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...
We are officially an ONA Church - Open and Affirming.
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!
Worship is held at 10:00 am each Sunday in the Sanctuary September through Memorial Day.
Join us for Worship at 9:30am June - August in our Air-Conditioned Sanctuary.
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!
JUNETEENTH PRAYER VIGIL
JUNETEENTH
Friday, June 19, 2026 Noon–1:00pm/ in our easily Accessible and Air Conditioned Sanctuary.
Come for a few minutes or stay for the hour. All are welcome.
Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, when Union troops announced freedom to enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, long after the Emancipation Proclamation; the National Archives calls it the oldest known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. The Smithsonian also emphasizes Juneteenth as a day of freedom, remembrance, resilience, and unfinished promise.
This year we are joining with churches across the country to gather in prayer for freedom. This is not a partisan activity, but rather a time to remember where we have been, reflect on where we are, and offer ourselves to God's guidance into the future.
The time will have a very loose structure allowing each person to engage in reflection and prayer at their own pace. Folks can come and go throughout the hour. And we will end it together, for those who remain, with a time of prayer and hope. Please let your friends in the community know about this opportunity.
A quiet hour of prayer, reflection, remembrance, and hope.
All are welcome.
Pastor's Ponderings
June 2026 -
Artificial Intelligence
AI makes the news a lot today. And folks usually respond with excitement or anxiety or a little of both. We see some of the impact on our lives. We hear stories. Folks can be enthusiastic about the potential uses and creativity. Or they can feel dread about job loss or some SCIFI scenario like movie such as Terminatorwhere AI takes over the world.
In the church world it has emerged a couple times in the last month. The new Pope (Leo) has written his first Encyclical on the ethics and use of AI. Our Association (The Old Colony Association of the Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ) has just voted the first (in our denomination) recommended policy on the use of AI.
Both speak of legitimate concerns, particularly with Generative AI (like ChatGpt and Claude). AI is replacing jobs that once were the bread and butter of people. AI uses tremendous natural resources to operate its data centers (water, electricity, computer chips). AI can search and use human creations and creativity without properly crediting (or paying for) the talent that created them (and without properly citing the sources). AI can create information that is not factually verifiable or accurate. AI can deepen the inequality that exists between those who can afford to use and apply AI and those who can’t. AI can replace human relationships with the illusion of caring created by AI algorithms. AI can introduce bias into its research based on what the programmers have built into its search and analysis.
At the same time AI is a phenomenal asset for its generative capacities for research, reflection, creation and analysis. It is extremely useful, even as it is not neutral in its impact.
AI is here to stay, evolving at an hourly rate, even as we try to grasp the ethical, personal and financial implications of its use and development. Both our Old Colony Association’s resolution and the Pope’s encyclical encourage us to consider limited, wise and faithful use of AI that respects the dignity and worth of people and the human spirit. To learn more you can read the Old Colony Resolution here. And you can find the Pope’s encyclical and any number of summaries and commentaries on it with a basic Google search.
And here is where I am learning. I use AI as a research assistant and a thought reflection partner. I do not want to use it to generate content. However, I do use it to review things I am working on (including projects, documents, worship themes, liturgy and sermons) When I use it for research I check it against what I have learned and explored myself. I test it for bias (inviting it to look beyond its own and my own biases). When I use it as a thought partner, I reflect on its feedback as I have done for years with colleagues. I limit the use of AI in both time and scope.
At the end of the day, I have always encouraged and applied the concept that our ministry and lives should be faithful, impactful, healthy, and relevant. Scripture reminds us to Love God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbors as our selves. It also reminds us that God calls us to loving kindness, doing justice and humbly walking with God. So I pause to test everything, particularly AI, against those values and guardrails.
I also continue to watch and advocate for the faithful and ethical use of AI within our world.
For as our Association and the Pope have reminded us, it is in the human heart that the Spirit of God resides and from the human heart that the Spirit of God moves.
