echoing mary...

Merry Christmas to you all!
Check out Rob's recent sermon at Memorial Church, Echoing Mary.

a tribute to Jean!

This past sunday we gathered to say thank you, we love you, and go into retirement in peace to our dear sister, Pastor Jean. What a legacy! A true "rock" Jean has been for the past 14 years for First Presbyterian - a rock we are all inspired by, and will dearly miss. One of our friends from the Day Center aptly summed up who Jean is for so many, "Jean - you are our Queen of the Streets!!" She indeed has been such a friend and advocate for those living on our Waltham streets - and certainly someone who has ministered faithfully to us all - making us all feel so welcome, saving lives. May we all aspire to live similar lives of faithfulness, courage, compassion and advocacy on behalf of those on the underside. Our prayers, thoughts, and love go with you Jean! Enjoy retirement!

Hope to see you all 12/21 at 3:30pm for Caroling, and then an all church Soup Supper at 5:30pm, and Watershed at 7pm for 4th Advent sunday.

12/24 Christmas Eve service at 6pm with candles & Jean's final sermon!

12/28 Regular Watershed at 7pm (Rev. Bart Kelso will be joining us)

Check out the links in the previous post for some tips for a more just, simple, and peaceful Christmas.

In the hope & love of Mary's Son,

Rob

The coming...and rethinking Christmas

The Latin root for Advent means (advenio) means: to come. The coming of Christ is what we are celebrating now, in this new liturgical year. The colors have gone from green to purple (symbolizing both royalty and death). New things are afoot. We wait actively. We prepare. We open our eyes. And we are challenged from last week's service to remember in our waiting TO DO. What is that one thing you've committed to DO during this Advent season? As you think about celebrating, let's remember our earth - and the call to simplicty and faith. Here are some useful links to think again about what this season is all about.

National Council of Churches - The LOW CARBON 12 DAYS of CHRISTMAS

Redefine Christmas - let's rethink our gift-giving practises...

Did you hear about what people are CONSPIRING to do this Advent? Advent Conspiracy

Hope to see you for Advent services at Watershed. Remember Dec. 14 there is NO WATERSHED - as it's one joint service celebrating Pastor Jean's 14 years of faithful service to our church. That service is at 3pm.

peace on earth, Rob

gratitude

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." - Meister Eckhart. 

Friends, we have much to be grateful for - from the air we breathe, to those around us. This year I am indeed thankful for you all - and Watershed, and First Presbyterian. Many blessings this week to you all, and hope to see you for the beginning of Advent this sunday.  peace, Rob

350: climate change and the church

Come this Thursday at 7pm at Andover-Newton Theological school to hear Bill McKibben speak about the church's roll regarding climate change and his 350 Project. Let's carpool.

“350 is the red line for human beings, the most important number on the planet. The most recent science tells us that unless we can reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to 350 parts per million, we will cause huge and irreversible damage to the earth.
We’re planning an international campaign to unite the world around the number 350, and we need your help. We need to make sure that the solutions the world proposes to climate change are to scale with the level of crisis that this number represents. Everyone on earth, from the smallest village to the cushiest corner office, needs to know what 350 means. The movement to spread that number needs to be beautiful, creative, and unstoppable.”

what a week!

It's been an historic week my friends! Let us give thanks for a peaceful election, and pray for our new president elect Barack, and his family - and for the hope and challenges that lie ahead. May we all be willing to work hard to live out these ideals of hope and change. As we do so, we remember it all begins with loving our neighbor - in the PLACES and communities in which we are situated. And we are hear in Waltham - at First Presbyterian. With this in mind, we remind you that tonight at Watershed (11/9), we'll celebrate Stewardship Sunday where we get to dedicate the pledges for 2009 that we feel called to make to help support the ministry of this particular community of faith. Oh, and we may hear something from Bono as well...

new director!

With thanksgiving we welcome Eben Forbes as the new director of the Community Day Center! (photo pending...this one is an icon of someone else...:)

Come on by Watershed this week and you might just see a wedding photo or two...

birthday & peacemaking & a wedding...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO WATERSHED!! Oct. 7 is our ONE YEAR birthday! Thanks be to God, and to all of you for your support in this new adventure in faith and community building. We have a second week to give to the PCUSA Peacemaking offering this coming week. Rev. Bart will cover 10/12 and Rev Elliott will cover on 10/19. I will be away... on my honeymoon!! Many thanks to you all for your prayers and best wishes to Becky and I. See you in a few weeks. -Rob

(Tree of Life)

presbytery blessings

Friends - thanks to all who helped make our hosting of Presbytery of Boston a blessing to many! It was a joy to host and all be gathered under one roof - our varied & faithful small piece of the body. Hope to see you this sunday!

lots o' buzz around this church n' some good info

Friends! This harvest-moon September is a busy month - lots of life in and around our church these days. Don't miss our own Melissa Myers and others play at the Oasis Coffeehouse this friday at 7:30. Also, the autumn equinox is 9/22 - the same day as we are hosting Boston Presbytery! Please remember to pray for the unity and peace of our church - and to come lend a hand to ensure the evening meeting goes well. We'll be at the church from 5pm onwards... 

Larainne sent this around - a 30 second video that very much honors God's children - please check it out! And for those who missed James Carroll's editorial in the Boston Globe - I recommend it as it relates a bit to what we've been talking about at Watershed. There's a church clean-up at 9am this Saturday in preparation for Presbytery. FINALLY - hope to see you at Watershed this sunday. 

some beautiful faces of firstpres!

Next Watershed - MONDAY Sept. 1

Remember that Watershed is moved from Sunday Aug. 31 to MONDAY Sept 1 - Labor Day at 7pm. Same service, one day later so people can enjoy the long weekend and still make worship. Hope to see you then.

transition prayers

Friends - let's keep the Community Day Center in our prayers. Today was my official last day as Executive Director, as I prepare to make the transition to Assistant Chaplain at Harvard. I am so deeply grateful for all the dear friends I have met here in the basement of our church, and have been privaledged to work with such a deeply committed Board. I am so encouraged to be a part of this church that sees solidarity with the disenfranchised as a central part of the gospel. Let's pray for the search for the new director.

Picnic-it-up! and New Members!

Oh yes, the infamous church picnic is upon us!! But friends, this one is unlike others you may have attended - we're off to pastor Jean's house in Mansfield - she and John live on several acres of trees n' peace. They have a superb garden - and I imagine we'll be tasting of its "fruit" a bit! So, bring along a dish/ salad/ dessert to share - and meet at the church at NOON this Sunday, 8/17 - and we'll carpool to reduce out carbon emmissioning. Drop Rob and email if you are coming - so we know who to wait for. ALSO - this Watershed 8/17 at 7pm please come to support Carol Rowe and Larainne Wilson who will be joining our church as new members!! Come help us welcome them as part of Watershed service. Hope to see you then - and enjoy the sunshine this week.

this weekend

Friends,

Back from our wonderful Celtic Eco-Adventure Trip to Cape Breton (photo from St. Ann's Bay United Church) - this weekend lots going on: Friday Oasis Coffeehouse with Jason Harrod & Jake Armeding - NOT TO MISS. These 2 are amazing. Then Saturday morning stop by the Waltham Farmer's Market - Watershed will be there just to meet people, and our own Kim Davidson will be playing on their stage at 11am. Sunday, artists reception 2-5pm. And then Watershed at 7pm - quite possibly with Jason Harrod supplying some music, Prof. Willis Jenkins some eco-theology, and Scottish Rachel super-camp-director some news from Wilmot. See you!

independence day...

New Bedford declares Fossil Fuel Independence Day this year. What things might we each seek to become independent/ free of? Consumption, materialism, nationalism, patriotic self-righteouness, self-loathing, fear? In humility, may we become more of a country where this quote is applicable to all - "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, yearning to breathe free."

In this light - check out Becky's set of articles on the New Immigrants of southcoast of MA: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=SPECIAL62

eco-labyrinths & farmer markets

The Presbyterian Conservation Corps went great! Thanks for the prayers. This photo is of some of our Eco-Stewards getting the chance to try out some new spiritual practices like walking the labyrinth in the midst of God's creation. Come this sunday to Watershed for our continuing What is Presbyterian/ What is Watershed class for 30 minutes after the service. Also, if you are around - join Rob at the Waltham Farmer's Market (moody & main) this Sat 6/21 9am-noon - we'll be giving our free Fair Trade coffee on behalf of Watershed and the church to continue our goal of reaching out to our community.

upcoming

Watershed moves along this summer - with same 7pm sunday service times. A few upcoming events: Presbyterian Conservation Corps - keep Rob in prayer as he helps lead this year's Eco-Stewards events in PA and NY June 5-11. What it means to be Presbyterian - come join us starting after Watershed June 15 for 30 minutes for some talks on what this church & watershed & membership is about - we'll continue this for 3 weeks. Waltham Farmers Market: starting Sat. June 21, we'll set up a table serving free fair trade coffee at the market this summer - 9am-2pm, to help meet our community and spread some of the good news of what is happening at 34 alder street. peace be with you all!

Watershed Memorial MONDAY 7pm

Friends, since a handful of you will be away on Sunday, with monday as holiday - we are simply moving Watershed to Monday May 26th, same time and place - 6:30pm for coffee and 7pm for service. As we remember this weekend, and honor, let's also remember that call to spread peace in this world.

pentecost & burma

This sunday 5/11 we celebrate Pentecost - the ending of the easter season, and the day we commemorate the early gathering of Christ follower's visitation by the Holy Spirit (acts 2:1-4) Elliott Hipp will be sharing with us, and some special music by our own Melissa Myers. We'll also be taking a special offering to support those in Myanmar. See you then.

Watershed takes ACTION to care for our Charles River Watershed - April 26th

Let's gather together and clean up our Watershed!!! This Saturday at 8:30am we're gathering at church for some coffee & snacks before we set off to pick up trash as part of the 9th Annual Charles River Day Clean Up Day - from 9-noon. Please bring some gloves if you have them, extra trash bags (although they usually provide them), and boots/ shoes you can get dirty or even wet if need be. This is a kid-friendly day, and a lot of fun. For those who have time, we could go out for a pizza together afterwards - or simply stay for part of the time if you can't stay the duration. This will be one more practical way we can put our faith and mandate this Earth Month to care for God's creation into ACTION.

HAPPY EARTH DAY today!!! Psalm 104 is a great read today and this week!

Earth Sunday - april 20th

Earth Sunday 4/20/08 - come join us for Watershed at 7pm. The national council of churches theme this year is The Poverty of Global Climate Change. Come join us to focus in on the earth and our role in faith - and also hear special guest & movie-maker Andrew Mudge sing some Mason Jennings for us. Remember too at 1:30-3:30 we'll watch the documentary Renewal - a movie about various faith group's responses to the ecological crisis. There is also an artist's reception from 4-6pm in our Oasis Gallery. Feel free to drop in anytime for some art n' goodies. A full day - please join us for some or all. And let me know if you want an organic watershed t-shirt for Charles River Day Clean up 4/26 at 8:30am. peace on EARTH.

Earth Month Begins

April is Earth Month at Watershed and First Presbyterian. Each service we'll focus on not only what it means to practise ressurrection this Easter season, but also on what it means to practise earth-care as we attempt to tred lighter on this one world we've got. Be sure to check out below for upcoming eco-events. See you sunday.

Earth hour - a Fast from Energy - this Sat. 8-9pm

Imagine how much energy can be saved if the entire world fasted from energy use for just one hour? We have the chance to do our small part this Sat. 3/29 from 8-9pm. Find some friends, light some candles, go for a night walk, or go to bed early...whatever - it will make a difference. And then join us sunday for Watershed and the first sunday of this Easter season. http://www.earthhour.org/downloads/EH_728x90.swf

alleluia!

Christ is risen indeed. Easter peace!

A word from Wendell Berry (excerpts from Wendell Berry’s Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, 1991) :

So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it.
Ask the questions that have no answers. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest
that you did not plant,
that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested
when they have rotted into the mold.
Call that profit…
Listen to carrion - put your ear
close, and hear the faint chattering
of the songs that are to come.
Expect the end of the world. Laugh.
Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful
though you have considered all the facts.
So long as women do not go cheap
for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy
a woman satisfied to bear a child?
Will this disturb the sleep
of a woman near to giving birth?…
Practice resurrection.

holy week

Each day this sacred week has special significance. Let's all take an intentional moment each day this week and pause in the midst of our busy lives and simply contemplate the mystery of GRACE. And as you can, please join us for the ecumenical community services starting tonight (Maundy Thurs.) (listed below), and especially the EASTER VIGIL starting at 7pm with an Agape (love)-Seder-esque meal, and then 8pm service starting with bonfire outside. There will be an optional post-service late night vigil-to-Easter in Watershed style - please let Rob know if you are interested. Together we walk in solidarity this week with Christ and the poor, through death, and into new life, new HOPE.

eco-palm sunday

Friends- come join us sunday night at 7pm for palm sunday - "eco"-style. http://www.pcusa.org/palms/ And today (sat) is the 5th year anniversary of the war in Iraq - let us pray for peace to come just like Jesus came into Jerusalem on that donkey. Radical peace. See you sunday. (also still looking for a reader for Maundy Thurs tenebrae service, and one for Easter Vigil as well...let me know if interested).

call to peace-prayer / holy week help/ prophetic voice of Carroll

This friday 3/7 at NOON, we are joining many Christians around the country to uphold Iraq and her peace in our prayers. Take a moment in the midst of your day to pray - or come join us at the church for a short vigil together.
Also, since March is here, we are approaching what we consider Holy Week. This begins with (Eco-) Palm Sunday on 3/16, and then we are joining the wider Waltham community for a services starting with a Tenebrae service (service of the lights) on Maundey Thurs at Beth Eden Baptist (7pm), Good Friday at Immanual Methodist (7pm), and then we host an Easter Vigil Service at 8pm on 3/22. This will be proceeded by a unique AGAPE-SEDAR-ESQUE meal at 7pm. Please join us.
Also- we need a reader or two for the Tenebrae service on Maundey Thurs - any takers? please let me know.
And finally - James Carroll's Constantine's Sword was amazing - a serious must see for anyone who desires deeper peace and reconciliation in our globalized and religiously divided world. Especially powerful during this seasonal approach to Easter.
Hope to see you for Watershed this sunday 3/9 at 7pm for 5th sunday in lent and some Taize.

snow & water & kingsolver

Loving this wonderful blanket of fluffy white-stuff on the ground! Come on by this sunday for watershed, and we'll hear the profound story of when an outcast and a savior meet...and share water. PS- thanks for those who came to serve lunch on monday- it went great, many kudos to the chefs!! PPS- I totally shared an organic & local meal in VA with Barbara Kingsolver's husband (and 5 other young presby minister types) on Thurs. So eco-inspiring!!

the journey of Faith continues... AND SERVE LUNCH

We are pilgrims and we are strangers, as we walk along in faith. Tonight (2/17) at 7pm we meet both Abraham and Nicodemus, and think together about this journey we are on as fellow pilgrims. Come join us!
Also, tomorrow (President's Day, Monday)- we will meet at 12:30 downstairs in the kitchen to prepare and then serve a lunch to our guests at the Community Day Center. Many homeless go without breakfast and lunch on holidays as the Salvation Army is closed - so we can help fill this gap - and put into practise some of our lenten call to "works of love".

our journey begins...

Lent 2008. A great opportunity for us to open our eyes in a new way. Come this sunday as we think about ashes, wilderness and bread. "You are invited to a holy lent, a time of self-examination & penitence, prayer & fasting, giving to the poor & works of love, and reading & meditation on the Word of God.”

Lent begins...

Ash Wednesday is this coming Weds, Feb. 6th. We're having a service with imposition of ashes (where we get ashes put on our foreheads and remember that we are but ash and to ash we will return), and communion. The service will be at the Burlington Pres. church at 7:30pm - we'll meet to carpool at 6:30 at the church. Hope to see you there. Come on sunday Feb 10 to learn more about what the season of Lent is all about. And this week, let's keep the nation of Chad in our prayers, as we also continue to pray for Kenya.

"Souper Bowl" of Caring - 6:30pm, sunday Feb 3 / Ash Weds. Service Feb 6, 7:30pm

Friends, we've decided not to compete with Tom Brady & company this sunday, and so we'll gather at 6:30 at the church downstairs to watch the superbowl on our HUGE tv and simply share some fellowship together (be prepared for some serious anti-consumption/ US materialism running commentary from rob during commercials however...). Presbyterians focus in on hunger each year, and call for a Souper Bowl of Caring - so, please bring along some canned goods to donate for the Day Center and our homeless guests. Rob is preaching at the 10:45am service on the transfiguration - so come then for worship if you can.

ALSO- come this sunday to watch the game AND help burn some palms into ashes for our Ash Weds. Service on Weds. Feb 6th at 7:30pm at Burlington Presbyterian Church. We'll carpool from the church at 6:30pm that night.

peace.

Taize

Friends- join us tonight at 7pm for a service in the spirit of Taize. Songs, readings, silence, prayer, candles.
"There are cracks, cracks in everything, that's how the light gets in." -Leonard Cohen

in the name of love

After helping serve a meal downstairs at the Day Center, we had a very meaningful interfaith service monday in honor of MLKjr this monday - thanks to those who came and helped out. Check out this clip we played in the service- http://youtube.com/watch?v=_HY-WfDPm7s - i'm warning you, this one is moving. Let's all continue to work for justice, end the unjust war our country is involved in- and spread peace in our communities. And thanks to Melissa for singing beautifully at watershed on sunday night! If yer interested, come hear me talk about "global warming and you" this Saturday at BU at 10am: http://www.bu.edu/alumni/interests/events/winterfest/schedule/
mountaintop peace.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 1/21, 4pm

In my book, the most important national holiday for the States is this monday, when we remember a true prophet of the 20th century. Come to church at 4pm on Monday for an interfaith prayer service to remember together, and be challenged anew to the call of peace & justice. Check out MLKjr's speach on Vietnam (hear any connections to Iraq??): http://youtube.com/watch?v=92-r05TH9qs&feature=related . Also, come to Watershed on Sunday Jan. 20th at 7pm for regular service. We may just hear from Andrew Mudge sing...

New Year- New TIME - 7:00 PM

Yes- watershed is now starting at 7:00PM - starting Sunday Jan. 13, 2008. We hope to see you this coming sunday! Last night, we lit the Christmas candles for the last time, and we thought together about the coming of the magi. As we each continue to seek out that star and follow it in our own lives, let's remember W.H. Auden's poem, "For the Time Being": "To discover how to be human now... is the reason we follow this star."

new year, new hope

Friends- peace to you this new year! May it bring about deeper realized wholeness and peace in our lives and in our world. Come this sunday Jan 6 for Epiphany. This is a day the church celebrates the wise-folk who showed up to Mary and Jesus, bearing gifts that recognized this child as the one ushering in a new kingdom. Let's come together to share our own gifts and help recognize this new kingdom here and now (and share some organic coffee...)