All Souls Day Service:
All Souls Day is a day of remembrance for those loved ones we have lost, especially those who died in the last year. With words and beautiful music from our choirs, soloists, and instrumentalists, we will bring them close again. Everyone is invited to bring a photo or memento of a deceased loved one to help us create our beautiful "All Souls Day Altar of Remembrance." At the end of the service we will plant daffodils in front of the church, so that they may rise up in the spring to remind us how the loved ones who have died live on with us in spirit. Visitors, especially those who have lost a loved one recently, are invited to join us and participate in this beautiful service.
Recordings of Past Services
Video recordings of our Sunday services are available on our YouTube channel. Click on icon below to visit.
We also have a collection of audio recordings of selected Sunday 11:00AM services. To hear a service simply click on the red side of the audio player of the one you would like to hear. Alternatively, you can click on the .mp3 link to download the service to your computer or mobile device.
Note: Due to limitations with FPC's current audio system, the sound quality for most musical segments was very poor. As such, many of these pieces have not been included. We are working on upgrading the system so that the complete services can be heard. Also, for reasons of privacy, the "Joys and Concerns" segments have been excluded.
Should you have difficulty playing these recordings please contact: webadmin@fpc-stow-acton.org
An RSS feed of the audio services is available here: 
Sunday, November 3rd, 2013
Daylight Savings~set your clocks BACK one hour
Sunday, October 27th, 2013
AN INTERGENERATIONAL SERVICE
This morning we will all be together as an intergenerational community for worship. Both our services will be jointly led by our Director of Religious Education, Michelle Cote, and our Minister, Tom Rosiello. There will be lots of participation by folks of all ages, especially our children, and there will be lots of kid friendly singing and music. It will be a joy-filled morning that sums up what our children and youth have learned and we have explored in worship over the past eight weeks regarding our Unitarian Universalist Principles.
Sunday, October 20th, 2013
We are called by our 7th principle to "Respect the Interdependent web of all existence." Today we explore our connection to the earth and all her creatures and the theology and practice of "An Earth-Saving Faith." There will be music and words from our Native American tradition as well as many others, and at the 11 AM Service our Choir will be singing an exciting new anthem called, "Creator Rhythm" which captures the message of our 7th principle.
Sunday, October 13th, 2013
We live in a world that is anything but peaceful. Senseless acts of violence at home put fear in our hearts and wars rage on the world stage. Our 6th Unitarian Universalist principle calls us to "affirm and promote the goal of world community with peace liberty and justice for all." Worship will be led by our minister, Tom Rosiello, and there will be songs and anthems of peace from many times and places. At 11 AM our Adult choir will sing the beautiful anthem, "How Lovely are the Messengers" by Felix Mendelssohn.
Sunday, October 6th, 2013
This morning we will explore our 5th Unitarian Universalist Principle:
"The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and society at large." For most folks democracy is thought of as political principles but Unitarian Universalists enshrine the democratic process as a religious principle. We will explore why this and what it means to do so. The Rev. Tom Rosiello will preach and lead worship with the assistance of Adult and Youth readers, Lay ministers and our wonderful music team.
Sunday, September 29th, 2013
We are part of the free church tradition which means your beliefs are not dictated by the words of a creed written centuries ago but rather are the product of you own searching for the truth. How do we do that searching responsibly and where might that search lead? The Rev. Tom Rosiello will preach the sermon. There will be beautiful music at both services with our Adult Choir singing an African Welcome Song and the anthem "The Road Home" based on a lovely old folk tune.
Sunday, September 22nd, 2013
"Acceptance of One another and encouragement to spiritual growth" (3rd principle)
One of the least true statements I hear about FPC is that we are "a like-minded group of people." Although we share many values we do not all believe alike, act alike, live alike or love alike. There is beauty in our diversity but sometimes we forget that the person next to us is different from us. Perhaps different in what they believe or how they live or in their sexual orientation or gender identification. The challenge of our third principle is to accept and respect people as they and support people on their individual journey. The Rev. Tom Rosiello will lead worship and preach the sermon. One of the least true statements I hear about FPC is that we are "a like-minded group of people." Although we share many values we do not all believe alike, act alike, live alike or love alike.There is beauty in our diversity but sometimes we forget that the person next to us is different from us. Perhaps different in what they believe or how they live or in their sexual orientation or gender identification. The challenge of our third principle is to accept and respect people as they and support people on their individual journey. The Rev. Tom Rosiello will lead worship and preach the sermon.
Sunday, September 15th, 2013
Yom Kippur
There is an old Hebrew story in which a child asks her Rabbi, "What does God pray for on Yom Kippur?" The Rabbi answers, “May my capacity for mercy be greater than my capacity for justice.” Today as we explore both the teachings of Yom Kippur and the Second Unitarian Universalist principle. We will struggle with what it means to promote justice and the tension that often exists between justice and compassion. We will examine how this plays out in our own lives and at a societal level, particularly in relationship to the present debate over mandatory sentencing. Some of our talented instrumentalists will be joining our music staff in leading us in song. At the 9 AM service "FPC Singers" including some of our youth, will be performing "Let Justice Roll Down" by Aileen Vance and at the 11 AM service our Adult Choir will sing another setting of that text by Moses Hogan as well as some traditional Hebrew music for Yom Kippur. Rev. Tom Rosiello will be preaching and leading worship. For our "Message for All Ages," our youth will present a dramatization of the story of Jonah. We hope you will be with us.
Sunday, September 8th, 2013
INGATHERING SUNDAY
“We affirm and promote the Inherent worth and dignity of every person.”
On this Ingathering Sunday we will be pulling out all the stops literally (it will be the first time our restored pipe organ is played in Worship) to welcome folks back as well as those with us for the first time. The call will be to "Come, Come , whoever you are" and be part of this inclusive community of love, faith, and justice. Our sermon message will focus on the first of our seven Unitarian Universalist Principles: The Inherent worth and dignity of every person. Many religions teach that human beings are inherently sinful and unworthy but in our tradition we recognize just the opposite, that every individual is worthy of respect and has dignity. Yet at times, we all probably consider someone or some group to be of less worth and dignity. The struggle for the equal dignity and worth for all continues in our society as the events of this from our Supreme Court’s DOMA and part of the Voting Rights Act as well as the startling verdict the Trayvon Martin case demonstrate. The Rev. Tom Rosiello will preach the sermon and lead worship assisted by youth and adult worship associates and lay ministers. Our children will be introduced to their first Sunday of Religious Education by Michelle Cote, Director of Religious Education. Music will be led by Mike Pfitzer, Director, and Sanhgee Kim, Organist/Pianist and our Adult Choir will be singing at the 11 AM Service. Please join us!
Sunday, August 18th, 2013
We think we know what we believe and what we hold to be true, but when it comes to a crisis of illness or death, often all bets are off. Michael Eselun, popular guest speaker and oncology chaplain at UCLA, will share an exploration of the different ways patients' theologies intersect with such crises, and the common themes that seem to surface from the atheist or fundamentalist alike.
Michael Eselun, a Unitarian Universalist, and a certified chaplain, is the chaplain for the Simms/Mann-UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology. He recently hosted and presented at the first Spirituality and Medicine Conference at UCLA to an interfaith group of community religious leaders. He's been invited many times to speak to students, doctors, nurses and social workers about his work as a chaplain, on death and dying and the spiritual dimension of the cancer experience. He was a recent lecturer for UCLA’s Insights Into Cancer lecture series and was invited to address 300 nurses at the Cedars-Sinai Hospital Nursing Symposium.
Michael is also a co-founder and co-chair of a non-profit, volunteer anti-homophobia speakers bureau called GLIDE, Gays and Lesbians Initiating Dialogue for Equality. Over the last 18 years, Michael and his fellow speakers have spoken to an audience of over 150,000 students, teachers, and other various groups and agencies in the LA area about homophobia. Michael has also led workshops on integrating spirituality into an LGBT identity.
He shares his life with Scott, his partner of 35 years. He is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica and has been a popular guest speaker there and at 25 UU congregations including First Parish in Cambridge, MA.
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