The Compass, March 11
- 20 hours ago
- 5 min read
Spring is in 10 DAYS!! Do a happy dance.
Did you miss Sunday Service? Watch it here!
Sunday Service
Reminder: No service on March 15, due to the New Bedford Half Marathon. See you next Sunday!
Arts & Culture Nonprofit Meetings Scheduled
First Unitarian Church in New Bedford is forming an art & culture nonprofit! We will be facilitating a series of meetings to discuss details, board members, grants, and more.
Meeting Four: April 1, at 7 PM on Zoom
All interested individuals are encouraged to join the conversation.
Volunteers Needed!
Are you looking for more ways to get involved? We have a few upcoming events that need volunteers.
Beltane, May 3, 2026
We need people to plan the event, recruit volunteers to set up and break down.
We would like to include a child's Maypole this year, which means setting up two Maypoles
Musicians
Food planning
Karen can not do everything for this event. In order to make this happen, we need YOU! Please reach out to minister@uunewbedford.org to express your interest.
Jazz Concert, June 28, 2026
We need organizers and planners for food. Are we doing a bake sale? Providing sandwiches? Providing drinks? We need one person to be the point of contact and main organizer of food.
Volunteers to help with gift baskets and selling raffle tickets.
We are looking for a group of individuals to revive the Strategic Plan. An initial survey and outline were completed in 2020-2021, but a plan was not finalized. We want to analyze the findings and create a comprehensive 5-year plan. Interested parties would meet via Zoom. Please email admin@uunewbedford.org to express your interest.
March Thrift Shop Sale
Fill a bag of winter clothing for $2! (excludes jeans)
What does it mean to be a people of Paying Attention?
March 12: Art, History, Architecture {AHA} I am NB Storytelling
NB ½ Marathon Church Closed
March 22: The Power of Paying Attention To Our Relationship with Water
March 29: The Power of Paying Attention to The Wisdom Within
Holy Week!
What's Ours to Do
By Mary Shelden
March 11, 2026
“How easily my life becomes a list—a long scroll of duties …”—Gunilla Norris, “Planning the Day,” in Being Home
Long ago, when my beloved and I were newly dating, her housemate—social worker, blackbelt, and general wise woman, Cathy Corl—suggested to her a new daily practice: when you’re making out your to-do list, make two columns: one for you and one for The Universe. We were both already inveterate “to-do” listmakers with contrasting styles (my partner’s regular and tidy; mine random and as-needed) and the idea was compelling to us both.
So much in our lives felt beyond our control at that point, from my mother’s terminal lung cancer to when we might finally be able to live together. I can’t say I regularly wrote it out, but “making a second column for The Universe” became a regular part of my thinking. It served as a way both to name and honor a heartfelt yearning or prayer, and to release to the Great All what was not within our power.
After my mother’s passing, when we finally found our wee, adorable, perfect-for-us first home, it checked off an earnest second-column wish of many years.
I shared the idea with our daughter some years later, when she was struggling after a painful experience. I taught her the Serenity Prayer:
Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,courage to change the things I can,and wisdom to know the difference.
I suggested that making The Universe’s second column was a good tool for developing that wisdom: that often in contemplating what truly was beyond my control, I could surrender to The Universe that which I could not accomplish. Often in the process, I discerned the part that was mine to do—a smaller task for the first column—making my prayer more active.
Since then, I have come to appreciate the interplay between the first and second column: what’s mine to do, and what I leave to The Universe. In attending to them both, I affirm what Rabbi Tarfon knew: we are not required to complete the task, yet neither are we free to withdraw from it.
These days I often find myself overwhelmed by all that is beyond my control. But when I give over what is beyond me to the second column, I often find the first column part that I can do.
Prayer
Holy Interconnectedness, help us to be steadfast in what is ours to do. Help us to rest in the knowledge that the vast web of being will hold what we ourselves must release.
Please share these events with your family and friends, and consider attending yourself. We would love to see you!
FREE Events Happening at UUNB
Thursday, March 12, at 6 PM
Friday, March 13, at 11 AM
Being Human takes place every Friday at 11 AM. Please use the parking lot door.
No Kings 3: Power Belongs to the People
UUNB will open its doors on March 28th to bring resistance singing and comfort. Stay tuned in the coming days for details about how you can get involved. We will be looking for people to lead songs and offer hospitality. I see a potluck in the future.....
Ticketed Event, Saturday, March 14, at 7 PM
No pre-sales, tickets at the door only. Please enter through the parking lot door on 8th Street. Tickets are $20—cash or credit.
Todd Albright is a country blues, twelve-string guitar player and vocalist based in Detroit, Michigan. Grounded in the pre-war era of the blues tradition (1880-1939), Todd is a mindful purveyor of blues history. His repertoire upholds musical pillars such as Blind Willie McTell, George Carter, Blind Lemon Jefferson, and Leadbelly. His life’s work continues the distinguished tradition of the very roots of American music as told by the African American musicians who created it.
Our Mission is to encourage diversity and mutual acceptance and work for positive change in ourselves and our community.
"We envision a congregation in which we practice the principles of our faith. We seek to enjoy peaceful reflection and inspiration in intellectually and spiritually satisfying church services. We aim to embrace the people and efforts of our church community by supporting our children and their programs, our committees and their goals, our staff and their efforts on our behalf, and each other."
Our Promises
Each person is important.
Be kind in all you do.
We help each other learn.
We search for what is true.
Each person has a say.
Work for a peaceful world.
The web of life’s the way.
Build the beloved community, free from racism and oppression.
First Unitarian Church in New Bedford
71 8th Street, New Bedford, MA 02740
(508) 994-9686
Administrator ext. 10
Minister ext. 13
Karen cell: (508) 441-9344
Thrift Shop ext. 12
Board Members & Officers
Steve Carmel, President
Charles Morgan, Vice President
Deborah Carmel, Treasurer
Elise Rapoza, Secretary
Trustees
Camilla Brooks
Niko Tarini
Mary Rapoza
Jack Vitale
Committee Chairs
Staff
Rev. Karen Leblanc, Minister
Yasmin Fle-fleh Vincent, Director of Religious Education
Randy Fayan, Director of Music
Jessica DeCicco-Carey, Administrator
Tony, Gonsalves, Facilities Manager
John Manning, Sunday Sexton
Mari Fay-Martin, Sunday School Teacher
Sam Angelini, Sunday School Teacher
The Thrift Shop is open Tuesdays and Saturdays from 10 AM to 1 PM
(508)994-9686 ext.12
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