We regret that we have closed the building to public meetings and events for the foreseeable future. Please look here for all developments and for spiritual support. During this time of self-isolation we will be recording worship and posting it below on Sunday mornings. It will be archived on our Song, Word, and Prayer webpage.

474 Centre Street,
​Newton, MA 02458
a  Newton address,​ ​a city church

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

Song, Word,
and Prayer
​
Oct. 25, 2020

PDF of Bulletin

We have gone from the barbarity committed upon Matthew Shepherd, beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming, on the night of October 6, 1998, to Marriage Equality in the United States in 2015—a short 17 years, maybe, but too long, much too long for reason to have finally prevailed.  Well, after all, reason had to prevail over the Bible, so it was a tough slog for twenty centuries. But, I should rather say, reason had to prevail over biblicism, over the fetishizing of isolated scraps of scripture to support socially and irrationally determined taboos. It helped that President Obama publicly modelled the natural process of catching up that comes with learning from experience and relationships about things deeper than prejudice.

Two weeks ago was Coming Out Sunday in the United Church of Christ, and I didn’t want to completely miss the opportunity for us to celebrate our having become an Open and Affirming Congregation in 2003. So, this Sunday, I want to direct our attention to where exactly in the Bible we can reliably turn for guidance about sexuality, every sexuality, all sexualities—good news from the Bible on this subject which Paul Ricoeur once sagely described as “the domain of all the difficulties, all the spiritual gropings, the dangers and dilemmas, the failure and the joy” in human life! (1964).

​From last
​Sunday's sermon

As Christians, our votes are an act of faith - testimony to our belief in the Beloved Community and the Peaceable Kingdom revealed in Scripture.

There is a well-known trope that “religion and politics should not be discussed in polite company.” I searched Emily Post and Miss Manners as well as several Victorian writings on etiquette to discover why. The most succinct explanation I found comes from a blog called The Modern Man. The author Jean-Marc writes, “People maintain that religion and politics are topics that should never enter polite, civilized conversation.
 
Read More

The Environment
​and the Church

Watch an interview with Rev. Fred Small as part of the video series Rev. Rick is doing on the topic of the Environment and the Church. See a list of archived interviews here.

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Ways to Reduce Climate Change
by Ginny Robinson, for Eliot’s MSJ Commission

PLANT-BASED DIET—Why is it good for me?

In addition to making my world a cleaner lovelier place, a plant based diet can reduce my risk of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some claim, some mental health illnesses.

According to Michelle McMacken, MD, Asst. Prof. of Medicine at NYU School of Medicine:
​
“ It can also make us feel more energetic, decrease the number of pills we take, reduce chronic inflammation in our bodies, reduce blood cholesterol, shape a healthier  microbiome, change how our genes work to repair damaged DNA.”
​
Dr. McMacken also points out that the average meat eater in the US gets more than 1.5 times the needed protein, which is stored as fat or turned into waste and becomes a major cause of some of the ills listed above.

40 Days of Prayer ​

During Election Season
October 23, 2020

Christian citizens,
​it’s time to come to the aid of our nation

Pray. Act. Every day for forty days.​

“Our democracy is not something to be taken for granted. You have to fight for it. You have to commit yourself to working for it - for the long haul.”

​- Keith Ellison

A Suggested Prayer: ​

Lord, let us be a people who truly provide liberty and justice for all, may we value every citizen.
Help us strive to be a people who agree on basic human values, let us stand tall in the world without arrogance.
Help us be a people that provides for the poor, the weak and the hungry; Make us a people who condemn white supremacy and who speak out against domestic terrorism.
Help us heal our divisions, seek unity and have civil and productive discourse about our differences.
Let us be a people who revere all nature and who live in harmony with every living creature, loving and cherishing Mother Earth as she has loved us.
We pray for strong, intelligent, honest and steadfast leaders and we ask for your grace in being a people who seek and promote peace among all peoples.
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen.
Adapted from the Vicar's Crossing Podcast

To receive the daily prayer and reflection in your inbox, email drelizabeth@eliotchurch.org.

What's Happening
​at Eliot​

*revised

The September issue of The Columns, our monthly newsletter, is now available!

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We continue community life through Adult Education Studies and Coffee hours on Zoom. If you would like to join, please let Rev. Rick know and he'll make it happen!

One-Minute-Minister

​A few words from ​Rev. Rick

Faith Exploration

Dr. Elizabeth Windsor
Director of Christian Education 

This fall, our Sunday School continues reading and discussion of Madeline L’Engle’s Time Quintet. We begin the fall with the second book A Wind at the Door. We are reading chapters 4-7 for our conversation via Zoom on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 2:00 pm. Email drelizabeth@eliotchurch.org for more information!

Music at Eliot

Monique Weiss Byrnes
​Director of Music Ministry

Music previously played during worship

Singing beautiful sacred gems from 300 years of choral repertory from ​Monteverdi to Eric Whitacre.

We are Building Community, Growing Faith, and Living Love