I was running behind this morning and ultimately couldn't make it to the church I've been…read moresemi-regularly attending this morning. As I'd been following First Congregational's pastor, Rev. Dr. Sarah Lund, on social media recently I decided to finally take the opportunity to do a re-visit to First Congregational United Church of Christ.
The bad news, at least for me, was that Rev. Dr. Lund was out today as she was preaching at another church. I was pleasantly surprised that Carol Sowle, a fairly new lay minister for the congregation, was leading the worship as I'd previously attended a church with her.
So, while I was majorly bummed to not hear Pastor Sarah, the day worked out.
First off, I have to acknowledge that I'm not sure why I only gave First Congregational a 3-star rating upon my first couple of visits. My initial contact with First Congregational came during 2-3 evening services that they were holding when Rev. Lund joined the church. These were fairly small group services. They weren't bad events, but they really weren't what I was looking for and after Rev. Lund hadn't been present for a couple of them they sort of fell of my radar. In the interim, however, I'd had the opportunity to attend Rev. Lund's installation service, which was wonderful, and to also learn more about her role within the denomination as director of their disability ministry.
For those unfamiliar, United Church of Christ is on the more progressive end of Christianity and tends to balance fairly high ritual with a strong sense of social justice and progressive views. They are quite inclusive of individuals who are LGBTQ including both ordination and a willingness to perform weddings, etc. This particular church is located in the Meridian Hills area in a large church. I learned just today that their previous home was downtown in the church that now houses an Orthodox church.
First Congregational is in a residential setting. Their parking lot is in the rear and they have several identified accessible parking spots. They have a curb cut into their building. I noticed they have several sections of their fairly traditional sanctuary where they've made space for accessibility quite intentionally. I could not tell if their altar area offered accessibility - it doesn't appear to from the front.
The church also houses a daycare. As a denomination, UCC is larger than you'd expect with over 5,000 churches nationwide and over 1,000,000 members.
Rev. Dr. Lund maintains a modest but consistent social media presence that I've enjoyed following. It tends to wrap around social justice issues and occasional messages or blog posts. While she is a full-time pastor for First Congregational, the disability ministry role is part time for the denomination and does, occasionally, take her away from the congregation. Carol Sowle is a Pastoral Care Associate, as well. First Congregational seems to offer mostly traditional hymn-style music, though in the times I've attended I've noted some variation.
The people today were super friendly. I'm talking VERY hospitable. They have a strong emphasis on allowing children to be children including having what they call a "prayground" at the front of their sanctuary. When kids got fussy, they were tended to but were very seldom removed from the sanctuary. This follows my own line of belief around children and service, so I was pleased to see it.
The congregation appears to be mostly older adults with a few families woven into the fabric. I don't believe they have a specific children/youth ministry designation, though they do have a part of their worship dedicated to children.
Today's service was fairly close to 90 minutes, though my sense was it was a bit longer than usual. I think part of that was likely the lay minister getting used to the process as I believe this was a fairly new opportunity for her.
Attendance was lighter than I expected. In fact, it was considerably lighter than I expected, though I'm aware that some were in the choir and some were volunteering.
Overall, I'd long intended to raise this up to a 4-star as I think my original 3-star was a tad unfair and likely the result of that last evening service that really just didn't work (another time with Rev. Lund was out). If you're on the progressive end of faith but maintain Christian identity, First Congregational is a wonderful option for you with a small, but welcoming congregation and a fairly new pastor who is warm and welcoming. While I've yet to hear her preach, and I'll keep trying, as a human being I've really appreciated her intelligence, insight, and presence. I would definitely return and hope to do so in the near future.
