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Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church
A liberal, welcoming congregation serving the North Shore of Massachusetts since 1966

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Unitarian
Universalists

We are now holding Sunday Services in-person and on-line, using COVID guidelines to guide decisions as we move forward.

At its meeting on Wednesday, May 10, 2023, the Board reviewed the decision by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to lift the mask mandate as of May 11, 2023. Going forward, masks will be optional, and we will continue to provide masks for those who request them.

Recent Services

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Remembering Well

May 28 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

This service will provide space for stories of love and loss, strength and resiliency in the face of adversity. There are lessons in these stories about the value of remembering well in a world where change, loss and love are the nature of life. 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Feeling Your Right Size in the Universe

May 21 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

As the days lengthen, the light and warmth of the sun beckon, calling us out into the natural world.  As we take to the waterways and trails, many of us feel a sense of both of the power of nature and of our place in it – feeling just our right size. 

And after the service……..

NORTHSHORE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH

ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CONGREGATION

SUNDAY, MAY 21, 2023 AT 11:45 AM

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Creativity Workshop

May 7 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

George Bernard Shaw said, “You use a glass mirror to see your face. You use works of art to see your soul.” Come and celebrate the creative arts at this hands-on workshop. Write haiku, arrange flowers, collage, or paint “message rocks”. Answer that creative impulse! Those of us joining the service remotely can use the time to write or work on a creative project at home. 

 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Superhero Sunday

April 30 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Who’s your favorite superhero? April 28 is “National Superhero Day”; created by employees at Marvel to honor those who serve and protect and resist evil in the pages of comic books and on the big screen. We all have heroes in our lives – some of them are more famous then others. The idea behind superhero day is to honor those who serve, protect and resist evil. No matter who your favorite hero is, honoring the real and fictional people that inspire us is something to celebrate. Capes are optional!

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Springtime and Renewal

April 23 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Special Musical Guest; Morgan Beckford, vocalist

Join us for a celebration of spring through poetry and song. We don’t always know where our strength comes from but this time of year the light and warmth of the sun certainly provide an energy for renewal. Breath deep and take in the sights and sounds of life abundant. 

Morgan Beckford, originally hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, has been singing as long as she can remember. Beginning with children’s choir at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church at age 6, her passion for singing has taken her through a variety of genres, including a capella, musical theater, jazz and American songbook repertoire, and mostly, classical voice and opera.

Now that she has relocated to the New England area, she’s been thrilled to perform with both the Theater Offensive and Petrichor in cabaret performances; she is also a staff singer at Trinity Church Boston in Copley Square. 

When not onstage, Morgan has worked in arts administration as an Education and Outreach Coordinator and Summer Conservatory Director for Opera Memphis, a Fellowship Coach and Partnerships Coordinator for the Memphis Music Initiative, and the Chief Programming Officer at the Community Music Center of Boston. Currently, she serves as the Silkroad Connect Director of the Silkroad Ensemble.

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Acts of Restorative Kindness

April 16 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

10th Annual Earth Day Service

Join the Green Sanctuary Team for Northshore Church’s 10th annual Earth Day service, “Acts of Restorative Kindness.” The service will feature grateful and inspiring music and presentations celebrating Mother Earth.  

What can you do personally about the climate crisis? Listen to ideas from Susan Haas, our Master Gardener, and Claire Karl Muller of UU Mass Action.

 

 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Ordinary Suffering

April 2 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Palm Sunday is the beginning of Holy Week in the Christian tradition.  The story of Jesus suffering, death and burial makes suffering extraordinary; that in dying he took on the suffering of the world. But pain and suffering are a very ordinary part of the human condition.  Each of us carries the pain of the world in our hearts. Suffering is part of being human.  There is nothing redemptive about it but it does have the power to connect us with one another.

 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – At the Crossroads; an Exploration of Intersectionality

March 26 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

As Women’s History month draws to a close we’ll take a look back at the historic women’s marches that took place all over the world in January 2017. In addition to a being a worldwide movement, these marches created a platform for exploring the complex matrix of oppressions effecting women’s lives.  

 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

March 19 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Lecolion Washington, Bassoon and Guest Speaker

World-renowned bassoonist Lecolion Washington, current Executive Director of the Community Music Center of Boston, will be sharing both his musical talent and his expertise in diversity, equity and inclusion with the congregation and the community. In addition to his talk, he will be performing Mozart’s Bassoon Concerto, second movement, and Bayou Home by William Grant Still. His third selection will be an unaccompanied solo.

Among arts leaders in Boston, Lecolion has become prominent for his commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion among non-profit boards, administration, faculty and students. A coffee hour, following the service, will allow members and guests to meet Mr. Washington. 

ALL ARE WELCOME to attend this special service 

Lecolion Washington (BM in Music Studies, 1999) has been the Executive Director of the Community Music Center of Boston since 2017. Prior to moving to Boston, he served over 15 years in academia as the bassoon professor at the University of Missouri-Columbia and the University of Memphis. As a bassoonist, Lecolion has performed solo recitals and master classes at colleges and universities all over the world. Lecolion was the Co-Founder/Executive Director of the PRIZM Ensemble in Memphis from 2009-2017, and he was the founder of the PRIZM International Chamber Music Festival. He has been a featured solo and chamber musician throughout the U.S., Brazil, South Africa, Canada, and Switzerland among others. In 2015, he was named as one of the Memphis Business Journal’s Top 40 Under 40. In 2019, he was selected as one of Musical America’s Top Professionals of the Year honoring Innovators, Independent Thinkers and Entrepreneurs, and he was celebrated as a 2020 Boston HUBWeek “Change Maker”.

Lecolion Washington has worked all over the country as a racial equity thought leader. In high demand as a speaker, he has presented at conferences such as the Chamber Music America Conference, Sphinx Connect: Diversity in the Arts Conference, National Guild for Community Arts Education Conference, and as a featured guest on the Art Accordingly Podcast, sponsored by the Arts Administrators of Color Network, in an episode entitled “Deconstruction. Reconstruction.”  Washington has had residencies at institutions such as the University of Oregon, Carnegie Hall, and the Juilliard School. He also recently co-taught a course at the Longy School of Music entitled “Disrupting White Supremacy in Arts Organizations Through Transformative Leadership.

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – For Such a Time as This

March 5 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Why are you here at NSUU now? Each of us has gifts to share that can have a huge impact, gifts that only we can give. Hebrew scripture tells the story of Esther, an unlikely queen who uses her gifts to free her people. What will you do with your gifts? Perhaps, as Esther’s uncle famously says to Esther, “Who knows but that you have come to this place for such a time as this.” As we “Spring into Action” let’s contemplate the gifts each of us brings to a time such as this, a time bright with promise for a new chapter in the life of this congregation.

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – What’s Love Got to do With It

Feburary 26 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

As Black History month draws to a close, we’ll look at love as a motivating force for seeking justice. Dr. King defined love as, “The greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos. He who loves is a participant in the being of God.” How do we harness that force for justice? 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – The Power of Chesed – Loving-kindness

Feburary 19 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Guest Speaker Gina Tzizik

Gina Tzizik is an artist and educator whose work is informed by her study of Kabbalah and Jewish mysticism. Gina’s talk will focus on her experience and research of the power of the work Chesed – Loving-kindness (pronounced Hess-ed) from the Tree of Life or sefroit (the sefirot are described as channels of divine creative life force or consciousness through which the unknowable divine essence is revealed to humankind).

Guest musicians Judith Ahrens, Cello and Douglas Kramer, Clarinet will be providing the music for the service.

Chesed offers us the opportunity to contribute a part of ourselves to the world. We offer our unique spark of individuality in action when we give selflessly. Each act of kindness (no matter how small) has the potential to impact humanity with the energy of goodness, positively and in light.

Pieces of Light, Gina Tzizik, 2022

 

An artist reception will follow the service with refreshments and sale of her prints, giclee limited edition, and original prints. 10% of the proceeds will be donated to the church.

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Seeing with the Heart

Feburary 12 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. 

What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

from The Little Prince

by Antoine de Saint Exupèry

 

As Valentine’s Day approaches, a day devoted to love, it seems fitting to explore what it means to love. There are many kinds of love; self-love, parental love, friendship, romantic love – the love that extends to all beings. What’s the common denominator? Perhaps it has something to do with seeing with the heart. 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Come with Heart and Mind Prepared

Feburary 5 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Jennifer Revill, Service Leader

The Religious Society of Friends (known commonly as Quakers) stress simplicity in living and believe there must be a vital and sustained connection between worship and daily life. Quakers and Unitarian Universalists share many religious principles. This service will explore some of the Quaker philosophy and will offer an opportunity to participate in one of the essential practices, silent worship.

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Finding the Center of Our Living Tradition

January 29 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Unitarian Universalism is a living tradition. As such we’re called to review our principles to ensure they and we remain relevant. Our principles were last revised in 1987 when the 7th principle affirming and promoting the interconnected web of all existence was added. More recently there has been discussion about adding an 8th principle addressing racism. Other changes have been proposed in different forums. The UUA has appointed a commission to do a wholesale review of our 7 Principles. This service will include a review of their progress to date, the process by which changes will be made and how we can be more involved.  

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – The Heart of Small Group Ministry

January 22 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Marty Langlois and Jennifer Revill, Service Leaders

Small Group Ministry is a vital part of many Unitarian Universalist congregations, including ours. When intentional committed groups of people meet regularly to reflect on and discuss significant life topics, they create their own container for caring, honesty, and creativity. Participants build deep connections with one another and with the things they hold sacred.

Come learn some of the history of Small Group Ministries at Northshore Church, hear from several of us who have participated, and see if Small Group Ministry might be for you.

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Racial Karma

January 15 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

This year marks fifty-five years since the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr. As we honor his life and legacy it’s important to understand the context, what Larry Ward, PhD calls the “Racial Karma” of the United States and how it continues to manifest today as a path towards transformation and healing. 

Bonnie Anderson will be the guest pianist this Sunday. 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – The Power of Peace

January 8 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Vietnamese Buddhist Master, Thich Nhat Hanh says that we can create true peace that can be a powerful force in our lives and in our world.  On the leading edge of a new year – with the strains of Christmas’ refrain of “Peace on Earth – Good Will to All People” still ringing in our ears, how can we cultivate peace – in our lives, in our world?  

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Christmas Eve Candlelight Service

December 24 Service at 6:30 PM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

We will welcome Christmas with lots of music and a funny story celebrating the light of love born in every child. We’ll tell the ancient story of Jesus’ humble birth and light candles reflecting the light in everyone on this silent, holy night. This is a service for all ages.

 

*Please have a candle handy

and participate in the

candle-lighting. 

 

Every night a child is born is a holy night

Sophia Lyon Fahs

Unitarian Religious Educator

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Take Joy

December 18 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Joy is a theme associated with Advent; a time of preparation and waiting for love to be born into the world at Christmas. We need joy. It’s essential to a full life of the spirit. It rises in us from the essence of life itself. Unlike happiness, which is tied to external conditions – joy is a choice. It’s always there, walking hand in hand with sorrow. So let’s gather for a joy-filled celebration and have some fun.

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – “Hope is …..”

December 11 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Emily Dickinson wrote,

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

 

What is hope and why is it so important? How can it help us to turn towards healing and wholeness when so much has been broken? I hope so… 

 

Our special guest musician, Tim Deik on trumpet, will brighten our souls and fill the room with the exciting sound of brass. 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – The Gift of Wonder

December 4 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

We’ll kick off the holiday season by celebrating the eye-opening, heart-quickening, “WOW” moments of wonder that wake us up to the daily gift of life. After an abbreviated service celebrating those gifts, we’ll spill out into the Fellowship Hall for more festivities including swag-making, more music and plenty of opportunity for good fellowship.

 

Special musical guests: The Northshore Ukulele Players

A Joint North Shore Unitarian Universalist Service of Thanksgiving – The Peace of Wild Things

November 27 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Joint Northshore Unitarian Universalist Service of Thanksgiving

             

This recorded service is an offering from clergy from Unitarian Universalist congregations on the North Shore.  The theme for this year’s service is peace; inner peace and the need to be grounded in that inner peace to create peace in the world.  You are welcome to gather at at 10:30am at NSUU to watch the service or you can access this service from home through our website.

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Voice Still and Small

November 20 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

November 20 is “Transgender Day of Remembrance”, an annual observance that honors the memory of the transgender people whose lives were lost in acts of anti-transgender violence. We honor their memory by lifting up the importance of living authentically in a world that would sometimes rather we ignore that still, small voice within that tells us who we are — who we need to become. 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Tools for the Journey

November 13 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Unitarian Universalism draws many sources for inspiration including our direct experience, the wisdom of world religions, the teachings of science and Earth-centered traditions. Many of these sources can offer us wisdom and strength for the journey as we navigate change in our lives and in our world. This service of readings, musings and special music will explore some of these sources as tools for the journey that can help us navigate change.  

David Coffin will lead us in some traditional songs in our service. Known in the Boston area as the Christmas Revels Master of Ceremonies. He spends the good weather months singing chanteys on a Music Boston Harbor Tours. Coffin has a bass-baritone voice and plays various types of recorders and whistles, in addition to archaic instruments like the shawm, rackett, or gemshorn. He comes from a musical background. His father, Reverend William Sloane Coffin, studied to be a concert pianist with Nadia Boulanger in Paris; his grandfather was pianist Arthur Rubinstein, and his great-grandfather was Polish conductor Emil Młynarski.

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Navigating Transitions

November 6 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

The only thing that we can really count on is change. It’s just the way life is.  We have no idea what’s coming, nor can we bend the future to our will.  In truth, we live our lives in the interim, betwixt and between life and death. 

 What we can do is learn to navigate transitions; the inner process that accompanies change.  Moving from endings through a liminal time when things that were no longer are and things that will be are not yet — and embracing the possibilities for new beginnings.  Becoming more conscious of this process can help us let go of what was without grasping prematurely for something new.

Creating A Congregational Covenant – together!

Congregational Conversation

Nov. 6th at Noon

In person and on Zoom

 Please plan to stay after the service for an important congregational conversation where we’ll continue the process of creating a congregational covenant; the promises we want to make to one another about how we want to be together. 

 During the Sunday Service on October 16th we began this process when I invited those attending to begin to think about those promises.  They included:

  • To listen and respect each other
  • To be honest
  • To encourage each other
  • To engage with each other in the work of the church
  • To be curious about each other
  • To try to understand others more fully, without presumptions or rigid expectations
  • To disagree with compassion and respect
  • To be supportive and appreciative
  • To seek creative solutions to difficulties*
  • To have open eyes, minds and hearts
  • To be open to new ideas and ways of doing things
  • To welcome and embrace change as a way to learn and grow
  • To forgive each other and ourselves
  • To welcome newcomers

 This is already an amazing list!  Can you imagine what NSUU would be like if we all strived to keep these promises!  They really say that the way we do things is just as important if not more so then what we do together. 

 We’ll review all your suggestions on the 6th. Those of you who haven’t had an opportunity to add your ideas will have an opportunity to do so.  Together we’ll create a list of the most important promises we want to include in NSUU’s covenant.  The Board will take that list, create a draft covenant and present it to you, the Congregation for feedback.  My hope is that you’ll have an opportunity to affirm NSUU’s Congregational Covenant by the end of the year. 

 

See you in church, Rev. Carol

 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – Celebration of All-Souls Day

October 30 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker, Interim Minister

Each year we pause on the Sunday closest to All Souls Day (November 2) to remember our loved ones who have died.  We remember them in order to be continually encouraged, uplifted and inspired by the lives they led and their many gifts that live on in us. 

You are invited to submit a photo of your loved ones who have died for a slideshow that will be part of our service. 

  • Send pictures (in jpeg format) to Gary Nelson at ammodytes2000@yahoo.com by Friday, October 28.
  • Be sure to include: your loved ones name and their relationship to you (include your name too. Thanks! 

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – History of the Massachusetts Tribe

October 23 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Thomas Green

Thomas Green, a descendent of the Neponsett band of Massachusett and a steward of Massachusetts indigenous history, will offer a live oration focused on pre-colonial and colonial interactions with the indigenous Massachusett, their generational leadership, and the plight of the enduring Massachusett who gathered at the praying town of Ponkapoag.

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – The Courage to Covenant

October 16 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker – Interim Minister

A covenant is a mutual sacred promise between individuals or groups, to stay in relationship, care about each other, and work together in good faith.  In Unitarian Universalist tradition, we seek to raise the “we” above the “I” – the community above the individual.  
…..UUA Commission on Appraisal
It takes courage to make these promises to one another and to hold one another accountable to staying in relationship, beginning again and again in love.  This Sunday we’ll begin to give voice to the promises we can make to one another here at NSUU that can help us raise the “we” above the “I” – the community grounded in love above the individual.  

Our Next Multi-Platform Service – The Courage to Embrace Change

October 9 Service at 10:30 AM in the Church and on Zoom

Carol Strecker – Interim Minister

The Search for NSUU’s next Minister will mean embracing change; reflecting on the past, the present and your vision for the future.
The Ministerial Search Committee and Rev. Carol will share their reflections on the search process and what it means for NSUU.  
NSUU Ministerial Search Committee and Rev. Carol Strecker speaking