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!

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. 

Please select one of the tabs below for more information on a subject.​

• Worship
• The Environment and Eliot
• One-Minute Minister
• Music for Meditation
• The Work on Anti-Racism

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Worship at Eliot 

During this time of self-isolation we will be recording worship and posting it on Sundays on our homepage, and will archive it on our Song, Word, and Prayer page thereafter.

SONG, WORD, AND PRAYER
​December 6, 2020

​We love America’s “can-do” spirit. But we have taken it to a fault.  Americans in every century saw land for the taking and pressed every advantage to secure some, lots! In a wilderness where there were no services or supplies, this required much self-reliance. The illusion grew from that, however, that we were self-sufficient. And that’s where America bumped straight into the warning sounded in Mary’s Magnificat, where she sings, “God has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.” By which was meant that God does not favor those who over-play their hand, those who convert opportunity into opportunism at the expense of weaker or less avaricious competitors. Mary pronounces an age-old Israelite theme—God is not mocked with impunity. And God sends Jesus in the form of a baby to show what kind of power matters in the kingdom of God.

This Sunday we celebrate Mary again as she lofts her beautiful challenge to the business-as-usual ways of the world.
 
RevRick

​​​​From last
​Sunday's sermon

The Nativity story is the original Christmas pageant, with grand entrances, villains, surprise appearances, marvelous doings, and grand speeches like the Magnificat.

In the Lord I'll be ever thankful

I am moved by every line of the Magnificat, by its every phrase and every word. I felt it again so strongly the other day, I decided we should devote one Sunday of Advent to each stanza, and Dr. Elizabeth signed on with me. The Four meditations on the Magnificat (Luke 1:39-56) will go like this: 

Nov. 29, Advent I--My soul magnifies the Lord.
Dec. 6, Advent II--God has scattered the proud.
Dec. 13, Advent III--God has lifted up the lowly.
Dec. 20, Advent IV--God has helped his servant Israel.

Read More

The Environment
​and the Church

Ways to Reduce Climate Change
by Ginny Robinson, for Eliot’s MSJ Commission
Hot tips on reducing meat consumption

You may have hot tips to share with all of us on reducing meat and dairy. How do we get that plant protein into our families? 
Click here to read more.

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To hear Rev. Rick's interviews with a number of  experts in the field of climate change, visit the webpage where these interviews are archived.

One-Minute-Minister

A few words from Rev. Rick

Music at Eliot

Monique Weiss Byrnes
​Director of Music Ministry

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

Music previously played
​during worship

Photo credit: Jon Tyson, from Unsplash

How to be an anti-racist church?
Educate ourselves.
          Reading: Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson.
Documentaries: True Justice (HBO), about Bryan Stevenson.
Seek out personal relationships.
Form partnerships.
          Collaborate with Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries.
Advocate for BLM legislation—state and Federal.  Mass.  H4794--An Act to improve police officer standards and accountability and to improve training.
Donate to activist organizations.

We are Building Community, Growing Faith, and Living Love