Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church, Melrose, Massachusetts
Melrose Unitarian Universalist Church, Melrose, Massachusetts
I intend to explore and experience the services of many different churches, predominantly near where I live in Massachusetts, and to share my observations as part of this blog. These institutions are important, often overlooked and even misjudged centers of our communities that seek to make a positive impact on their participants as well as others through their generosity and public service. It is possible that through this activity I may eventually consider a long term relationship with one of these pillars and foundations of the community, however I am eager to do a lot of exploring first.
The Building and Organization History:
My source for information, Melrose UU website does a nice job or writing up details on their congregation history. Part of the congregation itself dates to 1849, where the first church was constructed in 1852 under what became the First Universalist Parish of Melrose. Interestingly this structure still exists today and has been repurposed with other non faith-based tenants. Repurposing of these buildings is interesting to me, and at a future time I may attempt to write a post exploring this topic with several examples in my area. Thankfully for this congregation, they live on beyond the structure, eventually merging in 1974 with the separate, Unitarian Congregation of Melrose, which had origins in 1867. With this act Melrose's Unitarian and Universalist congregations formerly merged, which had already happened nationally in the U.S. in 1961. The current church that was originally the home of the Unitarian portion of the congregation, was built in 1936, with an addition in 1966.
The building houses two larger rooms, the sanctuary, situated to the left of the main entrance, and a community room to the right, which serves as a home for coffee hour and other church functions. The sanctuary is decorated sparsely in the traditional white walls, large glass windows, and white painted pews, with touches of stained woodwork. The sanctuary has a raised lectern area with stained steps, and white post railings, another common feature of New England protestant churches. Exposed wood beams form one contrast to the bright white walls and ceiling. On the walls hang some congregation artwork, colorful quilts, and a sculpture, "The Adventures of Olrs Lph," by Melrosian, Kristina Rodolico, that demonstrates the seven principles of Unitarian Universalism. The title of the piece is derived from an acronym, from a song of the same title paraphrases the principles with the following lyrics (1. One, 2. Loved, 3. and Raised, 4. and taught to See, 5. Listens, 6. and builds Peace, 7. in Harmony). The music is by Josh Shortlidge and details on the song can be found here. 
Who Are The Congregation?
Clearly as demonstrated by the sculpture and music written about above, the Melrose UU congregation is built on the creativity and passion of the community. The service was very well attended, with all pews having people in them, and substantial socializing both before, and after. If one is looking to blend into the group and persist in solitude amongst many, this congregation may not be for you. Visitors are requested to don name tags (however I will note that I avoided this myself), and the service in addition to the social hour, implemented an activity in which there was expectation that you would discuss the topics at hand. I have been to several UU services through the years, and this is my first experience where socializing appeared to be an expectation. It isn't a negative, but it is a challenge to my introverted nature.
In discussion before the service I spoke with people who were from Melrose and the surrounding communities. One such community, Malden, also has a UU church, however I met at least one individual travelling to Melrose to attend this congregation. It highlighted how personal the choice can be on what church someone attends, maybe there's family history, or perhaps it is a preference of some aspect of the community or sanctuary itself.
At a high level, the UUs, champion inclusivity when self-describing. The following link to the Unitarian Universalists Association website describes that they accept people of different thoughts, faiths, sexual orientations and backgrounds into the church, and recognize that our views are shaped by our experiences.
In discussion before the service I spoke with people who were from Melrose and the surrounding communities. One such community, Malden, also has a UU church, however I met at least one individual travelling to Melrose to attend this congregation. It highlighted how personal the choice can be on what church someone attends, maybe there's family history, or perhaps it is a preference of some aspect of the community or sanctuary itself.
At a high level, the UUs, champion inclusivity when self-describing. The following link to the Unitarian Universalists Association website describes that they accept people of different thoughts, faiths, sexual orientations and backgrounds into the church, and recognize that our views are shaped by our experiences.
Service:
Music connected the portions of the service with three main hymns as well as some other short musical interludes. A common theme of the music was the aspect of community, the idea of bearing your neighbors burdens with the suggestion that it is almost not a choice but a constant. One such hymn, No Other People's Children by Elizabeth Alexander, closes with the line "There are no other people's heartaches, there are no other people's injuries, there are no other people's children in this world." Another hymn by Cecily Taylor Our World is One World, contained lyrics "Our world is one world, the thoughts we think affect us all. The way we build our attitudes, with love or hate, we make a bridge or wall."
The sermon itself was focused on Class and was titled "What's Class Got to Do With It?" and was delivered by a guest minister Rev. Dr. Dorothy Emerson. The interesting concept of this sermon was that many people don't see class, that they are taught to believe that our environment is classless, but that we must recognize this isn't true. To fight inequity and strive towards social justice we must realize the prejudices of class and see the world through the eyes of others. This hit a chord with me because I've occasionally met individuals that projected their own interpretations of the world on me, assuming that I shared their opinions or experiences. This was something that has repeatedly triggered me as I couldn't comprehend how someone would make such assumptions. Perhaps I was never fully aware of how certain individuals through their unique experiences do not recognize class, where I was acutely aware of it from an early age. I think the take home message is to have empathy towards other people, to listen to them, rather than to make superficial assumptions or to hold them to your own preconceptions which are often incorrect. It is certainly something that society should focus more on in my view.
What the Congregation Does:
One of the best parts about writing these posts is this section where I detail all of the great things these organizations do for the community. On Melrose UU's community page they discuss work for the Bread of Life, the Pantry of Hope, a Quilters group which makes things for those in need, Men's and Women's groups/activities, Covenant groups which explore various social topics, various green activities, various social justice activities including Habitat for Humanity, and even a Meditation Group. I've been particularly interesting in the Meditation Group as I think it would be a good activity to help round out my own life. To expand a bit on the social justice portion Melrose UU has recently been involved in both Black Lives Matters and the Women's March events, as well as the Melrose Alliance Against Violence, a local non profit organization that works to prevent domestic violence and bullying.
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