This morning’s service will be led by members of our community who have had cancer or currently have cancer. They will share thoughts from the heart related to their disease such as sharing with family, the importance of community, perspective on life, hope, and grief.
Barbara Jones will play some beautiful piano selections from Chopin and Bach.
Paul M. Galvin
Mindfulness is the intention to pay attention to each and every moment of our life with the qualities of nonjudgmental and compassion. The presentation will introduce the concepts of mindfulness, and participants will have the opportunity to identify their current resources and see how mindfulness practice can enhance what they already do well. The presentation is meant to be experiential and will introduce and guide participants in formal mindfulness practices. All participants will be encouraged to explore how to put mindfulness practices in place throughout the day in order to build resilience and skill in dealing with life events.
Paul M. Galvin, PhD is the former Assistant Director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and current Senior MBSR Teacher at the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society (CFM) at UMass Medical School as well as Associate Professor of Psychology and former Chair of the Psychology and Philosophy Department at Framingham State University. He has taught Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and other mindfulness-based programs at the CFM and in the community including non-profit organizations, businesses, and schools. Galvin was the Primary Investigator for the listing of MBSR on the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices (NREPP) through the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
Mark your calendars! On Sunday morning August 2 at 10:00AM, the 12th annual Joint summer service will be hosted by First Parish Church of Stow and Acton. This year we are expanding the circle and the Stow-Acton, Harvard and Littleton UU churches will also be joined by the Groton, Lancaster, and Hudson UU churches and First Parish of Bolton.
Rev. Susie Phoenix will lead the worship, and Mike Pfitzer will direct the choir. The service is a traditional Sunday service and incorporates worship traditions from the several churches.
There will be a “pick-up” choir. All singers are welcome. Rehearsal begins at 8:30AM. The choir will sing an introit and an anthem.
Please join us in celebrating our UU heritage and renewing friendships with our UU neighbors.
From the hymns we sing in church, to playing an instrument while growing up, to being a concert attendee, many of us have been touched by music’s moving power in our lives. Have you ever connected with a beautiful melody or an entrancing instrument? Are you ever moved by the combination of a favorite poem and a choral anthem or solo song? Do you ever feel inspired by singing a hymn that connects to a message from a service or a sermon?
At this service, we will explore the many ways in which music moves us. Members of the Adult and Youth Choirs will help steer our journey, members of our congregation will share the ways in which music has impacted them, and we’ll sing many of your favorite hymns.
Sophie Wadsworth
A journey through poetry of nature and spirit. Sophie will read poems of the natural world: about gardening, wild animals, and wry reflections on being human, Sophie will share words from poets ranging from Basho and Keats to Mary Oliver and Billy Collins. Poetry may deepen our spiritual life, and our spiritual life may deepen our friendship with words. We’ll take time for reflection and sharing responses…
[Sophie has taught writing and creativity to students of all ages, most recently as Adjunct Professor at the UMass, Lowell. Author of a collection of poems, Letters from Siberia, Sophie works with naturalists and
lop-eared rabbits at a non-profit, The Nature Connection.]
“If music be the food of love, play on!”* Come hear the Parish Jazz Band play music that celebrates love (the spirit of our Church). There are all kinds of love: romantic love, brotherly love, maternal and paternal love, spiritual love. And a simply enormous part of the musical repertoire is on themes relating to this rich, complex feeling. Often the music is joyous, sometimes sad, occasionally goofy or filled with longing. But it always speaks to the heart.
Come enjoy a morning of great jazz rejoicing in the number-one human emotion, including pieces by Victor Young, Jimmy Van Heusen, and Cole Porter!
*Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
NO SERVICE TODAY JULY 4TH WEEKEND
Childcare will be provided at
all summer services.
WORSHIP WILL CONTINUE ALL SUMMER WITH A SERVICE EACH
SUNDAY MORNING AT 10 AM. THERE ARE MANY GREAT
SERVICES PLANNED.
SUMMER SERVICES WILL BE HELD EITHER IN
THE COMMUNITY ROOM OR THE HALL
Our guest, John Calabria, who is a yoga instructor, will share thoughts about the practice of yoga to balance mind, body and spirit. Note that this is not a yoga class.
Childcare will be provided at
all summer services.
WORSHIP WILL CONTINUE ALL SUMMER WITH A SERVICE EACH
SUNDAY MORNING AT 10 AM. THERE ARE MANY GREAT
SERVICES PLANNED.
SUMMER SERVICES WILL BE HELD EITHER IN
THE COMMUNITY ROOM OR THE HALL
Meg Costello will share her work focusing on social class and classism in vocational theory and practice. Meg has presented this work to a class at Lesley College and a Working Class Studies Conference at Georgetown University.
Childcare will be provided at
all summer services.
WORSHIP WILL CONTINUE ALL SUMMER WITH A SERVICE EACH
SUNDAY MORNING AT 10 AM. THERE ARE MANY GREAT
SERVICES PLANNED.
SUMMER SERVICES WILL BE HELD EITHER IN
THE COMMUNITY ROOM OR THE HALL
Join us for coffee before church at 9:45 with our outside service beginning at 10:15.
Following the service there will be a picnic.
Elisa Pearmain will use her gift of storytelling to engage the whole congregation with wise and witty folktales from around the world with messages to move us as we end our year together.
Elisa Davy Pearmain is a professional storyteller with over 30 years of experience telling in schools, libraries, churches and festivals around New England. Elisa is a teacher of storytelling, and a licensed therapist, helping adults to hear their own stories in new ways for personal growth and healing. In addition to her other work, Elisa has been telling stories in churches for over twenty-five years. Her first book, Doorways to the Soul: 52 Wisdom Tales from around the World (1998) contains 52 short tales from different spiritual, religious and folk traditions designed to be read one per week with exercises to deepen our connection to the wisdom in the stories, and to foster personal and spiritual growth. Her second book Once Upon a Time: Storytelling to Teach Character and Prevent Bullying is a favorite in RE classrooms. Elisa is a former author and consultant for the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Tapestry of Faith curriculum.
Childcare will be provided at
all summer services.
WORSHIP WILL CONTINUE ALL SUMMER WITH A SERVICE EACH
SUNDAY MORNING AT 10 AM. THERE ARE MANY GREAT
SERVICES PLANNED.
SUMMER SERVICES WILL BE HELD EITHER IN
THE COMMUNITY ROOM OR THE HALL
HAPPY SUMMER!
