Guest Speaker, Gina Tzizik

In May 2023, after 150 years, the Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache tribes of Oklahoma were allowed to view their tribal sacred items. Gina Tzizik was a guest and witness to families and tribal members reuniting with their sacred ritual artifacts. She will share pictures and stories from this two-day event.

Gina Tzizik is an Artist, educator, and early childhood teacher trainer. Gina’s art centers on spirituality, drawing inspiration from ancient texts, symbols, and rituals to convey timeless wisdom and sacredness. She holds a Master’s Degree in Jewish education from Hebrew College, Newton, MA, and a Master’s Degree in Montessori education from Endicott College, Beverly, MA, She holds an American Montessori Society Pre-Primary Certification and Torah Godly Play certification. She has extensive training in Reggio Emilia’s educational philosophy and has lived and worked in Italy, Germany, and the United States.

Rev. Caro Barschow, Minister

A monthly theme of pluralism invites us to celebrate that we are all sacred beings, diverse in culture, experience, and theology. What does it take to embrace our differences and commonalities with love, curiosity, and respect? This service will include an update on new language regarding pluralism proposed for the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Bylaws Article II, the statement of purpose and beliefs for our church’s denomination. 

Rev. Caro Barschow, Minister

Good, better, best. Top 10 Lists. My Favorites. Greatest Of All Time. Ranks and ratings come easily to our human minds. What is the cost of this habit? Author adrienne marie brown says, “Humans are unique because we compete when it isn’t necessary. We could reason our way to more sustainable practices, but we use our intelligence to outsmart each other. We compete for fun, for ego.” Let’s consider together how and why competition can be in contest with our UU values of mutuality and interdependence. 

NSUU Green Sanctuary Team

The NSUU Green Sanctuary Team presents our 11th tribute to Earth Day (established 1970).  Join us – in person or on Zoom – in commemorating this holiday with music, stories, and a presentation by long-time environmentalist Rep. Kristen Kassner of Massachusetts 2nd Essex District.

Rev. Caro Barschow, Minister

Poet Mary Oliver offers these “Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it.” When we approach with humility and reverence the interdependent web of all existence, of which we are a part, we can be led towards a deeper caring and respect for all of creation. Let’s cultivate ways to pay attention right where we are to that sacred web.

Religious Services Committee, Speakers

Priscilla Odinmah, Guest Musician

Modern life encourages a non-stop mentality. Our culture overvalues the drive to achieve at the same time it undervalues rest. Humans need both! Honoring our own rhythms of rest and work, of dormancy and action, helps support our own wellbeing and that of the larger world. In today’s service, we will explore the spiritual and dimensions of action and rest. Vocalist Priscilla Odinmah will present music by well-known Brazilian composers

Rev. Caro Barschow, Minister

This Sunday, we join together to acknowledge the Christian celebration of Easter. Opened by the singing group and featuring the bell choir, this service explores rebirth and the nature of all things through music and ideas. Sing with us the hymn “Morning Has Broken,” then we’ll examine together why the Gospel depiction of Jesus Chist as “the Word” mattered for his early followers and what it might mean for our time on Earth. 

NSUU Singing Group and Ethan Hackett, Music Director

Bring your voice, spirit, and joyful being for a music-filled celebration of the changing season! Musical offerings will be made by the singing group and bell choir, with a special four-hands piano performance! Together we will mark the beginnings of new life and the incoming of fresh energy in a spirited spring equinox service. Not one to be missed! 

Rev. Caro Barschow, Minister

Stewardship means the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one’s care. In a Unitarian Universalist congregation like ours, the care of our people, our mission and our church building arises through the dedication of our volunteer time and our financial resources. The act of stewardship often leads to both our church community’s growth and our personal growth. Today marks a “kick-off” for NSUU’s annual pledge campaign. Let’s reflect together on how we will grow together into the next chapter of thriving at NSUU. A pledge season kick-off brunch will follow the service.  

Religious Services Committee

Personal growth doesn’t happen by amassing knowledge. It happens as we become more conscious and more mindful of inner knowing. Every one of us goes through life poised for transformation at any time. Something significant (or insignificant) happens, and our perspective widens, and we are suddenly able to see ourselves, the world, and the meaning of things in new ways. Through the telling of some of our personal stories, let us appreciate the power and vibrancy of transformation for us as human beings and as Unitarian Universalists.

Caro Barschow, Minister

Jo-Mé Dance Theatre, Guest Artists

Dance expresses the emotions within us, where words can’t always go. Guest artists from Jo-Mé Dance Theatre of Boston will take us on a journey of the ache and the joy of loving, connecting and letting go. This unforgettable service will inspire you and challenge you to set your love in motion. 

Andrea Kaiser, Guest Speaker

Sol y Canto, Guest Musicians

Rosi Amador and Brian Amador of Sol y Canto, a nationally-touring and Boston Music Award winning Pan-Latin ensemble.

Rev. Caro Barschow, Ethan Hackett,Judy Putnam, Jill Aubin Updegraph

The Legacy Museum opened in 2018 in Montgomery, Alabama. It tells a comprehensive history of the destructive violence that shaped our nation, from the slave trade, to the era of Jim Crow and racial terror lynchings, to our current mass incarceration crisis. It was founded by Montgomery’s Equal Justice Initiative as a counterpart to the National Memorial to Peace and Justice, which is dedicated to the memory of the victims of racial terror lynching. Today’s speakers each traveled to Montgomery in 2023 to visit these sites. They bring to you stories and reflections from the experience.

Religious Services Committee

Love comes to us in many forms and disguises.  In this Valentine’s season, let us celebrate the many kinds of love through songs, readings, and the personal stories of some of our own church members. 

Caro Barschow, Minister

Multi-instrumentalist and composer, Akili Jamal Haynes will bring his music to the Northshore Unitarian Universalist Church at 323 Locust Street in Danvers, MA on Sunday, February 4th at 10:30 am as part of the service under the leadership of Reverend Caro Barschow and Music Director, Ethan Hackett. 

He has performed with Illinois Jacquet, Winton Marsalis, Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, McCoy Tyner, and numerous recognized jazz greats. He can be heard playing the acoustic bass, percussion, trombone, saxophone, trumpet, and is an excellent vocalist. Akili has also worked with hundreds of students at Boston University, Berklee College of Music, New England Conservatory and Curry College. 

Currently, Akili is Chair of the Percussion & Popular Music Department at the Community Music Center of Boston. He also creates and performs in his own multi-media work Becoming Chibuzo and Chibuzo Dunun.

For this service, Akili will be performing original music and vocals, accompanying himself on the guitar. 

All are welcome to attend and meet Akili at a coffee reception following the service. 

Speakers: Jennifer Revill, Carolyn Hughes, Paula Flynn, and Paul Nason

What exactly is spirituality? And how does it show up, ready to get to work in the world? Four graduates of Merrimack College’s Graduate Spirituality Program will talk about their personal spiritual foundations, and share how these inform their “callings” toward service to others.

Caro Barschow, Minister

In the 1950s and 1960s, a theological movement began among Latin American Catholic priests to address inequalities of class and race differences. It empowered people to work collectively for social and political freedom. Over the past 75 years, the notion of spiritual liberation and spiritual liberators has evolved and expanded. Explore the history and present, and consider the future possibilities, of theologies of liberation.  

Anna Smulowitz Shultz

On January 14th our speaker will be Anna Smulowitz Schutz. In 1993, Anna traveled to Berlin to meet with descendants of the Third Reich. She is the child of two Holocaust survivors. The groups met in Germany for five days to engage in the dialogue about their commonalities and how they intertwine. Her theme on Sunday is “Forgiveness and the Right Not To”.

Rev. Anna Smulowitz Schutz is an interfaith chaplain at Brooksby Village for the past 18 years. She is also a theater playwright, producer and director at the Firehouse Center which she helped found in 1989 in Newburyport.  She also founded her own production company Theatre in the Open, in its 45th season also in Newburyport. Her 1984 American television award winning play “Terezin , Children of the Holocaust.” has toured the US and Europe for 53 consecutive years. In 2023 Anna was awarded by the Newburyport Firehouse Center Theater’s ,” Artist of the Year Award’.

Edith Fenton

We will discuss how the science of thankfulness can rewire our brains for resilience, optimism and the greater good. ” Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others” as stated by Cicero.

Could 2024 be the year of gratitude?

Caro Barschow, Minister 

Lessons from ancient and contemporary sources, beautiful carols and a sanctuary aglow in candlelight. Join us from home or in-person to honor the birth of Jesus and affirm that each night a child is born is a holy night.

Caro Barschow, Minister and Ethan Hackett, Music Director 

On the longest night of the year, join together to witness in song and poetry the beauty and mystery of darkness. A service that draws from ancient European earth-honoring traditions, we will call in the directions, sing and chant, and dedicate a Yule Log, sparking hope for the year to come and the return of the daylight.

Ethan Hackett, Music Director and NSUU Singing Group

Raising our voices in joy, in the spirit of the season. Enjoy and participate in a program featuring the diverse and generous musical talents of NSUU’s congregation.  

Caro Barschow, Minister

Tracy Kneeland

The Northshore Ukulele Players, Musical Guest

We’ll kick off the holiday season by uncovering ways to seek and learn from life’s mystery, in joy and reverence. After an abbreviated service, we’ll spill out into the Fellowship Hall for festivities including swag-making, more music and plenty of opportunity for good fellowship.

Caro Barschow, Minister

James Giessler, Executive Director North Shore Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth

These are difficult days to be queer in America. Violence against LGBTQIA+ people is on the rise and legislatures across the country are enacting draconian measures that will severely impact members of the LGBTQ+ community. Queer young people are acutely aware of today’s political climate and often feel like they are living their lives in the crosshairs. It is no wonder that the rate of suicide continues to be inordinately high among queer youth.

With a mission to “honor, respect, educate, and empower LGBTQ+ youth,” the North Shore Alliance of LGBTQ+ Youth (aka NAGLY) seeks to protect, preserve, and enhance the lives of North Shore LGBTQ+ youth. NAGLY Executive Director, James Giessler, will share more about the work of NAGLY and what LGBTQ+ youth need in order to thrive in today’s climate.

Religious Services Committee

How do you define generosity? Is it celebrating the success of others without envy or resentment? Simone Weil says, “attention is the rarest form of generosity”. Or perhaps real generosity is doing something nice for someone who will never find out. During this service we will have opportunities to recall and share stories of generosity we have given and received. This service will be presented by members of the Religious Services Committee.

Jud Woldskill – Guest Speaker

Where a river meets the ocean is known as an estuary. An estuary, in other words, is not one thing or another; it’s where two things meet. What if we cultivated an estuary theology–a theology of the in-between place? Could it help us build the Beloved Community?

Jud Wolfskill (he/him) is a candidate for ministry with the UUA and a graduate of Boston University School of Theology.

Ryan Li, Guest Musician

Ryan Li is a junior, attending Dover Sherborn Regional High School. He started playing the piano when he was six, while living in Minnesota. When he was 11, his family moved to Dover, MA, and that is when he began his studies with Andrea Kaiser at the Wellesley Piano Studio. She remembers being so impressed by his early training with Rozauna Nuguid.  

This year, Ryan is tackling some very challenging pieces, including ” Piano Sonata Number 21 by Beethoven, Chopin’s “Grande Waltz Brillante” Opus 18, “Suite Bergamasque” by Debussy, a Bach Toccata and Joe Hisaishi’s “Summer”. He will play the first part of the Waldstein, the Grande Waltz and Summer on November 19th, and then head to Andrea’s to play the Toccata in her Fall Student Recital entitled “A Tribute to Bach” at 4:30 pm.

Ryan isn’t quite sure what he wants to do in the future, but he is confident that music and the piano will always be a part of his life. That being said, Ryan’s favorite subject in school is science, and he hopes to pursue something in that field in college. Besides playing piano, Ryan enjoys going to the gym, running, and eating good food. Ryan’s younger brother, Aiden, is also a student of Andrea’s, and he, too. is turning into a fine musician. He will turn pages for Ryan.

You can view several earlier performances of Ryan and Aiden on Andrea’s website: www.pianolessonswellesley.com. Scroll down the homepage and click on the recent videos.

Rev. Caro Barschow, Minister

To live in the spirit of abundance fits into our values as Unitarian Universalists. How can abundance inform how we give and receive in the conversations we have with one another? This service will inspire and equip you to listen and speak from a place of abundance, a place of generosity in action.

Rev. Caro Barschow, Minister

Perhaps we’ve considered generosity when it comes to an exchange of tangible gifts. What does generosity mean when it is part of a Unitarian Universalist covenant? Practicing generosity in relationships involves trust and care. Let’s delve into Generosity, one of the values proposed in the revision of UUA Bylaws Article II, the UU Principles and Purposes.

Rev. Marshall Hawkins – Guest Speaker

We live our lives with the best of intentions. We have plans and dreams for ourselves. Some of them come true and some do not. All of us experience some failures and disappointments. The question for us is not “Can we get through life without some failures and losses?” Because we can’t. The question is, “Can we remember that we still get a second chance?” And remember that it is never too late for a new start.

Rev. Marshall Hawkins is a hospice chaplain and Community Minister affiliated with the UU Church of Jamaica Plain, Boston.

Rev. Caro Barschow, Minister

Our ancestors are ones who have gone before us. This service of remembrance will invite us to reflect on the lives of loved ones that have died in the past year. You may wish to bring a memento or photograph of a loved one to display for a ritual of remembrance.

Dillon Bustin Guest Speaker

Jacqueline Schwab, Guest Musician

Making reference to Emerson’s essay “The Over-Soul.” Dillon will briefly compare Emerson’s idea of a living, spiritual universe with the concept of Brahman in Hinduism and also two theories in contemporary astrophysics: implicate order and panpsychism.

Dillon Bustin is a musician, playwright, and essayist. He and his wife Martha have been members of UU congregations in Bloomington, Indiana; Hingham and Harvard, Massachusetts; and Rockland, Maine. He was educated in American Studies at Indiana University with a special interest in New England Transcendentalism, graduating from the Institute for Folklore and Ethnomusicology.

Jacqueline Schwab graduated from the New England Conservatory with a major concentration in piano improvisation. She has taught at dance music workshops throughout the United States and also enjoys working with individual students. Known for her performances with the ensemble “Bare Necessities” as well as solo concerts, she has also collaborated on projects with individual singers including Dillon Bustin in the song cycle “American Renaissance.”

Rev. Caro Barschow, Minister

What does covenant mean in the context of our church, of our denomination? Learn about the heritage and the future of covenants in Unitarian Universalism, with special consideration given to the proposed changes to the covenant among congregations found in Article II of the UUA Bylaws. 

Rev. Caro Barschow, Minister

Are we from places, people, memories? George Ella Lyon’s poem “Where I’m From” has sparked many people to reflect on the question, “where are you from?” Come to this service to learn some of Rev. Caro’s answers and consider your own responses.

Rev. Danielle Di Bona, Guest Speaker

The Rev. Dr. Danielle Di Bona has served Unitarian Universalism for over 30 years and is the 2018 recipient of the Award for Distinguished Service to the Cause of Unitarian Universalism, and the 2004 recipient of The Melvin Hoover “Beloved Community Award” for outstanding service to Communities of Color in Unitarian Universalism. In her retirement Rev. Di Bona serves as the Palliative Care chaplain at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, Massachusetts.