Bee Team is Busy as Bees
The Wayland Post recently reported on the latest from our bee team, which tends hives near the Wayland Community Gardens. The article recaps the important role of bees as pollinators in our ecosystem, explains how the bees stay busy in winter, and recounts the care...
Our Annual Yard Sale – A Beloved Tradition Since 1944
On June 6 (9:00 a.m. – 1 p.m.) First Parish will host its annual yard sale. This event continues a tradition dating to 1944, when the First Parish Women’s Alliance held its first rummage sale. (For more information on the history of the rummage sale, please see this...
Sharing Our Offering: Gifts of Hope Unlimited
On May 10, half the Sunday offering will be donated to Gifts of Hope Unlimited. The nonprofit supports those impacted by relationship violence by providing financial assistance, home resources, and community-focused initiatives as a step toward a safe and empowered...
Sharing Our Offering: MetroWest Climate Solutions (MCS)
On April 19, half the Sunday offering will be donated to MetroWest Climate Solutions. MCS is a local partnership of organizations and congregations that works to inspire healthy, sustainable communities by hosting programs that provide the knowledge and tools for...
Listen For Our Revere Bell in the Wee Hours of April 19
On April 19 at 4:20 a.m., the bell in our steeple will toll to muster the troops, as minutemen gather to reenact the march to Concord in 1775 to fight for American independence. Our bell, which continues to ring the hours in the heart of Wayland, was cast in 1814 by...
Sharing Our Offering: Wayland Community Fund
On April 5, half the Sunday offering will be donated to the Wayland Community Fund. The fund provides temporary assistance to Wayland residents in need of help with utilities, rent, medical expenses, food, and other essential needs. In the first 18 years of operation,...
First Parish To Welcome New Minister
First Parish is delighted to announce that Reverend Lauren Smith will join us in August as our new minister. She will follow Rev. Lisa Perry-Wood, who has served as our interim minister since 2024. Rev. Smith has served as a parish minister at UU congregations in San...
Sharing Our Offering: Gratis Healthcare
On March 29, half the Sunday offering will be donated to Gratis Healthcare. The nonprofit provides free medical and mental health services to those in need. By using volunteer clinicians in multiple specialties, including our own David Bechtel, Gratis aims to remove...
Sharing Our Offering: Unitarian Universalist Urban Ministry
On March 15, half the Sunday offering will be donated to the UU Urban Ministry. The UUUM is a non-sectarian, nonprofit social justice organization that works across race and place to dismantle racism and white supremacy culture and to advance racial, social, and...
Sewing Seeds for Hope
For the past three years, First Parish in Wayland has hosted Sewing Seeds for Hope, along with several other nonprofits, at our Holiday Pop-Up Sale. These nonprofits retain all of their earnings from their sales. Sewing Seeds for Hope is a volunteer-run nonprofit...
Sharing Our Offering: Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC)
On Feb. 15, half the Sunday offering will be donated to the UUSC, which works to challenge injustice and advance human rights. Through collaboration with frontline communities and grassroots movements, the UUSC is building a better world together. First Parish shares...
Elizabeth Freeman and the Abolition of Slavery in Massachusetts
In 1773, Bett, an enslaved woman in the home of Colonel John Ashley in Sheffield, Mass., heard Ashley and other colonists discussing the drafting of the Sheffield Declaration. An element of the declaration would change her life: Resolved: That mankind in a state of...