Category: Sunday Services

Most of us fear taking risks.  We may fear rejection, failure and change.  We may fear uncertainty.  But by taking risks, we give ourselves permission to try things out, to learn, to fail, to grow and to explore.  As Anaïs Nin wrote, “The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”  How do we know when the time is right to leave our comfort zones and take a risk?

“The Audacity of Risk” is the theme for Michael Bird’s Chalice Circle service at First Parish of Northfield, Unitarian, at 10 am on Sunday, May 22.  All are welcome to participate in this service of reflection and discussion, either in person at the church on the corner of Main Street and Parker Avenue in Northfield or online via Zoom. Contact fpnorthfieldma@gmail.com for the link to join online.  Masks will be required for those attending in person.

Last week during our service, the Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer mentioned a song by Ghanian drummer Sol Amarfio called Woyaya: “We are going / Heaven knows where we are going / But we know within.”

Inspired by these lines, and from the insight of Unitarian Universalist leaders, we will gather this Sunday, May 15, to explore where we have been and where we are going as a community. If you are in any way connected to First Parish, please consider joining us this coming Sunday for a playful, collaborative, exploratory, all ages worship experience. We will gather at 10am in person in Northfield.

If you are joining us online, please have some creative materials at the ready including paper, pens, markers, crayons, materials for collage – whatever speaks to you. It will be good to be together.

All are welcome! Contact fpnorthfieldma@gmail.com for the link to join online.

Lay Reader Dan Tinen will conduct the Sunday service for First Parish of Northfield, Unitarian, at 10:00 a.m. on May 1. His sermon will be titled “Back to the Drawing Board.”

Dan describes the topic as follows: “The last few months have seen our lives overturned by circumstances beyond our control. When things don’t go as we expect, we can be in denial, or we can reexamine our assumptions about the world and human nature. The history unfolding before us challenges us: what can we do to make a peaceful and prosperous world?”

All are welcome to participate in this service of reflection and discussion, either in person at the church on the corner of Main Street and Parker Avenue in Northfield, or online via Zoom. Contact fpnorthfieldma@gmail.com for the link to join online. Masks will be required for those attending in person.

“Sense of Place” is the theme for Paul Bocko’s Chalice Circle service at First Parish of Northfield, Unitarian, at 10 am on Sunday, April 24. “Sense of Place, as noted by Thejas Jagannath, is when people feel a ‘longing of belonging towards a place.’ There may be many reasons for the longing: the place is where you live now, where you grew up, a joyful location, a sorrowful spot, or where you made memories one way or another. Is your sense of place rooted in the natural, cultural, or built environment? All of the above? As we welcome spring, renew our care for earth and each other, let’s share the places we long for, ones that help us belong, those that give us pause, and ones that bring joy.”

All are welcome to participate in this service of reflection and discussion, either in person at the church on the corner of Main Street and Parker Avenue in Northfield or online via Zoom. Contact fpnorthfieldma@gmail.com for the link to join online. Masks will be required for those attending in person.

[Photo Credit: Julia Baldwin]

The Rev. Alison Cornish will lead the Sunday service for First Parish of Northfield, Unitarian, on Easter Sunday. The service will begin at 10 am in person at the church, corner of Parker and Main Streets in Northfield, and on Zoom.

Rev. Cornish describes Sunday’s theme: “In her novel The Book of Longing, author Sue Monk Kidd writes, ‘It has long been a doctrine of the church that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine, but over the centuries his humanity diminished as people accentuated his divinity. Writing from a novelist’s perspective … I was primarily interested in his humanity. And what an extraordinary human being he was.’ In fact, Kidd’s portrayal of Jesus in her wonderful novel is in close alignment with what Unitarians and Universalists have celebrated about Jesus for centuries.”

A story and a craft will be offered by Jenny Wooster for the younger children during the service, after The Story for All Ages. To participate on Zoom, request the link from fpnorthfieldma@gmail.com. Masks will be required for those attending the church. All are welcome!

Freedom is foundational to Unitarian Universalism. We think and talk a lot about theologies of liberation – we know that none of us are free until all of us are free. The stories told in the book of Exodus and in the celebration of Passover have so much to teach all of us about liberation. Join Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer on Sunday April 10, for a service titled “An Essential Story for our Time” to honor and learn from the powerful wisdom of Jewish tradition. This service will be fully multigenerational. People of all ages are invited to join us, in person at First Parish of Northfield, Unitarian, or online via Zoom. The service begins at 10 a.m. For the Zoom link, send an email to fpnorthfieldma@gmail.com.

This Sunday, April 3, 10am, at First Parish of Northfield, Unitarian, Lay Reader Dan Tinen will explore some ideas that may help us use our dreams in the service of health and wholeness. The topic will be “The Transformational Power of Dream Work.”

Dan says, “We spend about a third of our lives asleep. And during those daily 6 to 8 hours, all of us have dreams, whether we remember them or not. Powerful images and feelings sometimes arise that we carry with us into our waking hours; some of which we share with all other human beings, and some that are unique to our own consciousness.”

All are welcome to participate at First Parish, at the corner of Parker Ave and Main Street in Northfield, or on Zoom. Contact fpnorthfieldma@gmail.com for the link to join online.

Unitarian Universalists come together by way of different paths to affirm and promote our shared commitment to our Seven Principles, which we embrace as strong values and moral guides. In recent years, an Eighth Principle has been proposed, which recognizes the urgency of racial justice issues in our church and in the larger society. Do we need an Eighth Principle focused specifically on action to dismantle racism and other oppressions within ourselves and our institutions?

Come join this timely discussion in a Chalice Circle service at First Parish of Northfield, Unitarian, on Sunday, March 27, at 10:00 a.m. Judy Wagner will lead the service. All are welcome at the church on the corner of Parker and Main Streets and online via Zoom. For the Zoom link send a request to fpnorthfieldma@gmail.com.

In a response to the tensions of war and threat of escalation, Eveline MacDougall will lead the Sunday service at First Parish of Northfield, Unitarian, on Sunday, March 20. She will weave together music, poetry, story, and a sermon titled “Refuse to Be – or Have – an Enemy” during the 10 a.m. hybrid service, in person and on Zoom. The music will include a composition for violin by Ms. MacDougall, a traditional folk tune she will play on the alto recorder, and poetry and lyrics by Linda Hirschhorn, Salvador Cardenal, and Joan Baez. All are welcome at the church on the corner of Parker Avenue and Main Street in Northfield, or on Zoom. For the Zoom link, contact fpnorthfieldma@gmail.com.

Thich Nhat Hanh often said that to be means to “interbe.” On March 13 at First Parish of Northfield, Unitarian, we will remember from whence we come, celebrate our interdependence, and consider again what this truth might mean for the way we live our lives. Our service, titled “Our True Nature is Interdependent” and led by Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer, is being created with people of all ages in mind. You are warmly invited to join us in person at the church on the corner of Main Street and Parker Avenue in Northfield or online by Zoom at 10am this Sunday. Don’t forget the time change! Send a message to fpnorthfieldma@gmail.com to receive the Zoom link for the service.