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What difference does First Unitarian make in your life?

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Sunday “church going” gave us a feeling of belonging to something precious beyond our busy work lives.  We are a community of people who may or may not be different, yet we appreciate our diversity as essential for vitality of the spirit.    James C. Dolan


I was involved in five Unitarian Churches and Fellowships prior to our family’s move to Worcester. We were drawn to Worcester by word-of-mouth interest in the new minister: Rev. Barbara Merritt.  Our relationship was cemented by her telephone call to us to offer assistance when our family was going through a very difficult loss.  Thereafter, Rev. Merritt’s sermons were so inspiring that we became dedicated members.

To us, First Unitarian was a large metropolitan church with a permanent choir, a well directed Sunday school program, and a well organized congregational based leadership committee. With many diverse programs we quickly became involved, first as Sunday school teachers, joining pot-luck suppers, and Sunday Coffee hour and a most memorable auction.  When my wife, Carol passed away, Rev. Merritt arranged the funeral service under stressful time limitations and later conducted memorial services at the family’s plot at the Rose Cemetery in Worcester. In time I was invited to join the Trustees of Parish Funds, and Finance Committee, and then the 225th Celebration Committee. Sunday “church going” gave us a feeling of belonging to something precious beyond our busy work lives. Circle Suppers made it easy to converse with that person we met during Coffee Hour.

First Unitarian has a coherent presence and professional bearing of a traditional New England church. Our church’s forebears were a true mix of Worcester’s early settlers and were liberal in their quest to express the human spirit in revolutionary times. They left a culturally rich and inviting society, welcoming other denominations to join them in Worcester when it was thriving boom town of the 19th century.  The First Unitarian Church became the focal point of social awareness and change.  It is liberal in its ability in to think differently, and to seek truth and justice, and “to live in right relationship” one to the other. 

Whereas so many churches are at loss or bewildered in the confusion of their history, First Unitarian welcomes the challenge of the human spirit: religious, spiritual or something new. We are a community of people who may or may not be different, yet we appreciate our diversity as essential for vitality of the spirit.

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