Kudos to our Senior High Youth Group for leading us in a beautiful worship service yesterday morning. I heard from many of you during coffee hour and later by email that you thought it was the most meaningful youth service you had attended in many years, and I have to agree. The mini-sermons given by Abby Soule, Elise Goplerud, Isaac Wright-Lichter, and Annie Straubinger were deeply thought provoking, and were delivered eloquently and flawlessly. Many thanks to my colleagues, Peter Boulatta, Alison Green Will, Cindie Umans, Dick LeSchack, and Suzanne and Jeffrey Jubenville for all that they did to make the service a success. And huge thanks to the volunteer youth advisors who work tirelessly with this group each Sunday evening throughout the church year, and on many offsite retreats, too: Judd Bornheimer, Nancy Cowen, Dave Juitt, Megan Ladd, Tim Miley, and Marshall Wilensky – you guys rock! If you weren't able to worship with us yesterday, please borrow a copy of the CD from the church office, and listen to the service. You'll see what I mean!

If you were here yesterday, you may have noticed some changes to social hour following the worship service. We hope they are positive changes, and invite your feedback, as we are experimenting for the rest of this church year with ways to create a less frenetic atmosphere for our social time together. As you know, the worship service is designed to last an hour, from 10:30 to 11:30 am. Social hour immediately follows the service in Parish Hall, where adults gather for coffee/tea and treats.

The Sunday morning program for children and youth is designed to be an hour and a half long, from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm. This serves two purposes: one is that the children and youth have more time to engage in the topics being covered in their classes, and the second purpose is to give adults fifteen minuets to a half hour to spend with each other before the children and youth join them.

Since we currently don't have a Sunday morning class in the Common Room adjacent to Parish Hall, we decided to set up card tables and chairs in there so that people who want to sit down to enjoy their treats can do so, and engage in conversation with others at the table. The children's snack and drinks will be set up in the Common Room, and there are new games in that room's cupboards for anyone to play. It's our hope that adults and children will enjoy the games together. No meetings will be scheduled in the Common Room until 12:15pm, when social hour is ending. Please let Jane Beswick, chair of the Hospitality Committee, or Peter or me know how you and your family are enjoying “the new social hour”- we're all ears!

Late yesterday afternoon, I met Tom Rich, Suzanne Adams, and Dan Fenn at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on Columbia Point in Dorcester. It was a perfect afternoon for a museum visit; rainy and chilly, with the surf rough in the harbor outside. Suzanne, Tom and I had all bid on Dan's auction item last November: a personal tour of the museum with its first executive director and founder – Dan, himself! What an afternoon we had! Dan has a delightful sense of humor, and for two hours we wandered the building with him narrating each exhibit. His personal experiences with the Kennedy family, his intimate knowledge of the museum, and his knowledge of the history and politics of our country made the tour absolutely riveting. If you haven't bid on this auction item in the past, I can't recommend it highly enough. I came home inspired to read everything I can get my hands on about the Kennedy family and John Kennedy's presidency. Good thing summer is just around the corner with its allure of more time for reading!

As we bid a fond welcome to spring, life at First Parish continues to thrum and thrive. There are still many weeks of religious growth and learning ahead with field trips planned, a 5/6^th grade family barbecue at my house (after a scavenger hunt in the Great Meadow), a 7/8^th grade social action trip to Overlook Farm in Rutland, MA, study of our seven principles by the Elementary Cluster, and a really fun trip to Boston on the books for the 12^th grade Toolkits class. Happy Spring to all – see you in church!