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Our Faith and Worship Services

Join us in our Church Street building or live online for worship services.  Reservations, masks, and proof of vaccination are required to attend services in person. Learn more about multi-platform worship and our COVID-19 response.

Sunday Services

Worship services are held every Sunday morning at 10:30 am from September to June in our Sanctuary. Our services last about one hour and fifteen minutes. Lay-led services are held during the summer months. Dress is informal.

The beginning of the service includes our weekly announcements, a musical prelude, our opening rituals and chalice lighting, and a time for all ages.  Our minister, Rev. Sophia, regularly leads the service, including selected readings, a sermon, and a spoken meditation.  Several times through the church year, members of the congregation lead lay services.

Sunday worship services are also streamed live on Zoom.  Links to the service are distributed to members and friends in advance via email.  Newcomers are welcome to join us! To receive the link, send a request to office@fpwatertown.org.

Evening Vespers

These candlelit contemplative services offer quiet music, readings, and time for shared silence in our beautiful sanctuary. Candles can be lit throughout the service, and we ask that you please enter in silence.

We gather the second Tuesday of every month at 7pm and services run around 30 minutes. Attendants are welcome to begin arriving at 6:45pm to enjoy the silence of the sanctuary, as well as linger afterwards as needed.

You may join us from home by watching the service live cast on YouTube.

Past Sermons

“Room to Grow” – February 20th, 2022

by | February 21, 2022 | Sermons | 0 Comments

“It’s not that we forgot God or the martyrs or the Prophet’s holy word—quite the opposite, in fact, we were boys built to love what was in front of our faces: my brother and I on the floor draped across each other, laughing tears into our prayer rugs.” I had never...
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“Widening the Circle” – February 6th, 2022

by | February 7, 2022 | Sermons | 0 Comments

Our theme this month is Widening the Circle. This is not a theme that your worship committee, or I, or staff, cooked up, but rather takes its name from the 2020 report of the UUA Commission on Institutional Change. They titled it: Widening the Circle of Concern.  I...
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“The Beauty of the Thing” – January 16th, 2022

by | January 17, 2022 | Sermons | 0 Comments

Thank you First Parish Band! Beautiful. Those words that Rev. King offered, closed his ‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’ speech, given on April 3, 1968 at the Church of God in Christ headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee. The mountaintop that King drew from came from the...
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“The Holding Place” – January 2nd, 2022

by | January 3, 2022 | Sermons | 0 Comments

My mom used to always say that entrances and exits are the hardest of things. The first time I remember her saying this to me I was leaving my most loved elementary school, a place I went to from 2nd-5th grade, a place that felt like home–I was leaving it to begin a...
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“Love Beyond Belief” – January 9th, 2022

by | January 10, 2022 | Sermons | 0 Comments

“We are a people who normally would not mix. But there exists among us a fellowship, a friendliness, and an understanding which is indescribably wonderful. We are like the passengers of a great liner the moment after rescue from shipwreck when camaraderie, joyousness...
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“Let Broken-Heartedness Abound” – December 12th, 2021

by | December 13, 2021 | Sermons | 0 Comments

Can we just take a minute to extend praise and thanks to Jean Gauthier? For her beautiful version of Joni Mitchell’s Blue? And thank you to Joni Mitchell–one of the greatest musicians of our time. A true prophet–carrying messages from beyond. Right? I was introduced...
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woman in black robe and white stole holds singing bowl and striker at lectern

Upcoming Worship

Worship Service

Sunday May 22, 2022
10:30AM - 12:00PM

Music Sunday
Charlyn Bethell, Guy Urban, Djalai Babazadeh and the FPW choir!
This year, Music Sunday will be all about the role of beauty in a spiritual life, and how music plays a role in that.  The FPW Choir will sing an anthem that includes the congregation joining in for a familiar hymn.  Djalai, Charlyn and Guy will play a piece for viola, oboe and piano.  Choir members will be contributing readings and a chalice lighting.  Guy will deliver a homily, probably from the piano!  For the postlude, the Choir will sing a song we did at the Talent Show: “This is How We Change” from Schmigadoon.  Beauty will abound!

Social Justice Offering for May  For the month of March, the Social Action Committee has designated the Immigrant Family Services Institute (IFSI) the recipient of our Social Justice offering. 

Located in Mattapan, the mission of the IFSI is to expedite the successful integration of recent immigrants into the social and economic fabric of the United States with justice and dignity. Using a village model by integrating children, parents,  grandparents, and other stakeholders in our programs, they provide services that promote education, encourage civic engagement, and strengthen communities. The majority of the families IFSI serves are from Haiti. 

For more information about IFSI, please visit their web-site: https://www.ifsi-usa.org. To make a financial contribution, please send a check made out to First Parish with "IFSI" on the memo line, or choose "Give to Special Collection" at https://fpwatertown.breezechms.com/give/online. 
All are welcome! We are currenly offering in person services (masks required) that are also streamed via Zoom. If you would like the Zoom link for the service, please contact office@fpwatertown.org by Saturday. 

Worship Service

Sunday May 29, 2022
10:30AM - 12:00PM

All are welcome! We are currenly offering in person services (masks required) that are also streamed via Zoom. If you would like the Zoom link for the service, please contact office@fpwatertown.org by Saturday.