At First Parish in Cambridge, we value the importance of telling our stories.  This includes giving space and agency for individuals to tell their stories in our meetings and our worship spaces.  We also strive to create an environment that can hold our shared stories and all of their complexity. The origins of the first church communities in New England (of which First Parish in Cambridge is one) are complicated.  Today, we wrestle with what it means to be a community dedicated to anti-oppression and justice when our nearly 400-year-old roots are deep in the brutal colonial equation of European migrants, enslaved African people, and the Native inhabitants of this land.  While we are proud to have endured for so many years and proud of our celebrated ministries, our close connections with Harvard University, our influence and representation in local, state and national government and a host of public figures, we recognize that some of our success has come at a great cost.  We continue to tell our stories and continue to call into truth those stories that have been hidden in the past as part of living our faith as modern Unitarian Universalists.