First Parish Church of Groton

We are a community of adults, youth, and children seeking to deepen spiritually, to take care of one another, and to be a blessing to the world.

These are some of the things we care about at First Parish Church: We value spiritual depth, spiritual growth, and spiritual maturity. We value service to others, especially to those outside the walls of the church and to those in need. We value generosity and view increasing generosity as part of the spiritual life. We value being a “permission granting” church. By this we mean saying yes to new ideas and possibilities which are consistent with and further the mission and values of the church. We value taking care of each other. We will be asked to take care of the members and friends of our community who are in need. We will receive care when we are in need.

As a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association, we affirm and promote the principles of the UUA. As a Welcoming Congregation, we actively welcome gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people as full participants in the life of the church.

In other words, our congregation and our Unitarian Universalist faith are engaging, participatory, and inclusive. All are welcome at this table. Join us!

Click on the “latest news” badge on any page to be taken to a chronological (and searchable) list of events and items of interest to members of this community. The newest items will be on top.

In addition to appearing on the new Latest News page, the news items are listed below. Click the title links to see more details.

Keeping the Home Fires Burning at First Parish — A Special One-Time Request [ 02/03/2010 09:07 AM ]

With the annual giving mailing set for the first week of February, members and friends of First Parish Church are asked to renew — or begin for the first time — financial support of this beautiful community.

Special One-Time Gift: This year, once you have decided on how you can continue to grow in generosity with your pledge for annual support of the church, all who can are being asked to dig even deeper and make a special one time pledge or gift (payable over two years) toward the cost of replacing our ancient and odd oil heating systems in the Meeting House and Parish House with entirely new, highly efficient, cost-saving gas systems.

Our New Gas Heating System: Scheduled to be up and running within the next two weeks, these new systems will give us cleaner air inside and outside, lower fuel and maintenance costs, provide extensive alarm systems, and provide greater ability to heat just the spaces we want to heat, as we use them. We are confident that the contractor chosen for the job — Weather Wise, of Brookline, NH — and the cost, $64,170, are the best possible. If you want to know more about the process, contractor, design, and equipment, please speak to any of the trustees; they can steer you to the experts.

Click the title link above for full details.

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner Auction, 2010 [ 01/28/2010 12:22 PM ]

Four fun events are planned for our Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner Auction. Here is a description of the events and a list of FAQs (PDF). Bidding will start on Monday, February 8 and end at the close of Coffee Hour on Sunday, February 21. You can bid to attend these events during Coffee Hour on two Sundays — February 14 and February 21. You can also place email bids to Ellen Todd. As these dinners are successful as both fund-raisers and community-builders, we are trying to make them more financially inclusive. Please note that the kitchen shower is a very affordable event. Donations will also be accepted to help people attend an event who would not ordinarily be able to attend an event. Please contact Ellen Todd or Elea Kemler if you wish to make a donation so that someone else may attend.

Audio and Transcripts of Recent Sermons [ 01/11/2010 02:31 PM ]

The new audio system in the sanctuary is making it far easier to post audio from the services on the Web. In addition, in this church year we are making a more assiduous effort to get sermon transcripts posted. To listen to a sermon, click the audio link to open an audio player in a new window; or right-click (on a Mac, ctrl-click) to download and save it to your computer. Transcripts also open in a new window.

February 07 ; January: 31 , 24 , 17 , 10 , 03 ; December: 24 , 13 [transcript], 06 ; November: 15 , 08 , 01 ; October: 25 ; September: 27 [transcript], 20 [transcript].

Order Your Bricks for the Remembrance Garden [ 09/09/2007 05:45 PM ]

Have you visited the Remembrance Garden recently? It's on the east side of the Parish House back porch. It is a beautiful, peaceful spot enhanced by the intentions of those who have chosen to remember loved ones, places, or events in their lives. It's not too late to order your brick for the Remembrance Garden.