Community Life Blog

— DAY 9: OUR COMMUNITY —

We give thanks for our community.

We give thanks for the town of Weston and for all the MetroWest suburbs. We give thanks for our neighbors and for friendly faces throughout our town. We give thanks for our town leaders – elected officials, fire and police officers, and town employees. We give thanks for every person who works at a business in our community, helping make it a kind and friendly place. We give thanks for our schools, our community center, the town green, the rail trail, and all other shared space.

We give thanks for the First Parish community and the work of this church. We give thanks for our commitment to service and support, and all the ways we show love for our neighbors. We give thanks for the Weston Resettle Together team who are helping a Congolese refugee family settle in Lowell, MA. We give thanks for our commitment to welcoming the stranger, fighting for justice, and loving one another. We give thanks for casseroles and greeting cards, for lively discussion and quiet moments of personal connection.

We give thanks for finding a sense of belonging in our community. Not a sense of fitting in or keeping up with our neighbors, but a soul-deep love and acceptance. Belonging is rooted in the knowledge that we are all embraced as part of something bigger despite all our differences.

We give thanks for all humanity– we recognize that we are all connected, tied in one “inescapable network of mutuality” in order to flourish or even to survive. We need one another. Once we recognize this truth, it’s easier to see how interconnectedness is actually our strength, and we can be grateful for the hard and beautiful work of living and working with other people.

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What do you love about your neighborhood? About Weston? About living in Massachusetts? (…or your own town & state!)

What do you love about the First Parish community?

What gives you a sense of belonging in life?

The beautiful Weston Town Hall in the spring.

The First Parish community is a lot of fun!

Weston High School students created a mural along the rail trail with the title “What Freedom Means to Me: Becoming a Better Ally.” 

The town of Weston has so many amazing resources and hubs of community; these little felt pumpkins were made during a class at the Weston Art & Innovation Center (AIC).