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Weekly e-Herald: Friday, October 21
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Help with First Church Tours
As well as being a potentially lucrative fundraiser for our work, sharing accurate, dignified information and stories about our history will allow First Church to be a resource for visitors to Salem who are in search of a sensitive perspective on our fascinating past. Please note that we are not offering a "haunted" tour; we are opening our doors in the interest of illuminating history with wisdom and dignity. If you are interested in learning more or helping out with tours, please contact
Anna Brandenburg annabrande@icloud.com or Steve Palmer wspalmer930@gmail.com . You can also sign up to volunteer here: https://bit.ly/FCtours2022
Fall 2022 Herald
Weekly e-Herald: Friday, September 16
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Weekly e-Herald: Friday, September 9
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Homecoming & Water Communion
Homecoming Sunday Community Fellowship
On this Homecoming Sunday, we are asking that First Church members and friends bring a snack to share at our Coffee Hour following the service. Anything from homemade cookies to something that you grab on your way out the door--all offerings are most welcome and appreciated. Please email Alicia Diozzi at msdiozzi@yahoo.com with questions or if you'd like to lend a hand to make this one a Fellowship to remember!
Join us on Sunday for our annual service of iWater Communion. We invite you to visit the nearest body of water, (which, for many of us, may be the nearest sink) with any vessel on hand to gather a small amount of water to bring to the service.
Religious Education
We are so excited to begin another year of RE! This year we will be focusing on Our UU Values in the World. We will learn about how we can show our UU Values everywhere from our homes to our community to forests and the ocean. We have lots of fun projects and field trips in store!
We will start the year with an Intergenerational Homecoming service this Sunday, Sept. 11. This service will contain elements for all ages, including a water communion ritual and a hands-on activity.
Next week, we will start weekly Sunday School! The RE Team is thrilled to offer weekly Sunday School again. In order to make this happen, we need classroom volunteers! If you would like to volunteer to teach Sunday School–or help out with any other aspect of the program–you can fill out a Volunteer Sign-up Sheet.
And if you haven’t already, please fill out an RE Registration Form for your family.
Finally, I have new hours as the RE Coordinator this year. I will be working Tuesday-Friday 3-6 and Sunday 9:30-1:30. Please feel free to reach out to me via email at fcreligioused@gmail.com or make an appointment to talk anytime within those hours. I will be posting virtual office hours once the church year starts.
In faith,
Theo Burbank
Religious Education Coordinator
Weekly e-Herald: Friday, September 2
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First Church Welcomes Interim Minister
We are delighted to announce that we’ll be welcoming Rev. Jenny M. Rankin as our Interim Minister on August 29, 2022. Jenny will work with the Board and the Transition Team to help the congregation accomplish the 5 interim ministry goals recommended for a congregation in transition between settled ministers.
Jenny was born in Boston and raised as a Unitarian Universalist at King’s Chapel. She graduated from Princeton University and after working for a few years as a community organizer, in Paris and Boston, went on to earn a Master of Divinity degree at Harvard Divinity School. Jenny began her career as an interim minister in Hingham, Cohasset and Hopedale before going on to serve as Minister of the First Parish in Concord, a settled ministry position, for fifteen years. She received additional training in transitional ministry and decided to make this particular form of ministry her focus. She recently completed her seventh interim ministry with the First Parish in Lincoln in June of 2022. Originally a two-year contract, it was extended to three, and then because of Covid, to four. Most of her interims have been two years.
“To me, interim ministry is a ministry of accompaniment,” Jenny said recently, “I walk with congregations who are going through a period of uncertainty and direction-finding after the departure of a settled minister. All congregations have challenges, of course, and I consult with and guide churches leaders to help them choose what is “top priority” for the interim period, what most needs attention to allow the church to be ready to call a new minister.”
“Each congregation is different, of course,” she continued, “with its own unique history. but some of the issues I’ve encountered in my work include unresolved grief, conflict, factions and fissures, a decline in trust, de-energized leaders, a decline in membership and/or pledging or both. I have watched congregations engage in tough conversations and do brave work together in the service of healing. It is not magic. It takes hard work and all hands on deck. It can be uncomfortable, at times. But it is rewarding for me to see congregations emerge from an interim time with more hope, energy and strength, well equipped for their next chapter.”
Jenny loves to learn, especially in community with others. She has taught classes on Transcendentalism, Celtic spirituality, prayer and the contemplative tradition, Spiritual Autobiography, and “Creativity as a Spiritual Practice.” Sometimes, she takes the learning “on the road” and has led seminars and walking tours both locally and in Europe. With a friend and UU minister colleague, Jenny leads contemplative retreats on the island of Iona of the west coast of Scotland. In 2021, Jenny earned a certificate in Spiritual Direction at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.
Jenny lives in Concord, Mass with her husband Rich Higgins, author and photographer. They have three children, now young adults. And a much-loved dog named Finn!
The Herald: Spring at First Church
Download the Spring 2021 Newsletter here!
We must draw our standards from the natural world. We must honor with the humility of the wise the bounds of that natural world and the mystery which lies beyond them, admitting that there is something in the order of being which evidently exceeds all our competence. ― Vaclav Havel