​
​474 Centre Street
​Newton, MA 02458

Enter, Rejoice and Find Peace

Welcome to all our neighbors!
Watertown, Newtonville, Oak Square, Newton Corner, W. Newton, Nonantum, Brighton and ​Newton Centre!

Access to the building during the week is limited,
​so please call ahead if you plan to visit.

​See our Covid Precautions HERE

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​Sunday Worship
August 14, 2022

Photo by Fab Lentz on Unsplash

Onward and upward​

You sure took me by surprise last Sunday. Here, I was expecting maybe a special Coffee Hour, and you gave me a celebration worthy of a prince. The big tables set and decorated in the Fellowship Hall, a repast extraordinary, speeches, skit, and audio visual history of my time at Eliot. Do you have any idea how moved I was? Thank you for your gifts and for the touching expressions of affection. My best response is just to say, I love you, too.

We have our separate paths to follow now, but we won’t be far from each other in thought and prayer. This change, pre-expected and pre-ordained, will only reveal that Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow. His love sustains us although new and unexpected changes keep pouring in over the transom.

Your permanent minister, the Rev. Domenik Ackermann, introduced below, will lead you to your next fulfillment. In the words of the great hymn, “We’re pressing on the upward way, new heights we’re gaining every day.  Still praying as we’re onward bound, O plant me God, on higher ground.”

One more Sunday to go,

RevRick

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Our prayer for Ukraine:

O God, in our shock, dismay and disbelief, we lift up to you the people of Ukraine now undergoing this criminal assault upon them and upon world order. Strengthen their spirit and resistance.
Reward all who support them.
Give guidance to our President and all world leaders in measuring the protective steps available.
All this, O God, and also for those who can only watch and wait in a world already beset with calamity and anxiety. In the name of Christ, the Prince of Peace, we pray. Amen.

Photo by Marjan Blan | @marjanblan on Unsplash

​The Eliot Church of Newton is excited to welcome our
New Permanent Pastor, Rev. Domenik Ackermann!

He will be starting with us on August 15, 2022

Rev. Domenik graduated in 2017 with a Master's in Theology after his studies in Göttingen, Heidelberg, and Beirut, where he focused on ecumenical dialogue and interfaith relations. During his studies in Germany, he was awarded a scholarship from the Lutheran World Federation to study Orthodox Christianity and Islam in Lebanon. After graduation, he further enhanced his studies, including his deep interest in Jewish-Christian dialogue, focusing on worship and liturgy. Hence, in 2018, he began working on his Ph.D. at Boston College, where he studied Jewish and Christian forms of prayer. He is currently finishing his dissertation, which develops a theology of prayerfulness through the engagement of Jewish and Christian sources.
 
Raised in the German Protestant Church (EKD), Rev. Domenik is rooted in the German Lutheran tradition. Upon moving to the United States with Ariel in 2017, he joined the UCC and started his first full-time position as a Pastoral Associate at ERUCC in Frederick, MD – a designated term between January and July 2018. In Summer 2018, Rev. Domenik and Ariel moved to Boston. Since then, he has worked at Acton Congregational Church as Director of Family Ministries and West Parish Church in Andover as the Associate Minister for Education. His interests in Ministry are ecumenical issues, interfaith dialogue, and worship. He is currently co-representing the United Church of Christ at the Jewish-Christian dialogue table at the National Council of Churches.

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​​Sermon from 8.7.22
​Worship Service

QuaLIty Community

Isaiah 11:1-5

I.
Thanks for the memories, Eliot Church! I’m taking with me so many great Eliot memories.
 
We first got to know each other at my drop-in office hours that first summer. Then we had a series of small group meetings called Soundings when we shared thoughts and feelings on pertinent questions. There was Regathering in September. Christmas Eve was jammed packed. And of course there was “Make a Joyful Noise.” Then Covid shut down our indoor services and we switched to Zoom. Monique and Dr. Elizabeth and I scrambled to put together a new kind of service with new technology. We lost a few people during the Zoom. And of course traffic in the building dropped to almost zero except for the preschool. I felt that I was the emperor of an empty empire. But we got many people back when we reopened, and we’re almost today where we were two years ago, because you have been steady and faithful. A body of you maintained a quality community here.
 
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We are Building Community,
Growing Faith,
​and Living Love