This week we begin our celebration of the 175^th Anniversary of First Congregational Church in Melrose, United Church of Christ!  That’s right, it was in 1848 that our church was founded by faithful, forward-thinking people right here in Melrose.  It is a legacy that we will acknowledge and celebrate this spring and all through our next program year beginning in September.

If you haven’t seen our new banner across the entrance of our church, swing by!  It depicts the oldest photo we have of an original church building on this site along with our present one.  The tagline “Celebrating 175 Years of Progressive Christianity” is important.  From its founding in pre-Civil War Melrose (just 70 years after the end of the Revolutionary War!), our church has been about the work of welcoming one and all to worship God through Jesus Christ and learn more about how our world can be a better place if we would but act on the teachings of our faith.

After worship this Sunday, we will be re-dedicating a clock that hung in the previous church building.  Many still remember when that facility burned to the ground on Thanksgiving Eve in 1967.  Thanks to the restoration work of John Whalen and the support of Circle 4, this clock will once again keep time and watch over our church activities for many years to come just as it did in countless years gone by.

We will also capture the past and the future over the summer as we construct a memorial garden area at our church just to the right of the parking lot entrance.  Memorial bricks are available for purchase for this project and we hope to dedicate this new addition in the early fall.

As we roll through our next program year, our church leadership has many other ideas and initiatives on the drawing board to not only celebrate our past but build our future.  

Milestones like this are a great way to give thanks for the rich legacy of ministry that we enjoy here at FCC.  The generations of faithful members who built, worshipped, celebrated, grieved, reached out, sang, taught, baked, argued, laughed, and praised God in this place have brought us to where we are today.  

The very best way to honor them is to not only remember them but to ask:  What legacy do we want to leave future generations here at First Congregational Church?  The future is a bright one and we can build it together!  

See you in church,

–Rev. Dominic