On Sunday, March 20 during the regular 10am service, First Parish and Music Director Pauline Oliver will present a performance of “Missa Gaia,” an Earth Mass written by Paul Winter. Dedicated to Saint Francis, the patron saint of ecology, Missa Gaia celebrates the entire Earth as a sacred place. It was commissioned by the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Manhattan, where the first performance took place in the 1980s.
Featuring the First Parish Choir, invited soloists, and instrumentalists, Missa Gaia includes not only piano, guitar, drums and a haunting saxophone, but also the sounds of tundra wolves, humpback whales, and harp seal pups woven into the music. It is an unusual and engaging contemporary work. During the closing section, the congregation is invited to sing along with the full choral and orchestral ensemble on the familiar hymn, “The Blue Green Hills of Home.” Join us!