Sunday Morning Services at 10 AM

Notes about upcoming services can be seen in The E-Bulletin.

Some general notes

Our children's religious education program happens simultaneously with our Sunday services. On most Sundays, children spend the first portion of the service in the sanctuary with their families and leave for the children's program after the intergenerational sharing time. Some Sunday services are created as intergenerational and children remain with us for the entire service.  Childcare is available on Sunday mornings for children younger than the 4-year olds in our pre-kindergarten class. Often babies are kept in the service with their parents. The service is broadcast in an adjacent room if more freedom of movement is needed to keep a baby content.

Our services vary in format but there are elements found in most services. Here is a description of these typical elements, written in January 2006 by Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith, then our Assistant Minister.

The Prelude: The first notes of the music we hear in the prelude are our cues to turn our hearts toward the service.  Quiet talking ends as we settle into our seats and give our attention to what is being played and/or sung to nurture our souls.

Ringing the Bell:  In the sanctuary is the historic bell from the steeple of our fourth meetinghouse, which burned to the ground in March 1975, as the church was preparing for our nation’s bicentennial.  Though the bell cracked when it fell and could not be rehung, we ring it inside the church each week as a way to honor our connection to who went before us and to create an atmosphere of reverence.

Lighting the Chalice: The flaming chalice is the symbol of our Unitarian Universalist tradition.  Originally the symbol of the Unitarian Service Committee during the World War II, it was adopted by the Unitarian Universalist Association in 1961, at the time of the merger of the Universalist Church in America and the American Unitarian Association.  As in other traditions, fire symbolizes the warmth, fragility, beauty and power of our lives as individuals and as a community.

Intergenerational Sharing: We value the young people who are part of our congregation, and the opportunity for them to be in worship with us.  Most weeks, we take time at the beginning of the service to engage with them in a story, song or other activity relevant to the theme of the service.  At the end the intergenerational sharing, we sing the round “Go Now in Peace,” as they leave for their age specific Sunday School programs for grades K-6.

Sharing of Celebrations and Concerns: As the young people leave for their programs, teens and adults who remain have the opportunity to light candles regarding persons or things that are important to them.  These “candles of celebration and concern” as we call them represent a wide array of matters, from remembering a deceased loved one to announcing an engagement to showing solidarity with people in other countries.  Whatever the content, the intention is to allow time for members and friends to share what’s on their hearts with others in this beloved community.

The Collection: First Parish is sustained primarily through the generous annual pledges of its members and friends.  If First Parish is your spiritual home and you have not yet pledged, please contact Michael Edge at the church office (781-648-3799 Ext. 11) for information and assistance.  If you are contributing toward your pledge in the offering, please indicate that on your check, payable to First Parish Church of Arlington.

The Benediction: Is the closing words of our service were written by our Senior Minister, Rev. Dr. Barbara Whittaker-Johns, and are a simple prayer/meditation:  “May faith in the Spirit of Life, hope for the community of Earth, and love of the sacred in one another be ours now, and in all the days to come.” We join hands as a way of offering our warmth to one another, and reminding us of our first Unitarian Universalist principle, in which we affirm and promote the “inherent worth and dignity of every person” – including ourselves.

The Postlude: We return to our seats at the end of the service to give ourselves the gift of wonderful music once more as we make our transition from the worship hour back into “ordinary time.” The postlude is an excellent opportunity to quietly reflect on the blessings of being in this place at this time.

Friendship/Coffee Hour: As important as anything that happens in the Sunday Service is the opportunity to make new friends and connect with older ones, all of which builds the bonds of our community.  This mostly happens in the Vestry, which is what we call the “Community Room” to the rear of the Sanctuary.  Originally, a vestry was where clergy would put on their robes or vestments.  Today, it is a “room used for church meetings and classes” (Webster).

Flowers
If you would like to give flowers for any Sunday next year (September-June), it's not too early to contact your flower coordinators, Holly Loring and Jean Nagle, via email to flowers@firstparish.info or select your Sunday among those not yet spoken for via online form. 

A Sample Order of Service

Summaries of Previous Services:
2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011

630 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA 02476 | 781-648-3799 | Contact Us