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About First Parish
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Welcome to First Parish in Needham, Unitarian Universalist. This section is intended to introduce you to First Parish, answer some common questions, and give you an overview of what First Parish has to offer. This page contains separate sections on:
Elsewhere in the About First Parish section, you can read about the history of First Parish, meet our ministers, the Reverend John Buehrens and Ministerial Intern Molly Housh, as well as our dedicated staff, and learn about the path to membership.
Who We Are
First Parish in Needham is, first and foremost, an open religious community that gathers on the basis of covenant rather than creed. As Unitarian Universalists, we recognize and celebrate that different beliefs and religious traditions are inspired by common hopes, share many common values and goals, and can, separately and together, guide our way to the common good. The spirit of our living tradition is embodied in the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism.
We are a community of about 180 households and roughly 270 members. In addition, nearly 100 children are enrolled in our Religious Education program and about 35 high schoolers in our Youth Group. Our community is enhanced by many friends who worship with us and participate in various activities, but have not joined the Parish.
We are a Welcoming Congregation, celebrating the presence, worth, and dignity of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons among us, as well as people of all races and socioeconomic classes. We have pledged, as a congregation, to foster an environment of understanding and respect not only within our own parish, but in the community as a whole. You will find these principles reflected throughout First Parish, from early Religious Education classes where the children love to say “we are the Church of the helping hands, loving heart, and open minds,” through the life experiences of congregational elders who served in some of the seminal social actions of the civil rights movement.
Among our ranks you will find lifelong Needhamites and “greater Bostonians”, as well as natives of virtually all regions of the US and a handful of parishoners who were born abroad. Some of us were raised as Unitarians, Universalists, or both, while others found our way here from other faiths, most commonly Catholicism and Judaism. By the numbers, teaching and healthcare are probably our most common occupations, but you will also find artists, massage therapists, an entrepreneurial cookie chef, lawyers and a retired judge, real estate brokers, a dance school headmaster, a producer or two, and an author of children’s books. As for pre-occupations, we have paper folders, birders, boaters of several persuasions, gardeners, oenophiles, skiers and cyclists, and a classical whistler, to name just a few. Among our many artists and craftpersons, you can find woodworkers and painters, a maker of fanciful fine furniture, and the progenitor of Needham’s fledgling flock of concrete yardbirds. Our facilities are a wonderful blend of old and new. Our Meetinghouse is the oldest public building in Needham, while we just moved into our sparkling new Parish Hall and renovated offices and classrooms in October of 2008.
Since 2002, we have been blessed to have John Buehrens as our Minister. John wears many hats — compassionate listener and adviser; outspoken leader and UU ambassador at local, national, and international levels; chef; scholar and author of A Chosen Faith and other books; dynamic speaker — and we benefit from every one of them. In the Fall of 2009, John was joined by Molly Housh, the latest in a series of wonderful Intern Ministers who have enlivened our Parish under John’s tutelage.
Whether you are contemplating your first visit to Sunday services, looking for ways to get more involved, or ready to become a member, we hope you will find what you need here, be it a spiritual home, a place for your children to grow through religious exploration, a social hub, a place from which to work for social justice, or simply a place to rest and gather strength for the next step on your journey.
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Sundays at First Parish
| Entrances and Exits Accessibility Sunday Morning Styles Your Arrival Children |
Youth Group Services Coffeehour Adult Ed. & Lyceum |
Sunday Schedule |
....9:15 am — Adult Education
....................(selected Sundays, see the home page and
.................... the Adult Education page for more information)
.10:30 am — Worship Service in the Meetinghouse
................— Religious Education for Children
................— Free childcare available
..11:30 am — Coffee hour in the Parish Hall
....................Needham Lyceum
....................(selected Sundays, times vary, check the
....................home and Lyceum pages for details)
....4:30 pm — Parenting Your Children
....................(1st Sunday of every month)
....7:00 pm — Youth Group
Entrances – Although our address is 23 Dedham Avenue and the Meetinghouse doors face Dedham Avenue, we enter the building by the Lincoln Street doors. Due to current building codes, the Meetinghouse doors may only be used for egress from the building.
Exits – The Lincoln Street doors are also the primary exit, but there are 5 other exits from the building: The front doors of the Meetinghouse; the Memorial Garden entrance in the main hallway; the back entrance located behind pantry; and emergency exits in the Wyeth Conference Room and at the end of the basement hallway.
Accessibility – First Parish in Needham makes every effort to be fully accessible to all.
- Parking: There is a handicapped parking space in our driveway and plentiful additional parking in the adjacent lot, which is just a short and level walk or roll from our door.
- Elevators: There is an elevator immediately inside the Lincoln Street entrance. There is a second elevator that serves the lower floor only by the back entrance. This elevator requires a key that must be obtained from the Parish office.
- Restrooms: A unisex, handicap-accessible restroom is available on the main floor. Additional handicap-accessible restrooms are available on the lower level. Child-size handicap-accessible facilities are available in several of the classrooms.
- Hearing: Small receivers with earphones are available as you come in the sanctuary. The Ushers can assist you with operations.
- Large-print hymnals are available in the sanctuary. See the Ushers.
Sunday morning styles – The emphasis here is on the plural, as in styles. Some of us still make the effort to wear our “Sunday best”, while others relish the opportunity to escape weekday formality or just keep it casual. As with most things about our community, there is widespread acceptance of how others choose to express themselves. The same goes for the children; however, note that many of our classes involve crafts projects, and classes often take full advantage of our playground as weather permits.
Your arrival – Greeters will usually welcome you at the Lincoln Street door, and they will be happy to answer any questions you may have. If it’s your first visit to First Parish, we ask that you fill out a gold Visitor’s Card; among other things filling out this card puts you on the mailing list for our biweekly newsletter, The Bellman. Everyone wears a nametag, and the Greeters will have a supply of blanks for you to use.
Children – The schedule for children is generally posted near the entrance on Sunday mornings, and the Greeters or classroom teachers can answer any questions you may have. On most Sundays, children attend our nursery, preschool, or Religious Education classes for kindergarten through 8th grades. All classes meet on the lower level (although one or two of the older classes may go across the street to the YMCA for classes.) On holiday Sundays, there are generally “multi-age” activities in the classrooms. On some Sundays, children join their parents for the first part of Sunday service, and on a few special Sundays they stay for the whole Service. However, your children are always welcome to join you for services if you wish. If you are new and choose to have your child join the childcare or one of the classes, please introduce yourself and your child to the teacher before going upstairs for Services.
Youth Group – High schoolers who come Sundays morning participate in our regular worship. Faced with the choice between that and another hour or two of sleep, most of them choose the latter, and then show up at 7 pm to participate in our dynamic Youth Group.
Services – Looking at a typical Order of Service should give you a good sense of our Sunday Services. Our services always begin with the ringing of the Paul Revere Bell and the lighting of the chalice. Music is always part of the service, whether it comes from our Adult and Children’s Choirs, the First Parish Singers, or frequent guest performers. Some other important services or parts of services include:
Candles of Joy and Concern – On many Sundays, the minister invites us to come forward, light a candle, introduce ourselves, and speak briefly about any joys or concerns that we wish to share with the congregation.
Special Sundays – Certain Sunday mornings have special significance for us. These include:
- In-gathering – The first Sunday after our summer hiatus, marked by the water communion, where we bring water collected from places of note, spiritual or otherwise, and mix it with the waters brought by others.
.- Religious and cultural holidays – On Sundays around the time of the Jewish high holidays or other important cultural holidays such as Cinco de Mayo, our services frequently incorporate elements of the traditional observance or themes related to the holiday.
.- Festival of Lights – A Unitarian Universalist celebration of the seasonal holidays of winter, including Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanzaa, and others.
.- Youth Sunday – A service developed and put on by our Youth Group
.- Coming of Age – The culmination of the traditional Unitarian Universalist rite of passage of eighth-graders into adulthood.
.- Flower Communion – The last Sunday before our summer hiatus, where we celebrate a uniquely Unitarian Universalist form of communion. We bring flowers from our yard or some other favorite spot, and we go home with someone else's.
Coffeehour – After Services are over, everyone is invited to Parish Hall for coffee, tea, snacks, and, most importantly, conversation and fellowship. The children come up from their classes. There are usually tables or exhibits set up for various social action causes, upcoming Paish events, and so forth. Please join us.
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Getting Involved
Rule #1: It’s OK to be shy.
Rule #2: It’s OK not to be.
First Parish is like any community: The more you put into it, the more you get out of it. But figuring out how to get involved can be a challenge. The first step is knowing what's going on.
First Parish has two primary communications vehicles — this website and The Bellman, our print newsletter. The home page of the website always has information about the next 2-4 Sundays, while the calendar has virtually everything that's going on at First Parish. The Bellman, which comes out every other week, has all the details for a given 2-week span, as well as columns from the ministers and the Director or Religious Education and profiles of First Parish members. To start receiving The Bellman, fill out one of our gold visitor's cards or contact the Parish office. Please indicate whether you want to get The Bellman in print or via email. We supplement The Bellman and the website with electronic newsetters (all-church bulletins and the Religious Education, Social Action, and Homegrown Coffeehouse newsletters).
Many start getting involved through one of the many opportunities for volunteering at First Parish, ranging from helping out in Social Action programs such as the William Ellery Channing School in Hyde Park to baking for the Homegrown Coffeehouse. There are also several ongoing groups, including a bridge gathering, knitters, and book clubs. Adult Education classes and the Needham Lyceum provide wonderful opportunities to hear interesting speakers and discuss a wide variety of topics. Parents of school-age and younger children may want to check out the Parenting Your Children group, while those of you with high schoolers might be interested in the Youth Group — that is, if your teens haven’t already found this dynamic group on their own!
Joining a Small Group is an easy way to form deeper connections with a small group of people, as is singing in the choir or First Parish Singers. Committees offer connection through working with each other, although we generally do not expect newcomers to jump right into committee work. Similarly, parents who have been part of the community for more than 6 months are strongly encouraged to teach in the Religious Education program.
As your involvment deepens, we hope you will begin to consider becoming a member. You can find more information on the Paths to Membership pages. In particular, you may want to attend one of our Newcomer Welcoming Sessions held after services on the third Sunday of every month or Roots and Branches: The Free Church Tradition, a more in-depth introduction to Unitarian Universalism held once in the Fall and once in the Spring.
The bottom line is that First Parish is a multifaceted community. We hope you'll take the time to sample one or more of those facets as you try to figure out if First Parish is the right spiritual home for you.
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Directions to the First Parish Church
From the North: Take Route 128 (I-95) south to exit 19B (Highland Avenue Needham). Take Highland Avenue to Great Plain Avenue in Needham Center. Cross over Great Plain Ave. onto Dedham Ave., the church will be on your right. Parking is available on Lincoln St., the first right after the church.
From the South: Take Route 128 (I-95) north to exit 17 (Route 135). Take Route 135 to Lincoln Street (see map). Parking is off Lincoln Street.
From Boston and Cambridge: Take Route 9 west to Route 128 South. Follow directions above "from the North."
View maps and directions from Google Maps
Need additional information? Call 781-444-0823.
