“It is worthwhile to live and fight courageously for sacred ideals... Be grateful, my soul- my life was worth living.”
One week ago, on the very (!) warm Friday night of June 12th, we had 180 people packed into the sanctuary for a presentation about the “Andover Resolve”: the June 12, 1776 vote to support the colonies’ declaration of independence. While the vote was not held in our current (fifth) Meeting House but an earlier one, it is pretty thrilling to think that some of our religious forebears were quite involved in the very beginnings of our democracy.
One interesting tidbit from the night: the meeting where the vote was taken was illegal! Britain had
taken away the peoples’ right to govern themselves. As we know, freedom of assembly and of religion would subsequently be enshrined in the first amendment to the Constitution. (Check out the Enews piece about the Department of Defense’s shenanigans for a list of the Founding Fathers who had Unitarian, Congregationalist or Deist theology!) On Friday I also learned that only 12 people (more specifically white men) could call a town meeting, so it was not unusual for one town meeting to make decisions only to be undone by another town meeting shortly thereafter. Apparently we’ve been arguing for a very long time.
But not at North Parish this past week! On Sunday we shared flowers, thanked our outgoing leaders, thanked this year’s many volunteers, and the kids helped “bless” our new leaders with some water from water communion. As we look towards the upcoming Summer Solstice, I’d like to give a shout out to all those leading services over the next few months and another shout out to the Green Envelope team. They are not only dealing with logistics and payments, but are also involved in making a promotional video and sending letters to neighbors who might contribute to the project. This week, when an email came through announcing the dates when parts of the new spires will arrive, I wrote back, “Is it weird that I get excited hearing about finials and custom newel caps?” The things they don’t teach you in divinity school!
Yours- with a cheer for democracy and history, finials and all church volunteers!
Rev. Lee
To make an appointment with Rev. Lee, click here.
Email: RevLee@northparish.org
Phone: 978-687-7948