Where everyone is welcome...NO EXCEPTIONS!
Welcome to Central Congregational Church United Church of Christ
An Open and Affirming Congregation
WELCOME
You are Welcome Here...
You are welcome here. You are celebrated here with all the diversity you bring in race, background, country of origin, beliefs and doubts, class, education, age, abilities. You are celebrated here with all the diversity you bring in gender orientation, gender identity; our LGB TQ+ siblings you are welcome here ….
In a world where it sometimes feels unsafe to be who you are you are safe here;
You are seen here
This is God’s home
This is sacred space
God is here with us and we are here with God.
We are a people who honor God experienced by us as father and mother, Christ and Holy Spirit, but we don’t have a religious test for participation. So come with your beliefs, questions and doubts. Just come…with an open heart to where God is still speaking in your life and ours.
Because, we seek to honor the dignity of every human being, speak the truth to one another in love, listen with compassionate hearts and walk humbly with each other and our God. We’re not perfect, neither are you, and you don’t need to be.
So bring your traumas and triumphs, your fears and fervor, your anxieties and awakenings, your worries and weariness, your joys and laughter.
Bring the sounds of children and the sounds of silence and the songs we sing together.
You are welcome here, you are safe here, you are loved here, you are home here.
About Us
Worship
Please join us - no matter your age or stage in life - young families, singles, seniors, empty-nesters or young adult - there's a place for you here at Central Congregational Church.
Come and see!
Join us for Worship at 9:30am June - August in our Air-Conditioned Sanctuary.
Worship is held at 10:00 am each Sunday in the Sanctuary September through Memorial Day.
Our Church building is easily accessible and air-conditioned.
We have plenty of accessible parking and an elevator
with trained staff to assist you.
Join us - come as you are! You are welcome here!
Pastor's Ponderings
An Oasis of Joy
We've been using this phrase more and more recently. It comes out of reflections we've done together to try to identify what we have experienced in our church that most deeply and authentically defines who we are (and who God has guided us to become).
I have a fascination with neuroscience and the intersection with spiritual growth and human development. I'm involved in an online course that has been reminding me of a set of essential gifts we need as children if we are to thrive.
We need to feel safe. Protected from dangerous behaviors of others (including, most importantly, our parents and prime caregivers) and safe from the dangers of living in our world.
We need to feel soothed. To have someone who offers comfort, support and healing when we have been wounded. That includes wounds that come from other people by their words and actions. It includes all the emotional wounds that come from the ups and downs of life. Along with the scrapes and bruises that come along.
We need to feel seen. Each of us is unique. Shaped by genes, our environment and our experience we are becoming something new every day. Even as the core essence of us deepens. Too often we have to hide parts of ourselves for fear of the rejection we have experienced or observed. We need someone who 'sees' the whole of us and holds it with tender acceptance and love.
We need secure connections. We need others. Family and parents are essential. But so are peers and neighbors. Our brains are hardwired from birth to form rapport and relationships with others. We need those that are safe, secure and accepting.
I suspect that all of these are essential to our understanding as a church of our identity and vocation. We are and we seek to become an Oasis of caring and joy where people feel safe, soothed, seen and secure.
What do you think your gift and calling is from God to help our church in this?
See you in Church,
Rev Don
