First Parish is a welcoming Unitarian Universalist congregation that seeks ways to deepen spiritually, build community, and make a positive difference in the world. We invite you to join our vibrant community of more than 1,000 adults and children whose aspirations are expressed by the benediction we speak in unison at the end of Sunday worship:

Go out into the world in peace
Have courage
Hold on to what is good
Return to no person evil for evil
Strengthen the fainthearted
Support the weak
Help the suffering
Honor all beings.

 

Worship at First Parish in Concord is both traditional and innovative. While most of our services are minister-led, it is not unusual to have lay-led services, especially in the summer. With our roots in liberal Protestant Christianity, you will find the shape of the worship service to be similar to other churches. We sing hymns each Sunday. There is a Children’s Message. Ministers offer prayers for members of the congregation and the wider world. Choirs sing. Our organist offers a prelude, postlude, and other music during the hour. Most Sundays there is a fifteen-minute sermon with readings that support it. It is not unusual to read scripture during a service, though many Sundays a Biblical reading might not appear. Our children are with us in the sanctuary for the first fifteen to twenty minutes before going to their religious education classes. A typical Sunday worship service will last roughly one hour.