In person and on Zoom ~ 11:00 am
Every Sunday morning at 11:00, we gather for beautiful music, sharing joys and sorrows, inspired preaching, and building beloved community. Following the service, there are both in-person and virtual coffee hours. All are welcome!
In Person:The Great Doors at 20 Arlington Street open at 10:30 and music begins at 10:45. Dress as you'd like; come as you are.
On Zoom: For those who would like to participate virtually, please meet us in the Arlington Street Zoom Room! Join with video at tinyurl.com/ASCZoom or participate by phone by dialing (929) 436-2866. For either option, the meeting ID is 895 886 6876.
You are welcome here!
Join the Arlington Street Zoom Room
Download the Order of
Service
Fill the
Virtual Collection Plate
Submit Candles of Joy &
Sorrow
Watch Past Sermons and Full Services
Saturday, May 4 ~ 6:00–9:00 pm
On Saturday night, May 4th, you are invited to our big, sparkly gala — delicious food, signature cocktails and mocktails, jazz, fabulous auction items, and dancing with a live DJ! We’ll be celebrating Rev. Kim’s 35 years of ministry: It’s going to be wonderful! Get your tickets now at https://givebutter.com/c/ASCgala. Please come!
Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Marriage Equality
Friday, May 17 ~ 12:00–2:00 pm (in person and Arlington Street Zoom Room! )
It's been twenty years since Arlington Street hosted the first legal same-sex wedding in a church in the United States! We’re working with our friends from GLAD, MassEquality, The History Project, and Centerline Liberties to host a fitting celebration of this happy anniversary.
Rev. Kim will be a featured speaker and will welcome special guests including Goodridge plaintiffs David Wilson and Rob Compton, Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Boston Red Sox EVP David Friedman, and author Marc Solomon to reflect on how far we’ve come and to examine the work ahead for the LGBTQ+ movement. Please join us in the Sanctuary or on Zoom.
Following the program, all are welcome to gather in the Hunnewell Chapel for a community reception with coffee and cupcakes. The event is free, but pre-registration is required. Learn more and RSVP at https://www.glad.org/20years.
A Personal Reflection from John O'Connor
offered on Sunday morning, February 11th, 2024
For the past 34 years, Arlington Street
has been my spiritual home. In stormy
times, it has been a place of shelter. I
remember in 1990, standing at this very
podium, offering my very first candle. I was
shaking with rage. A group of us had just
attended an AIDS fundraiser in the South
End when were attacked by a gang,
wielding broken bottles and bats, screaming
anti-gay slurs. Several ended up in the
hospital with serious injuries. And so I, a
young lawyer, ended up as a witness in a
Federal Hate Crimes trial. And Arlington
Street was my support.
Arlington Street has also been a
community of joy and celebration. I never
expected I’d be a bride in a traditional
church wedding . . . well, sort of traditional!
And Arlington Street has been a
community of learning, where I have been
challenged to become the best possible
version of myself. Whoever would have
thought that the angry young lawyer who
came up to this pulpit 34 years ago would
later decide to go to Divinity School to study
for the ministry?
For those of you new to Arlington Street,
stick around . . . There’s magic in this place.
Monday Mettā
Every Monday ~ 12:00 pm (Zoom)
Led by Rev. Kim
Come for a half hour of Mettā (lovingkindness meditation), sending lovingkindness to ourselves and to the world. No meditation experience necessary. Bring your open heart!
Join with video at tinyurl.com/ASCZoom or participate by phone by dialing
(929) 436-2866. For either option, the meeting ID is 895 886 6876.
Poems to Go On
Every Monday ~ 4:00 pm (Zoom)
Led by Rev. Kim
"You can use a poem the next time your life threatens to become too crowded or too empty, or too anything, to give you some feeling of order or companionship. A spell against 'chaos and old night.' I hope some of these will do you some good." ~ Vermont poet James Hayford Please come whether or not you think you like poetry! Feel free just to listen or bring a favorite poem. We'll have the opportunity to read aloud and share what these poems mean to us. All are welcome! Join with video at tinyurl.com/ASCZoom or participate by phone by dialing (929) 436-2866. For either option, the meeting ID is always 895 886 6876.
Please come whether or not you think you like poetry! Feel free just to listen or bring a favorite poem. We'll have the opportunity to read aloud and share what these poems mean to us. All are welcome!
Join with video at tinyurl.com/ASCZoom or participate by phone by dialing
(929) 436-2866. For either option, the meeting ID is 895 886 6876.
Buddha's Belly ~ The Buddhist Book Discussion
The 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month ~ 6:00 pm (Zoom)
Led by Rev. Kim
Are you curious about Buddhism? Buddha's Belly gatherings are an opportunity to read books by contemporary Buddhist teachers and discuss The Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path, the Four Heavenly Abodes, the Five Hindrances ... and to ask your burning questions about meditation (e.g., where do I put my legs?).
We're reading Jack Kornfield's A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life. For our gathering on May 14th, please read through Chapter 6.
Join with video at tinyurl.com/ASCZoom or participate by phone by dialing (929)436-2866. For either option, the meeting ID is always 895 886 6876.
Arlington Street Meditation Center
The 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month ~ 7:00 pm (Zoom)
Led by Rev. Kim
Our gathering includes seated meditation, a brief reading from Buddhist teachings, and conversation. Beginners and experienced meditators from all traditions (or none!) are warmly welcome. If you'd like to print out the words to the Mettā (Lovingkindness) phrases, which we repeat together at the close of the Arlington Street Meditation Center gathering, you'll find them here. If you don't, no worries; even if you don't know them as we begin, you'll know them by the time we finish!
Join with video at tinyurl.com/ASCZoom or participate by phone by dialing (929)436-2866. For either option, the meeting ID is always 895 886 6876.
Tea with the Ministers
Every Wednesday ~ 4:00 pm (Zoom)
Led by Rev. Kim and Rev. Beth
Make a cuppa, find a comfortable seat, and come take a civilized late afternoon break with your ministers and one another. Our next discussion prompt is “I feel most alive when…” All are welcome!
Join with video at tinyurl.com/ASCZoom or participate by phone by dialing (929) 436-2866. For either option, the meeting ID is always 895 886 6876.
Kundalini Yoga Class
Every Wednesday ~ 6:00 pm (Zoom)
Led by Jean Ko Stewart
Experience fun exercises and poses, breathing techniques, chanting, meditation, and deep relaxation in this unique class. Moving energy through your body brings positive change and growth. There is a $10 charge that goes to the church. All are welcome!
Note: This class is NOT in the Arlington Street Zoom room. Please email Office@ASCBoston.org for Zoom access.
Arlington Street Writes! Hosted by Trisha Zembruski
Every Thursday ~ 5:00 pm (Zoom)
Led by Trisha Zembruski
Trisha invites you to the spiritual practice of writing inspired by Zen meditation, based on Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones. No writing experience necessary – all you need is paper, pen, and willingness! All are welcome!
Note: This meeting is NOT in the Arlington Street Zoom room. Join by video at tinyurl.com/ASCWrites.
New Member Class: Meet Rev. Kim
Wednesday, May 1st ~ 6:00 pm (ET) in a special Zoom room: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4419290135?omn=82791044882 Meeting ID: 441 929 0135
All interested newcomers are warmly invited to our next new member class. For this class, Rev. Kim will join us as we share stories about our spiritual journeys and ask our burning questions. This class is a wonderful opportunity to deepen your relationship and knowledge of Arlington Street, and to discern whether you are ready to join. All are welcome! Please contact rcorey.ascboston@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Please note: This is not in the Arlington Street Zoom room. Find us here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4419290135?omn=82791044882 Meeting ID: 441 929 0135
The Wednesdays Literary Salon: Walt Whitman
Wednesday, May 8th ~ 12:30-2:00 pm in the Arlington Street Zoom Room!
Rev. Kim invites you to this final gathering of The Wednesdays, at which Professor Alan Helms, a Whitman scholar, will guide us through Song of Myself, sections 1-14. It's in the public domain and available in many forms; one is here. Be sure to have read it ahead of time! https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45477/song-of-myself-1892-version
New Member Class: Meet ASC
Wednesday, May 8th ~ 6:00 pm (ET) in a special Zoom room: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4419290135?omn=82791044882 Meeting ID: 441 929 0135
All interested newcomers are warmly invited to our next new member class. In this session, we learn a little of Arlington Street’s history, polity, and practices; and meet some of our illustrious leadership and staff. These classes are a wonderful opportunity to deepen your relationship and knowledge of Arlington Street, and to discern whether you are ready to join. All are welcome! Please contact rcorey.ascboston@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Please note: This is not in the Arlington Street Zoom room. Find us here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4419290135?omn=82791044882 Meeting ID: 441 929 0135
Forgiveness Practices & Human Flourishing (Zoom)
Tuesday, May 21st ~ 6:30 pm (ET)
In many spiritual communities, people routinely pray that they can forgive others and they others can forgive them. What might it mean for us to put that prayer in to practice in our own lives? The expanding field of forgiveness studies has researched different protocols that might prove helpful to individuals. It has also demonstrated the powerful role that forgiveness can play in fostering fuller human flourishing and promoting greater physical and mental health. Come to this springtime webinar series offered by the Rev. Dr. Kelly Murphy Mason, our Community Minister for Spiritual Direction, to learn more about both the barriers to and the benefits of forgiveness. You may remember her January 2024 sermon, “Funny About Forgiveness…” Please RSVP ahead of time to Office@ASCBoston.org receive advance materials.
Note: This meeting is NOT in the Arlington Street Zoom room. Join by video here.
Corporation Meeting (in person & in the Arlington Street Zoom Room)
Sunday, May 19, immediately following the morning service
Draft Agenda
Welcome and Call to Order ~ Gaby Whitehouse & Tom Anderson
*Membership Update ~ Steve Anable & Rachel Corey
*Treasurer's Report & 2024-25 Budget Presentation ~ Liz Teixeira & Rev. Beth Robbins
*Endowment Bylaws Update ~ Liz Teixeira
*Columbarium Introduction ~ David Janero, Jeffrey Thomson, Jon Andersen-Miller, & Rev. Kim Crawford Harvie
Thanks to Outgoing Leadership ~ Rev. Kim Crawford Harvie & Rev. Beth Robbins
*Election of New Leadership ~ Deb Pontes
Restoration Update ~ Jon Andersen-Miller
*Minister Emerita Presentation ~ Tom Anderson & Alan Kemp
Adjourn and Party! ~ Gaby Whitehouse & Tom Anderson
*corporation vote
Discover a Secret Treasure: Come Ring the Steeple Bells!
Every Sunday morning ~ 10:30 am
Meet in the back of the sanctuary
Installed in 1860, the bells in the Arlington Street steeple were played until the United States entered WWII, after which they were neglected and nearly forgotten.
George Whitehouse didn't forget. Twenty years later, he and a friend restored the bells in secret. On Christmas Eve of 1961, people coming to services were surprised and delighted when "O Come, All Ye Faithful" rang out across the city, played on bells they didn't even know existed.
For many years now, the bells have largely been the domain of George (Master of the Bells) and Doc (Assistant to the Master of the Bells). They are pleased to announce the formation of the Arlington Street Bellringers Guild! Their aim is to foster a cadre of people they will train to become experienced bellringers and who will learn to do small repairs.
To ring the bells, you need to be able to climb three flights of steep stairs, be possessed of an elementary sense of rhythm, and be available a half hour before some Sunday services.
At 10:30 on any Sunday morning, please meet Doc at the foot of the staircase to the left as you enter the sanctuary so you can climb up into the belltower all together! Questions? Contact Doc at kinnerc@gmail.com.
Flowers on the High Pulpit
Would you like to make a gift of flowers for the entire congregation to enjoy on a Sunday morning? You can make your dedication in memory, in honor, or in celebration of someone or something you love. You can have flowers delivered orbring your own (a minimum of two dozen flowers is perfect for our huge space). Please email office@ASCBoston.org, to claim your date! Thank you!
Letter from Kim
Michaela Coel arrives at Arlington Street's Sparkle & Shine gala
(more fun that The Met!)
Dearly Beloved,
Tomorrow night, Saturday, May 4th, it’s time to Sparkle & Shine! I’ve raided Kem’s closet (only one of us goes in for glittery); we’re very excited to eat and drink, bid, and dance! After months of weekly, late-night planning sessions and untold hours pulling it all together in time stolen from sleep, the Spring Gala Planning Team is ready for you! The party is in-person — enter the Great Doors at 20 Arlington Street and get ready for delicious food, signature cocktails and mocktails, jazz, fabulous auction items, and dancing with a live DJ!
And then, on Sunday morning, collaborative pianist Yulia Yun opens the service with Robert Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood. The Arlington Street Choir sings Heather Houston’s Re-Wild My Soul and Dan Forrest’s The Music of Living. We’ll all sing Woyaya (“We are going, heaven knows where we are going, but we know within; and we will get there, heaven knows how we will get there, but we know we will”) and Humbird’s On the Day We Are Together Again. My sermon is called The Spiritual Practice of Uncertainty. Accompanied by Yulia on piano and Director of Music Mark David Buckles on cajón, Soprano Natalia St Jean and mezzo soprano Bek Zehr will sing Here Comes a Thought (from Steven Universe). To close, we’ll all sing Paul McCartney’s Let It Be … and for the postlude, Yulia will play it on organ!
Let’s be together all weekend!
Faithfully yours, with love,
Kim
Coming up next week:
At 12:30 on Wednesday, May 8th, Rev. Kim and Professor Alan Helms host the final gathering of The Wednesdays Literary Salon. Professor Helms is indisputably the greatest living Whitman scholar; we’ll be discussing Walt Whitman’s Song of Myself, sections 1-14. Read ahead and come bear witness to a scholarly tour de force!
At 6:00 on Wednesday, May 8th, the Membership Team hosts the final New Member class before our summer hiatus. All interested newcomers are welcome!
As always, please visit ASCBoston.org for details and Zoom room links.
And to get this on your radar:
At noon on Friday, May 17th, we’ll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of marriage equality in the Commonwealth! The event is co-sponsored by GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders); among the honored guests will be our beloved David Wilson & Rob Compton (now retired and living in Provincetown), the very first couple to be legally married in a church in the country (yes, Arlington Street)! Thanks to Art Nava and the Tech Team, the event will be hybrid. Please pre-register here (scroll down). All are welcome!
To read Rev. Kim’s pastoral letters to the congregation, please click here.
Our Shared Responsibility During the Global Pandemic
Friends, these are extraordinary times that call for extraordinary generosity. Many
income-generating events and rentals have had to be cancelled or postponed, putting a huge strain on the
Arlington Street budget. Our ministers and staff are continuing to work; our goal is to continue to pay them.
Please help sustain the church by making a special online gift or by texting GIVE to (617) 300-0509. Also, please consider setting up automatic payments via bank
transfer or credit card to pay your pledge. Our treasurer, Liz Teixeira, (treasurer@ascboston.org) would be happy and grateful to assist you
with this process! Together though apart, we can thrive! Thank you for your steadfastness and support!
If you are new to Unitarian Universalism,
“Voices of a Liberal Faith — Unitarian Universalists”
is a great introduction. Click here to watch
this ten minute video!
Please consider making a secure
donation to further the work of Arlington Street Church in the world.
Thank you for your support!
Join us this Sunday in person or on Zoom. Senior Minister, Rev. Kim K. Crawford Harvie's sermon is "The Spiritual Practice of Uncertainty." All are welcome!
Candles can be submitted online by Arlington Street Church members and friends and will be included in our weekly Candles of Sorrow & Joy ritual during the Sunday morning worship service.
Click here to fill out an online Candle Card.
Give and Take Read Watch [March 5, 2023]
The Light’s Bounty on Familiar Things Read Watch [December 11, 2022]
Enlightenment to Follow Read Watch [December 4, 2022]
Enjoy recordings of past services and sermons by visiting our podcast, YouTube channel, and Worship Archives.
Click to open in iTunes.
These podcasts are made possible by the generosity of the congregation of Arlington Street Church.
Welcome to AmazonSmile!
Thank you for supporting Arlington Street Church! If you're shopping on Amazon, always start at smile.amazon.com, type in Arlington Street Church, and Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases! Thank you!
Welcome to Arlington Street Church, gathered in love and service for justice and peace. We're so glad you found us! Unitarian Universalists believe that personal experience, conscience, and reason are the final authorities in religion. Instead of subscribing to a single religious creed or doctrine, we keep an open mind to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places, and we honor a diversity of answers. Join us! All are welcome!
Virtual Tour Now! Take this
360° virtual tour of our sanctuary and chapel.
Get Married! We have beautiful settings for weddings and commitment ceremonies, and conveniently located space for meetings and events for reasonable fees!
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Join Us! Browse our web site to learn how to participate at Arlington Street Church! And here are some directions to Arlington Street Church. Come visit us!
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Thanks to our wonderful friends across the river at First Parish in Cambridge (Unitarian Universalist) for
sharing their Covenant of Right Relations with us! With the guidance of our Transformation Team for
Racial Justice, we're beginning to consider how to make it our own. Click here to read.Your
insights are welcome! Please email Transformation@ASCBoston.org.