High St. Congregational Church, Auburn, Maine

High St. Congregational Church, Auburn, Maine

Pillars & Foundations was started as an effort to explore my surrounding communities through their religious institutions, and to share my experiences. What all of these institutions share in common is a drive to make a difference, and they do, regardless if it is with one person looking for hope & community, or a recipient of their charitable work.

While the sanctuary may only be just over 30 years old, the traditional white-washed accents of an older Congregational Church, along with the beautiful stained glass windows with names of historical benefactors, such as Edward Little provide great character to this old church's new building

This post is another focused on my home communities of Lewiston and Auburn (I'm from Sabattus), as I recently traveled there from my current home in Massachusetts to visit with family. 

The History of High St. Congregational Church

The first thing I remember about High St. Congregational was the magnificent steeple, 140 tall that used to help define Lewiston & Auburn's skyline prior to an unfortunate fire that destroyed the historic New England church in August of 1985. 

The church's history follows that of Auburn and features such well known names as Edward Little whose name is represented in a stained glass window today. This window was a replacement for one lost in the fire. I was lucky to find an article from 1965 in a bank of links on a church history series that the Lewiston Sun published. This link bank can be found here courtesy of Mainegenealogy.net. The church was founded in 1826 meaning at 192 years old it will be quickly celebrating it's bicentennial. The mentioned news article by Rachel Hodgkins Spiller provides details on various aspects of the congregation in the mid sixties including space for children, function facilities, and even a chair elevator to make the sanctuary handicap accessible at that time. The history tells us that High St. Congregational Church had a history of caring for its parish in progressive ways. 

The Congregation

I was lucky to have chosen at random "Confirmation Sunday," as the day which I attended High St. Congregational Church. Through the Confirmation of five hopeful, smart, young women and the interaction of Reverend Stephen Carnahan, I learned first hand about this caring community. It was expressed through an intimate passing of the peace where nearly everyone greeted each other, and a touching moment where at least half the congregation formed a circle of support at the young women as they prayed and affirmed their faith. Reverend Carnahan was very amiable, approachable, self deprecating at times in a way that personalized the service and made him relatable. He appears to have a nice sense of humor, very evident in the service, and evidenced by some material on High St. Congregational's FB page. 

High St. Congregational Church is an affiliate of the UCC, and is Open and Affirming accepting all to join in with its services.

The Service

As Reverend Carnahan greeted me as I left, he said, "You know it isn't like this every week." The Confirmation service was quite unusual I'm sure, large portions of it lead by the young women, including the Eucharist, as well as several touching speeches by the confirmation candidates that was focused on empowering women, and self value. The service had so much content, it extended an hour and a half, which I'm sure was unusual.


The music in the service was accompanied by some beautiful piano playing, the organ, featured prominently in the church was not played. Hymns were classics that even some who may not be regular attendees at Christian worship may recognize from entertainment. These included "Here I Am Lord, and Dona Nobis Pacem." The latter I sang in public school choir as a child (It was a different time). One moment, part touching, and perhaps adding some levity to the service, was the choice of the young women to sing Christina Aguilera's "Beautiful." One of the excellent power ballads of the past couple decades that certainly lifts spirits, if not brings a touch of emotion to those listening. The confirmation class was a bit reserved in their delivery, and with a smile, Rev. Carnahan motioned for the sound operator to slightly amplify Ms. Aguilera's volume as to give some encouragement.


The readings were great choices for the theme of empowerment. The message largely that we should not let people tell us, especially those facing some social prejudices, what they can and can't do. One item of mention was the unfortunate, unintended consequences of telling young girls that they should be sweet and pretty. The social framework that traditionally has perhaps not promoted great expectations for women, and how we as a society should work to change this.

John 8:1-11 is a gospel story about a group of men intending to stone an adulterer to death. It is the origin of the well know phrase attributed to Jesus, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Christ does not condemn the woman, and implies he should not. He advises her only to leave her life of sin. 

Another reading shared Matthew 15:21-28, speaks of the faith of a foreigner, a Canaanite whose daughter was stricken with an ailment, described as possession. Christ's followers imply that he should not help her, perhaps considering rude, unwelcome and undeserving. But the mother's faith was so strong in Christ, that she persisted in her requests, and Christ rewarded this, as this Gospel reading implies that the faithful, regardless of who they are, shall be helped.

With a similar message to the prior reading, in Luke 7:36-40 is shared the story of a sinning woman that Christ allows to wipe/wash his feet with her hair.

Lastly related in Luke 7:44-50 a woman is uses a bottle of oil/perfume on Jesus, and Rev. Carnahan suggests that the disciples and observers would likely have disapproved of this as it would have been considered a waste of an expensive item, but Christ recognized it as an expression of love. He implied that perhaps the woman's intuition somehow saw his future, and that it was a gesture to prepare him for his crucifixion.  

The comprehensive message of these passages seems to be avoiding needless, harsh judgement or jumping to conclusions, avoid prejudice, and preconceptions. We as people must practice empathy. Things such as gender norms, preconceptions of gender, labels, and who we view others to be, should not be allowed to prejudice actions, to create barriers to others. 

In retrospect I should have taken a picture of the church from the parking lot, as the rear of the church faces the street. See the Facebook page or main church page linked within my text for some pictures at different angles

What the Church Does

High Street Congregational Church, as mentioned in the history section, has a record of caring for those within its walls. It also has extensive outreach programs, and ministries which surely make enormous impact to Lewiston and Auburn. They run a very successful food pantry, in addition to other activities such as providing socks, mittens, hats and gloves for those less fortunate, organizing a flu shot clinic, and a Medicare education service. The pantry also has a "Books for Kids" program. There are also some outreach activities for the immigrant communities in Lewiston and Auburn including some literacy programs. Various social activities are also available through participation in the church.

High Street Congregational has surely helped the surrounding area with their dedicated work and generosity and continues to do so.

Text and photographs by George Parks

Sources are embedded in links