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We are Humanists, Theists, Atheists, Agnostics & Interfaith Families

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Sunday Worship Service

Sundays @ 10:30 a.m.
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Minister’s Welcome

Welcome to First Parish!
We’re so glad you’ve found us.

Welcome Message

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Order of Service & Bulletin

Poor Unfortunate Souls

by Rev. Catie Scudera

March 26, 2023 10:30 am, live streamed from the Sanctuary Rev. Catie leading We know their names (or, at least our kids and grandkids do): Ursula; Jafar; Hades; Cruella; Scar; Radcliffe. Disney villains are, of course, meant to be evil, but there’s more...

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Awe & Mystery

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A Welcoming Congregation

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Learning @ First Parish

Religious Edcation, Continuing Education & More

Learning Overview

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Minister & Staff

Meet Rev. Catie Scudera and the rest of the First Parish staff

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Homegrown Coffeehouse

Hatrick Gallagher & Friends
March 25 – Doors open 7:30 PM

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From Our Blog

A Change in Masking Policy for Sunday Services

We have just passed the 3rd anniversary of the pandemic lock down. We’ve gone through many changes in how we’ve done church, and now we are...

The Black UU Trailblazers Featured in our 2/26 Worship Service

During our worship service on February 26th, Rev. Catie and Sara Elizabeth highlighted the stories of many Black Unitarian & Universalist...

Have you been wanting to do the Welcome in a service?

The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee wants to extend the privilege of giving the Welcome at our Sunday service to everyone in the...

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Please join acclaimed Boston poet, teacher, singer

Please join acclaimed Boston poet, teacher, singer Charles Coe for a special free event celebrating Poetry Month featuring readings, a cappella vocal performance, and a writing workshop on Sunday, April 2nd from 3:00-4:30 PM followed by a reception and book-signing at 4:30 PM.
The event is being held in the Parish Hall at the First Parish in Needham Unitarian Universalist at 23 Dedham Ave, Needham (please use the Lincoln Street Entrance). Our Parish Hall features an advanced MERV-13 filtration system. Video Streaming offered; sign up in tickets at http://CharlesCoeFPNUU.eventbrite.com
See you on April 2nd!
#uuneedham #unitarianuniversalist #needham #needhamma #diversityequityinclusion #adulted #religiouseducation #diversity #equity #inclusion #poetry #poet #nationalpoetrymonth #poetrymonth

Remember, Homegrown Coffeehouse is back onsite (wi

Remember, Homegrown Coffeehouse is back onsite (with a livestream) tonight for its 40th season 🎉 We’re excited to welcome back a Homegrown favorite, Hatrack Gallagher & Friends for a night of Blues and Jazz, featuring Hatrack on Chromatic and Diatonic Harmonicas. Buy tickets for the on-site show (please bring a mask) and the livestream through our website, uuneedham.org/events/homegrown-coffeehouse/ . Save room for carrot cake to go! 🥕🎂🎵
#uuneedham #unitarianuniversalist #needham #needhamma #music #jazzmusic #bluesmusic #blues #livemusic #Harmonica #jazz #concert #carrotcake

We’re almost at $300,000 pledges for the 2023-20

We’re almost at $300,000 pledges for the 2023-2024 congregational year! Will your pledge be the one that puts us over $300K?
If you haven’t made your pledge commitment yet, please visit uuneedham.org/giving to learn more about the 2023-2024 Budget Drive: Keep on Moving Forward, and why we’re hoping to collect intended donations of $350-$375K for the next church year. As you’ll read on our website, you can submit a pledge online through our website, by emailing or calling our parish administrator, or by emailing any of our Budget Drive team members (Kevin, David, and Bob). Our Budget Drive team is also happy to answer any questions or concerns you may have about the pledging process at First Parish.
Remember, about 75% of our congregational budget is funded by members and friends of the congregation. The only way we keep on moving forward is together!
Thank YOU for your generosity and commitment to First Parish!
#uuneedham #unitarianuniversalist #needham #needhamma #budget #budgeting #fundraising #fundraiser

In case you missed it in this week’s Bell Notes:

In case you missed it in this week’s Bell Notes: our children’s book club for adults has been rescheduled from this coming Monday (March 27th) to the following Monday (April 3rd). All other details remain the same; we hope to see you there on this rescheduled date!
As always, if you have any questions, please contact Sara Elizabeth at saraelizabeth.dlre@gmail.com
#uu #unitarianuniversalist #uuneedham #allages #lifelonglearning #religiouseducation #needham

We know their names (or, at least our kids and gra

We know their names (or, at least our kids and grandkids do): Ursula; Jafar; Hades; Cruella; Scar; Radcliffe. Disney villains are, of course, meant to be evil, but there’s more nefarious “representation” imbedded in many of these characters: queercoding. For this Sunday (3/26 at 10:30 am) before Trans Day of Visibility, we’ll study how heterocissexism and racism have been imbedded into childhood villains, and how we can support positive queer representation instead. We’re thrilled to have members of Lilith Vocal Ensemble as guest musicians for this service, prior to their 4 pm performance through our new “To The Fore” concert series.
Please note that this will be our first Sunday with both masks-required and masks-optional sections in the Sanctuary, demarcated by testing the airflow in the Meetinghouse. Visit our website, uuneedham.org, for more information and for the Sunday Service YouTube link.
#uuneedham #unitarianuniversalist #needham #needhamma #sunday #worship #SundayService #🌈 #lgbtq #trans #genderqueer #antiracism #transgender #nonbinary #music #churchmusic #TransDayOfVisibility #disney #disneyvillians

Check out Rev. Catie and Darrah’s latest Couch C

Check out Rev. Catie and Darrah’s latest Couch Conversation on our Facebook (/uuneedham) and YouTube (/@uuneedham). For March 2023, they discuss the monthly theme of Good and Evil by sharing how they inject more goodness and wellness into their day-to-day lives (with Percy as a perfect guest for such a conversation). Let us know how you regularly access and appreciate joy!
#uuneedham #unitarianuniversalist #needham #needhamma #joy #good #evil #goodnews #goodness #wellness #positivepsychology #nature #getoutside #relationships #marriage #moveyourbody #Community #pet #petsofinstagram #dog #dogsofinstagram

This morning, we were blessed to have Art (from Ar

This morning, we were blessed to have Art (from Arlington Street Church - Unitarian Universalist and New England Region UUA) facilitate a conversation and brainstorming about the 2023-2024 budget between members of our Parish Committee, Finance Committee, Trustees of Invested Funds, and Strategic Task Force. As you may have read in our e-newsletter, the Bell Notes, our goal was to thoroughly review the status of the budget, our funding priorities, and potential remedies. Over the next few days and weeks, our lay leadership will bring our recommendations to the congregation before we vote on the budget at the Annual Meeting this May.
If you haven’t done so already, please send in your financial pledge for next congregational year as soon as possible so that we can try to get a complete financial picture. Our congregation depends on the support of our community — about 75% of our budget comes from donations from members and friends — so please pledge generously. You can learn more about First Parish and the pledge process on our website, uuneedham.org. Thank you for your support!
#unitarianuniversalist #uuneedham #needham #needhamma #historicchurch #fundraising #leadership #budget #budgeting #generosity #retreat

Join Rev. Catie, Sara Elizabeth, and other First P

Join Rev. Catie, Sara Elizabeth, and other First Parishioners for a brief gathering in honor of the spring equinox on Sunday March 19th at 12:15 pm (just after social hour). We will draw from earth-based spiritual sources and practices — especially those developed by Unitarian Universalist pagans — to reconnect with nature at this special time in the cycle of the Earth's turning. All ages are welcome. If the weather is especially uncooperative, we’ll convene in the Sanctuary (instead of on the front lawn at 23 Dedham Ave).
#uuneedham #unitarianuniversalist #needhamma #needham #earth #environment #spring #springequinox #vernalequinox #pagan #paganism

We celebrate the vernal equinox and the beauty of

We celebrate the vernal equinox and the beauty of the Earth during this Sunday’s service on March 19th at 10:30 am… And, we acknowledge that the natural world isn’t always “good” to us humans or other living creatures on our shared planet. We then wonder, How “natural” are the natural evils we are experiencing in our modern world? How does humankind contribute to natural evil, and how could we instead mitigate its growth and damage? Join the service on-site or online, and for children’s religious exploration on-site; learn more at uuneedham.org
#uuneedham #unitarianuniversalist #needhamma #needham #sunday #worship #SundayService #climatecrisis #religiouseducation #earth #environmentaljustice #climatechange #ClimateEmergency #climatechangeisreal #climatejustice #environment #spring #springequinox #vernalequinox #evil

Don't forget about tomorrow's Lane Lyceum on the h

Don't forget about tomorrow's Lane Lyceum on the history of evil with our own Rev. Catie Scudera!
Something Evil This Way Comes: a History of U/U Understandings of Evil
offered by Rev. Catie Scudera
Tomorrow! Tuesday, March 14th
7:30 - 9:00pm via zoom
Zoom Link: https://bit.ly/UUHistoryOfEvil
All human beings have experiences in which they experience or perpetrate evil. But, what is evil? Whence does it come? How do we counter evil in our lives? To reflect on these questions, join Rev. Catie Scudera for a Lane Lyceum drawn from her Master's thesis from Harvard Divinity School: May Nothing Evil Cross This Door: UU Understandings of Evil 1991-2011. We will explore the history of Christian, Unitarian, Universalist, and Unitarian Universalist conceptions of evil and theodicy.
Rev. Catie Scudera has served as the lead minister of First Parish in Needham since 2014, and as the co-president of the Needham Interfaith Clergy Association since 2021. She previously served as a board member of the Unitarian Universalist Partner Church Council; as the intern minister of Arlington Street Church in Boston; as the student and summer minister of the Winchester Unitarian Society (MA); and, as a student chaplain at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Before responding to her call to ministry, Rev. Catie co-founded the A. Margaret Barr Children’s Village in Meghalaya, India, with the Unitarian Union of Northeast India, and served as a full-time tutor at Match High School in Boston. She is a 2007 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, and earned her Master of Divinity in 2012 from Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge. Rev. Catie lives in Needham Heights with her spouse, toddler, and two rescue pups.
#uu #unitarianuniversalist #uuneedham #needham #religiouseducation #lifelonglearning #uuhistory #evil #learn #history

On this wonderful Sunday, we reflect on our #UULen

On this wonderful Sunday, we reflect on our #UULent word for the day: equity.
Please enjoy this picture from one of our our Religious Exploration classes back in February. (What a treat to have two days in a row!) Our children made different "Black History Action Figures" and learned about their stories and incredible achievements. It was a wonderful way to talk about the histories that have been privileged, those that have been ignored, and how to create more equitable communities.
As we contend with the many ways that the contributions and achievements of Black people throughout American history have been hidden or downplayed, we are grateful to be in a community that values equity and prioritizes the continuous work of creating a more just world.
#UULent #blacklivesmatter #uu #learn #history #blackhistory #progressivefaith #Sunday #change #community #antiracism #equity #antioppression #religiouseducation #needham #uuneedham #unitarianuniversalist #diversityequityinclusion

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