Game Night
2019-04-27 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States
Join us for another Game Night, hosted by the Religious Exploration team, on Saturday, April 27 at 6 p.m. in the parish hall parlor. All are welcome to this fun, intergenerational gathering. Please bring:

your favorite games
cash (small bills) for ordering pizza
a snack, dessert or drink (optional)
friends (optional).

We look forward to seeing you there!

Social Justice Community Potluck
2019-05-03 18:30 - 20:00 | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States
Your Social Action Committee will sponsor another in its occasional series of community potlucks on Friday, May 3 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the parish hall parlor (with the candlestick). This one will provide you with another opportunity (including a special surprise) to learn about the community of Plazuelas, El Salvador and talk about the possibility of a “sister” relationship between that community and our congregation. This idea will be considered at the upcoming Annual Meeting.

To provision this potluck, our committee will provide vegetarian and vegan options, in recognition of the impact of meat production/consumption on our bodies, on animals, and on La Madre Tierra. While all contributions will be more than welcome, we invite you to join us in this commitment.

"Transfiguration: German and American Song"
2019-05-04 19:30 - 21:30 | Theodore Parker Church sanctuary, 1859 Centre Street, West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
In concert: James Dargan, baritone, and Mark Whitlock, piano
“Transfiguration: German and American Song” explores music’s ability to transcend limiting labels. Musicians James Dargan and Mark Whitlock take the high romanticism of Mahler, put it together with modern American songs (by James Dargan, with texts by Langston Hughes), and show exactly how thin the line is between these two musical ways of speaking.
The concert features James Dargan and Mark Whitlock, who created the concert program “Oh, Glory!” to celebrate the work of African American classical musicians. James and Mark brought “Oh Glory” to the Theodore Parker Church in January, 2017. They continue to offer this program at churches, schools and concert halls throughout the northeast.
James Dargan is a New York-based soloist, choral singer and teaching artist and performs widely in the U.S. Mark Whitlock, pianist, is based in the Boston area, and has been collaborating and performing with James since 2016.
An additional note from the artists: “We also want our audience to know that we prioritize having a good time, so come ready to be moved!”

All-Church Meeting on the 2019-2020 Budget
2019-05-05 11:30 - 12:00 | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States
The Standing and Finance committees and Stewardship Team have called an important meeting to present the preliminary draft of the church’s 2019-2020 budget on May 5 right after the service. We have a challenging year ahead. Please plan to attend! Watch for more information at church and in your email in the next few weeks.

Newcomers' Café
2019-05-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Theodore Parker Church sanctuary, 1859 Centre Street, West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
Are you a newcomer to Theodore Parker Church or to Unitarian Universalism? Rev. Anne will be hosting a Newcomers’ Café at noon after the service on Sunday, May 5, in the narthex (sanctuary lobby). Please join us to get some background about us and get your questions answered! We will hold our next New Member Welcome ceremony during the service on Sunday, June 2.

A History of Theodore Parker Church
2019-05-19 12:00 - 13:00 | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States
Jessica Mink and David Parke will present a history of our congregation from its beginnings to the present day. All are invited.

Begin Again: Sharing Experiences of the Holy
2019-05-21 19:00 - 21:00 | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States
Nancy Wilber, Steve Greene, and Rev. Anne invite you to the third meeting of Begin Again. Newcomers are welcome. In this group, we share our various experiences of the “Holy,” however we might view and name that. In this month’s meeting we will “begin again” with our feelings and reactions to God — as images, experiences, beliefs, doubts, or even the word itself — in relation to our own spirituality. We’ll also be learning to talk with one another more easily about these subjects, respecting our differences and growing from them.

12th Annual Plant Sale
2019-05-25 09:00 - 14:00 | Theodore Parker Church yard, 1859 Centre St., West Roxbury, 02132, United States
Join us for a fun time with friends and neighbors and take home some plants for your garden donated by church gardeners. Live music will be provided again by Carlin Tripp from 11:30 am. to 1:30 p.m. Bring your lunch and blanket or chair, buy a treat from our bake sale table, and listen on the lawn. All proceeds benefit maintenance and preservation of our historic buildings.

Music on Centre presents Windborne
2019-05-31 20:00 - 22:00 | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States
Windborne is an a capella quartet made up of two men and two women who have studied traditional music that spans many countries and centuries. Their tight vocal harmonies and vibrant energy are the backbone of their delightful and educational shows, though they occasionally use other instruments to accentuate their selections. Their repertoire includes authentic folk songs from places as diverse as Bulgaria, Quebec, the Republic of Georgia, and Basque country, as well as traditional American folk music, often with a social justice message. In 2014, they were one of ten groups in the nation that were chosen to be US cultural ambassadors, traveling to places like Angola and Turkmenestan.

Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for 21 and under with a $40 family maximum. For information and reservations, go to musiconcentre@gmail.com or call 617-327-0542. All Music On Centre shows benefit the Theodore Parker Church and its work.

Information Session: The FY2019-2020 Budget
2019-06-02 12:00 - 13:00 | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States

Annual Meeting of the Church
2019-06-09 12:00 - 14:00 | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States
Agenda: Election of FY20 officers, approval of the FY20 budgets, committee reports, and other new business. All church members should plan to attend.

Music for Food: Schubert & Villa-Lobos
2019-10-06 19:30 - 21:00 | Theodore Parker Church sanctuary, 1859 Centre Street, West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
Musicians from the New England Conservatory faculty and student body return to West Roxbury for the first of two concerts in the 2019-20 season to raise money for the Roslindale Food Pantry. Roslindale-based pianist Damien Francoeur-Krzyzek joins musicians Samuel Andonian, Mari Nagahara, and Audrey Chen for an evening of piano trios by Schubert and Villa-Lobos. The concert will be hosted by Theodore Parker Church. The suggested donation is $25 ($10 for seniors and students), and all proceeds benefit the food pantry.

Music on Centre: Samodivi
2019-10-11 19:30 - 21:30 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
A musical journey to Eastern Europe and the Middle East featuring the magnificent music of the Samodivi band is the season’s first concert offering by Music on Centre. Vessela Stoyonova will be back with her marimba along with Turkish singer Burcu Gulec (both from the Berklee School of Music in Boston) and other performers with exotic instruments of that region. Admission is $20 for adults, $10 for those 21 and under; maximum $40 per family.

Len Cabral: Weaving Words Connecting Cultures
2019-10-19 16:30 | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States
Len Cabral is an internationally acclaimed storyteller who has been enchanting audiences with his storytelling performances at schools, libraries, museums and festivals since 1976. A great-grandson of a Cape Verdean whaler whose grandparents immigrated to America from the islands off the coast of West Africa, Len’s strong Cape Verdean ancestry comes alive in his exuberant retelling of African, Cape Verdean, and Caribbean folktales as well as original stories and tales from around the world. Len is a popular storyteller at theaters, schools and festivals throughout the United States and has performed at festivals in Ireland, Belgium, Austria, Holland, and Canada.
Storytelling begins at 4:30 in the parish hall. All ages are welcome! Invite your friends, and please join us for refreshments and conversation afterward in the parlor.
Presented by the Theodore Parker Church Religious Exploration Committee and Racial Justice Task Force.

Film: Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance
2019-10-27 15:30 - 18:30 | Jamaica Plain UU Church, Eliot St. at the Monument
In a climate emergency, is civil disobedience a necessity? Grounded in people and places at the heart of the climate crisis, “Necessity” traces the fight in Minnesota against the expansion of pipelines carrying toxic tar sands oil through North America. Rev. Anne Bancroft will join the panel of speakers following the film, including the film’s director, Jan Haaken, climate activist Tim DeChristopher, and Jean-Luc Pierite, president of the North American Indian Center of Boston and co-convener on the Advisory Circle for the Institute on Collaborative Language Research, “CoLang.”

Doors open at 3:30 and the program begins at 4:00. Purchase tickets at this link with what you’re able to pay. No one will be turned away.

Presentation: Climate Matters
2019-11-03 13:00 - 14:30 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
Be Empowered, Be the Change — founded and chaired by Nobel Laureate and former US Vice President Al Gore, The Climate Reality Project is dedicated to catalyzing a global solution to the climate crisis by making urgent action a necessity across every level of society. Join us on Sunday, November 3 from 1 to 2:30 p.m. in the parish hall for “Climate Matters,” a presentation about how you can be empowered to be the change we all need to see. Presented by Bill Keydel from Denver, Colorado, this free presentation brings you up to speed about climate reality and what you can do to help.

Begin Again: On Prayer
2019-11-05 19:00 - 21:00 | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States
The Begin Again group will meet on November 5 to explore our experiences of prayer, the Soul Matters Sacred Words theme for November. We wonder: what was your childhood experience of prayer? And, what is prayer to you now? Do you welcome it in your life, or find yourself rejecting the idea? Steve Greene, Nancy Wilber, and Rev. Anne invite you to join us as we continue to share our perspectives and experiences of the “Holy” and the language we use to describe it, for our own spiritual growth and our development as a congregation. Contact Nancy or Steve for more information.

Game Night -- Fun for All Ages
2019-11-08 18:00 - 20:00 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
Come to Game Night! All are welcome at this multigenerational event. Please bring:

your favorite games
cash (small bills) for ordering pizza
a snack, dessert or drink (optional)
friends (optional).

We look forward to seeing you then!

Harvest Contra Dance
2019-11-09 19:00 - 21:00 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
Come one, come all, for a lively night of music and dancing at “Flowers of Autumn,” our Harvest Contra Dance, Saturday, November 9, 7 to 9 p.m. in the parish hall. Erica Weiss, caller for our Spring Contra, will return for this event and will teach each dance. Live music will be joyfully supplied by the TPC folk band.

Contra dancing is a lively and fun tradition, strong in New England since Colonial times. Typically danced to live, fiddle-based music, the tunes draw from English, Celtic, Appalachian, and French-Canadian styles. Dancers form pair of lines, facing (contra) one another, with the lines moving opposite one another as the dance progresses. A caller first teaches the steps of each dance, and then calls the steps as the music plays. The contra community is friendly and inclusive, and the dances themselves make a natural mixer suitable for all ages and abilities — no partner required, come as you are! You can see what this looks (and sounds) like from a recent Boston Intergenerational Dance Association Contra-party by clicking here.

Admission is free, but donations are gladly accepted and help to defray the costs for the event — a $10 donation would be most welcome For more information, email Robin Colgrove.

Theodore Parker Lecture: Rev. Willie Bodrick II
2019-11-10 15:00 - 17:00 | Theodore Parker Church sanctuary, 1859 Centre Street, West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
The Rev. Willie Bodrick II, associate minister of the Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, will speak on the topic, “We Still Can’t Wait: The Urgency of Equal Education for All.” His talk, the sixth in an annual series of lectures honoring the legacy of Theodore Parker, will be followed by a reception in the parish hall.
Rev. Bodrick grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, before attending Georgetown University and Harvard Divinity School. In addition to his duties at his church, he is currently enrolled in the J.D. program at Northeastern University School of Law and is the local coordinator of the Network for Black Student Achievement.
The event is free to the public, but those planning to attend are encouraged to register here, which helps greatly with planning the event.
Event flier

The Bombadils in Concert
2019-11-15 19:30 - 21:30 | Parish Hall, 70 Corey Street, West Roxbury, MA, 02132, United States
Music on Centre proudly presents the Bombadils. Nova Scotia maritimer Luke Fraser and Alberta prairie-girl Sarah Frank create beautiful harmonies and enchanting melodies with old folk songs, poetry, and original songs in a Canadian folk and contemporary bluegrass framework.
Luke’s guitar, mandolin, and harmonies are the ideal counterpoint to Sarah’s sweet-yet-powerful vocals, lyrical fiddle and claw-hammer banjo. Innovative arrangements give their songs layer upon layer of sonically satisfying surprises.
The Bombadils have been nominated for two Canadian Folk Music Awards and have won Folk Music Ontario’s Album of the Year award. They tour internationally and have been granted an official showcase at the 2019 New England Regional Folk Conference.
Admission is $20 adults, $10 under 21, $40 maximum per family.
More information: musiconcentre@gmail.com
Event Flier

Film: "Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Black Colleges and Universities"
2019-11-22 19:00 - 21:00 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
A haven for Black intellectuals, artists and revolutionaries — and path of promise toward the American dream — , Black colleges and universities have educated the architects of freedom movements and cultivated leaders in every field. For the first time, their story is told.

The screening is sponsored by the Racial Justice Task Force. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and the film begins at 7 p.m. This event is free, with popcorn provided. The film is appropriate for high school age and older.

This film is the first of the Friday Night Justice Films the task force is sponsoring this year. Information on the other four films in the series can be found here.

Winter Fair
2019-12-07 10:00 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
Our annual Winter Fair is Saturday, December 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the parish hall. It features a wonderful selection of hand crafted gifts for all ages from local artisans and around the world, baked goods, honey and jelly, jewelry, holiday decorations (buy your wreaths from us!), a children’s craft table, and more. Please consider what you might contribute this year! If you have questions about items that you want to donate, please contact Carol Allen or Jennifer Buchwald.

Information Session on Accessibility and Solar Projects
2020-01-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
The Property Committee and Solar Task Force will present information about two capital projects endorsed by the Standing Committee:

Installation of a three-stop lift and accessible restroom in the parish hall, previously approved by the congregation pending funding
Installation of solar panels on the parish hall roof, a new project

This is a repeat of the information session held on December 22. We encourage members and friends to attend in order to be fully informed about the projects when the congregation meets on January 12 to vote on the projects and a capital budget to fund them.

Congregational Meeting on Accessibility and Solar Projects
2020-01-12 12:00 - 13:30 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
Matters to be undertaken at this important meeting are as follows:

Presentation of information on installation of accessible restroom and lift in the parish hall, and installation of solar panels on the parish hall roof
Vote to approve a proposal to install solar panels on the parish hall roof
Vote to approve a capital funding plan for the above-mentioned accessibility renovation project and the solar panel project

Official Warrant Announcing the meeting, as required by the Theodore Parker Church By-laws

Film: Al Helm (The Dream): Martin Luther King in Palestine
2020-01-24 19:00 - 21:00 | Massachusetts
Our Friday Night Justice Films series continues. An intense cultural exchange between an American gospel choir and the Palestinian National Theatre explores their respective struggles for liberation. Free admission, popcorn, and beverages.

Family Game Night
2020-01-25 17:00 - 19:00 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
Everyone is invited to our intergenerational Game Night! Bring a favorite game and cash (small bills) if you wish for pizza for a fun, social evening.

Tai Chi and Chocolate Complementary Lesson
2020-02-11 18:30 - 19:30 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
Join this event for an evening of stress-relieving movements followed by sweet treats in the Theodore Parker Church parish hall.
To reserve your space, call (617) 327-5100, or send an email.

Bluesman Rev. Robert Jones, Sr. in Concert
2020-02-14 19:30 - 21:30 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
“Songs and Stories Creating Connections”
Rev. Robert Jones, Sr. is a native Detroiter and an inspirational storyteller and musician celebrating the history, humor, and power of American roots music.
For more than thirty years, Robert has entertained and educated audiences of all ages in schools, concert halls, churches, prisons, libraries, union halls, and civil rights organizations. At the heart of his message is the belief that our cultural diversity tells a story that we should celebrate, not just tolerate.
Admission $20 adults, $10 under 21, $40 max per family. Appropriate for all ages. Proceeds benefit the church.

www.revrobertjones.com

Film: Harvest of Empire: The Untold Story of Latinos in America
2020-02-28 19:00 - 21:00 | Theodore Parker Church parish hall, 70 Corey St., West Roxbury, Massachusetts, 02132
Harvest of Empire: The Untold Story of Latinos in America examines the role of the U.S. economic and military intervention in triggering an unprecedented wave of Latino migration that continues to transform the U.S. socio-economic and cultural landscape. Be advised that there are some disturbing scenes in this film. Free admission, popcorn, and beverages. Appropriate for high school age and older. Doors open at 6:30.

Sponsored by the Theodore Parker Church Racial Justice Task Force.
