First Congregational Church in Melrose UCC

First Congregational Church in Melrose UCC Welcome to First Congregational Church in Melrose, United Church of Christ! God is Still Speaking! Are you listening?

We are an Open and Affirming Congregation in the Metropolitan Boston Association of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ. Ours is a church where you are welcome as you are for who you are and for who can become. Here you will find judgement left at the door as we celebrate the diversity of God's creation in the many paths that intersect in our sanctuary each Sunday mo

rning. First Congregational Church is a congregation of over 300 members and we take seriously our call to bring the richness of our Protestant tradition to modern times through innovation and creativity.

Combating AnxietyThere are times—especially these days—when anxiety seems to hang in the air like humidity before a thun...
06/08/2026

Combating Anxiety

There are times—especially these days—when anxiety seems to hang in the air like humidity before a thunderstorm. We carry worries about our families, our health, our future, our country, and the state of the world.

Some days it can feel as though we are one breaking news alert away from taking a ride in the car without caring where we end up. At best, we stop caring. How can our faith help?

Well, first off, the Christian faith has never promised us a life free from anxiety. What it does promise is that we never face anxiety alone.

Remember Jesus’ favorite catch phrase? “Do not be afraid.” Those words show up again and again in scripture. Not because there’s nothing scary in life, but because God’s love is bigger than whatever threatens to overwhelm us.

The Bible is filled with anxious people: Moses doubted himself, Elijah burned out, the disciples panicked in storms, and even Jesus prayed in anguish. Faith is not pretending everything is fine. Faith is trusting that God is still present when things are not fine.

And that matters, especially today.

A progressive Christian faith does not ask us to ignore hard realities or simply “think positive.” We recognize injustice, grief, uncertainty, and pain. We care deeply about the world because God cares deeply about the world.

But we also refuse to surrender to despair. Anxiety tells us everything depends entirely on us. Faith, on the other hand, reminds us that it is not all up to us. We belong to something larger: A God of compassion, resurrection, justice, and hope who is always at work in our lives and in our world.

Sometimes combating anxiety begins with very holy things:
resting, breathing, praying, laughing, reaching out to friends, going for a walk, or turning off the news for a little while. Remember: God managed the universe long before we arrived and will continue long after we are gone.

Jesus often spoke about birds and flowers when people were worried which is a little amusing when you think about it. Imagine telling anxious modern adults, “Look at the lilies.” We might respond, “Jesus, respectfully, have you seen my ‘to do’ list?”

And yet his point still stands. Creation itself testifies that life is more than panic and productivity. Grace exists all around us.

The good news is that anxiety does not get the final word. Love does. Community does. Hope does. God does.

So if your heart feels heavy these days, remember this: you do not have to carry the world by yourself. The church walks together. God walks with us. And even when life feels uncertain we trust that, in ways we cannot possibly comprehend, all shall be well.

All shall be well. Not perfect. Not easy. But held in grace.

And that is enough to embrace each new day with gratitude.

See you in church,
--Rev. Dominic

One Nation Under GodOn May 17th, there was a Prayer Rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. with the goal of rede...
06/03/2026

One Nation Under God

On May 17th, there was a Prayer Rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. with the goal of rededicating our country to be “one nation under God."

Now to be clear, I’m all for a nation dedicating itself to the work of God. The trouble comes when the definitions of prayer, God, and religious freedom are generated by people with a political agenda that would leave Jesus scratching his head.

It seems to me that anytime you have a “national” prayer event, you need to keep in mind that there are 342.5 million Americans today who come from many, many different backgrounds and religious traditions. Honoring that diversity has to be foundational. The National Prayer Rally, however, was strictly Christian (of a certain brand) and consequently excluded millions of Americans right off the bat.

There were also strong overtones of hostility toward the separation of church and state. Presumably this was because eliminating that bedrock idea would help define which “God” our nation is “under." Right now, the only way for that phrase to resonate with everyone is for it to apply to every American’s image of God; from Christian fundamentalists to Native American indigenous religions. That’s a real problem for those organizing rallies like this.

Removing the separation of church and state would help their agenda but it would also be disastrous. Not only would allow the state to dictate policy to religious communities but it would also create a de-facto state religion of the government’s choosing. And we’ve seen how well that works in other parts of the world.

To the thousands who joined the Prayer Rally on May 17th there is only one true religion and that is Christianity but it is not a Christianity that many of us in the United Church of Christ would recognize. It is a Christianity that considers other faiths to be simply wrong at best or in need of removal at worst. Tragically, to those with no religious affiliation, this has become the face of our faith because it finds validation from those in power.

This is why, more and more, Sunday mornings here at FCC have become a time to recover our collective sanity, to remember that you can only warp the concepts of right and wrong so far before they snap, and to celebrate a God who created all religions, all people, and all cultures with beauty and something valuable to offer.

If you work to silence diversity and dehumanize the “other” --all in the name of serving God-- you will quickly find that you are serving a very small and very angry “god” who has no time for empathy let alone love and may well reflect what you see in your own mirror.

God help us if we are ever reduced to “living under” such a “god."

See you in church,
--Rev. Dominic

05/29/2026

DRINKS FOR BREAD OF LIFE

We have had a request for 64-ounce bottles of juice to serve at the Bread of Life meals. Popular flavors are:

Apple Juice
Pink or regular Lemonade
Welch Grape juice
Iced Tea and Low sugar Iced Tea
Any low-sugar juice/drink

If you are able to donate a couple of bottles, please bring them to church and put them in the bin for Bread of Life, we'll get them to Malden! We've got a labeled bin for them. Thanks so much!!

A Sunday Morning of Spirit, Wisdom, Celebration, and Shared LeadershipThis coming Sunday the Holy Spirit is going to be ...
05/27/2026

A Sunday Morning of Spirit, Wisdom, Celebration, and Shared Leadership

This coming Sunday the Holy Spirit is going to be pretty busy here at FCC!

Why? Well, we have entered the season of Pentecost, it is Trinity Sunday, Graduation Sunday, and Spring Congregational Meeting Sunday! All on one spirit-filled morning!

You remember what Pentecost is all about, right? I would describe Pentecost as a double shot of espresso for the church. It reminds us that faith is never meant to sit still. Pentecost is the church’s birthday and the longest season of the church year—lasting right up until Advent. It tells us that God is always doing something new among us.

If Easter is the victory celebration, Pentecost is the moment when the church rolls up its sleeves and says, “Alright, what’s next?” It tells us that the Spirit still calls ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Sometimes that happens with courage, sometimes with uncertainty, and most often with a jump-start of caffeine.

Trinity Sunday, one of the most mysterious and beautiful Sundays of the year. The Trinity reminds us that God is relationship: Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit existing together in love and unity.

Christians have spent centuries trying to fully explain the Trinity. Maybe that’s why pastors eventually resort to Venn diagrams, metaphors, and lots of nervous laughter. The point, though, is not to solve God like a math equation, but to experience the invitation of God’s love and community. The Trinity teaches us that faith is not a solo project. We belong to one another and together we reflect the image of a relational God.

The focal point of this Sunday’s service will be Graduation Sunday as we honor our graduates and celebrate the journeys ahead of them. Graduation is one of those moments that comes wrapped in equal parts excitement, relief, and uncertainty. It turns out that “real life” is coming up at the next intersection!

As a church, we celebrate not simply academic achievement, but growth, resilience, curiosity, and the courage to continue learning. Faith itself is a lifelong journey of becoming, questioning, growing, and discovering. We send our graduates forward with pride, prayers, and the reminder that they never travel alone.

After the worship service, we will gather for our Annual Spring Congregational Meeting at which we will elect Deacons who will serve in the leadership of our church. One of the great strengths of our congregation is our commitment to shared ministry and democratic leadership. Ours is not a church where decisions simply drift down from on high like stone tablets.

We believe the Spirit works through the whole congregation. Every voice matters. Every parishioner has a role to play. The election of Deacons is more than church business. It is an expression of trust, service, and faithful participation in the life of the church. Good churches are not built by spectators, but by people willing to serve, listen, lead, and care for one another.

All of this is to say: Please join us this Sunday because it will be a great reminder of who we are! FCC is home to Spirit-filled people, connected in God’s love, celebrating new beginnings, and working together for the good of Christ’s church and the world.

See you in church,
--Rev. Dominic

We'd love to support Peggy Bendroth with her upcoming performance Sunday, June 7th at 3 (you won't even have to miss chu...
05/20/2026

We'd love to support Peggy Bendroth with her upcoming performance Sunday, June 7th at 3 (you won't even have to miss church)! Flyer attached. Break a leg Peggy!

Faith That Doesn’t Sit StillEvery church holiday has its personality.Christmas is cozy.Easter is joyful.Lent is reflecti...
05/20/2026

Faith That Doesn’t Sit Still

Every church holiday has its personality.

Christmas is cozy.
Easter is joyful.
Lent is reflective.

And Pentecost? Well, Pentecost is…chaos! Holy, beautiful, Spirit-filled chaos.

Pentecost is the Sunday when the church remembers that the Holy Spirit rushed into the lives of the disciples like wind and fire. Which means it was less like a quiet worship service and more like someone left the sanctuary windows open during a thunderstorm while the choir director drank way too much coffee.

The disciples suddenly started speaking in different languages, people from all over the world heard the good news in their own languages, and the crowd responded in the most human way possible: “Are these people… okay?”

Which, to my mind, is one of the most relatable moments in the Bible. Because the Holy Spirit has always had a habit of shaking things up. The Spirit interrupts fear. The Spirit pushes people out of locked rooms. The Spirit gives courage to ordinary people who thought they had nothing important to say.

Pentecost reminds us that faith is not meant to sit still. The church was born not in silence and safety, but in movement, energy, and connection. People who had every reason to stay separated suddenly discovered they belonged to one another. Different languages became understanding instead of division. Fear became courage. Isolation became community.

And maybe that is exactly the kind of Spirit we still need today.

We live in a time when anger spreads quickly, outrage becomes entertainment, and people are encouraged to fear anyone who is different from them. Pentecost offers another way. It reminds us that God’s Spirit still blows through this world, crossing the barriers we work so hard to build.

And don’t forget: Pentecost gives us permission to wear red in church, which has got to be one of the easiest liturgical assignments of the year!

So this Pentecost Sunday, may we open ourselves to the holy wind of God; that Holy Spirit that still surprises us, still challenges us, and still calls us beyond fear and into love.

And if you get a little hot under the collar or your hair gets a little frizzy, that might just mean the Spirit is with you!

See you in church,
--Rev. Dominic

Struggling with the QuestionsThere are moments in the life of a community when words feel painfully small. A tragedy—pa...
05/13/2026

Struggling with the Questions

There are moments in the life of a community when words feel painfully small. A tragedy—particularly one involving a child—does not just break our hearts; it also unsettles our faith.

The death of the nine-year-old at the Winthrop Elementary School last week when a tree fell on the school playground raises raw, urgent questions of faith:

Why did this happen?
Why didn’t God stop it?
Where is God in all of this?

If you’ve found yourself asking questions like these, you are not alone. In fact, you are standing in a long, faithful tradition. Scripture is filled with people who dared to bring their hardest questions to God.

The psalmists cry out, “How long, O Lord?” The prophets lament injustice and suffering. Even Jesus, from the cross, voices the anguished question, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

These questions are not a failure of faith. They are an expression of it.

When hardship comes, it can be tempting to reach for easy answers. We may try to explain tragedy in a way that makes it feel manageable. But most of us know, deep down, that simple explanations don’t hold water.

That’s because tragedy rarely makes sense. It is not part of some neat, prearranged plan. It is not something God “needed” to happen. To suggest otherwise can deepen wounds rather than heal them.

Instead, our faith points us in a different direction.

We believe in a God who does not stand at a distance from suffering, but who enters into it. We believe in a God who, in Jesus, knows grief, loss, and even death. This means that when tragedy strikes, God is not the cause of our pain but God walks with us through even the darkest of valleys.

God is with the grieving family, holding them in love when words fail. God is with friends and classmates, sitting quietly in their confusion and sorrow. God is with all of us in that heavy place where sadness lives.

And if God is present in suffering, then so is God’s call to us.

In the face of tragedy, we are invited to become bearers of God’s presence for one another. We are available to each other. We extend kindness more freely, patience more generously, and compassion more deeply.

This is not a way of explaining tragedy because there is no good explanation. It is a way of responding to it.

Hope, in moments like these, does not come from having all the answers. Hope comes from knowing that love has not disappeared. It comes from seeing care shared, burdens lifted, and community strengthened even in sorrow. It comes from trusting that grief is not the end of the story.

Healing, of course, does not happen all at once. It comes slowly and unevenly. Some days will feel fine. Other days will be heavy indeed. As with any loss, there is no “right” way to grieve and no timetable for when sadness should pass.

But we do not walk this path alone. We walk it together as a community led by the spirit of God. So, even as we make room for grief, may we also trust that, even in small ways, love is still at work among us.

Because it is and it always will be.

See you in church,
--Rev. Dominic

Please share with anyone you know who was planning on attending tonight. Thanks!
05/06/2026

Please share with anyone you know who was planning on attending tonight. Thanks!

04/30/2026

Many thanks to all who have dropped off donations for Saturday’s yard sale! The narthex is now FULL! No more donations are needed. 🙏
We are so excited to welcome the community to our Yard Sale on Saturday!! 🎉9am-1pm!!

Character and Priorities247. That is the number of funerals that I have officiated since my ordination in 1995. I happ...
04/28/2026

Character and Priorities

247. That is the number of funerals that I have officiated since my ordination in 1995. I happened across that statistic when hunting through my files for something recently.

Seems like a lot! I have officiated at far fewer weddings. Not sure what that says about me!

Most of these funerals were for people in churches I have served. Some, however, where for people without a church connection. Some of these funerals were for people I knew very well while others I did not know at all.

Some of them were large events with hundreds of people while the smallest was with a Funeral Director and me—just us. Death was welcomed in some cases, a complete shock in others. Elderly people, young people, peaceful, violent. In retrospect, it is an amazing journey in itself.

What I find most rewarding about officiating at funerals is the privilege of being present with people in a time of loss and deep spiritual pain and searching. It is truly an honor to walk with people during such times and provide comfort and hope through our faith.

What I remember most about these events, what impresses me most, is what people say as they reflect on the person who has died. It is pretty consistent, though, that most people don’t give this much thought until the loss is upon them. The truth is, we all should.

So let me ask you a blunt question. What will people say about you at your funeral? What is important about you?

I have yet to officiate at any funeral where people talked about the person’s material wealth. What lasts, what impacts people and the world, what people remember and take with them amounts to two things: Character and Priorities.

The kind of overall person you are is your character. It is the imprint you make in this realm. It is the impression you make in the sand of this reality. It is noticed and it changes the landscape of the reality around you.

People are impacted by it. They remember it. Consequently, it’s pretty important to shape your character into the best possible person you can be. Thankfully, God gives us the gift of free will to help us craft our character to reflect the values of our loving God.

The things you find most important in life are your priorities. They are not just for this moment or this lifetime. What you choose to prioritize is, in many ways, bigger than you are. Your priorities are the basis of your legacy.

What are your priorities in this life? Are you consciously choosing them? We assume we choose our priorities but very often they come from the outside in rather than from the inside out. With a cultivated interior life, we can let the spirit of God shape our priorities.

What will people say at your funeral? I can’t say for sure, of course, but I can say that they will talk about your character and your priorities.

You have control of both of those right now. What would you like people to say?

See you in church,
--Rev. Dominic

Address

121 W Foster Street
Melrose, MA
02176

Opening Hours

Monday 8:45am - 1:45pm
Tuesday 8:45am - 1:45pm
Wednesday 8:45am - 1:45pm
Thursday 8:45am - 1:45pm
Friday 8:45am - 1:45pm

Telephone

+17816652111

Website

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