Dozens of First Parish in Lincoln members stood out on Good Friday afternoon to call for justice and peace. Led by ministers Nate Kluge and Sarah Klockowski, they held signs that reflect the congregation’s commitment to honor each person’s dignity and to cherish the living Earth.
One of the images accompanying the third Stations of the Cross, “Jesus Falls for the First Time,” in the St. Anne’s video.
St. Anne’s-in-the-Fields Episcopal church has created an online, self-paced multimedia pilgrimage though the Stations of the Cross for anyone to experience.
Almost immediately after the crucifixion of Jesus, Christians from around the world began traveling to Jerusalem to walk the path where Jesus carried the cross through the winding streets of the city on the way to Golgotha and pray at the 14 shrines and churches that mark the significant scriptural or traditional events of that day, such as where Jesus took the cross, where Jesus fell the first time, and where Jesus was nailed to the cross, explained, Greg Mancusi-Ungaro of Marblehead, a member of the St. Anne’s Worship Commission. About two centuries later, churches and monasteries began installing plaques and other memorials depicting the Stations of the Cross so local worshipers could make personal pilgrimages.
Now St. Anne’s has taken the idea to the next level. Their YouTube video includes prayers and readings from the Episcopal Book of Occasional Services, dozens of artworks, and music excepted from “Vesalii Icones,” a 1969 multilayered fusion of dance and music by Peter Maxwell Davies. More than two dozen church members contributed to the project, including lectors, choir members, and clergy.
Parishioners and others have had high praise for the project. “The combination of music and spoken word and visuals have allowed people to really contemplate [the crucifixion] in ways they hadn’t done before,” Mancusi-Ungaro said.
Other organizations have posted online versions of the Stations of the Cross, especially during the pandemic, but St. Anne’s wasn’t even aware of them when it was working on its project. Once it was posted online, the committee thought perhaps a few hundred other people would see, it but they were in for a surprise.
“Literally thousands of people from all around the world have found our
on YouTube and viewed some or all of it,” Mancusi-Ungaro said. “It’s humbling and deeply satisfying for me personally to have had a hand in creating something that’s been so meaningful.”
Starting on Saturday, Dec. 3, Lincoln Boy Scout Troop 127 will be selling Christmas Trees and wreaths from 3–5:30 p.m. at the intersection of Lincoln and Codman Roads. Trees will range from 4′ to 10′ and Scouts will also be selling both decorated and undecorated wreaths. After Sunday, the tree lot will be open on Wednesday nights from 7-8 p.m. and weekends from 9 a.m.–5:30 p.m. until trees sell out.
Touch of Christmas fair
Saturday, Dec. 3 from 10 a.m.–1 p.m.
Parish House auditorium, 14 Bedford Road (across from Bemis)
Homemade holiday crafts, evergreen wreaths decorated with natural materials, jewelry, antique and collectible treasures, and more.
Christmas tree lighting
Saturday, Dec. 3 at 4 p.m.
Rainbow chairs, 4 Bedford Road (across from the library)
Join us to light the Christmas tree in front of the church after the Touch of Christmas Fair. We’ll get in the mood with some holiday carols and enjoy hot chocolate. Santa says he’ll swing by and say Hello or maybe Ho Ho Ho!
Christmas Eve services
Saturday, Dec. 24
Church sanctuary, 4 Bedford Road — livestream at fplincoln.altarlive.com
— 5 p.m.: A service for all ages. Families with younger children are welcome, but so are those who want the full Christmas experience before dinnertime. Special music, lessons and carols, and a short message. Service led by our co-ministers.
— 9 p.m. (with special music at 8:30 p.m.): Candlelight service featuring the First Parish choir, special music, and lessons and carols. Service led by our co-ministers.
If you intend to join us in person, let us know by taking this brief survey, indicating the number in your group and which service you will be attending.
Come to St. Anne’s in-the-Fields Church on Sunday, Dec. 4 at 4:30 p.m. for a short, but poignant service at which we remember those who are no longer with us at Christmastime by hanging white ornaments in their honor. Bring your own or hang one of ours, then marvel at the lighting of the tree. For those interested, this is followed by a Blue Christmas service in the sanctuary at 5 p.m., when candles, quiet, and prayers allow participants to reflect in love, grief, and joy. Communion will be available if requested. We welcome everyone from all walks of life and faith. For more information, visit StAnnesLincoln.org or email parishoffice@stanneslincoln.org.
An evening with mystery writers
Join us via Zoom on Thursday Dec. 8 from 7–8:30 p.m. for an evening with mystery writers Sulari Gentill, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Eva Jurczyk moderated by Rachel Raczka of the Boston Globe. Everything was fine until it wasn’t — a scream in the library, books gone missing the first day on the job, a secret threatening to tear apart a perfect life. Register here.
Talk on New England bike rides
Author David Sobel will give a Zoom presentation on his new book, Best Bike Rides in New England, on Wednesday, Dec. 14 from 7-8 p.m. He’ll reveal some of his favorite rides, discuss the variables he uses when designing a ride, explain how to design rides using online tools like Map My Ride or Strava, advocate for incorporating bike riding three to five times a week into your personal wellness goals, and suggest a great ride in or around your community. Register here.
Film screening: “Umberto D”
The Lincoln Library Film Society presents Umberto D. (1952, Italian with subtitles) on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 6 p.m. This neorealist masterpiece by Vittorio De Sica follows an elderly pensioner as he strives to make ends meet during Italy’s postwar economic recovery. Alone except for his dog, Flike, Umberto’s simple quest to satisfy his basic needs — food, shelter, companionship — makes for one of the most heartbreaking stories ever filmed, and an essential classic of world cinema.
“A Christmas Carol”
Join actors Stephen Collins and Poornima Kirby on Friday, Dec. 16 from 1–2 p.m. in Bemis Hall for a funny, heartfelt journey through Charles Dicken’s classic A Christmas Carol. This one-hour adaptation shows Ebenezer Scrooge’s transformation from a grumpy, selfish misanthrope to a generous and kindly man full of the spirit of Christmas.
Nate Klug and Kit Novotny, co-ministers at the First Parish in Lincoln.
The First Parish in Lincoln began enjoying a two-for-one deal when Rev. Nate Klug and Rev. Kit Novotny — high school sweethearts who grew up in Wellesley — started their dual ministry in August.
Though both have an affinity for the arts, they came to their religious careers by slightly different routes. Novotny calls herself a “cradle Congregationalist” — her parents were lapsed Catholics who later joined a United Church of Christ (UCC) in Wellesley Hills. “The church was our community with a lot of my best friends growing up,” she said. “My parents were super involved and I was a pretty spiritually interested kid.”
Klug, meanwhile, grew up without any religious tradition. “It was quite a surprise to me,” he said. “I kind of stumbled on faith on college.” After a friend’s father was killed, “I was just asking a lot of big questions… I got this germ of faith which was quite weird for my family.”
Both Klug and Novotny went to the University of Chicago, After graduating with a degree in English, Klug was interning for a literary magazine in Chicago when his editor invited him to a church service. “I was blown away by the sermon,” he said. “Eventually I was at a moment where a spiritual commitment was something I was ready for.”
Novotny, who majored in theater and anthropology, was involved in theater and improv in Chicago and was an intern at the famous Second City comedy club in that city for a year after she graduated. She also worked at comedy club in Iowa during her first ministerial job after grad school. “There’s definitely sermon fodder in standup,” she said with a laugh.
After they graduated from Yale Divinity School and were ordained in the UCC in 2013, they applied for a few jobs as a couple but eventually wound up serving as ministers in separate churches in the San Francisco area. A couple of years ago, they began looking for jobs back east so that they and their preschool-age daughters could be closer to their families (“we have four very enthusiastic grandparents in the Boston area,” Novotny said).
Because of the pandemic, Klug could continue his other work in California even after they moved to Massachusetts about a year ago and began looking for church posts locally. A poet and essayist as well as a minister (his latest book is Hosts and Guests: Poems), Klug teaches remotely in the MFA program at Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif., and in the creative writing at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Novotny is also a writer and a certified yoga instructor with training in trauma-sensitive yoga.
As seminary students, both had mentors who’d worked as co-pastors, so when they learned about the FPL opening, they approached it as a team. “We kind of introduced the idea to the search committee here,” Klug said. “They were really rigorous and diligent about finding out what it would be like. It was a real process of discernment on both sides [in asking] does the church want to take a leap of faith on both of us and vice versa?” They found that FPL is “a really creative place, a community church with a big spiritual tent — it seemed like a place that might be open to this kind of creative ministry model.”
As for the division of labor, the couple will split most things 50-50 and trade off preaching. “You can come to it a little more fresh when you don’t have to do it every week,” Novotny said. “The community will get a little more diversity of voice since we have slightly different styles.”
Both will do pastoral care visits and adult education. “This congregation is very interested in learning and are voracious readers,” Klug said.
They also have a few ideas for new approaches and events to engage the community. Klug will lead a group called “Poetry for Seekers” while Novotny will lead “Coffee and Compassion,” where she and participants can reflect on what requires compassion in the world and learn about tools for connection and emotional resilience. The pair is also co-authoring a blog, and they’ll take turns hosting “Theology on Tap” discussions at the Tack Room each month, with the first one scheduled for September 23. The events are open to all, including those who aren’t church members or who don’t live in Lincoln.
“Our first priority is building relationships and connections,” Novotny said. “Religion has a lot of baggage, some of it well deserved, that might keep people from walking through the door. There was a loneliness epidemic happening even pre-Covid, and religious institutions have been declining in popularity. I think there’s a longing where people aren’t all getting those needs met, so hopefully the church can keep reinventing itself” to foster those connections.
First Parish in Lincoln (UU/UCC)4 and 14 Bedford Road, Lincoln
(details and links available on the FPL Lincoln website)
St. Julia Church, 374 Boston Post Road, Weston
St. Joseph Church, 142 Lincoln Road, Lincoln
147 Concord Road, Lincoln
4 and 14 Bedford Rd.
St. Julia Church, 374 Boston Post Road, Weston
St. Joseph Church, 142 Lincoln Road, Lincoln
St. Joseph Church in Lincoln will re-open for Sunday Mass starting on April 3. The 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday Masses will be celebrated at St. Joseph’s in Lincoln.
147 Concord Road, Lincoln
4 and 14 Bedford Rd.
Details and Zoom links available at www.fplincoln.org.
St. Julia Church, 374 Boston Post Road, Weston
St. Joseph Church, 142 Lincoln Road, Lincoln
St. Joseph Church in Lincoln will re-open for Sunday Mass starting on April 3. The 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday Masses will be celebrated at St. Joseph’s in Lincoln.
147 Concord Road, Lincoln
4 and 14 Bedford Rd.
Details and Zoom links available at www.fplincoln.org
St. Julia Church, 374 Boston Post Road, Weston
St. Joseph Church, 142 Lincoln Road, Lincoln
St. Joseph Church in Lincoln will re-open for Sunday Mass starting on April 3. The 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Sunday Masses will be celebrated at St. Joseph’s in Lincoln.
Please contact cmcgarry@stjulia.org for details on either Bible study series.
147 Concord Road, Lincoln
Palm Sunday (March 28)
Maundy Thursday, April 1
Good Friday, April 2
Holy Saturday, April 3
Easter Sunday, April 4
Join Farrington Nature Linc and the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust on Thursday, April 22 from 2–3 p.m. via Zoom for “Owls Up Close,” a virtual version of “Eyes on Owls.” Naturalists Marcia and Mark Wilson will introduce everyone to six live owls up close and personal, followed by some owl call practice with a hooting lesson. They’ll highlight the owls’ unique adaptations, habitats, and behaviors in the wild, while sharing tips on how you can look for owls yourself. All are welcome at this family friendly program. Register here to receive the Zoom link. This is a free program, but donations are encouraged and help us bring this program to the community. Viewers may purchase copies of Mark’s book, Owling (signed and personalized by the author) by emailing eyesonowls@earthlink.net.
Join award-winning producer, film composer, and author Ruth Mendelson of Lincoln to discuss her new book, The Water Tree Way, on Thursday, April 22 from 7–8:15 p.m. The main character Jai (pronounced “Jay”), filled with spunk, stealth, and courage, leaves everything she’s known to embark on a hair-raising journey. A 240-page children’s book intended for readers of all ages, the story exalts the triumph of the human spirit as experienced by a girl who can be none other than her unabashed self. Register here.
Artist Evelyn Rydz will speak on “Close Attention: Exploring a Creative Practice Inside and Outside the Studio” on Wednesday, April 14 at 7 p.m. Exploring the vulnerability and the resiliency of natural and cultural ecosystems, Rydz invites viewers and participants of her projects to imagine a different future — one shaped by our connections and care for local and global communities. Her talk is part of “On Belonging in Outdoors Spaces,” a free virtual speaker series featuring prominent speakers whose are advancing efforts to strengthen belonging and connection between communities of color and the benefits of time in nature.
Also in the series:
Register here and get more information about the presentations and speakers. The series is organized by the Lincoln Land Conservation Trust, the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Farrington Nature Linc, The Food Project, Mass Audubon, and The Walden Woods Project. Additional support is provided by the Ogden Codman Trust, the Lincoln Garden Club, and the Bemis Free Lecture Series.
The Lincoln Public Library is now open to the public by appointment. For appointments for adult services, call 781-259-8465 and press 3. For children’s services, press 4. The first hour of appointments on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays are reserved for patrons over 60 or with other high risk factors. Appointments will be for 30 minutes and can be made up to a week in advance. Face coverings are required for all patrons over 2 years old. For details including hours of opening and for contactless pickup of library materials, click here.
The L-S Music Department presents its annual pops concert on Friday, March 12 at 7 p.m. This year’s virtual event will feature live performances by orchestral group cohorts interspersed with video performances from choral, band, and jazz groups. Cohort A will perform “Libertango” and “A Salute to Michael Jackson” Cohort B of Orchestra (shown in this rehearsal photo) will perform “Gabriel’s Oboe” from “The Mission” with guest soloist Superintendent/Principal Bella Wong on clarinet. They will also perform “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The combined student cohorts will perform “We are the World.”
Cohort B of the L-S orchestra in rehearsal.
The video with students from the symphonic and concert band groups will perform “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire as well as the “Theme from Star Wars, The Mandalorian” by Ludwig Göransson. The jazz video will showcase students from the combined symphonic and concert jazz ensembles performing “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Louis Prima. Chamber Singers will perform “Short People” by Randy Newman. Treble choir will sing “Go the Distance” from the movie “Hercules” and the concert choir will perform “I Want You Back/ABC,” a Jackson Five medley. Valentine Quartets will also perform a capella, sharing the popular songs the groups prepared for their annual Valentine’s Day performances.
The concert will air in both Sudbury and Lincoln on Comcast channel 9 / Verizon channel 32, and will live-stream at this link. To learn more about the LSRHS Music Program, visit L-S Friends of Music at www.lsfom.org.
St. Anne’s in-the-Fields will host its second drive-in Evensong service on Sunday, March 14 at 5 p.m. During the service, which originates from the monastic hours, the choir offers certain portions while the congregation joins in the prayers, hymns, Creed and responses. In the lower parking lot, each singer will sit in their car with a wireless microphone while Music Director Jay Lane conducts from the upper lot. The singing and pre-recorded organ music are mixed in real time and the results are broadcast over an unused FM radio frequency. Parishioner Tom Vollaro is the sound engineer. This 45-minute service will feature Walmisley’s “Magnificat” and “Nunc Dimittis in D minor,” Wesley’s “Lead me, Lord,” and a hymn everyone can sing together. Read about the choir’s first drive-in Evensong in The Boston Globe.
Friends of Modern Architecture/Lincoln is encouraging attendance at Modernism Week in Palm Springs, an online version of its annual celebration of midcentury modern design, architecture, art, fashion and culture online. Programs are for sale until March 15 and stream through March 31. Go to modernismweek.com for tickets and information.
The Lincoln In-Town Soccer program will kick off the spring season in mid-April. All Covid-19 safety measures from the fall season will continue into the spring and the program will follow and adhere to the Massachusetts state regulations to ensure safety for kids and parents. The season for grades K-2 will start on either April 10 or April 17 on Smith Field depending on field conditions, with K-1 at 8 a.m. and Grade 2 at 9 a.m. If you were registered for the Fall 2020 session, you are already enrolled for the spring season.
The program is also looking for more boys in grade 3 even if they were not enrolled in the fall. Register at www.lincolnsoccer.com.
The Lincoln Public Library is offering the following programs via Zoom, in addition to others previously announced in the Lincoln Squirrel. See the library’s website at www.lincolnpl.org for details on all programs.
eBook Help
Fridays, March 12, 19 and 26 from 2–3 p.m.
Would you like to read or listen to library books on a Kindle or iPhone? Elizabeth Creighton and Kate Tranquada can show you how to borrow e-books and audiobooks and are available for troubleshooting as well. Contact Kate at ktranquada@minlib.net to get the Zoom link.
What is Racism?
Wednesday, March 17 from 6:30–7:30 p.m.
School-aged children are invited to join us for a discussion about racism led by Wee the People, a Boston-based social justice group. Kids notice skin color and sense that it matters, and they have questions about how and why. Together we will explore how racism isn’t just one thing, but a problem with many parts working together — problems that take more than individual kindness to solve. Breaking down the fundamental concepts of skin color, race, racism, and injustice, kids will learn how they can help to notice and disrupt racist systems. Email dleopold@minlib.net to get a Zoom invite.
“Stunning Spring Perennials” with Joan Butler
Tuesday, March 23 at 7 p.m.
Whether you garden in sun or shade, learn about how to combine them for best effect in the garden from Joan Butler of Enchanted Gardens. Her gardens have been included in several garden tours and feature a combination of native plants. For a Zoom invitation, please email Lisa Rothenberg at lrothenberg@minlib.net or call the library at 781-259-8465 ext. 202. This program is made possible with funding by the Friends of the Lincoln Public Library.
The Friends of the Lincoln Library offers home delivery of books and other materials to Lincoln residents who are unable to come to the library in person. Patrons may order up to six library items at one time (including DVDs, CDs, spoken-word CDs, and two-week new releases). Patrons may use the Minuteman online catalog to request materials, or they can call the library to request specific items or general selections (e.g., “please send me five mysteries by women authors”). A volunteer from the Friends delivers requested items on need more information about home delivery, contact the Reference Department at 781-259-8465 ext. 204 or email lincoln@minlib.net.