Sunday, September 3
Larry Osgood & Friends: "Music and Words as Acts of Compassion"

• Musicians: Steve Carmody and Frannk Toppa with Friends of Mystic Chorale
• Presentation: Sue Streeter on Marshall B. Rosenberg's book Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life

Sunday, September 10
Rev. Dr. Barbara Whittaker-Johns and Carlton E. Smith: "Intergenerational Service of Ingathering and Water Communion"

• Prelude: Au font du temple saint from Georges Bizet's Pearl Fishers
  Eric Sumner and Michael Prichard, vocalists
  Notes - The Prelude this morning is dedicated to our Senior Minister, Barbara Whittaker-Johns, on the occasion of her return to work, following a long medical leave of absence. We look forward to her thoughtful sermons and the renewed opportunity for fellowship this year! In this duet, Zurga (baritone) becomes chief of his people (in ancient Ceylon, now known as Sri Lanka). His long-lost best friend Nadir (tenor) returns, and they passionately, and musically, renew their vows of eternal friendship in this moving duet.
  Translation -
  [NADIR] Au fond du temple saint - At the base of the holy temple
  Paré de fleurs et d'or, - Strewn with flowers and gold,
  Une femme apparaît! - A woman appears!
  Je crois la voir encore! - I believe I can still see it!
  La foule prosternée la regarde, etonnée, - The prostrate crowd looks at it, stunned,
  Et murmure tous bas: Voyez, c'est la déesse! - They murmur, "See it is the goddess!"
  Qui dans l'ombre se dresse - She who draws toward us in the shadow
  Et vers nous tend les bras! - And extends her arms!
  [ZURGA] Son voile se soulève! Ô vision! ô rêve! La foule est à genoux!
  Her veil is raised! O vision, O dream! The crowd is on their knees!
  [DUET] Oui, c'est elle! Yes, it is she!
  C'est la déesse plus charmante et plus belle! It is the charming and beautiful goddess!
  C'est la déesse qui descend parmi nous! She comes down among us.
  Son voile se soulève et la foule est à genoux! Her veil is raised and the crowd is on their knees!
  [ NADIR & ZURGA]
  The dialogue continues, discussing the return of the woman they both love and remember. They sing that they will never be separated again.
  [DUET] Jurons de rester amis! Oui, c'est elle! C'est la déesse! We swear to remain friends! Yes, it is she! It is the goddess!
  En ce jour qui vient nous unir, On this day which comes to unite us,
  Et fidèle à ma promesse, And faithful to my promise,
  Comme un frère je veux te chérir! As a brother I will cherish you!
  Qui vient en ce jour nous unir! who comes in this day to unite us,
  Oui, partageons le même sort, yes, let us share the same fate,
  Soyons unis jusqu'à la mort! until death do us part!
• Anthem: The Blue Bird by Charles V. Stanford (1852–1924)
  Jennifer Kobayashi, soprano solo
  Notes - Stanford was the son of Irish musicians and made his name in England as an improvisatory organist. He was a professor at both the Royal College of Music and at Cambridge University for over forty years, and was the main composition teacher of Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. In The Blue Bird, Stanford uses a soprano solo to represent the female poet's voice. The choral parts mirror each other, symbolizing the bird's reflection on the surface of a calm lake. The altos sustain long pitches throughout the piece, representing the surface of the water and its ability to transform our perceptions of "real" images and their reflections (an opposite viewpoint, or a necessary balance?).
  Text by Mary Coleridge (1861-1907) -
  The lake lay blue below the hill,
  O'er it, as I looked, there flew
  Across the waters, cold and still,
  A bird whose wings were palest blue.
  
  The sky above was blue at last,
  The sky beneath me blue in blue,
  A moment, ere the bird had passed,
  It caught his image as he flew.
• Water Music: Sicut cervus by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina
  Down in the River to Pray as featured in the film Oh Brother! Where Art Thou?
• Singing: Keep Breathing led by Anne Goodwin
• Offertory: Toccata in F by Dietrich Buxtehude
• Postlude: Joyful, Joyful by Christina Harmon
  Wendy Covell, organ
• Hymns & Readings: 209, 347, 416, 729, Down in the River to Pray, Deep River from Lift Every Voice and Sing II

Sunday, Sept. 17
"Be Not Afraid" Rev. Dr. Barbara Whittaker-Johns

• Prelude: Brother James's Air by Harold Drake
• Offertory: Lento by Johann S. Bach, arr. Jackson
• Anthem: Gathered Safely In, original solo song by Diane Shriver
• Postlude: Fugue in E-flat by Johann S. Bach
• Hymns & Readings: 126, 368, 413, 447, 461

Sunday, Sept. 24
"Mother Ann's Closet - a Shaker Music Service" Nancy McDowell, Emily Browder, Andrew Leonard, and Jean Renard Ward

• Prelude: Cantabile "O Sacred Head" by Flor Peeters
• Offertory: Improvisation on the Shaker hymns "Work for the Harvest" and "Love, O Love" by Laura Prichard
• Shaker Hymns and Songs: While Nature Lies; Welcome Here; Come Life, Shaker Life; Hop Up and Jump Up; I Love Mother; Lay Me Low; Hunger and Thirst; I Know How to Pray; Here Take This Lovely Flower; I Have a Little Drum; Am I Worthy; Summer Land; My Robe is New; Here's Love; The Humble Heart; Brave Soldier; Mother Anne's Closet; On Zion's Holy Ground; Work for the Harvest; O Lovely and Fair Mount Zion; Simple Gifts; I Am the True Vine; Funeral Hymn; Lucy Clark's Exaltation (O Heaven of Heavens); In Whose Service; Invitation to the River of Love; Brilliant Gem; Love, O Love; Come Love; Mother's Good Drink; Sittin' on a Seat; More Love; Just Enough Cross; All of Mother's Children; Oh, My Children; Willow Tree; I've Set My Face for Zion's Kingdom
• Postlude: Finale from Jessica's Theme by Bruce Rowland
• Hymns & Readings: 484, 16 (with Chalice Singers bellringers A. Friedman, M. Henriksen, and S. Fleishman)

Saturday, Sept. 30, 3pm CONCERT and Sunday, Oct. 8, 3pm CONCERT (Amherst)
"Shaker Music Concert" The River of Love
Malcolm Halliday* and Laura Stanfield Prichard~, conductors
Soloists are listed below. Also joining us were twelve members of the Shrewsbury Youth Singers & Master Singers Youth Chorus, Malcolm Halliday, director. Other singers included: Lauren Cook, Grace Long, Allegra Martin, Carl Schlaikjer, and Jennifer Shaw

• Shaker Spirituals Living Souls, Let's Be Marching (Tyringham, NY)
  A Mince Pie or a Pudding (Lebanon, NY) N. McDowell, E. Browder, Pamela Dellal, Andrew Leonard
  Invitation to the River of Love (NY) Robert Honeysucker
  Brilliant Gem (Anna White, Lebanon, NY) Nancy Annis McDowell
  I Love Mother Corinne Candilis
• Four Harmonized Shaker Hymns~ The Spirit is Calling (Canterbury, NH)
  I'll Tell Thee of Heaven (Lebanon, NY)
  Work for the Harvest (Canaan, NY)
  Summer Land (Alfred, ME)
• Simple Gifts (Joseph Brackett, Alfred ME) arranged by Aaron Copland (1944)
  Pamela Dellal and Bill Geha
• From a Shaker Hymnal* (1999) by William Cutter
  I. There's a Light (Canterbury, NH)
  II. Let Zion Move (Alfred, ME)
  III. I Will Go On My Way (Enfield, NH)
  Bill Geha, piano
• Shaker Hymns High on the Billows Alison Julian
  A Snag of It, or, a Handful of Gospel Love Nancy McDowell and the Children
  More Love (Canterbury, NH) Emily Browder
• Throat Singing - a Demonstration by Eric Sumner
• Shaker Spirituals used in Druckman's Cantata
  Come Life, Shaker Life (Issachar Bates, Lebanon, NY)
  Lucy Clarks' Exaltation (O, Heaven of Heavens) Emily Browder
  One, Two, Three Steps Nancy McDowell and Emily Browder
  I Have a Little Trumpet Nathan Reich
  Funeral Hymn (Our Father's Gone) Pamela Dellal
• The Simple Gifts, a Cantata based on Themes of the American Shakers* (1954) by Jacob Druckman
  Bill Geha, piano; Emily Browder, Philip Candilis, Pamela Dellal, Andrew Leonard, soloists
• Shaker Hymns I Beg and Pray (Eunice Wyeth, Harvard. MA)
  Jimmy Tyler, Michael Prichard, Monica O'Neil, Laura Prichard
  I Know How to Pray (James Whittaker, Enfield, NH) Philip Candilis
  I Hunger and Thirst (R. Mildred Barker, Sabbathday Lake, ME) Laura Prichard
  Mother Has Come with Her Beautiful Song (Paulina Springer, Alfred, ME) James Frens
• Shaker Spirituals used in Sawyer's Cantata
  The Humble Heart (Thomas Hammond, Harvard, MA) Pamela Dellal
  Lay Me Low (Addah Z. Potter, Lebanon, NY) Nancy McDowell
  Dismission of the Devil Robert Honeysucker
  Drink Ye of Mother's Wine (South Union, KY) Andrew Leonard
  Mother Ann's Song (Anne Lee, Lebanon, NY) Michael Prichard
• The Humble Heart* (commissioned by New England Voices, 2006) by Eric Sawyer
  Lydia Sawyer and Katie O’Connor, Karen Oosterban, Tomas Fajaro, violins; Bill Geha, piano
  Emily Browder, Robert Honeysucker, Pamela Dellal, Andrew Leonard, soloists
• Shaker Spirituals On Zion's Holy Ground Diane Taraz Shriver
  In My Father's House (Lebanon, NY)
  I Will Bow and Be Simple (Mary Hazard, Lebanon, NY)
  I've Set My Face for Zion's Kingdom (Betsy Spaulding, Pleasant Hill, KY)
• Review/Announcement: 'River of Love' a celebration of Shaker music (from the Springfield Examiner, Friday, October 06, 2006) by Clifton J. Noble, Jr., Music writer
  Thanks to composer Aaron Copland's inclusion of it in his ballet "Appalachian Spring," the beloved tune "Simple Gifts" represents the extent of most concertgoers' knowledge of American Shaker music. For music lovers eager to enrich their experience of this humble, intensely spiritual singing tradition, Music on Main's presentation of the New England Voices program "The River of Love" Sunday at 3 p.m. at the First Congregational Church in Amherst offers a signal opportunity to do so.The Arlington-based New England Voices is conducted by Malcolm Halliday. The concert includes chamber chorus, children's chorus and instrumentalists, and a string quartet. Vocal soloists include soprano Emily Browder, mezzo-soprano Pamela Dellal, tenor Andrew Leonard, and baritone Robert Honeysucker. Pianist Eda Mazo-Shlyam is also featured.
  Of local interest is the Western Massachusetts premiere of a new work crafted around Shaker themes by Amherst College professor Eric Sawyer, called "The Humble Heart." Sawyer describes the piece as a cantata based on traditional texts from the American Shakers, centering on community rites of humility and mystical experience. He scores parts of the work for children, both singing and playing instruments, to highlight the role of children in Shaker communities as well as to echo the attitude of simplicity and playfulness present in many of his chosen texts.Sawyer described the program (performed in Arlington on Sept. 30) as "a very special concert, offering a portrait of Shaker musical tradition you're unlikely to hear anywhere else. The performers include some of Boston's leading singers singing both solo and in chorus with children - a representation of Shaker inclusiveness."
  In addition to Sawyer's composition, organizer Nancy McDowell discovered an unknown cantata by the late Jacob Druckman to flesh out the modern response to Shaker music. Combining the 20th and 21st century sound-worlds with the early-American traditional forms and harmonic constructions makes for a unique listening experience.

Sunday, Oct. 1
"Forgiveness, Mechilah, and Yom Kippur" Rev. Dr. Barbara Whittaker-Johns with the Jewish Connections Group
HEBREW MUSIC SUNDAY with guest harpist, Virginia Crumb

• Prelude: And the Heavens Were Created by Arthur Einstein
• Candle Blessing: sung by Bonnie Zimmer
• Sounding of the Shofar: Dorothy May, shofar
• Candle Music - Congregation: Mi Shebeirach by Debbie Friedman
  Jewish tradition ordains that whenever the Torah is read we are granted a special and uniquely opportune moment to invoke blessing for those in need of divine intervention. From time immemorial it has therefore been the custom to recite a Mi Shebeirach (prayer for the sick) on behalf of people who are ill.
  
  Mi shebeirach avoteinu (The one who has blessed our fathers)
  M 'kor habracha l'imoteinu. (Source of blessing for our mothers.)
  May the source of strength who blessed the ones before us,
  Help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing, and let us say, Amen.
  
  Mi shebeirach imoteinu (The one who has blessed our mothers)
  M 'kor habracha l'avoteinu. (Source of the blessing for our fathers)
  Bless those in need of healing with r'fuah sh'leimah. (complete healing)
  The renewal of body, the renewal of spirit, and let us say, Amen.
• Candle Music - Choir: We Remember Them by Ben Steinberg
• Offertory: For the New Year by Herman Berlinski
• Anthem: Adonai, lo gavah libi (Lord, my heart is not haughty, Psalm 131) from Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms
  Virginia Crumb, harp
• Sung Benediction: Shalom Rav by Ben Steinberg
  Dorothy May, cantor; Virginia Crumb, harp
• Postlude: Song of the Birds by Pablo Casals
• Hymns & Readings: 399, 413, 633, 634, Avinu Malkeinu

Friday, October 6
"Raising New Orleans" or "Sweeping Away Illusions" by Cheri Minton, the John, Carolyn, and Coletta Hodges
Alliance Program with First Parish Choir selected from the following:

• Ubi caritas by Maurice Duruflé
• You are the New Day by Peter Knight
• That Lonesome Road by James Taylor
• Down in the River to Pray from the Coen Brothers' film, based on Homer's Odyssey, Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

Sunday, October 8
Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith and Sally Patton: “God Makes No Mistakes: Creating Beloved Community for All Our Children” by Sally Patton

• Prelude: Berceuse by Ralph Kinder
• Candle Music: Wanting Memories by Ysaye M. Barnwell (of Sweet Honey in the Rock)
  I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me, to see the beauty in the world through my own eyes.
  I thought that you were gone, but now I know you're with me; you are the voice that whispers all I need to hear.
  
  You used to rock me in the cradle of your arms, you said you'd hold me 'til the pains of life were gone.
  You said you'd comfort me in times like these and now I need you, and now I need you, and you are gone.
  
  Now the world outside is such a cold and bitter place, here inside I have few things that will console,
  And when I try to hear your voice above the storms of life then I remember all the things that I was told.
  
  I think on the things that made me feel so wonderful when I was young, the things that made me laugh, made me dance, made me sing.
  I think on the things that made me grow into a being full of pride; think on these things, for they are truth.
  
  I know a "please", a "thank you", and a smile will take me far; I know that I am you and you are me and we are one,
  I know that who I am is numbered in each grain of sand; I know that I've been blessed again and over again.
  Notes - Unitarian Universalist Ysaye M. Barnwell joined the all-female a cappella group Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1979. The concept and leadership of the group rest primarily with Bernice Johnson Reagon, who, as vocal director of the D.C. Black Repertory Theater, founded The Sweet Honey in 1973. Reagon began her work as a socially conscious artist in 1961 during the Albany, Georgia Civil Rights Movement campaign. Combining the full gamut of the African-American vocal tradition, Sweet Honey's repertoire incorporates original West African songs that were brought by slaves to the Americas, work songs, congregational spirituals, full-on gospel numbers, blues, jazz, freedom songs from the Civil Rights movement, love songs and modern rap.The current five members come from a variety of backgrounds with Reagon's scholarly credentials including her current appointment as Curator Emerita at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History in Washington DC. She received a Presidential Medal in 1995 for her contribution to the humanities (including work on the PBS series Eyes on the Prize) and is the author of several books on African-American History. The group's name came from their first song, a parable that told of a land so rich that when the rocks were cracked open, honey flowed.
  Ysaye M. Barnwell (pronounced Eaze-eye) joined the group in 1979 and along with Reagon has become the group's main spokeswoman. Barnwell holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Speech Pathology and a Ph.D. in Public Health. She has worked on various projects as a composer (Sesame Street, the Dance Company of Pittsburgh, the Women's Philharmonic of San Francisco), has taught at Howard University, and has presented her workshop Singing In The African-American Tradition all around the world. This workshop in part-singing has been recorded, and we highly recommend it!
• Offertory: Interlude by Charles Tournemire
• Anthem: You are the New Day by John David (of the British band Airwaves, 1978), arranged by Peter Knight
  Text - I will love you more than me and more than yesterday, if you can but prove to me you are the new day.
  Send the sun in time for dawn, let the birds all hail the morning; love of life will urge me say, "You are the new day."
  When I lay me down at night knowing we must pay, thoughts occur that this night might stay yesterday.
  Thoughts that we, as humans small, could slow worlds and end it all lie around me where they fall, before the new day.
  One more day when time is running out for everyone; like a breath I knew would come I reach for the new day.
  Hope is my philosophy, just needs days in which to be, love of life means hope for me borne on a new day.
  Notes - Songwriter and record producer John David was born in 1946 in Cardiff, Wales. Having played bass on popular hits with Dave Edmunds in the group Love Sculpture (Sabre Dance, 1969; I Hear You Knocking, 1970; and It's Too Late in 1970 covered by The Searchers), John has had several parallel careers; as a session bass player, solo performer, producer, songwriter and a member of the Rockfield studio band Airwaves which chalked up two Top-100 albums. John has gone on to produce some of the biggest names in rock at his Berry Hill studio, including Robert Plant, the BBC, Cliff Richard, and Little Richard. As a bassist, John has performed with Springsteen, Clapton, Sting, Bryan Adams, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.
• Postlude: Children’s March by Franz Schubert
  Frank Toppa, piano
• Hymns & Readings: 338, 413, 596, How Could Anyone, excerpt from Radical Hospitality, Benedict's Way of Love by Father Daniel Homan and Lonni Collins Pratt, What's Really Worth Doing and How to Do It by Judith Snow

Sunday, October 15
Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith: "When Bigger is Better"

• Prelude: Autumn by Antonio Vivaldi
• Candle Music - Anthem: Silent Meditation from Ernest Bloch's Avodath Hakodesh (Sacred Service, 1933)
  Ernest Bloch was a Swiss-born, American-Jewish composer born 125 years ago. This third movement of Bloch's Sacred Service starts with a meditation. The orchestra/organ alone is heard, allowing the listeners a moment to formulate their own thoughts in silent prayer. Then the choir, a cappella, quietly intones Yihyu Lerotson, the prayer for acceptance. The composer called this section "a silent meditation which comes in before you take your soul out and look at what it contains." The most important part of any Jewish prayer is the introspection it provides, the moment that we spend looking inside ourselves, seeing our role in the universe.
  Translation - O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable before Thee, Adonoi, my Rock and Redeemer. Amen (So be it).
  [Side thought on the word Adonai] - Adonai comes from the root word "Adon," which means lord. A king would be referred to as Lord, or actually any person of high status. In modern Israel, Adon is used as "mister", as in Adon Bloch = Mr. Bloch. A related word, Adoni (pronounced adonee), means "my lord," and is used as a form of respect. Adonai means Lord in the divine sense (as in this prayer): this is what confused the gospel writers, who didn't know Hebrew, and thus didn't know that Jesus was being referred to as Adoni, because he was a teacher.
• Offertory: Choral from Suite Gothique by L. Boellmann
• Anthem: Followers of the Lamb (1847 Shaker melody from New Lebanon, NY) arranged by Philip R. Dietterich
  Philip R. Dietterich (b. 1931) was born into a musical family in Buffalo, New York, and now lives in retirement in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, The Boston University School of Theology, and Union Theological Seminary, New York City. For many years, he was the full time Minister of Music at First United Methodist Church in Westfield, New Jersey. He was the founding director of the Oratorio Singers (Westfield, NJ) from 1980-94, and in the late 1990s, he created a noontime concert series at the Whaling Church in Edgartown, MA that spearheaded the restoration campaign for its historic organ. A widely published composer of church music, his 1977 Followers of the Lamb is a spirited arrangement of the 1847 Shaker text and tune by Clarissa Jacobs (Lebanon, NY).
• Postlude: A Mighty Fortress by M. Praetorius
• Hymns & Readings: 28, 413, 529, Blue Boat Home, excerpt from the sermon People Ask About God by Rev. A. Powell Davies, D. d. (All Soul's Unitarian Church, January 13, 1957)

Sunday, October 22
Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith and Dr. Charlie Clements: "Ordinary Heroes" [The Legacy of the Rev. Waitstill and Martha Sharp, founders of the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee]

• Prelude: Jazz Waltz for Organ by Dmitri Shostakovich
• Candle Music: Beati quorum via, op. 38, no. 3 by Charles V. Stanford (1852–1924)
  Translation - Blessed are those who act with integrity, who walk according to the way of the Lord. Psalm 119: 1
  Notes - Stanford was the son of Irish musicians and made his name in England as an improvisatory organist. His three Latin motets were composed in 1905 during his first years in Cambridge. He began as the Organ Scholar of Queen's College, but by the time he was just twenty he was in the employ of Trinity, where he revolutionized the music-making of the college. Stanford also studied in Leipzig and Berlin; he became a professor at both the Royal College of Music and at Cambridge University for over forty years, was the main composition teacher of Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams, and is buried in Westminster Abbey next to composer Henry Purcell. Beati quorum via, set in a rich six-part SSATBB, clearly pays homage to Brahms with its flowing lines, lingering suspensions and rich harmonic language.
• Offertory: Romanza by Ralph Vaughan Williams
• Anthem: Avinu malkeinu from the Sacred Service by Max Janowski
  Michael Prichard, cantor
  Translation - Hear our voice, O father, pity and be compassionate to us, and accept, with compassion and favour, our prayers. Traditional prayer for Yom Kippur
  Notes - Max Janowski (1912-1991) was born in Berlin, Germany. He was a prodigious 20th-century composer, conductor, and organist whose liturgical compositions have been performed in concert halls, synagogues, churches and colleges throughout the world. He emigrated to Japan and then to New York in 1937. He was the beloved music director, organist, and choir director at six Chicago-area synagogues and Unitarian congregations.
• Postlude: Adagio by Louis Vierne
• Hymns & Readings: 221, 346, 413, 722, On the 'slow genocide' in Sudan by Elie Wiesel

Sunday, October 29
Rev. Barbara Whittaker-Johns: "To Hallow Creation"

• Prelude: Requiem by Charles Villiers Stanford
• Costume Parade: Organ music played by Wendy Covell
• Offertory: Excerpts from Fantasia (The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Dance of the Hours, Night on Bald Mountain)
  First Parish Symphonic Band
• Anthem: The Circle of Life from The Lion King by Elton John and Lebo M
  Chalice Singers and Adult Choir with Alex Ptacek-Zimmer, congas
• Postlude: Organ
• Hymns & Readings: 52 and 21 (with Chalice Sparks and Chalice Singers on bells), 369, Leaves Don't Fall from Kol Haneshamah, How the Bat Came to Be, It is up to us to hallow creation by Rabbi Rami Shapiro

Sunday, November 5 Requiem Sunday with orchestra
Click here for Mozart Practice files
Rev. Barbara Whittaker-Johns: "A Spiritual Framework for the Left, or, How the Progressives Can Cure their Hypercognition"

• Prelude: Adagio by Wolfgang A. Mozart
• Child Dedication Music: Silver the Moon by Diane Shriver
  Diane Taraz Shriver, voice and guitar
• Candle Music-Offertory: Recordare from Mozart's Requiem
• Anthem: Dies irae from Mozart's Requiem
• Postlude: Confutatis and Lacrymosa from Mozart's Requiem
• Hymns & Readings: 115, 384, 413, 464, 714

Saturday, December 2 First Parish Youth Group Fundraising Concert
The youth group is planning a service trip to New Orleans in February 2006 and will be holding a concert to raise money for their trip. The concert will feature Arlington Feed & Grain, Spare Change (a high school band), and other bands. The Youth Group will sell refreshments. Anyone interested in performing for the Dec. 2 event is asked to contact Lindsay Southwick at (781) 646-5240.

Sunday, December 3
Rev. Barbara Whittaker-Johns: "Who is Born, Who Lives, Who Dies?"

• Prelude: Gotteszeit ist die allerbeste Zeit by Johann S. Bach
• Candle Music: Beati quorum via by Charles V. Stanford
• Offertory: Berceuse by Manuel de Falla
• Anthem: Geistliches Wiegenlied by Johannes Brahms
  Dorothy May, alto; Carl Schlaikjer, oboe; Wendy Covell, piano
• Postlude: Behold, a Rose is Blooming by Johannes Brahms
• Hymns & Readings: 12, 126, 413, 534

Sunday, December 3 CONCERT at 3pm
Cantilena Women's Chorale, conducted by Kenneth Seitz

Sunday, December 10 Winter Music Service

• Prelude: Good Swing Wenceslas by Sammy Nestico (for the Boston Pops)
• Candle Music: Organ
• Offertory: In Eccelsiis by Giovanni Gabrieli
  Click here for an article on the piece and on Venetian music.
  Brass choir: Brad Amidon, Peter Pulsifer, trumpets; Michelle Mrkus, clarinet; Chris Botos, Andrew Leonard, trombones; Mark Seibring, tuba
  Tenor and Soprano Duet: Andrew Leonard and Jennifer Kobayashi
  Tenor and Baritone Duet: Chris Jones and Jean Renard Ward
• Anthem: Daniel Pinkham Christmas Cantata with brass (in memoriam 2006)
  I. Quem vidistis, pastores, dicite, annunciate nobis, in terris quis apparuit?
  Whom did you see, shepherds, tell us, proclaim to us: who has appeared on the earth?
  Natum vidimus et choros angelorum collaudantes Domino.
  We saw the newborn child and choirs of angels praising the Lord.
  II. O magnum mysterium et admirabile sacramentum,
  O great mystery and admirable sacrament,
  ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, jacentem in præsepio. Alleluia!
  that animals should see the newborn Lord lying in their manger. Rejoice!
  III. Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus bonae voluntatis.
  Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to people of goodwill.
  
  Daniel Pinkham, born 1923, was a graduate of Harvard and studied under a distinguished roster of composers that included Walter Piston, Aaron Copland, Artur Honegger, Samuel Barber, and Nadia Boulanger. His mastery of the keyboard owed much to his studies with Wanda Landowska on the harpsichord and E. Power Biggs on the organ. He was appointed director of the King's Chapel, Boston, a position he held until 2000; concurrently he also served as a member of the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music. 

His Christmas Cantata, subtitled Sinfonia Sacra, a 20th century homage to the Baroque, recalls the brilliance of the Venetian school of chorus-and-brass music, particularly as embodied in the works of Giovanni Gabrieli. The Cantata is cast in the form of three contrasting short movements and is scored for chorus and double brass choir. The first movement, "Quem vidistis?" ("Whom did you see, shepherds?"), relates how the shepherds learned of the newborn Christ child. The text is drawn from the antiphon verses sung at Christmas Midnight Mass. The second movement, "O magnum mysterium" ("Oh great mystery"), tells how the animals in the stable observed Christ's birth, further extolling the mystery of the virgin birth. This text is drawn from one of the responses sung in monasteries at matins, or daybreak, on Christmas day. The final movement, "Gloria in excelsis Deo" ("Glory to God in the highest"), a hymn of praise which the angels sing, is derived in part from a passage in the gospel of Luke. It is sung or recited as part of the Proper of the High Mass. Pinkham's setting is particularly felicitous in its alteration of energetic brass sections with a cappella choral passages.

• Postlude: Wondrous Love by Daniel Pinkham
• Hymns & Readings: Good King Wenceslas

Monday, December 11 Alliance Holiday Party

• Introduction: Let Christmas Come
  Cheri Minton, voice; Lorraine Cooley, piano
• Intergenertional Caroling: 227, 235, 251, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Silver Bells
• Chalice Singers: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
  Here in My House There Are Candles Burning Bright
• All Children's Choirs: O Hannukah, Rock-a My Soul, Holiday Singalong (Silver Bells, etc.)
• First Parish Flute Loops: Ave verum corpus by Wolfgang A. Mozart
  Coventry Carol arranged by John Ciaglia for the Middlesex County Volunteers Fife & Drum Corps
  Led by Mies Boet-Whitaker
• First Parish Intergenerational Orchestra: Excerpts from J. S. Bach's Toccata and Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker
• First Parish Intergenerational Klezmer Band: Tchiribim and Hava Nagila
• UUlations: Lo, How a Rose (canon) by Melchior Vulpius (c1560-1615), arranged by Jennifer Kobayashi
  Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella (French carol) arranged by Clifton J. Noble Jr. (1961-), staff accompanist for Smith College

Sunday, December 17
":Winter Light: an Intergenerational Celebration of Holidays"

• Prelude: Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light (Bach); O Morning Star (Bach); Personet Hodie
  First Parish Brass - Brad Amidon, trumpet; Chris Botos and Andrew Leonard, trombones; Mark Seibring, tuba
• Chalice Lighting Song: The Christians and the Pagans by Dar Williams
  First Parish Teens' Group with Drew Pereli and Alan Schweitzer, guitars
• Children's Choirs: O Hannukah
• Solstice Music: Long Sword Dance
  Rapper Dancers & the Lord/Lady of Misrule (Andy & Jennifer Kobayashi)
• Christmas Anthems: Lo, How a Rose
  Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella arrnged by Clifton J. Noble
  sung by the UUlations, directed by Jennifer Kobayashi
• Added Solo Anthem: Ave Maria by Franz Schubert
  Nancy MacDowell, soprano; Wendy Covell, piano
• Postlude: Organ
• Hymns & Readings: 124, 235 (with Chalice Singers on bells), 542, Nine Spoons by Marci Stillerman, Hannukah Lights, One Small Face by Margaret Starkey, Meditation for the Advent Season by Bernadette Murphy, Karibu Kwanzaa, We Are Pulling Together, The Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles for Seven Candles)

• The Christians and the Pagans by Dar Williams
  Coletta Hodges and Eva Cirker-Stark, songleaders
• Hymns & Readings: 226, 235

Sunday, December 24
Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith: Christmas Eve Morning

• Prelude: Interlude by Herbert Fromm
• Intergen. Music: Hark, How the Bells adapted in 1936 by Peter Wilhousky (1902-1978) from a 1916 Ukrainian song by Mykola Leontovich (1877-1921)
  Click here to hear a keyboard play all the parts (SATB)
• Offertory: Three excerpts from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Ballet
  First Parish Symphonic Band
• Anthem: Geistliches Wiegenlied by Johannes Brahms
  Dorothy May, alto; Drew Pereli, cello; Wendy Covell, piano
• Postlude: Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming by James Woodman
• Hymns & Readings: 231, 237, 240, 241, 616, Amazing Peace by Maya Angelou

Sunday, December 24, 5pm
Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith: Christmas Eve Service

• Instrumental Prelude: Wendy Covell and guest soloists
  At Christmas-tide by Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)
  Krista Ernewein, soprano; Carl Schlaikjer, oboe; Mies Boet Whitaker, flute
  Daniel Rueters-Ward and Jean Renard Ward, tenors
• Anthem: Videntes stellam by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
  Click here to hear this selection by individual part
• Musical Response (following second reading): Dedicated to the memory of Daniel Pinkham
  Gloria in excelsis from the Christmas Cantata of Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006)
  Click here to hear a keyboard play all the parts (SATB)
• Special Offering for Renewal House: Variations on Es kommt ein Schiff geladen by Harald Rohlig
• Hymns & Readings: 47, 244, 245, 246, 251, 253, Luke 2:1-18, Matthew 2: 1-23
• Recessional: Here We Come a-Wassailing
• Postlude: I Saw Three Ships by John Duro

Sunday, December 31
Guest Speaker: Rebecca Benefiel Bijur, Harvard Divinity School "Just in Time"
with Carlton Elliott Smith "How Do You Tell Time?"

• Prelude: Sleeping Beauty's Pavane from Maurice Ravel's Mother Goose Suite
  Laura Prichard, piano
• Offertory: Music by Improvelocity
• Anthem: Seasons of Love by Jonathan Larsen from Rent
  Dora Pereli and Annie Whitford, vocalists; Meg Candilore, piano
• Improvisation: Music by Improvelocity
• Postlude: Largo from Dvorák's New World Symphony
• Hymns & Readings: 22, 108, 413, 544, 1009, Ecclesiastes 3: 1-13

Sunday, January 7
Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith: "The Art of Leadership"

• Prelude: The Awakening by François Couperin (1668-1733)
  François Couperin was an esteemed French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. In 1693 Couperin became organiste du Roi at the Chapelle Royale for Louis XIV, and in 1717 was promoted to ordinaire de la musique de la chambre du Roi. His most famous book, L'Art de toucher le clavecin ("The Art of Harpsichord Playing", published in 1716), contained suggestions for fingerings, touch, ornamentation and other features of keyboard technique. It influenced J.S. Bach, who adopted his fingering system, including the use of the thumb. Many of François Couperin's keyboard pieces have evocative, picturesque titles and express a mood through key choices, adventurous harmonies and (resolved) discords. They have been likened to miniature tone poems. These features attracted Richard Strauss, who orchestrated some of them. As the early-music expert Jordi Savall has pointed out, Couperin was the "poet musician par excellence." He believed in "the ability of Music (with a capital M) to express itself in sa prose et ses vers " (prose and poetry). He believed that if we enter into the poetry of music, we discover that it is "plus belle encore que la beauté" (more beautiful than beauty itself).
• Candle Music: Velvet Shoes (1927) by Randall Thompson (1899-1984)
  Sung by the First Parish Choir Women and the Chalice Singers
  Click here to practice this selection with the melody emphasized
  Randall Thompson was an American composer. He attended Harvard University, became assistant professor of music and choir director at Wellesley College, and received a doctorate in music from the University of Rochester School of Music. He went on to teach at the Curtis Institute of Music, at the University of Virginia, and at Harvard, where Leonard Bernstein was one of his students. He is particularly noted for his choral works. His most popular and recognizable choral work is his anthem, Alleluia, commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky for the opening of the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood.
• Offertory: Celebration for Tranquility (1998) by Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006)
  The second of four Celebrations for solo organ, this work was commissioned for the large four-manual organ of the First Unitarian Society of Newton.
• Anthem: Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (1957) by Randall Thompson (1899-1984)
  Sung by the First Parish Choir Men (with 8 handbells)
  Click here to hear Robert Frost read his poem
  Click here to read about the composition and to hear an expressive a cappella recording by the Two-by-Fours (last link on the page).
• Postlude: Moon Lullaby (1955) from Mountain Idylls, op. 155 by Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000)
  Hovhaness was an American composer of Armenian and Scottish descent who grew up at 5 Blossom Street in the Pierce School neighborhood of Arlington. His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation. He was among the most prolific composers of the twentieth century, composing 67 symphonies and more than 400 published works. He composed two operas during his teenage years which were performed at Arlington High School, and the composer Roger Sessions took an interest in his music during this time. Moon Lullaby was composed in 1955, the highpoint of his compositional career, when his Symphony No. 2, Mysterious Mountain, was premiered by Leopold Stokowski in his debut with the Houston Symphony.
• Hymns & Readings: 90, 300, 413, 598
• Notes on the Choral Music: The three-stanza text Velvet Shoes by New Jersey poet Elinor Wylie (1885-1928) evokes the beautiful tranquility of a walk in the snow. "Under veils of white lace, we shall walk in velvet shoes: Wherever we go, silence will fall like dews on the white silence below..." Wylie was famous during her life almost as much for her ethereal beauty and personality as for her melodious, sensuous poetry. This poem comes from her first mature poetry collection, Nets to Catch the Wind (1921). As we listen to this poem, our senses are arrested by whiteness, silence, suspended motion, and softness. These sensual ideas fuse together to create a response called synesthesia. Wylie's snow symbolizes tranquility, just as the speaker in Frost's "Stopping by Woods" listens to "the sweep / Of easy wind and downy flake" and observes that "The woods are lovely, dark, and deep." In fact, Frost's scene, with its "frozen lake" nearby, is actually colder, and may suggest a very subtly pervading presence of death. But there is no such sense of winter's coldness in Velvet Shoes. The lace and silk, the milk, dews, silence, peace, and velvet are all tranquil and comforting.
  
  Snow is often used in Zen poetry to suggest the true nature of the world when finally perceived by the enlightened awareness. Everything is seen as one, the same, radiant, "white" -- everything comes to rest in the interpenetrating glow of being. The idea of separation is lost in the light of a fluid continuity. Objects may not be passively disappearing, but actively hiding themselves. American poet Ivan M. Granger compared this to the Zen approach to worship: "recognizing your own bright nature in the midst of the still, bright field of being -- and to let the sense of a separate (selfish) self fade as
  you gently merge into that radiance of interbeing."
  Worship by Dogen (1200-1253)
  A white heron
  Hiding itself
  In the snowy field,
  Where even the winter grass
  Cannot be seen.
  In The Snow Man, American poet Wallace Stevens works with the Zen concept of emptiness, or at least three of the four Noble Truths: a) life is suffering; b) suffering results from attachment to transient things and ideas; and c) a cessation of suffering is
  attainable.)
  The Snow Man by Wallace Stevens (1879-1955)
  One must have a mind of winter
  To regard the frost and the boughs
  Of the pine-trees crusted with snow;
  And have been cold a long time
  To behold the junipers shagged with ice,
  The spruces rough in the distant glitter
  Of the January sun; and not to think
  Of any misery in the sound of the wind,
  In the sound of a few leaves,
  Which is the sound of the land
  Full of the same wind
  That is blowing in the same bare place
  For the listener, who listens in the snow,
  And, nothing himself, beholds
  Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

Sunday, January 14
Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith: "Dr. King, the Leader"

• Prelude: Sparrow by Wilbur Held
• Candle Music : Come Sunday by Duke Ellington
  First Parish Jazz Ensemble and Caryn Sandrew
• Offertory: Ubi caritas by Jeanne Demessieux
• Anthem: I Wish I Knew How by B. Taylor and D. Dallas
  First Parish Jazz Ensemble
• Postlude: Just a Closer Walk by Joe Utterback
• Hymns & Readings: 151, 202, 577, excerpt from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King's sermon The Drum-Major Instinct

Sunday, January 21 Mozart service
The music for this annual service celebrates Mozart's birthday on January 27.
Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith: "Questions for a Minister"

• Prelude: Adagio from Quartet in F by Wolfgang A. Mozart (1756-1791)
• Candle Music: Ave verum corpus (1791) by Mozart
  accompanied by the First Parish Flute Loops
  Click here to practice this selection with the soprano emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the alto emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the tenor emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the bass emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with all parts played equally
• Offertory: Laudate Dominum (Psalm 117) from Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, K. 339 (1781) by Mozart
  Nancy MacDowell, soprano
  Notes - This work,from the Solemn Vespers, was Mozart’s final composition for the Salzburg Cathedral in 1780, before his permanent departure from his hometown in search of greater artistic opportunities of Vienna. One of two settings Mozart made of this service, K.339 was intended for the special celebration of an undisclosed saint's day (the "confessor" of the title). As required by Mozart's conservative employer, Archbishop Colloredo, each Psalm is set as a continuous movement, as opposed to being divided into separate arias, ensembles, and choruses in the operatic style invading church music at that time. Except for this radiant soprano aria probably written for Mozart's future sister-in-law Aloysia Weber, the vocal solos also are treated in a more reserved ensemble style.
  Despite these restrictions, Mozart's music abounds in joyous exuberance. Every movement extols the praise and virtues of God, further emphasized by the doxology ("Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit…") which concludes each section. Clearly, here is a composer in full command of his fully matured artistic resources. Though less well known today than some other major works in the Mozart choral repertoire, the “Solemn Vespers” surely stands as one of the high points of his sacred output.
  Click here to practice this selection by individual part
• Anthem: Priest's Chorus from Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, K. 620, 1791) by Mozart
  Men of the First Parish Choir
• Postlude: Within these sacred walls - In deisem heil'gen Hallen (Sarastro's aria) from Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, K. 620, 1791) by Mozart
• Hymns & Readings: 297, 322, 654

• Prelude: Wondrous Love by Ronald Perera
• Intergenerational Music: Oh, Had I a Golden Thread (1958) by Pete Seeger, arranged by Nick Page
  Chalice Singers and Chalice Sparks, conducted by Laura Prichard, with the Adult Choir, conducted by Jennifer Kobayashi
  Like many of Seeger's classic works, it is often mistaken for a folk/traditional song, but Pete Seeger himself wrote, "A rather gentle song came to me as I was fooling around on the guitar. Years later I realized that I had rewritten the melody of Nearer My God to Thee. Once again, you can see how the folk process has been aided by a bad memory." This song was his opening and closing music for Seeger's public television show, Rainbow Quest.
  Oh, had I a golden Thread
  And needle so fine
  I've weave a magic strand
  Of rainbow design, of rainbow design
  
  In it I'd weave the bravery
  Of women giving birth,
  In it I would weave the innocence
  Of children over all the earth, children of all earth.
  
  Show my brothers and sisters
  My rainbow design,
  Bind up this sorry world
  With hand and heart and mind, hand and heart and mind.
  
  Far over the waters
  I'd reach my magic band
  To every human being
  So they would understand, so they'd understand.
  
• Candle Music: Fire of the Spirit (2000) by Herbert Bielawa (Berkeley, California)
  Adult Choir and Chalice Singers
  Unitarian Universalist Herbert Bielawa studied composition at the University of Illinois and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in composition at USC. At the Aspen School he worked with Darius Mihaud, Lukas Foss, and Elliott Carter. He was composer-in-residence for the Spring Branch School System in Houston under the Contemporary Music Project in the 1960s, where he wrote music for the ensembles of seven local high schools. He was a professor for twenty-five years at San Francisco State University where he founded the contemporary performing group Pro Musica Nova, created the electronic music studio, and developed courses for the computer music major. His most recent music commissions were from Meet the Composer, the American Guild of Organists and Earplay. Since 1991, he has been composer-in-residence for the Unitarian Universalist Church of Berkeley, California and founding director of Sounds New, a San Francisco Bay Area new music ensemble.
  Fire of the Spirit,
  life of the lives of creatures,
  spiral of sanctity,
  bond of all natures,
  glow of charity,
  lights of clarity,
  taste of sweetness to the fallen,
  be with us and hear us.
  Composer of all things,
  joy in the glory,
  strong honor,
  be with us and hear us. by Hildegard von Bingen (#493 in Hymnal)
• Offertory: Credo by Margaret Vardell Sandresky
• Anthem: Wanting Memories by Ysaye M. Barnwell (of Sweet Honey in the Rock)
  I am sitting here wanting memories to teach me, to see the beauty in the world through my own eyes.
  I thought that you were gone, but now I know you're with me; you are the voice that whispers all I need to hear.
  
  You used to rock me in the cradle of your arms, you said you'd hold me 'til the pains of life were gone.
  You said you'd comfort me in times like these and now I need you, and now I need you, and you are gone.
  
  Now the world outside is such a cold and bitter place, here inside I have few things that will console,
  And when I try to hear your voice above the storms of life then I remember all the things that I was told.
  
  I think on the things that made me feel so wonderful when I was young, the things that made me laugh, made me dance, made me sing.
  I think on the things that made me grow into a being full of pride; think on these things, for they are truth.
  
  I know a "please", a "thank you", and a smile will take me far; I know that I am you and you are me and we are one,
  I know that who I am is numbered in each grain of sand; I know that I've been blessed again and over again.
  Notes - Unitarian Universalist Ysaye M. Barnwell joined the all-female a cappella group Sweet Honey In The Rock in 1979. The concept and leadership of the group rest primarily with Bernice Johnson Reagon, who, as vocal director of the D.C. Black Repertory Theater, founded The Sweet Honey in 1973. Ysaye M. Barnwell (pronounced Eaze-eye) joined the group in 1979 and along with Reagon has become the group's main spokeswoman. Barnwell holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Speech Pathology and a Ph.D. in Public Health. She has worked on various projects as a composer (Sesame Street, the Dance Company of Pittsburgh, the Women's Philharmonic of San Francisco), has taught at Howard University, and has presented her workshop Singing In The African-American Tradition all around the world. This workshop in part-singing has been recorded, and can be borrowed from the First Parish Music Program.
• Postlude: Sanctus by Margaret V. Sandresky
• Hymns & Readings: 23, 128, 466, Because Nothing Looks Like God by Lawrence and Karen Kushner, excerpt from the Book of Esther
• Youth & Music Field Trip to Museum of Science: 2pm showing of MacGillavray Freeman's Hurricane on the Bayou
  11 members of the Chalice Singers and Sparks & 30 students from the First Parish Youth programs (grades 8-12)

Sunday, February 4
Dr. Lori Kenschaft, Guest Speaker: "The Changing Meanings of Marriage"

• Prelude: Salut d'Amour by Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) in celebration of Elgar's 150th Birthday Year
• Opening Hymn: #299, Chalice Singers and Chalice Sparks accompany on bells
• Intergenerational Music: “Everything Possible” by Fred Small
  Diane Taraz Shriver
• Candle Music: Winter Prayer by Fenno Follensbea Heath
  The Lord Came down on a snowy day.
  White, O, white He lay.
  In spring, the Lord walked all around.
  Stirred seed, spread sod o'er leaf and ground.
  Fell with the rain and rose again.
  Green root, green shoot, oh green he strode.
  So kneel I by thy branches in the snow.
  Let all my branches down and pray to know
  That from each bough so barren now
  A shoot of grace, a sprig of faith will grow.
  by Alexander Winston
• Offertory: Do You Love Me? from The Fiddler on the Roof by Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock
  Caryn Sandrew and Alan Schweitzer, duet; Laura Prichard, piano
• Postlude: Love Song by Alfred Newman
• Hymns & Readings: 299, 300, 437, The Moose and the Cow by Fred Small
• Music Field Trip to live taping of From the Top!: 2pm performance at Jordan Hall in Boston
  8 members of the Chalice Singers and Sparks

Saturday, February 10 First Parish Mardi Gras Auction

Sunday, February 11
Rev. Marta Valentin, Minister, First UU Church of New Orleans: "Still Standing on Higher Ground, Year 2"
Click here for her biography on the First Church New Orleans website
Combined Service with Youth Groups from Arlington, North Andover, and Framingham

• Prelude: Higher Ground - Traditional Baptist Hymn
  A Cappella Quartet: Krista Ernewein, Dorothy May, Jean Renard Ward, Michael Prichard
• Candle Music: What a Wonderful World
• Offertory Hymn: Over My Head (verses 1,2, and 4) with String/Jazz Band
• Anthem: Zydeco Gris Gris with String/Jazz Band
• Closing Anthem: Mardi Gras Mambo with String/Jazz Band
• Hymns & Readings: 30, 361, Hey Mistah!, Why New Orleans Matters
• Postlude/Second Line Procession: When the Saints Go Marchin' In
  Led by the Chalice Singers and Chalice Sparks

Saturday, February 17-24
Youth Group New Orleans Service Project

Sunday, February 18
Rev. Carlton Elliott Smith: "Lessons from Sudbury" (Fraters of the Wayside Inn Study Retreat, Sudbury)

• Prelude: Prelude and Fugue in G minor by Dietrich Buxtehude
• Offertory: Meditation by Charles M. Widor
• Closing Song: Keep on the Sunny Side by A. P. Carter
  led by Diane Shriver, guitar
• Postlude: Maestoso by J. C. H. Rinck
• Hymns & Readings: 38, 42, 436

Sunday, February 25
Initial Interim Minister Rev. Patricia Brennan: "Questions for a Minister"

• Prelude: Organ
• Candle Music: Snow, op. 26, no. 1 (1895) by Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934) in celebration of Elgar's 150th Birthday Year
  Lucy Caplan, William Henriksen, Loren Pearson, violins
  Women of the First Parish Choir
  Click here to hear a live recording (Cal Tech Women's Glee Club)
  Text by Caroline Alice Elgar (1848-1920):
  O snow, which sinks so light,
  Brown earth is hid from sight
  O soul, be thou as white as snow,
  O snow, which falls so slow,
  Dear earth quite warm below;
  O heart, so keep thy glow
  Beneath the snow.
  
  O snow, in thy soft grave
  Sad flow'rs the winter brave;
  O heart, so sooth and save, as does the snow.
  The snow must melt, must go,
  Fast, fast as water flow.
  Not thus, my soul, O sow
  Thy gifts to fade like snow.
  
  O snow, thou'rt white no more,
  Thy sparkling too, is o'er;
  O soul, be as before,
  Was bright the snow.
  Then as the snow all pure,
  O heart be, but endure;
  Through all the years full sure,
  Not as the snow. Text by Alice Elgar
• Offertory: Organ
• Anthem: Where E'er You Walk from Serse by George F. Handel
  Men of the First Parish Choir
• Postlude: Organ

• Prelude: Andante Pastorale by Joseph Rheinberger
  Carl Schlaikjer, oboe; Wendy Covell, organ
• Candle Music: Tantum ergo, op. 10, no. 4 (1960) by Maurice Duruflé
  Click here to practice this selection with the soprano emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the alto emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the tenor emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the bass emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with all parts played equally
  Click here to hear a live recording (Christ Church Cathedral Choir w/ boys)
• Offertory: Ubi caritas by Jeanne Demessieux
• Anthem: Ubi caritas, op. 10, no. 1 (1960) by Maurice Duruflé
  Click here to practice this selection with the soprano emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the alto emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the tenor 1 emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the tenor 2 emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the bass 1 emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with the bass 2 emphasized
  Click here to practice this selection with all parts played equally
  Click here to hear a simply sung live recording (FVHS)
• Postlude: Ein Feste Burg by Michael Praetorius
• Hymns & Readings: 40, 140, 567

Sunday, March 4
First Parish Musicale at 2pm
featuring Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirates of Penzance

• Solo & chamber music performers: The UUlations, Dora Pereli, Annie Whitford, David Whitford, Drew Pereli, First Parish Flute Loops (Willemien Insinger, Ted Live, Mies Boet-Whitaker, Lisa Hesterkamp Davis, Alyson Schultz, Michael Prichard, Laura Prichard), Cheri Minton, Lorraine Cooley, Meg Candilore, William Henriksen, Carol Lewis, Olav Chris Henriksen, Rachel stark, Lean Cirker-Stark, B. Iris Tanner, Doug Hammer, Samantha Fleishman, Nancy McDowell
• Soloists in Pirates: Sam Seiders, Robert, Patrick, Jennifer Kobayashi, Andy Kobayashi, Marianne Henriksen, Alana Thurston, Clara Friedman, Dorothy May, Andrew Leonard, John Hodges, Brad Amidon, Jean Renard Ward, Michael Prichard, Jonathan Markowitz Bijur
• Orchestra for Pirates: Bob Olsen, Drew Pereli, Willemien Insinger, Ted Live, Mies Boet-Whitaker, Laura Prichard, Andrew Leonard, Jean Renard Ward, Alex Ptacek Zimmer, Wendy Page, Wendy Covell, and Michelle Markus, concertmistress

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