Dear friends,
This month we begin our year-long celebration of the 200th Anniversary of Edwards Church. We start not in 1827 but hundreds of years before then, for we know this hill has been a sacred gathering place for more than a thousand years.
Long before European settlers arrived in this area, Nipmuc people fished in the Sudbury River. During the fishing season, they lived in villages above the river, perhaps here on the hill where our sanctuary is located.
And so we begin our anniversary year by honoring their heritage on this land. We celebrate the lives lived here: children born and raised, elders revered, meals shared, songs sung, sacred presence honored. We acknowledge the ugly and complicated history of European settlers displacing and often killing indigenous people. And we honor the Nipmuc people who live in this area now and the many ways their rich culture enhances our lives.
Members of the Anniversary Team have been meeting with Maria and Shani Turner to plan two gatherings. Maria is Chairwoman of the Natick Nipmuc Tribe and Sonskq (Chief) of the Nipmuc Nation Confederacy. Shani is a Medicine Woman for the Natick Nipmuc Tribe.
On Sunday, October 4 (World Communion Sunday), Maria and Shani will join us for our worship service.
Maria will be preaching, and Shani will be participating in a variety of ways. They will offer a fresh perspective on World Communion Sunday, inviting us to celebrate the diversity of cultures right here.
Then on Monday, October 12 (Indigenous Peoples’ Day), Maria and Shani will join us again, as we host Framingham’s sixth annual Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration. Our theme is “Rich Heritage; Honored Voices.” We will gather under the tent (or in Edwards Hall in case of inclement weather); Maria will be our featured speaker, and Shani will lead us in song and / or dance. There will be youth speakers, who will share their personal experiences of the honored voices who have helped them claim the richness of their heritage.
I trust these two events will be powerful, inspiring, and also deeply challenging. As we move into our year of celebrating the 200 years Edwards Church (initially Saxonville Religious Society / Saxonville Parish) has been here, we will hold the challenge to remember the people who were here long before.
In the second half of October, we will begin to reflect on those 200 years. On October 18, we will think about beginnings – of Edwards Church in 1827 / 1833, of Grace Church in 1873, and of our renewed church formed by our merger in 2017. What inspired and enabled courage to set out to form a new church? How is that similar to the courage it took to come together as a renewed church?
On October 25, the Norumbega Harmony singers will join us in leading our worship service. They will lead us in learning about the music that might have been sung in our sanctuary in the early 19th century, offering pieces written by local Framingham musicians. We will hear their beautiful harmonies; we will have the opportunity to experience “shape note” singing, and we will reflect on the words and music that shaped the earliest manifestation of this church.
Wow! That’s a lot! Come be inspired and challenged! Bring a friend!
Peace, Debbie