First Parish UU Church of Northboro Installs New Minister

First Parish Northboro Unitarian Universalist Church at 40 Church Street in Northboro is pleased to announce the Installation of our new settled minister, Rev. Lynda Sutherland. The Installation will take place on May 7th at 3:00 PM in the Meeting House of First Parish.

Rev. Lynda graduated from Meadville Lombard Theological School with her Master of Divinity degree in May 2015, at age 62. She completed two years as part-time intern minister at Cedar Valley UU in Iowa, and worked as a part-time assistant minister at Decorah, Iowa Congregational United Church of Christ.

Rev. Lynda is excited and enthusiastic to share and serve in the life of First Parish and the local neighborhood of Northboro. She is deeply committed to helping individuals navigate their spiritual path and find their way back to community. She brings many gifts garnered over a lifetime of raising her eight children and working in business. Her many talents include developing a course in UU principle-grounded child discipline and is also co-authoring a book with UU feminist theologian Sharon Welch.

“It is my goal as a minister to nurture others in their unique, individual understandings and paths to spiritual wholeness. This wholeness includes our embodied selves, our scientific knowledge, our relationships, our dark sides, and gifts, and potentials, logic, and emotion – a lifelong journey of discovery and learning to live lives of joy, love, humility, spirituality, and service.”

First Parish Northboro was organized as “The Church of Christ” on May 21, 1746, 20 years before the incorporation of the town. On the same day, the Reverend John Martyn was ordained as the first minister and services were begun in the first meeting house constructed during the previous year.

In 1808 a second more elaborate meeting house was erected with a tower and facade said to have been designed by Charles Bullfinch (America’s first native-born architect). Its historic bell was cast by the Paul Revere and Sons foundry in 1809 and now sits on the church grounds.

In 1945, on the twenty-second of December, the church building was destroyed by fire. Only the bell remained. Parishioners banded together to restore the church as it was originally built in 1808, but on a reduced scale. A parish house was also constructed and in 1947, a surplus army chapel was purchased from the government and brought from Bradlee Field in Connecticut to Northboro and is still in use on the church campus.

We invite you to join us for this joyous occasion on May 7th. Clergy who wish to process will meet in the Conference room at Parish Hall at 2:30 PM. A gala reception will follow the Installation.

*****Rev. Lynda will be available for interviews before or after her Installation. She may be contacted at the First Parish office, 508 393-6422