Today, I visited my 12th church in Boston in 18 months. I think I may have found the One for me.
I found street parking on the side of the church and walked in a side door, which led to the left side of the Nave, the North Transept, where I sat.
United Parish Brookline is an ecumenical congregation, affiliated with the American Baptist Churches, the United Methodist Church, and the United Church of Christ. It is open and affirming and uses gender-neutral language for God. The welcome was given by both pastors--a male and a female. These factors alone were enough to make me feel quite at home.
The music was excellent--all acoustic, with technically trained vocalists in the choir. The congregation engaged and friendly. They had children hand out flowers to newcomers. Children sat with their parents during the entire service--another thing I liked. The congregation was diverse--in my pew, I was sandwiched between white and black women.
I love liturgical services. They help me to experience God in congregation in an embodied--rather than a passive, consumeristic--way. I went to Yale Divinity School because I was tired of Evangelical church culture. And now I think I'm ready to identify with Mainline Protestantism not just in spirit--but also in the flesh.
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