Second Parish Unitarian Universalist

Hingham, Massachusetts

Glad Tidings

From the Minister –

As I write, we seem to be in the middle of the dog days of summer.  After a late start, we’re finally well-launched into the things about summer that we both love and hate – unrelenting heat, humidity, bugs, beaches, mountains, and travel.  And just as we get into the swing of real summer, it’s time to start thinking about the fall.  Back to school sales are on, and we begin to enter that state of denial in which we wish for just a little more time to be in summer mode with less obligations and more freedom to set our own schedules.

I remember back to summers on our farm when I was growing up.  A lot of it was hard, dirty work, especially when we were making hay and I was the one loading the bales on the wagon day after day in the hot sun.  On the other hand, making hay was one of the things I was proudest of, because I was actually pretty good at it.  I built up a lot of strength in my arms and legs from hustling on the wagons to keep up with the bales as they emerged from the back of the baler, and I learned to stack carefully so that the load would hold together no matter how rough the field might be.  I remember how wonderful it was to get a solid meal in the middle of the day – how good the sweet corn tasted, and the potatoes, and the meat.  And there was no problem going to sleep at the end of the day, even if it was hot and sticky.  I remember those hard-working days as a time when I was most in touch with my own body and when I had the easiest time pointing to exactly what I had accomplished. 

Enjoy the rest of your summer and all your memories of summers past!

SERVICES:  Wherever you travel this summer (or if you stay close to home), make sure to gather a little bit of water to share with the rest of our congregation when we return for our Homecoming/Water Communion Service on Sunday, September 13^th.  I’ll be speaking about Wisdom from Water - We'll consider how vital water is to life, how difficult lives are with too much or too little, and how water serves to symbolize life itself.  September 20th: Being the Greatest - We all try to do our best in our lives, prompted in part by the desire to be better than others.  That works well as long as we remember how dependent we also are on things and people who have made us who we are.  September 27th:  Give Us Meat - The Children of Israel were constantly complaining as they wandered through the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land; one of the things they complained about was the lack of meat, which was miraculously provided.  What does it cost us to have meat today?

In Faith,

Paul

LEADERSHIP NOTES

From the Leadership Board

Welcome back to what we are sure will be another inspiring and productive church year.

Second Parish's Leadership Board this year consists of:

Len O'Connor                            Property

Mariann O'Connor                     Community

Sandy Peavey                           Outreach

Sarah Phillips                           Worship

Kim Shaw                                  Finance

Jane Shute                               Religious Education

Rich Bowker                             Chair

We held our annual retreat this July at the Parish House at First Parish Cohasset. The discussion centered around these key questions:

· What is Second Parish's identity?

· What is our mission?

· Who is our neighbor?

· What are our priorities?

· How do we grow?

We hope to have further conversations about these questions with the rest of the parish over the course of the year.  In addition, here are just some of the things that we'd like to focus on for the year:

· Establishing a membership committee to help us gain more expertise about how to attract and retain members.  If you are interested in helping out in this effort, please let us know.

· Rewriting the by-laws to bring them up to date.

· Establishing a worship committee and growing the choir.

If you have any ideas about how to make Second Parish a better place, please talk to any of us.

The next meeting of the Leadership Board is Tuesday, September 8^th at 7:30.  All are welcome to attend.

-Submitted by Rich Bowker, for the Leadership Board

Property

A variety of issues were dealt with over the summer regarding our property.

Early on we needed to remove the large dead tree between the parsonage and our southern neighbor. While it looked to be on the neighbor’s property it turned out to be our responsibility.

During our inspection by the town, it was pointed out that the rear wrought iron fire escape needed repair. We have one proposal and are waiting for a second. We will select one and then need to have the entire structure painted.

While there will be further discussions, we agreed to allow the Food Pantry to make some modifications in their space. Of course, they are extremely tight on space and are reviewing their overall needs.

We have a number of smaller repair and maintenance projects that we will pursue with Charlie Yourell shortly.

Finally, our Bathroom project is about to get underway and may be in process by the publication of this newsletter. The meeting with Richard Morgan of the Building Department was very rewarding as he agreed to allow us to leave the existing wooden fire escape untouched…a considerable cost saving for us. He did caution that there may be inspection issues down the road with the structure, but Bill Thayer feels that the basic structure is quite solid. Leaving the structure intact required some revisions to the design of the exterior exit and walkway.

We met with Ben Wilcox on August 12 and wound up with a signed contract and Ben ready to submit the permit request. As part of the new design, Ben was able to fix the prices for landscape ($3,500) and plumbing/electrical ($5,500). These were previously estimated costs at $3,500 and $5,000, respectively. The contract gives us a total cost of $49,175 for everything. Of course, there are the possibilities of contingencies, but these can be no more than 10% .

Thanks to all for both the support and input to this project.  

-Submitted by Len O’Connor

Note from the Treasurer:  If you made a pledge to the bathroom fund and haven't paid it yet, now would be a good time to do so.  Please contact Susan Weisenbeck if you forget the amount of your pledge!  Thanks so much.

Community

Welcome Back to what I hope will be a wonderful year for our Community at Second Parish.  I am happy to say I had a great summer and was fortunate to be able to keep in touch with many members. 

My big exciting news is that we did have a very successful TABLE FUND RAISER!!!  An added benefit was we had a fantastic party with yummy food, lots of great company and weather that just couldn’t be beat.  My thanks to everyone who helped out and made such wonderful things to eat.  Pam King was very helpful keeping things organized, Chip King and Jack Cadogan were the grill masters supreme.  Len O’Connor was the lead blender with the use of the Frozen Concoction Machine. 

So yes, soon in Cushing Hall you will find several new, lighter, banquet tables.  The donations are still coming in and that is just wonderful.  I do need a bit more money to reach my lofty goal of TEN new tables.  I was able to get the two we purchased for $10.00 less at Staples because I found them at that price at another store.  Hopefully that price will hold until I purchase the remainder.

I am still planning on organizing the NOT YOUR AVERAGE YARD SALE this fall.  I need anyone interested in participating to give me a call.  We will announce the date at our first service in September.

Second Parish will have an ad in the 375^th Anniversary Commemorative Book.  It was important to be visible in our community as the other houses of worship are participating. 

I will be calling people who have so generously served as chairs of the various fund raising events in the past to see who is able to continue in that capacity and discuss what they feel we as the Leadership Board need to do to help improve the events so we can hopefully make more money.  I guess in today’s economy we should be happy to make the same as we did last year.  PLEASE if you have interest in a more active role in any of our events I urge you to call me.

Well, that is it for now.  Stay tuned for more news as the year begins.  I wish you all the best for a pleasant end of August. See you soon.

Warm regards,

Mariann O’Connor

Commission of Community

Community

Men’s Breakfast

The first Men's breakfast will be on Saturday, September 12^th at 8:00 a.m. in Cushing Hall with the usual delicious menu. All men in the Parish are welcome and encouraged to join us for an hour of conversation. Come prepared to talk about whatever is on your mind. Please let Lou Belknap know if you will attend by phone at 781-749-5519 or by email at lsbelknap@verizon.net.

Music Committee Update
Piano Fund
We have established a fund to purchase a piano for the choir loft.  This piano will make possible a much greater variety of music in our Sunday services.  We are looking for a newer (less than 20 years old) upright piano in excellent condition, and expect the cost to be approximately $2000 including moving.  Much of the funding has already been raised through a gift to the church in memory of Gloria Trowbridge as well as several special pledges from church members.  If you would like to contribute to the fund, or if you know of an available piano, please contact either Kurt Weisenbeck or

Sarah Phillips.

Choir Members Wanted
We encourage members and friends to join the choir on any Sunday.  No experience is necessary – the only requirement is that you to love to sing.  We rehearse before the service starting at 8:45AM.  All you need to do is show up - we have a wonderful music director and experienced section leaders who will help you to learn your part.  Please give it a try – we would love to have you! 

Celtic Concert on October 25 – Save the Date!
Our annual concert will be held on Sunday October 25^h at 3PM.  This year we are very excited to feature accordionist/pianist Susie Petrov and violinist Calum Pasqua, along with our own organist Mark Slawson, in a program of traditional Scottish music.  More details to come.

Music schedule for September:

9/13:  Choir

9/20:  Sarah Phillips and Jean Whelan, vocalists, with Alice Allen, guest organist

9/27:  Choir

Calling all Caregivers!

Linden Ponds’ second annual Family Caregiver Day on October 23 is a day of information, inspiration and pampering to recognize people who care for loved ones. This free event includes a keynote speaker, lunch, and small group activities and workshops. Space is limited and registration is required. For more information, call 781-534-7222.

News from our Cooperative Religious Education Program

We are about to start another exciting church year in our Religious Education program.  It will be good to see everyone after the summer.  We are putting the finishing touches on getting things ready for a great year.  We have some excellent teachers volunteering.  We are working on a wonderful team of assistants to help out or lead teachers.  If we have not talked to you yet and you are interested in helping assist please contact our RE chair, Jane Shute or me.

We will start back with an Intergenerational Water Communion service on September 13^th. Bring some water with you to represent what you did over the summer and our coming together as one again.  You can involve your children by selecting places, ideas, memories, and containers . . .

Regular classes will start again on the 20^th. Maybe we will have a little bit of a party.  It is still in the works.

Nursery School children will have two of our RE graduates, Lissa King and Lizzy Mackey, as babysitters.  We will be offering a Dr. Seuss curriculum for nursery-age children, which will include stories, crafts, and lessons in sharing, being yourself, cooperation, stewardship, and more.

The Primary class, grades K-3, will be continuing with Experiences with the Web of Life. Children will explore the Unitarian Universalist Seventh Principle of respect for the interdependent web of existence of which we are a part.  Learning this principle is a deeply religious undertaking.  The emphasis on values differentiates it from ecological content at weekday schools.

The Intermediate class, grades 4-6 /7 will start the year with Toolbox of Faith.  Children discover what aspects of UU faith are helpful to them. They develop a toolbox of faith. Each of the 16 sessions uses a tool as a metaphor for an important quality of our faith such as reflection (symbolized by a mirror), flexibility (duct tape), and justice (a flashlight).

Our Junior Class, grades 7-10 will be taking the Our Whole Lives class with kids at Old Ship on Sunday afternoons.

Hosted at Old Ship, 90 Main Street.

Youth who participate in this class will end the year equipped with accurate, age-appropriate information about human development, relationships, personal skills, sexual behavior, sexual health, and society and culture. Grounded in a holistic view, comprehensive sexuality education helps class members clarify their values, build interpersonal skills, and understand the spiritual, emotional, social, and political aspects of sexuality.

Important Dates for OWL:

9/27 (Sunday) Mandatory Parent Orientation

10/17 (Saturday) Class Kick off 9:30 a.m. -3:00 p.m.

10/25 (Sunday) Regular classes start 12:15 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Other Youth --Youth not participating in OWL and Coming of Age Graduates from last year can attend adult services. Seventh graders not participating in OWL may attend the Intermediate Class.

Welcome Back and see you soon,

Rev. Kim Preveza

mre@secondparish.org

SECOND PARISH UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST

685 Main Street, Hingham, MA 02043

Minister:  Reverend Paul Sprecher, Email:  PSprecher@uuma.org

Minister of Religious Education:  Reverend Kim Preveza, Email:  mre@secondparish.org

Paul:  (781) 210-2016 – Home and Office

Church:  (781) 749-1671   Email:  secondparish@yahoo.com

Website:  www.secondparish.org

Paul’s Office Hours:  Mon. & Wed. 9:00 am-noon, Fri. 3:00 pm-6:00 pm

Church Office Hours:  Mon., Tues., Thurs, 7:00 am-noon

Sunday Service:  10:00 a.m.

The newsletter is published monthly. 

The deadline is the 3^rd Monday of each month.

Next Newsletter Deadline:  September 21, noon

Production Date:  September 29, 10:00 am

Newsletter Team:  Alice Brewer and Sandi Smith

Editor:  Lou Belknap

Edition:  September, 2009

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Thank you.