First Congregational Church in Melrose UCC

09/02/2026

Hello! The first Mini-Messenger is now available. Get your copy here! https://mailchi.mp/699e9a92afa2/sept-4

08/31/2026

From our awesome member Kyle, Executive Director Congregational Library & Archives

Sacred Rebellion: Congregationalists in Revolutionary Massachusetts is closing after a successful sixteen-month run. Join us at the Congregational Library & Archives for a special final tour of Sacred Rebellion with Executive Director Dr. Kyle Roberts on Friday, September 4, from 1-2 pm.

The exhibition features many treasures from the CLA’s collections: sermons, books, poems, songs, and letters created by Massachusetts Congregationalists during and after the American Revolution. These objects reveal how Congregationalists understood their moral obligations to each other and debated questions of liberty and loyalty.

Attendees will view the exhibition with the curator, learn more about the objects on display, and gain a deeper understanding of the stories behind the exhibition. The discussion will also explore the unfinished business of the Revolution and the meaning of its legacy today.

If you would like to join for this free tour, please register here:

Join us for a special final tour of Sacred Rebellion with Executive Director Dr. Kyle Roberts!

07/27/2026

Join us Tuesday night!!! Everyone welcome; bring the kids!

06/30/2026

Hope you can join!

06/30/2026

Here's everything at your fingertips for the new year. Have a great summer, everyone! We can't wait to see you for the 6th Annual Pizza Party on Tues, July 28th from 6-9 at Hannah's, and at Welcome Back Sunday on Sept 13th, 10 am!

06/24/2026

Keeping The Faith While Forgetting What Day It Is

As we move into the summer months, our worship schedule changes, vacations are planned, grandchildren arrive, beaches beckon, and many of us begin the annual spiritual practice known as "trying to remember where we put the sunscreen."

For some, it can feel a little strange when the regular rhythm of weekly worship pauses. After all, we're used to seeing one another every Sunday and enjoying the unique experience of trying to remember which verse of the hymn we're on.

But here's the good news: the church is much bigger than a building, a schedule, or even a Sunday morning.

The church is people. The church is relationships. The church is a community connected by God's love.

And that means we remain the church whether we're sitting in a pew, sitting on a porch, sitting at the beach, or sitting in traffic on 95 South wondering why everyone else decided to travel on the exact same day.

Throughout scripture, periods of rest are not interruptions to faith. Instead, they are part of faith. God rested after creation. Jesus regularly stepped away from the crowds to pray, reflect, and renew his spirit. Even the land was given seasons of rest.

In a culture that constantly tells us to do more, buy more, achieve more, and hurry more, taking time to breathe can be a profoundly spiritual act.

Summer offers opportunities to reconnect with family, enjoy God's creation, read a good book, take a walk, share a meal with friends, or simply slow down enough to notice the beauty around us. These moments nourish our souls just as surely as Sunday worship nourishes our spirits.

Rest is not laziness. Rest is renewal. Rest is reaffirming trust in God. Rest reminds us that God is still at work even when we step away from our routines.

And while we may not gather every week for a bit, we remain connected through prayer, friendship, and our shared commitment to living out Christ's love in the world. Every act of kindness, every moment of compassion, every effort to bring justice, peace, and hope into our communities is still church.

So enjoy the summer! Take the trip. Visit the grandkids. Read the novel. Sit by the water. Sleep in a little. Eat the ice cream. Watch the sunset.

And know that wherever you are, God's love goes with you.

When Welcome Back Sunday arrives, we'll gather again with new stories, renewed energy, and maybe even a few sunburns. Until then, may this season bring rest, joy, laughter, and the deep assurance that we are always God's people; even when we're apart.

Have a wonderful summer!
Rev. Dominic

06/15/2026

Oh Right, Father’s Day

This Sunday is Father’s Day Sunday! I’m not naïve, though. It’s probably going to look a little different than Mother’s Day Sunday.

Mother's Day arrives like a royal procession. Churches are packed. Flowers appear everywhere. Hallmark works overtime. Grown adults suddenly remember to call home.

Then Father's Day shows up a month later and it feels like: "Oh, right... fathers. We should probably do something about that."

Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating. I’m pretty biased on this one, after all.

Part of the challenge is that mothers and fathers often receive very different cultural treatment. Mothers are rightly celebrated for their nurturing, sacrifice, and unconditional love. Fathers, meanwhile, are frequently portrayed as lovable goofballs who can't locate the ketchup in their own refrigerator. “Ah dad…It’s right here. Let me get that for you.”

I wonder what one person in particular would make of that: Joseph.

Did you know that Joseph never says a single word in the biblical record? Not one. In a world where everybody seems to be talking, Joseph simply shows up, listens for God's guidance, and does what needs to be done.

When an angel tells him to stay with Mary, he does. When danger threatens his family, he gets up in the middle of the night and heads to Egypt. When it is time to return home, he does that too. Joseph's faith is not loud, flashy, or attention-seeking. It is steady, dependable, and deeply loving.

In other words, Joseph demonstrates a truth that many fathers, grandfathers, stepfathers, mentors, coaches, and father figures know well: sometimes the most important acts of love happen quietly.

Father's Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate all those who have helped guide, encourage, protect, teach, and support others. Some are biological fathers. Some are grandfathers. Some are uncles, teachers, coaches, neighbors, or church members who stepped into someone's life at exactly the right moment.

Their contributions may not always make headlines. They may not even get a properly fitting tie. But their influence matters.

So this Father's Day, let’s give thanks for the people who have shown us strength without domination, guidance without control, and love without conditions.

And let us remember Joseph; that quiet carpenter who raised the Savior of the world and proved that faithfulness does not have to be loud to be powerful.

And if Father's Day still gets a little less attention than Mother's Day, that's okay. I’m betting Joseph probably wouldn't have wanted the spotlight anyway.

See you in church,
--Rev. Dominic

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

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!!