
196 Elm Street Wine & cheese at 6:30, dinner ($7) at 7,
program at 8, out by 9. For reservations, please leave a message
at
781-843-1388 or email [email protected]
by Monday, January 24.
Lost and Found!!! Interesting list this time, I think… a
gentleman’s navy cashmere sport coat, a child’s gray Old Navy
sweatshirt, size M, a pair of women’s grayish-brown leather dress
gloves, a blue wool Ct. College baseball cap, a pair of glasses, a
burgundy fleece vest, and remnants of a jawbone from an
unidentified animal in a Shaw’s grocery bag. Unclaimed items will
be sent dropped off at the Salvation Army (except for the
jawbone…)
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]
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From Religious Education:
“Let your light so shine…”
From the DRE, We just put up our Christmas Tree this past
weekend and, as always, one of the first things we did was to check
the strings of light to see if all were still working. No matter
how ornate the decoration, it is the light that makes the tree. As
it is with trees, so to it is with people. It has become a cliché
to say that the holidays are all form and no substance ;
wonderfully decorated but with burned out lights. This attitude
comes from those appalled by rampant commercialism, a declining
sense of Christmas as a “religious” holiday, and from many with
such high expectations of Christmas that they cannot possibly be
met. And yet the Christmas story tells of an event the most
awe-inspiring imaginable. It tells us that into the humblest of
circumstances, with the least “decoration” possible, a new idea was
introduced to the world. Simply (as the most powerful ideas are
often simple ones), the birth of Jesus changed our light-bulbs. No
matter your Christology, it is undeniable that a birth, that by all
historical measures should have been as anonymous and little noted
as millions of others in such circumstances, changed radically the
prevalent view of God as other, to God within. The founding
generations of American Unitarians, of course rejected the divinity
of Jesus as unscriptural and unreasonable. Most of them, however,
did consider him a unique creation sent by God to teach, inspire
and model a “life of purity and peace” as Ezra Stiles Gannett put
it. He was, however, only unique in degree. The central message of
the “incarnation” is that each and every birth is a new creation
and of eternal value and dignity. Thus do Unitarian Universalists
proclaim. In Sunday- School, we have been focusing on the Sources
of Our Living Tradition, the first two of which are the sense of
wonder we all share and the people who have, and continue to,
cultivate that sense in each of us. We hope to inspire in our
children a love for the light of truth and love within them and to
cultivate it assiduously. Ralph Waldo Emerson asked, “what is life
but your angle of vision?” Indeed. So as we challenge our children
to change their angle of vision, (their “Light Bulbs”) now and
again to keep them bright and strong, so do we challenge our adults
to do the same. Talk to your children each week about their Sunday-
School lessons. Find opportunities to emphasize and deepen those
lessons. Take up a new project. Let your children see you take joy
in the effort of learning. Attend an adult learning course at
church. We live in a time where the opportunities are nearly
endless. Have you changed your light-bulb lately? Merry Christmas
and many blessings, stuart
Announcements:
Attention Church School Families: Our Children’s Presentation is
here! Please have your children at church by 9:45 so that we can
line up for the program.
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Share the Warmth of the Season! Contribute to the Mitten
Tree
Please bring in children’s hats, gloves, mittens and/or scarves
to place on our mitten tree (located in the
front of the Church behind the chalice). They will help someone
stay warm during what is supposed to be a COLD New England
Winter.
Donations can be placed on the tree Sunday, December 12th
through Christmas Eve. Please give generously!
Adult Learning Opportunities at First Parish
In response to several requests, the First Parish Book Group
meets for the first time on January 4th at 7pm in the Fogg Parlor
for a discussion of When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. The
book is a beautiful guide to Buddhist practice for the beginner or
expert, focusing on compassion and forgiveness in times of trial
and crisis. This discussion will be facilitated by Alex Gordon.
Please call the office for more information about the book and then
come and support this much-anticipated group.
That New England Religion, a three part series exploring the
development of religion in New England and, thus the entire
country, begins on January 12th with “The City on the Hill”: The
Puritan Conscience. The evenings begin at 7:00 pm with a potluck
dinner followed by a presentation by the Director of Religious
Education, Stuart Twite. Child -care will be available, so bring
the family. Make it an old-fashioned New England Church night.
Make a New Years resolution that will improve your life and
requires no Self Denial. Make a commitment to yourself to attend at
least one Adult Learning Program this church year. Your Adult
Learning Committee has made it easy to register. Just pick up a
form after Church at the RE table, check programs of interest and
keep a copy as a reminder.
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December 2004/January 2005
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 19
Holiday Family Service
Babycare 10 a.m. Coffee Hour 11 a.m. (Please bring a plate of
holiday goodies
if you can)
Also, warm outerwear
accessories will be gathered on the
Mitten Tree!
20 SSHAGLY Skylight Room 7-9 p.m. AA, Parish Hall 8:30 p.m.
21 Parish Committee Fogg Parlor 7 p.m. Choir Rehearsal Skylight
Room 7:30 p.m
22
23 .
24
Christmas Eve
Candlelight Services 5:00 p.m.
and 7:30 p.m
25
Merry Christmas!
26 Lay-Led Service in Meetinghouse 10 a.m. Coffee Hour 11 a.m.
No Church School
27 SSHAGLY Skylight Room 7-9 p.m. Survivor’s Group Fogg Parlor
7:30 p.m. AA, Parish Hall 8:30 p.m.
28 Caregivers in Fogg Parlor 7:30 p.m.
29 30 Choir Rehearsal Skylight Room 7:30 p.m. South Shore
Singles Dancing in Parish Hall
31 Ballroom Dancers in Parish Hall
Jan. 1
Happy New Year!
2 Morning Service Children’s Worship Church School Youth Group
Babycare 10 AM Coffee Hour 11 AM
3 SSHAGLY Skylight Room 7-9 p.m. Women’s Group Fogg Parlor 7:30
p.m. AA, Parish Hall 8:30 p.m.
4 Adult Ed. Book Group Fogg Parlor 7-9 p.m. Finance Comm. Church
Office 7:30 p.m. Activities Committee Skylight Rm. 7:30 p.m.
5 Alliance Board Fogg Parlor 10 a.m.
6 Choir Rehearsal Skylight Room 7:30 p.m. South Shore Singles
Dancing in Parish Hall
7 Ballroom Dancers in Parish Hall
8 Yoga in Skylight Rm. 9:30 – 11 a.m.
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FIRST PARISH UNITARIAN 24 River Street – P.O. Box 152 Norwell,
Massachusetts 02061
THE TIME-RELATED MATERIAL ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED SPIRE
Join us for one of our traditional candle-lighting services with
special music, carols
and the warmth of community. The service will conclude with our
candles
burning, singing “Silent Night”.
Christmas Eve, December 24th 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the
Meetinghouse
Family Banner Squares
You may have noticed the wonderful banners in front of the
church with
family names and representations on them. This is an ongoing
process and we would love to have your family represented! All it
takes is a ten-
inch square of white felt, your family name, and some
imagination. Amidst
all the business of the season, take some time to make a square
and turn
it in at church. The banners remind us that First
Parish is, above all a family.
The Newsletter of the First Parish Church of Norwell,
MassachusettsCalendar for December 15, 2004 Spire.pdfDecember
2004/January 2005ParishCommitteeNo Church SchoolJan. 1Happy
Alliance Board
Spire Contributions.pdfShare the Warmth of the Season!Contribute
to the Mitten Tree�Adult Learning Opportunities at First ParishIn
response to several requests, the First Parish Book Group meets for
the first time on January 4th at 7pm in the Fogg Parlor for a
discussion of When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. The book is a
beautiful guide to Buddhist practice for the beginne
spire mailing sheet for December 15, 2004.pdfFIRST PARISH
UNITARIAN24 River Street – P.O. Box 152SPIRE