What do butterflies have to do with the Old Planters and the First Church in Salem?  Join us in the meetinghouse for the annual Founders’ Day Service on August 3rd at 10:30 AM to find out.  This could be the best hour you’ll spend as the 2025 summer hiatus moves towards its close.  Please help us celebrate the 396th anniversary of the formation of our religious community.  We will look back to remember those who came before us and forward to our welcoming of Reverend Danielle Garrett this fall. 

Consider this… Chaos theory is a branch of classical physics and mathematics that studies the behavior of deterministic systems highly sensitive to initial conditions.  Our Founders.  Initial Conditions. Get it?

Edward Lorenz posed the question, "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?"

Together, we will pose the question, “Did the arrival of Reverend Samuel Skelton and Teacher Higginson on the shores of Naumkeag in 1629 set off a chain of events that result in the arrival of a new minister here at 316 Essex Street in 2025?

Put the August 3rd Sunday morning event in your calendar and bring a friend. Diane Smith, Chair, 1st Church in Salem Archives, and others will guide the congregation in connecting the dots of our long-ago history with our more recent evolution as a people walking together under the umbrella of a Unitarian Universalist community.  Let’s fill the pews and raise our voices in unison for this Founders’ Day Celebration.