Regrettably, we have had to return to a Zoom service this Sunday which we will continue until the latest Covid surge abates. A survey of the congregation indicated new anxieties about infection and proximity, enough to warrant suspension of in-person services for the time being. Other churches have done the same thing. Hopefully, there will be grounds to return to worship in the sanctuary soon.

In the meantime, we will offer worship services and coffee hour via live Zoom. We are also developing a new recording approach which will result in having the musical selections and scripture and sermon available via the website. We don’t envision posting the entirety of the service on YouTube or Facebook. The result we hope will be a shorter, more appealing worship experience that is more likely to be accessed.

Recorded Audio from the Ash Wednesday Service
March 2, 2022

PDF of Text
​

Please find below the audio recordings of the music and Sermon from Sunday's Service (1.30.22).
​

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​From 1.30.22 Worship Service

The Zen of Christianity
 Matthew 10:3-7; 15:21-28
 
When I was Director of Religious and Spiritual Life at Skidmore College in upstate NY, I also taught in the Religion Dept.

 I collaborated with them on bringing significant scholars and practitioners of religion to campus. Every year we sponsored lecturers representing varied faith traditions. It wasn’t long before I realized that lectures on Buddhism drew very large student audiences. On the other hand, lectures related to Christianity were poorly attended. For instance, we brought Konrad Ryushin Marchaj to Skidmore twice in four years, both times to very full lecture halls. Ryushin was abbot of nearby Zen Mountain Monastery from 2009 to 2015. One indication of how engaged the students were, the Q and A was always long. But to take one example of Christian lectures, a wonderful speaker on altar paintings from northern Europe garnered only a dozen of us in an empty hall.

READ MORE

We will wear high quality masks, keep windows open a bit, operate air ventilation fans,
​socially distance and limit singing.
​

Music selections from the Sanctuary

"There is No Rose" by Gerald Near

"Gabriel's Message" by David Wilcocks

"Get on Board"
​with RevRick, Diane Wong, and Pharaoh Saunders. 

Episode #3

posted 9.15.21

Episode #1
Episode #2
​

​

​"The Sum of Us"
a dialogue about Heather McGhee's book, with Rev. Rick and
​Dr. Elizabeth Windsor.

Episode #9
Final Installment

posted 9.21.21

​. . . . . . . . . . . . .

To see previous Episodes, visit our Anti-Racism page.

Photo by Lucas van Oort on Unsplash

Sunday Worship Service
August 8, 2021

​PDF of Bulletin

Poet of the Month

4/25/2021

On Adam
by Matthew Sisson
 
I like to think of him in the Garden, lonely
without yet knowing what loneliness is.
He moves with a stride unencumbered
by gravity.
 
Or waist high in ferns,
though sometimes I hope
a little gust of wind parts the green curtain.
 
His chest is smooth.
His nipples in proportion.
 
I’m talking about the time before
Hell broke loose. No scar
at his rib to mar the surface.
That flat stomach unencumbered
by an umbilicus.
 
I watch him eating fruit. Grapes, oranges,
the juice running from his mouth.
 
At the river, he kneels down on all fours
extends his neck, giraffe-like, drinks.
Some days he cups those perfect hands
in the water.
 
The animals line up calmly, unafraid--
elephant, zebra, rhinoceros.

--Reproduced with permission of the author.

​https://youtu.be/iCsQOo4FXng

April is Poetry Month.
 
Snow Drops
 
Do you know what I was, how I lived?  You know
what despair is; then
winter should have meaning for you.  
 
I did not expect to survive,
earth suppressing me.  I didn’t expect
to awaken again, to feel
in damp earth my body
able to respond again, remembering
after so long how to open again
in the cold light
of earliest spring--
 
afraid, yes, but among you again
crying yes risk joy
 
in the raw wind of the new world.
 
Louise Glueck (Nobel laureate in Literature, 2020)
 
 

Sunday Services are canceled today,
​(put date here)

Due to the extreme weather we're now having, Eliot Church of Newton is canceling Worship Service for Sunday (date).

​We hope you stay safe, warm and dry.
​Check back here for updates related to the storm.

Anti-Racism

​ How to be an anti-racist church?
Educate ourselves.

Reading: Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson. (See other suggestions on our Anti-Racism Work webpage )

Documentaries: True Justice (HBO), about Bryan Stevenson.

Seek out personal relationships.

Form partnerships.

Collaborate with Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries (see event listing to the right).

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.

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From Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries (CMM) 

Facing Our Racism:
Becoming Conscious Partners Workshop

Sunday, February 28, 12-4:30pm
Online via Zoom
​(register here)

The killing of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor galvanized White people to become “conscious partners” with our Black sisters and brothers to end racism. Crucial to this new understanding and awareness is the formation of genuine, open, truthful relationships between Black and White community members. You are invited to take part in a “Facing Our Racism: Becoming Conscious Partners” workshop which analyzes the systemic, institutional, policy, and power-driven persecution and discrimination against Black Americans since the very beginning of slavery.
 
Recommended Pre-Viewing:
​Dr. Ibram X. Kendi: Creating A More Equitable Society Is In White Americans' Self Interest: 
https://youtu.be/dCUOX3NMd4U

Deconstructing White Privilege with Dr. Robin DiAngelo:
 https://youtu.be/DwIx3KQer54

How Racial Bias Works – and How to Disrupt It with Jennifer Eberhardt: 
https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_l_eberhardt_how_racial_bias_works_and_how_to_disrupt_it
​
A Blueprint for Reparations in the US | William "Sandy" Darity: ​https://youtu.be/hv88_R-XDDw

​About the Facilitators
 
Dr. Connie Holmes is a retired psychologist who counseled cancer patients and their families for 28 years in Boston and in the San Francisco Bay area. She conducts these workshops throughout the United States. Her great-grandfather perished in Theresienstadt, a World War II concentration camp. Her exposure to the horrors of the Final Solution has motivated her to join the struggle for racial justice in the United States.
 
Dolores Moorehead, MS, APCC is the Lead Navigator/ Multi-Cultural Client Support Clinician at the Women’s Cancer Resource Center in Berkeley with over 30 years of experience that includes the American Cancer Society. She has worked with diverse populations including LGBTQIA+, African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Pacific Islanders. She is committed to improving communication between doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals about the medical needs and access to care of diverse populations.

Have a look at a slideshow of the Previous 40 Days of Prayer
while listening to lovely patriotic music from Monique Weiss Byrnes.
​To hear it, just click on the audio clip below it.

40 Days of Prayer ​

During Election Season
November 4, 2020

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

Pray. Act. Every day for forty days.​

“Elections belong to the people. It's their decision. If they decide to turn their back on the fire and burn their behinds, then they will just have to sit on their blisters.”
                                   
-Abraham Lincoln

A Suggested Prayer: ​

Revolutionary Spirit of Democracy,
Give us courage. Give us hope. Give us grace to design a better future,
a future where all are valued, all are cared for, all share in the abundance of our country, all have their every need met, all have plenty of opportunities, and all are treated with dignity and compassion.
 
We give thanks for the right, the responsibility, and the opportunity to vote.
May we vote wisely. May we leave no one out or behind.
May we share dreams of peace, justice, ecological healing, and may hurts be healed, may fears be relieved, may hatreds be overcome by love.
 
Turn our hearts toward kindness.
May the Golden Rule be our ethic, our goal, our commitment.

We need a healing miracle for this aching, divided nation. May we vote for miracles.
                                                                                     
-Durrell Watkins       

• Our worship style is warm, interactive, and diverse, at times incorporating the use of drama, multi-media and ritual, in addition to traditional preaching.
• We sing songs of gratitude and commitment, hear the Words of scripture, and lift up our individual and common concerns and celebrations in prayer.
• Our worship is enhanced by our excellent music program: our Chancel Choir and the Eliot Philharmonic. See our Music page for more information.
• Children join their families for the first part of worship and are invited to Sunday School following the Children's Message. 
• On the first Sunday of the month, we celebrate Communion. Everyone is welcome to receive Communion at Eliot Church. We serve grape juice and gluten-free bread. Children return to sit with their families for the Communion portion of worship.
• Our principal fellowship opportunity takes place during the convivial Coffee Hour following Sunday morning worship services.​​
• In the summer, worship is held in our chapel in an informal and interactive atmosphere.​ ​
• We invite you to read archived sermons by Rev. Rick and others: click on button below.​