Summer Worship at East Congregational Church
Beginning on the 3rd week of June through Labor Day, worship begins at 9:30. Summer worship is intergenerational, informal and come as you are. The shorter services are sometimes thematic and may incorporate dramatic readings, skits and a variety of music.
The summer service also features a special altar called a Beth-el. The name means “place of God.” Worshippers might bring a token (such as a stone or a shell or a feather) or a small container of water from places they have visited where they may have felt a sacred or holy presence. These are placed on a small altar which remains in the front of the sanctuary throughout the summer. Sometimes a few brief words of explanation are offered, sometimes not. The water is later used for our baptisms.
We find it deeply meaningful that the water used for baptisms at East Church is mixed with waters which have been brought to the Beth-el altar with love from places where members of our parish have felt especially connected to something sacred, something holy; such places include a well in Menemsha on Martha’s Vineyard, Penobscott Bay in Maine, the island of St. Johns in the Caribbean and even from as far away as Machu Picchu and the River Jordan!
