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Rev. Sylvia Howe and Charles E Wainwright A Sermon Delivered at First Parish Church in Beverly on September 16, 2001
As many of you know, each week Charlie Wainwright leaves his family in Topsfield and travels to Washington, DC where he works. His spouse, Candy tells me he is doing his part to make the Internal Revenue Service a kinder, more compassionate institution. Charlie was at work when the plane hit the Pentagon. I have asked him to be a part of this service. The words he speaks are ones he wrote while in his apartment in Washington.
I begin with the words of Loren Eiseley. They are from “Singers of Life”:
“…on the edge of a little glade with one long, crooked branch extending across it, I had sat down to rest with my back against a stump. Through accident I was concealed from the [...]
From a Sermon delivered at Dane Street Beach in Beverly Massachusetts July 3, 2011 by Kathryn Lordan, First Parish Church in Beverly, UU
Tomorrow we celebrate the birthday of our country. We also honor the men who, during a hot summer with powdered wigs, waistcoats, and itchy woolen pants, closed the shutters on the windows to keep all conversation confidential allowing all in attendance to be able to speak freely. Despite all the disagreements amongst them, these men kept this pledge of silence.
Today let’s briefly visit the roll religion played in these discussions. The First Amendment of our Constitution states:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Was our country established as [...]
Three Hundredth Anniversary Service, First Parish Church in Beverly Massachusetts, September 1967.
(From a sermon Delivered by Charles E Wainwright 28 November, 2010)
For years, the children of First Parish Church have engaged in a weekend ritual that represents the very essence of a childhood family rite: They attend our Sunday school. Our Religious Education Director, Deb Sweet is the latest in a long line of education leaders engaged in a pioneering America institution. Our children perpetuate, through their participation, a tradition that is 200 years old this year and that began within this Church. The bronze plaque on my left testifies that our Sunday school, established in 1810 is the oldest continuously operating Sunday school in New England. At the back of the sanctuary is a banner that attests ours to be the oldest Sunday school in America. To honor its 200th birthday, I would like to take a few minutes to tell you the story of the First Parish Church Sunday [...]
From a sermon delivered 28 September, 2008 by Charles E Wainwright
Saturday, September 20, 2008 marked the three-hundred-forty-first anniversary of the day that Rev. John Hale and fifty members of the Salem Church owned their covenant and thereby established our beloved Church as “The Church of Christ at Bass River Side”. Did you attend the party? Maybe you sent a birthday card? No matter, no one else did either.
Maya Angelou wrote “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside of you”. I stand here before you this morning because I have an untold story to share.
I am a genealogist and historian by avocation. Each Sunday morning, I drive to the center of this City. I climb the stairs at the front of our Church’s elegant, weathered edifice. I walk through those the front doors into our old Sanctuary, past those curious ancient articles arrayed in the [...]
The Salem church was founded on 6 July 1629, part of the Puritan experiment called Massachusetts Bay. In 1635, Roger Conant, John Balch, John Woodbury and Richard Trask were granted land on the north side of theBassRiver, which became known as the “Bass River Side” of Salem. For years, the residents of Bass River Side traveled to Church each week by riding a ferry across the river and walking to the Church inSalem. In 1650, residents were set off as a separate precinct but still had to attend Church inSalem. At first, parishioners met in dwelling houses, but in 1656, they were allowed to construct a meeting house on the northwest corner of the old burial ground, and to retain a teacher to instruct them. On 20 September 1667, fifty-one male and female residents of the Bass River Side made a confession of their faith, and renewed their Covenant in their new [...]
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