B is for Beyond our Bubble.

Dear friends,

I have heard the question raised by several of you in different ways since the election: “How do we get outside our bubble?” In a recent essay, “The Pain Creating a New Coalition for Trump,” Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor outlines the suffering and uncertainty that many, many Americans live with every week.

To be a church in the world, we need to offer opportunities to connect with people outside the bubble of Lincoln and its surroundings. Here are a few ways that First Parish is already doing that (sign up for the monthly Social Action newsletter to keep up to date on everything):

• We are hosting a Gala dinner to celebrate Lincoln METCO scholars and their families at our Parish House on December 18. We expect well over a hundred people. Many FPLers are working on this, but we need more help, especially cooks! Please contact Dana Robbat (danarobbat@gmail.com).
• About 20 of us volunteer regularly as mentors to college student inmates at MCI-Shirley through an organization called Partakers. More mentors are needed – look out for an upcoming Forum with more information this winter.
• We collected over 75 Thanksgiving bags of groceries for Solutions at Work, a non-profit serving low-income and homeless people in Cambridge and Boston.
• We financially support local and national organizations selected by our Outreach Committee: All Hands and Hearts, focused on disaster relief, for Thanksgiving and Matenwa, focused on education in Haiti, for Christmas.
• The Music Committee has introduced a Spiritual Royalties Fund to benefit Hamilton-Garrett, a school in Boston devoted to training the next generation of Black musicians.

But maybe you’re thinking, we can do more – we need to find other ways to connect and transform lives, including (and especially) our own. Over the coming months, talk with your friends and neighbors about different ways we can get “beyond our bubble.” Bring your ideas to your committees and small groups at church.

We’re grateful to be on this journey together,
Nate & Kit

PS – We are so excited for our Advent and Christmas season at FPL. Please take a look at our wonderful month of events – Sunday services, Caroling, Handbell concert, Solstice, Pageant, and more. Invite a friend!

Did You Know? New Member Edition

• 16 new adult members (plus 11 kids) joined First Parish last Sunday. Please take the time to learn about these newcomers and strike up a conversation the next time you see one of them. Here are some tidbits about these wonderful folks:
• While many new members live in Lincoln, others come from West Concord, Weston, and Wellesley.
• Environmental conservation, music, theater, sheep-raising, and walking the Lincoln trails are a few of the new members’ interests…sounds like they found the right church!
• There is a heavy cluster of new kids in the range of 1-7 years old, and one baby on the way in December.
• One of the founding families of the original First Parish, way back in 1747, was the Flint family. New members Sue Flint and Kathryn Walker (by marriage) are both related to that family!

Scroll to the back of last week’s ORDER OF WORSHIP to read our New Member bios!