The New UU

The New UU is a program offered three times a year that presents an overview of our liberal religious tradition with its beginnings, growth, legacies, and aspirations. You will also learn about First Parish — our organization, programs, opportunities, leaders and financial situation — as presented by its staff and lay leaders.

You will explore whether your own beliefs and values are consonant with Unitarian Universalism, and how our faith community might meet your needs. Open to newcomers who are interested in learning more about Unitarian Universalism, as well as to seasoned members who would like to revitalize their interest and commitment.

The next New UU workshops will take place on Saturdays, January 22nd  and April 9th from 8:30-12:30, followed by lunch.

Minister's Orientation

Directions

First Parish in Concord is located at 20 Lexington Road, Concord, Massachusetts.

From the WEST: Take Route 2 EAST (Concord Turnpike) towards Boston. Take a left on Elm Street. Bear left on Main Street. At the rotary in the center of town, bear right onto Lexington Road. First Parish with be on your right.

From the EAST: Take Route 2 WEST (Concord Turnpike) towards Fitchburg. At the base of the hill when Route 2 turns left, go straight on the Cambridge Turnpike. At the stop sign, turn left onto Lexington Road.

Maps courtesy of Google Maps

Weddings

Weddings at First Parish are Unitarian Universalist services, led by one of our ministers, occasionally assisted by a minister or other cleric who is a friend or family member of the couple.  Weddings are held in the Sanctuary, a classic New England meeting house that seats up to 500 guests, or in the Chapel, a smaller and more contemporary meeting space that seats up to 60 guests.  The Sanctuary has a Steinway piano and a classic pipe organ, and the Chapel has a small pipe organ.

Couples are invited and expected to meet at least twice with the minister who will lead their service, to become acquainted and to discuss their upcoming marriage, including the details of the wedding service.  The minister will provide a booklet of information and resources on weddings at First Parish, including a selection of popular readings, and some alternate versions of wedding vows.  Couples may also consider writing their own vows, in consultation with the minister.

First Parish employs a wedding coordinator, whose services are required for weddings with more than 25 guests.  The wedding coordinator meets with the couple for a tour of the building and facilities, explains the choreography of the service, and works with florists, photographers and caterers in regard to First Parish policies.  She is present for the rehearsal, and at the wedding she assists all participants with directions and timing as the service begins.

Couples who are interested in a wedding at First Parish can download a packet of basic information. After direct consultation with the parish adminstrator to determine an agreed-upon wedding date, an application fee, with the completed wedding application, confirms the wedding date in the First Parish calendar.

Couples who would like to visit the First Parish meeting house are invited to attend a Sunday morning worship service, at 9 a.m. or 11 a.m., or make an appointment to see the building at some other convenient time.

For more information or to schedule a wedding at First Parish, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call the office at 978-369-9602.

Further information (pdf files)

• Application for Wedding
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Instructions for Wedding Coordinator

Membership Policy as of February 8, 2010

A Member of First Parish includes one who:

• Is sixteen years of age or older.
• Is in general support of the purposes, goals, and programs of First Parish.
• Has signed the Membership Book in the presence of the Minister. (Ideally having attended orientation sessions conducted by the Membership Committee in conjunction with the Minister.)
• Makes an annual financial contribution of record (not required of those 16-21 years of age.)  (Members are welcome to consult with a minister if contributing is a concern).
• Contributes time and talent toward church functioning.

Being a Member of First Parish allows one to:

• Chair committees.
• Vote at annual meetings beginning 30 days after signing the Membership Book.
• Help choose new ministers.
• Represent First Parish at regional and national events.
• Take priority over non-members at retreats and other activities when attendance must be limited.
• Receive a discount on adjunct services and activities. (Program fees may differ for membership categories.)
• Participate in certain special programs such as OWL, Coming of Age, and service trips.

A Friend of First Parish:

• Is in general support of the purposes, goals, and programs of First Parish.
• Does not wish to sign the membership book.
• Is encouraged to make an annual financial contribution.
• Is welcome to contribute time and talent toward church functioning.

Removal from active membership:  A Member may be moved to inactive status upon:                                

• A written request from the Member.
• An oral request from the Member to the Minister.
• Review and consultation by the ministers, if this Member has not fulfilled the conditions of membership as stated above, has not made a request to become a Friend and has neither contacted nor responded to efforts to reestablish contact with First Parish for 2 years.
• Death of the Member.

An Honorary Member is one who: 

• Has been a longstanding member of First Parish whose circumstances prevent participation but whose past contributions are honored.

* Exceptions to this membership policy are made at a Minister’s discretion.

History of First Parish

By Leslie Perrin Wilson,
Curator, Concord Free Library's Special Collections

Editor's Note: The author has recently catalogued and produced a finding aid for the First Parish's records and artifacts dating from the 17th century through the mid-1990s, with the aid of Judith Gray and Jessica Sims. More current records are now kept by the church. For the full finding aid and a list of these fascinating holdings, click here.

In 2004, the First Parish in Concord gave a large collection of its historic records to the Concord Free Public Library. The recent processing of this rich material provides a natural opportunity to take stock of the long history of Concord's Unitarian-Universalist church, which was first gathered in 1636 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its first ministers, Peter Bulkeley and John Jones, were formally installed in 1637, in Cambridge.
The original meetinghouse was built on the hill on the opposite side of Lexington Road from the present location of the church. A second meetinghouse was built between 1667 and 1673, a third in 1711. The third meetinghouse, renovated in 1791 and again in 1841 (when it was turned 90 degrees to face Lexington Road), burned to the ground on April 12, 1900. A fourth meetinghouse was built 1900-1901 to replace and (as much as possible) to reproduce the old building. Church school facilities and a chapel were added in 1955, kitchen renovations undertaken in 1974, and additional classroom space and handicapped accessibility created in 1984/85.

Ministers of the church have been: Peter Bulkeley, 1636-1659; John Jones, 1636-1644; Edward Bulkeley, 1659-1696; Joseph Estabrook, 1667-1711; John Whiting, 1712-1737; Daniel Bliss, 1739-1764; William Emerson (Ralph Waldo Emerson's grandfather), 1765-1776; Ezra Ripley, 1778-1841; Hersey B. Goodwin, 1830-1836; Barzillai Frost, 1837-1857; Grindall Reynolds, 1858-1881; Benjamin R. Bulkeley, 1882-1893; Loren B. Macdonald, 1895-1924; Johannes A.C. Fagginger Auer, 1926-1930; Edward Perry Daniels, 1931-1956; Robert D. Richardson, 1956-1957; Arthur B. Jellis, 1957-1970; Dana McLean Greeley, 1970-1986; Gary E. Smith, 1988 to the present (2005). (Charles Wilson served as Interim Minister between the ministries of Dana Greeley and Gary Smith.)

During the evangelical ministry of Daniel Bliss, a group of parishioners left to form their own church, which met at the Black Horse Tavern. In 1774 and 1775, the meetinghouse of the First Parish was used for Provincial Congress meetings, in 1775 and 1776 for classes of Harvard College, which was temporarily moved from Cambridge to Concord for the safety of the students in wartime. During Ezra Ripley's long ministry, the First Parish grew away from its original Congregational Calvinism toward Unitarianism. In 1826, a group desiring a more conservative form of worship broke away from the First Parish to establish Concord's Trinitarian Congregational Church.

In 1961, the American Unitarian Association merged with the Universalist Church of America, forming the Unitarian Universalist Association. The First Parish has been Unitarian Universalist since that time. At the meeting which approved the merger, a constitution for the new church was adopted and Dana McLean Greeley -- formerly president of the American Unitarian Association, later minister of the First Parish in Concord -- was made the first president of the Unitarian Universalist Association.

The official separation of the First Parish from the municipal government of Concord did not take place until 1855/56. Before that time, Parish business was transacted at the annual Concord town meeting. The first annual Parish meeting was held in 1856.

In early times, those who accepted the covenant could become church members and communicants. In 1856, with the separation of the First Parish from town government and financial support, the Parish (distinct from the church) was formed to take the place of the municipal government in managing First Parish affairs, and the Standing Committee created to serve as its primary administrative body. Between 1856 and 1946, membership in the Parish — the ability to vote in Parish meetings — also required a financial contribution.

During the 19th century, those wanting to become members of the Parish affirmed their wish in writing, and those who chose not to do so also expressed their will in letter form. (The First Parish records include two famous examples of this practice — Henry David Thoreau's 1841 Jan. 6 sign-off from membership, and Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1865 April 30 affirmation of membership.)

The Parish is governed by its membership at its annual meeting, and administered by the Standing Committee. The Trustees of Parish Donations manage the Parish's invested funds and real estate. A variety of other committees perform Parish duties. The Women's Parish Association (WPA), organized at the home of Caroline Downes Brooks Hoar (Mrs. Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar) in 1881, has since that time devoted particular attention to maintaining and furnishing the meetinghouse.

In addition to the meetinghouse and the land it occupies on Lexington Road, the church owns or has owned other real estate in the area, including: properties on the Church Green; the Wright Tavern; woodlots originally used for ministerial purposes (one of which was surveyed by Henry David Thoreau for the First Parish, the original 1851 manuscript survey for it forming part of the First Parish records); and the Stow House (92 Walden Street; used as the First Parish parsonage for much of the 20th century, and then sold).

The records of the First Parish reflect the more than three hundred years of the church's history. They represent an amalgamation of materials presented to the Concord Free Public Library over the years (singly or in small collections) by a number of individual donors, and of a large collection of records deposited by the First Parish in the Library Special Collections in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s and formally deeded to the Library Corporation in 2004. Most of the collection was maintained by the First Parish until transfer to the Concord Free Public Library. Over the centuries of First Parish history, some records migrated from church custody into private hands, whence they were passed on to the Library.

These documents will be of interest to a variety of researchers: social historians; church historians; biographers of prominent individuals (Thomas Whitney Surette and Dana M. Greeley, for example) associated with the First Parish; local historians seeking to know more about the First Parish building, horsesheds, and the Wright Tavern; women's studies scholars, who may find the records of the Women's Parish Association valuable; historians of music; and others. Anyone with a potential use for the First Parish records is encouraged to contact the library's Special Collections.

Photos: Courtesy of the Special Collections of the Concord Free Public Library.