Three Centuries on Elm Street

On a grassy knoll at the intersection of Washington Street and Elm Street in Braintree, Massachusetts, a congregation of the United Church of Christ has been gathering for worship for more than 310 years. First Congregational Church of Braintree traces its origins to September 10, 1707, when 71 families living in the village of Monatiquot decided the journey to the Mount Wollaston meeting house had grown too long. They built a rough-hewn structure about 30 feet square on what was then known as Thayer's Corner, and the Second Parish Church of Braintree, also called the Middle Parish Meeting House, was founded.

Over the decades that followed, the parish grew alongside the town. By 1759 the original building had been replaced by a larger 55-by-45-foot meeting house, and in 1765 the building's pulpit became a launching point for the American Revolution. A committee of five from Braintree, chaired by Deacon Samuel Niles, enlisted a young North Parish lawyer named John Adams to draft instructions reacting to Britain's Stamp Act. On September 24, 1765, Adams delivered those instructions from the pulpit and coined the phrase "no taxation without representation" for the first time. Forty other Massachusetts towns soon endorsed the Braintree Instructions as the first unified response to British tyranny. A commemorative kiosk on the southwestern corner of the present church property marks the moment.

Middle Parish Meeting House was renamed First Congregational Church in 1792 as surrounding parishes incorporated separately, and membership eventually required three successive buildings: an 1830 clapboard meeting house, an 1857 Gothic wooden structure 110 feet long with a steeple that dominated the square, and finally, after a devastating 1912 fire, the present English country church-style building faced in Weymouth seam granite.

A Building Rebuilt Twice from the Ashes

The current sanctuary at 12 Elm Street is the congregation's fifth home. On January 10, 1912, in sub-zero temperatures and gale-force winds, fire broke out in the old Lyceum Hall and spread to the Gothic church. Frozen hydrants and frozen hoses left firefighters from Quincy, Weymouth, Holbrook, and Randolph unable to save the building. One fatality was connected to the fire: Deacon Will Watson Mayhew, who died of a heart attack after exhausting himself trying to rescue service pieces and vestments from the flames.

For the next eighteen months the congregation worshipped in the Delta Lodge Masonic Temple on Washington Street while the present stone church was erected closer to Elm Street. A Parish House adjoined it to the west, the sanctuary seated 306 with a gallery for 57, and a Christian Education building was added in 1957. Just under fifty years later, on December 21, 1961, a second fire gutted the sanctuary and destroyed the organ. During the reconstruction the sanctuary was enlarged by 48 seats, the gallery by 20, the narthex was added, the vestry rooms were built below, and a Time Capsule was sealed in the cornerstone in October 1962. The Thayer-Haskell-Treat organ was dedicated that November, and the sanctuary was rededicated in April 1963.

In 1996 the church's bell tower, weakened by decades of ringing by the great Van Duzen bell, was found to be causing severe water damage to the balcony and narthex. The difficult decision was made to take down the tower. The bells were sold and the Van Duzen bell was relocated to the front lawn, where it remains today as a landmark.

The Stained Glass of the Sanctuary

Much of the sanctuary's beauty comes from its stained glass windows, several of which survive the fires of 1912 and 1961, and many of which were made by Connick Studios of Boston. The three oldest casements, on the right-hand side facing the altar, were installed for the church's rededication in June 1913. The front pair, titled "Christ Blessing the Little Children," were originally commissioned in 1903 by Norton Hollis in memory of his grandparents David and Mary Denton Hollis; the windows were destroyed in the 1912 fire, replaced from Connick's hand-colored photographs in time for the 1913 reopening, and destroyed again in 1961 before being replaced once more from the same archive. A companion pair honors Deacon John Barbour with images of King David under the legend "Justice" and King Solomon under "Mercy," and a third set memorializes Deacon Will Watson Mayhew with a scene of Christ comforting two children in a garden while an angel protects another child from Satan in the form of a snake.

The 1961 fire also destroyed windows at the front of the sanctuary, and the current set was installed in April 1963 as a gift of Maurice and Mrs. Berry, depicting David and Solomon and the building of the Great Temple. A Connick Studios window nearby shows St. Cecilia with a great organ, honoring Dr. T. Haven Dearing, the long-time "chorister" and choir master whose leadership shaped the music program. Other windows tell the stories of Mary and Martha, the Electa from the Second Letter of St. John, the risen Christ appearing to Mary Magdalene, the Good Samaritan, and the Prodigal Son, the last dedicated in 1966 in honor of Peter Ness, whose 1945 bequest had paid off the mortgage on the Hollis Avenue parsonage.

Sunday Worship at 9:30

Worship is at the heart of congregational life at First Church. Each Sunday at 9:30 AM, the congregation gathers in the sanctuary, where the music and liturgical style aim to strike a balance between the traditional and the contemporary. The service includes prayer, song, a children's message, and preaching from the living Word of God, with laughter welcome alongside reverence. Holy Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of every month.

All services are livestreamed on the congregation's YouTube channel, and an archive of recorded services and bulletins going back to 2020 is available online. Worship is led at present by Rev. Karen E. Gale, an Intentional Interim Minister whose biography reflects deep UCC roots. Gale earned her MDiv and MA at Pacific School of Religion, a UCC-affiliated seminary in Berkeley, and served as a UCC missionary intern in Durban, South Africa, where she taught theology to pastors working in the black townships. She later served as a settled pastor in East Lansing, Michigan, for ten years, then as an intentional interim in Lexington and Swansea before joining First Church.

Visitors arriving for the first time will find a wheelchair-accessible sanctuary, an elevator-equipped building, nursery care available for infants through age three starting at 9:30, and Sunday school classrooms for older children who are dismissed from the sanctuary after the Children's Message. The church office is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM.

The Music Program

Music has been central to First Church since at least the time of Dr. T. Haven Dearing, who led the choir until his death in 1908 and was honored in the St. Cecilia window. Today the music ministry is led by Keith J. Ciccone, who has served as Director of Music since February 2017. Ciccone brings more than three decades of experience in church music, having previously been Minister of Music at Glendale United Methodist Church in Everett for over 23 years, Co-Director of Folk Liturgy and Organist at Star of the Sea in Marblehead, and Folk Group Director at St. Joseph's in Lynn. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Music Therapy from Anna Maria College and a nursing degree from Chelsea Soldier Home School of Nursing.

The First Church Choir sings each Sunday during morning worship and rehearses on Thursday evenings at 7:00 PM, September through June. The White Chapel Bell Choir rehearses on Thursday evenings at 6:00 PM and performs regularly through the program year. Each Christmas the music ministry hosts a Hymn Sing with dedications, and Music Sundays throughout the year celebrate the choir's work.

Children, Sunday School, and Youth

Children and youth are woven into the life of the congregation, not separated from it. The Sunday school program meets each Sunday during the 9:30 AM worship hour. Children begin in the sanctuary, hear the Children's Message, and are then dismissed to their classrooms. The program is led by Mattie Gietman, Director of Children's Ministry, who grew up in the church herself as a participant in Sunday school, youth group, church camp, children's choir, teen choir, and the adult choir before returning as Director. The church is a Safe Church, with all staff and volunteers CORI'd annually.

The First Church Youth Group is open to all middle and high school students of any faith and meets Sunday afternoons from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. Respect and inclusion are central to its values, and the group is open to youth of every faith, race, socio-economic status, gender and identity expression, sexual orientation, and physical and mental ability. Activities include games, scavenger hunts, field trips, a summer outing to Canobie Lake Park, and community service projects like Braintree Clean Up Day, Rake & Run, and food pantry collections. A week-long summer Church Camp, formerly Vacation Bible School, has been a fixture in August.

Open and Affirming Identity

First Congregational Church is an Open and Affirming (ONA) congregation of the United Church of Christ. Its public welcome statement names sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, political stance, theological perspective, national origin, mental health status, physical and cognitive abilities, and the many forms of family configuration as dimensions along which no one is excluded from Christian faith or from full and equal participation in the life and leadership of the church. The congregation pairs that welcome with a stated commitment to ongoing learning and growth together as the inclusive Body of Christ, and to spreading the light and love of Christ into the world through worship and service.

Mission and Outreach

The congregation's outreach is anchored in Micah 6:8, "to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Financial and volunteer support flows to a long list of local partners, including the Marge Crispin Center, the Dianne DeVanna Center, Interfaith Social Services, Lend-A-Hand, The Way Up in Brockton, Seafarer's Friend, and Home With Friends. A Concert for Haiti Relief raised funds that were used to provide tarps to families in rural Haiti, and a recurring Candlelight Vigil for Justice, Peace, and Unity is part of the congregation's public witness.

The Prayer Shawl Ministry knits shawls throughout the year that are blessed each year during a Sunday morning worship service with the laying on of hands and then distributed to those in the congregation or community who are sick, bereaved, or going through a life transition such as a move, a career change, or the arrival of a new child.

Community Groups at 12 Elm Street

The building at 12 Elm Street is shared with a wide range of community programs that meet throughout the week. Step Ahead Kindergarten and The Lollipop Tree Nursery School both use the building for early childhood education, and Dance Concepts operates a dance studio on site. Miracle Time Ministries, a Pentecostal Brazilian congregation with primary worship on Sundays at 11:00 AM, also calls the building home.

First Congregational Church has sponsored Boy Scout Troop 22 and Cub Scout Pack 22 for over 100 years, making Troop 22 the oldest active Boy Scout troop in Braintree. The troop, organized in 1921, welcomes boys ages 11 through 17 and meets Monday evenings at 7:00 PM in the Church Lower Parish Hall, with weekly meetings, monthly campouts from September through June, a week-long summer camp in July, and a steady schedule of service projects. Girl Scouts, the Braintree Men's Club (which meets the first Wednesday of each month, September through May), and an Overeaters Anonymous group meeting Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays at 6:30 PM also share the space.

Weddings in the Sanctuary

The sanctuary seats 300 comfortably along an aisle 75 feet long, with 20 pews on either side, and the building is a popular setting for weddings. Couples are asked to schedule an appointment with the Pastor four to six months before the wedding, and the Pastor conducts at least two pre-marital sessions before the rehearsal. Members of the church pay no building fee, while non-members pay $500, with $200 due to reserve the date. Separate checks on the wedding day cover the Minister ($400), the Music Director or organist ($250), and the Church Coordinator ($200), and the building's Music Director serves as the first-choice organist. Couples bringing their own musician are charged a bench fee.

The Van Duzen Bell and the Lawn at 12 Elm Street

Outside the church, the Van Duzen bell stands as the most visible artifact of the congregation's long history. Once housed in the bell tower whose foundations gave way after more than two centuries of ringing, the bell was sold and relocated to the front lawn in 1996, where it serves as both memorial and meeting point. The annual Autumn Fair, the Easter Egg Hunt, the Christmas Pageant, the Gingerbread Bash, the candlelight vigils, and the potluck suppers all gather around that lawn and the building behind it.

First Congregational Church of Braintree is a member congregation of the United Church of Christ, the national body whose motto remains "God is still speaking." Its current staff is led by Interim Minister Rev. Karen E. Gale, Director of Music Keith J. Ciccone, Director of Children's Ministry Mattie Gietman, and Administrator Deb McMartin, all of whom work alongside a council of members who carry forward a ministry that began on this knoll more than three centuries ago.