Welcome to the
Meeting House
Who We Are and What We’re About
Welcome to First Parish, the Meeting House for Harvard Square!
When our spiritual ancestors raised the walls of their first religious home nearly 400 years ago, they called their sanctuary a Meeting House. To this day, that name embodies our identity and our mission.
We are a people committed to the transformative and life-giving potential of encounters—meetings—of many kinds.
A Meeting of Souls
We are first and foremost a spiritual community—a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Each Sunday in worship (and throughout the week) we seek an encounter with the Spirit that dwells deep within each of us, that is present in our relationships with one another, and that abounds in the beauty of the natural world.
A Meeting of Hearts
We are a loving community that cares for each other, accompanying one another through life’s joys and sorrows. Our Meeting House stands in the heart of Harvard Square, and in many ways is the heart of Harvard Square. Within our walls the hungry are fed, the homeless are sheltered, and the elderly find support and vital services. Our work for justice is the public embodiment of our love.
A Meeting of Minds
We are curious, life-long learners who bring all of our critical faculties to bear on our search for truth and meaning. Along with partners like Harvard Book Store and Cambridge Forum, we host gatherings with the leading authors and thought leaders of our time, as we search for ideas that can help create a more loving and just society where all can flourish.
A Meeting of Friends and Neighbors
Above all, we are a vibrant and diverse community of friends and neighbors, reaching out to one another across our differences to build bonds of friendship and solidarity within our congregation and our greater Cambridge community.
Love Beyond Belief (Or, What Do Unitarian Universalists Believe?)
People often ask: What do Unitarian Universalists believe? The truth is, we don’t all believe alike. (Maybe you know and love some diverse communities like that!) In our Meeting House, we need not think alike to love alike. So we say that we practice love beyond belief.
Some of us are humanists who put our faith in the best of human nature and achievement. Many of us encounter the sacred in nature. Some follow the Buddha, while others love Jesus. Some of us are believers, others are agnostic, while still others of us spell God with two “o”s.
Above all, we believe that our rich spiritual diversity is a strength—an invitation to grow together in wisdom and love. We have so much to learn from one another!
That said, there are some beliefs that are fundamental to our Unitarian Universalist faith:
We believe in you. We believe that each one of us is precious. That each one of us is created in the image of God. Each one of us . . . including you! At First Parish, you are worthy and you are welcome, just as you are. Our belief in the inherent worth and dignity of every person is the foundation of our moral vision, and the reason we work tirelessly to build a just and compassionate world where all people can flourish.
We believe in all of us, together. We share Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s belief in the Beloved Community. It’s a vision of the human family that, despite all our differences and diversity, is ultimately meant to be reconciled and whole. We find strength in our unity and power in our solidarity. We experience this power when we gather for worship on Sundays, and whenever we work together to serve the greater good.
We believe that life is a gift. While some religions prepare souls for eternal life in the “bye and bye,” Unitarian Universalism seeks to equip our souls for life in the “here and now”—this life. We receive this life as a gift, and believe that it is big and wondrous enough to fulfill our deepest human longings. We know it’s not perfect. We don’t shrink from the world’s cruelty and injustice; we seek to alleviate them. Grateful for life, we try to live it well and good and faithfully, and share our love along the way.
We believe that the world is precious. Unlike so much in our society, our planet is not disposable. We can’t trade up for a better model, or take a rocketship to somewhere else. Instead, we stand in wonder before the universe. We find beauty and solace (and, oftentimes, God) in the natural world, and we seek to treat the web of creation with reverence and care.
We believe in love. Love beyond belief. There’s that phrase again: Love beyond belief. On one hand, it means that we need not believe alike to be united in our love. But it also means something more than that. You see, our Universalist ancestors believed in a God whose love was so great that one day all of Creation would be reconciled with God and with itself. Others thought that this Love sounded too good to be true—that it was unbelievable. We beg to differ. Along with our ancestors, we place our faith in a generous and abundant Love that heals and redeems—a Love beyond belief.
First Parish in Cambridge is a member congregation of the Unitarian Universalist Association.