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.

​​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.

Faith Exploration

Dr. Elizabeth Windsor
Director of Christian Education 

There is no Sunday School for children/ tweens during the summer, but take a look at my website: Faithful Families. Activities for keeping the Season after Pentecost at home, along with prayers and blessings that celebrate everything from insects to vacations can all be found there!

Click here for our "Building Blocks of Faith" project.

Click here for our summer Anti-Racism  Study "Wrestling with Racism"

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Music at Eliot

Monique Weiss Byrnes
​Director of Music Ministry

Music from last Sunday

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

Song, Word, and Prayer

​July 12, 2020

The pain surrounding the present conversation about monuments has its roots partly in the ambiguous nature of public art—who does it belong to? And, too, history is involved, which belongs to no one person yet affects everyone.

Monuments seem to appear the way mushrooms do—from nowhere. What inspires the impulse to erect a monument and to what and to whose memory? Who funds a particular monument? Why? Who designs it? Who hires the artist? Who is it meant to please, educate or inspire? Is it a strictly local matter, or does it have a national audience, or even international?  They just appear and nobody seems to know why.

Why are many monuments so bad? Why do some inspire people beyond all comprehension?

Then comes the bombshell question—who can remove a monument? Who is responsible for it, to whom does it belong?

The case of naming a building is a related matter of similar sensitivity. Who may change the name of Faneuil Hall? To what, and why?

A monument or name not only celebrates history, it affects the course of history. Eventually, time reveals new truths about the past, and suddenly monuments and names attain a different, sometimes offensive aspect. New meanings demand fresh images. 
​
But now, someone must decide. Let’s think this Sunday about what must go into decisions about our monuments.

From last Sunday's sermon

Ultimately, I wish for you a personal thunderclap that permanently shakes up your individual souls.

As Jesus approached Jerusalem during the Passover festival, he cursed the fig tree on the Mount of Olives for a specific reason: not out of petty spite, but because he was expressing his dismay at the spiritual barrenness of Israel, as had the prophets before him, basically saying, everything may as well be dried up and dying, whether it be this little tree or a valley of dry bones. He could not stand the thought of a people’s soul, the soul of the “tree” of Israel, being spiritually barren and guilty of the crimes that necessarily follows from that barrenness.

What's Happening
​at Eliot​

One-Minute-Minister:
​A few words from Rev. Rick.

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!

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We are Building Community, Growing Faith, and Living Love