3/13/2020

Dear Members and Friends,

I am writing to share with you the decision that has been made to cancel Sunday worship services and all other church activities at First Congregational Church for the next two weeks beginning today.

Scheduled Church Office hours will remain in place for the time being, but we ask that you restrict your communication with our Office Manager to email and phone until further notice.

This was a difficult decision made by our Senior Deacons, Worship Deacons, Church Staff and myself on the advice of our Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ and the City of Melrose.  We are doing this in tandem with other Melrose churches.

We do this in order to help stem the tide of the coronavirus Covid-19 in our community by limiting public gatherings.  The hope is to aid health care services by preventing a sharp rise in coronavirus cases that may overwhelm these services.

Church leadership will re-evaluate the situation prior to worship on Sunday, March 29^th and communicate an update at that time regarding whether or not worship will resume.

In the meantime, please add the church website and Facebook page to those online places that you check regularly.  I will be posting further messages and interim updates there as we create new ways of strengthening our faith community during these challenging times.

I invite you to keep our church, our local communities, our commonwealth, our country and our world in your prayers.  As you navigate the many social changes that are upon us, be assured of Christ’s accompaniment with you each and every day.

–Rev. Dominic