Events List

Sunday morning worship, 9 AM through Labor Day, is held in person at 10 Central St and also streamed on Facebook Live at FirstParishChurchManchesterMa

Our worship celebration is music filled with an inspiring message from our Minister to refresh you for the week ahead.

You can send your Joys and Concerns to Mark by email, at or text to 908-477-5426

First Parish Church Manchester by the Sea Sunday, August 7 Bulletin Aug 7 2022

Rev. Dr. Mark Boyea

Dr. Bonnie Anderson, Guest Pianist

Rebecca Shrimpton, Soloist

“Folia in D minor” by Alessandro Scarlatti

La Soiree dans Grenade (from ‘Estampes’) Claude Debussy

I Stood on the River of Jordan spiritual, arr. H. T.  Burleigh

My Tribute Andrae Crouch

Grace Clifford Shaw, text Nora D. McGee

Hymns Arise, Your Light is Come, Be Now My Vision

John Round 2 Corinthians 4:1-5, 8-10, 16-18

August 15-19, 4-7pm Ages 6-12 Join us as we experience interactive storytelling, music, song, imaginative movement, yoga and meditation, games, visual art (in a variety of mediums), food creations and group creative writing in 5, three-hour sessions.

This experience will integrate 5 different Bible stories with creative expression and fellowship for children ages 4-12.

Youth ages 14-16 are invited to apply as a junior counselor and parents are encouraged to volunteer.

There is no cost for this experience and all materials are included.

Please pre-register by July 16, space is limited to 15 participants.

Do you know we have a book group at First Parish? It is open to anyone and meets on the last Monday of the month.
This is a time for church members as well as non-church friends to come together and engage with one another, build relationships, and share in a discussion of books that are of interest to people of various backgrounds. We have fun visiting, conversing about the book and sharing stories and would love to have you join us!

July is a free month, enjoy your summer reads!

August 29, 6:30 PM, location TBD, choice of 2 books –

“Mad About the Boy” by Helen Fielding

Move over, Bridget Jones’s diary: She’s back, and this time she’s texting and tweeting. . .

Fourteen years after landing Mark Darcy, Bridget’s life has taken her places she never expected. But despite the new challenges of single parenting, online dating, wildly morphing dress sizes, and bafflingly complex remote controls, she is the same irrepressible and endearing soul we all remember—though her talent for embarrassing herself in hilarious ways has become dangerously amplified now that she has 752 Twitter followers.

As Bridget navigates head lice epidemics, school-picnic humiliations, and cross-generational sex, she learns that life isn’t over when you start needing reading glasses—and why one should never, ever text while drunk.

Studded with witty observations about the perils and absurdities of our times, Mad About the Boy is both outrageously comic and genuinely moving. As we watch her dealing with heartbreaking loss and rediscovering love and joy, Bridget invites us to fall for her all over again. goodreads

“West with Giraffes” by Lynda Rutledge

 An emotional, rousing novel inspired by the incredible true story of two giraffes who made headlines and won the hearts of Depression-era America.

“Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes…”

Woodrow Wilson Nickel, age 105, feels his life ebbing away. But when he learns giraffes are going extinct, he finds himself recalling the unforgettable experience he cannot take to his grave. It’s 1938. The Great Depression lingers. Hitler is threatening Europe, and world-weary Americans long for wonder.

They find it in two giraffes who miraculously survive a hurricane while crossing the Atlantic.

What follows is a twelve-day road trip in a custom truck to deliver Southern California’s first giraffes to the San Diego Zoo. Behind the wheel is the young Dust Bowl rowdy Woodrow. Inspired by true events, the tale weaves real-life figures with fictional ones, including the world’s first female zoo director, a crusty old man with a past, a young female photographer with a secret, and assorted reprobates as spotty as the giraffes.

Part adventure, part historical saga, and part coming-of-age love story, West with Giraffes explores what it means to be changed by the grace of animals, the kindness of strangers, the passing of time, and a story told before it’s too late. goodreads

Meeting the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at the FPC Chapel building, 1 Chapel Lane, 1-5 PM. Drop in when you can, we welcome anyone wishing to join us.

The Seaside Parish Knitters are looking for knitting needles and yarn that you might be considering “casting” aside. We continue to knit blankets, shawls, and scarves; and for our military troops: helmet liners, neck gators, and scarves.

We use both 100% wool and synthetic fibers for yarn, and straight and round knitting needles….all sizes. Contact Penny Lapham at 978-526-7128 or 

Meeting the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at the FPC Chapel building, 1 Chapel Lane, 1-5 PM. Drop in when you can, we welcome anyone wishing to join us.

The Seaside Parish Knitters are looking for knitting needles and yarn that you might be considering “casting” aside. We continue to knit blankets, shawls, and scarves; and for our military troops: helmet liners, neck gators, and scarves.

We use both 100% wool and synthetic fibers for yarn, and straight and round knitting needles….all sizes. Contact Penny Lapham at 978-526-7128 or