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I wonder how many of you know or listen to alt/indie/synth rock band The Killers? (Looking for some young parents/young adult love here? Anyone?) They’ve been around for almost 20 years, headlined Boston Calling in 2018. In 2020, they released…
L: Let us pray. Source of all truth and love, by your holy word, enlighten our hearts and our pathways by the ancient story we are about to hear. show us a way out of our discouragement and fear, a…
Today, we continue our journey through Luke’s gospel, picking it up in chapter 4. Still filled with the power of Spirit from his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus is here just beginning his public ministry and has returned to Nazareth…
Good Morning First Church. I feel honored and blessed to be with you all today, and for the opportunity to bring a word that I pray will stimulate your minds and nourish your souls. God is always setting plans and…
This past Thursday, I participated in a press conference hosted by several Boston Black pastors and staged just outside the Moakley Federal Courthouse near the Seaport. Broadly, we were there as faith leaders, on the anniversary of the insurrection, to…
Winter is coming, and public health officials are cautioning us to maintain Covid safety protocols now, more than ever. As one expert put it, “just when you think you can let up, that’s the most important time to stay vigilant.”…
Dear First Church Community, The Missions & Social Justice Committee has had another eventful year of supporting the work of non-profit organizations, both near and far. As we approach the Advent season, we share with you a list of organizations…
Good morning First Church. Here in the pews, expanding across all of our many sanctuaries from home. It is so good to be with you. A few weeks ago, a friend shared with me an expression she heard, and I…
Stewardship Pledge 2022 update We are well over halfway to our 2022 pledge and gift goal of $655,000! Thank you to all who have submitted your pledges and 2022 gifts via mail, e-mail, or online. If you haven’t yet done…
Welcome back! And…welcome forward! On Sunday, September 12, our annual Regathering Sunday, First Church flung wide its doors and resumed offering in-person worship to all. It was a joy-filled reunion and a chance to begin to experience our hybrid worshipping…
Led by First Church members, Faith & Life Groups are designed to encourage meaningful connections through shared interests, whether exploring a spiritual practice, opening our eyes to the beauty around us, delving into a challenging social issue, or attending to…
First Church, it is so good to be back. To be joining you here in this sanctuary and in your home sanctuaries through our livestream. It is September. First of all, what?! And in this new, ever-evolving hybrid world. Taking…
We are eager to welcome everyone back to worship at First Church starting on Regathering Sunday, September 12. Given ongoing concerns about the Delta variant, we’ve revised earlier plans and will now be offering a range of options, indoor and…
I wonder how many of you know a website called Atlas Obscura. As the title suggests, it’s a catalogue of obscure stories and quirky facts from places all over the world. One of their headlines this week caught my eye:…
About two weeks ago, I was given some amazing seats for the Red Sox-Astros game at Fenway Park. Julian and I went together with two dear friends. It was on the last night of his East Coast visit before heading…
Let me begin with a confession. I had a hard time orienting myself for this sermon and choosing where to focus. I felt like a pinball ricocheting back and forth between the variety of occasions we are all trying to…
 When I was first getting to know my late mentor and friend Peter Gomes, I asked him what he did to unwind after his long and demanding days as the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Pusey Minister at Harvard’s…
If you want a little preview of some post-Covid joy, look no further than the video on the homepage of our newish website. After the overhead shot of our sanctuary, after Joanne Paul’s smiling and unmasked face, and Moana Bentin’s…
     Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29            L:        Give thanks to the Lord, for she is good;                        her love endures forever.            C:       Let Israel say: “Her love endures forever.”            L:        Open for me the gates of…
The First Church List is a virtual hub for the First Church community to communicate directly with each other through email messages or online posts on topics of interest. The First Church List is hosted by the platform groups.io and…
We are so glad that you’ve joined the List, and we look forward to the connections we’ll make here as a community. We hope that you will use the First Church List to: Share personal announcements and prayer requests. Publicize…
We are launching a new virtual hub for community conversation, and you’re invited! The First Church List is a listserv hosted by groups.io. It is a virtual hub for the First Church community to communicate directly with each other through…
Way back in December and right around the holidays, our household ended up with two sets of gag cocktail napkins that had been sitting in a drawer, until recently. What’s written on them might as well have been prophecy!  The…
Today, we turn to the beginning of Mark’s gospel and with it to a profound sense of urgency, movement and sudden, fast-paced action that imbues all 16 chapters of Mark, and m this first one. If you were reading it…
I tell you, siblings, the time is short. From now on, those with spouses should live as though they had none. Those who mourn should live as though they had nothing to mourn for, and those who rejoice should live…
Good news, church! Thanks to renewed funding from our BU School of Theology Creative Callings Project grant, Carlyle Stewart, our Community Minister for Racial Justice, will continue to be with us through most 2021. Carlyle will be preaching on February…
Thank you for your support of our UNCOMMON Virtual Gala with special guest Michael Sandel, renowned political philosopher and author of The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? Dr. Sandel was interviewed by Stephanie Paulsell, Interim Minister of…
I don’t know about you all but one of things I’m missing most in this Covid Advent is the chance to sing and belt out hymns with you all. There I said it. Yes, it helps to be here but…
I wonder how many of you were surprised to hear our reading today and whether any found yourselves thinking, isn’t it a little early for that one? Kind of like I felt on Thursday when my daughter Nellie proposed, as…
Overview of the Series on Reparations, May and June, 2019 First Church is working hard  to better understand our slaveholding past and to learn about the living legacy of slavery. Our Road to Freedom pilgrimages and our well-attended “Stories Impossible…
I begin with a poem from John O’Donohue: To Learn From Animal Being Nearer to the earth’s heart, Deeper within its silence: Animals know this world In a way we never will. We who are ever Distanced and…
I wonder how many of you remember your baptisms? Maybe some who were baptized as adults. My guess is many of us were not much older than sweet Lydia. I’ve seen photos of my dad holding me when he still…
INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL READING In our gospel reading last week, we heard Jesus ask his disciples, “Who do you say I am?” Safely out of earshot of Jesus’ many religious opponents, Peter blurted out a proclamation so daring, so…
I’ve been thinking about orientation, lately, as we pivot from whatever semblance of summer and turns towards the fall. To be honest though, I’m not feeling orientation nearly so much as disorientation. I’ll say that if my mind and heart…
Before we begin reflecting on our passage for today I’d like to share a gift from one of the saints in my life. This little booklet was my grandfather’s when he was in the army working on railroads in Texas.…
As you can probably tell, in planning for this service, we gave ourselves some options. Not knowing what this week would bring, nor what the future holds, we chose liturgy, scripture, and songs of grace and courage that could hold…
In Case of Emergency In case of emergency, decisions about building closing and event cancellations will be made as early as possible by the Senior Minister or Acting Head of Staff. In some cases, a brief time of consultation with…
First Church is called to be a community of grounding, of grace, and of courage for the common good… Grounded in God, our hope and our healing: in God whom we know and experience, who draws us to wonder and…
We live in a pluralistic age our forebears could not foresee. First Church is constantly learning from and working with people of others faiths and people of no faith to make the world a more caring, more understanding, more just…
For many, the sacred passages of birth, marriage and death are moments when God’s presence is especially needed and felt. If you are looking for help with a service or pastoral support and guidance, we can help.  If you…
We are so glad that you’ve decided to Get To Know Us! Help us get to know you by filling out a visitor card, so that we may reach out and connect with you about our community. You will find…
WISDOM HAS BUILT HER HOUSE, SHE HAS HEWN HER SEVEN PILLARS. SHE HAS SLAUGHTERED HER ANIMALS, SHE HAS MIXED HER WINE, SHE HAS SET HER TABLE. SHE HAS SENT OUT HER SERVANT GIRLS, SHE CALLS FROM THE HIGHEST PLACES IN…
Are you interested in leading a small group over Zoom or in person this Fall? Contact Beth Spaulding (bspaulding68@gmail.com) to discuss your idea for the next round of Faith & Life Groups, running in October/November, with registration happening in September.…
First Church has a lively and varied Church School program for children in PreK through high school that relies on volunteer teachers to be successful. Accompanying our youngest members on their journey of spiritual formation is an opportunity to live…
All-Church Fall Retreat at Craigville Retreat Center Friday, September 27 – Sunday, September 29 Join Emma Thomas, Sarah Higginbotham, and other church leaders on the Cape for a weekend of community-building in fellowship, formation, and fun. Take advantage of scheduled…
The Interim Search Team is excited to introduce the Rev. Dr. J. Michael Solberg as our Interim Senior Minister. His first day at First Church in Cambridge will be Monday, August 26, and he will preach for the first time…
With only three Sundays to go, including today, and having shared 1:1 farewell meetings with many of you, my heart is full! It’s overflowing, really, with gratitude for all the richness and relationships this church has offered me and with…
Those of you who have been in my office may recognize this colorful artwork here on our table. It was a gift from a member of the last church I served in Lexington, a hand-me-down really, since she was downsizing…
Would you please pray with me: Loving God, May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be a reflection of your essence. Give us this day the daily bread that our hearts need for healing, reflection,…