UniteBoston

Bridging Divides Across Christians for the Flourishing of the City

Solidarity is Sacred: Good Friday Public Worship & Action for Immigration Justice

This Good Friday, April 3rd at 4PM, in downtown Boston, Christians and people of faith will gather in prayer and protest in solidarity with our immigrant neighbors.  

Immigration enforcement tactics have long threatened the safety of our neighbors. But in this moment of authoritarian breakthrough, state violence is intensifying, causing fear and outrage in our communities. 

During Holy Week, Christians remember Jesus’ death as a confrontation with – and triumph over – the powers of evil. Jesus’s crucifixion was God’s ultimate act of solidarity with persecuted people — an act that calls us into radical solidarity with the crucified people of today. Through story, ritual and song, we will lament the violence against our immigrant neighbors, demand the abolition of ICE, and hear again God’s call to loose the bonds of injustice and set every captive free (Isaiah 58:6). 

This initiative is hosted by various organizations devoted to reclaiming the story of Good Friday to stand with our immigrant friends and neighbors. Join us to practice the Stations of the Cross as we seek to be a powerful public witness for Jesus Christ. Read more about the story and theological heartbeat of this initiative here.

Together we will pray five of the fourteen stations of the cross: Jesus is condemned to die, Jesus meets his mother, Jesus falls for the third time, Simone of Cyrene helps Jesus carry his cross and Jesus dies on the cross.

While this action is based in the Christian tradition and practice of the stations of the cross, people of all faiths and no faiths are welcome and encouraged to attend.

At a time when the public perception of Christianity is often defined by politics or nationalism, join us for this opportunity to stand in the public square as a visible witness to Jesus’ heart for the vulnerable and oppressed.

RSVP here: https://bit.ly/goodfriday2026 

Communications toolkit is here

Co-Sponsors:

Massachusetts Communities Action Network (MCAN), MA TPS Committee, Pax Christi Massachusetts, Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ (SNEUCC), Catholics in Communion, UniteBoston, First Church Somerville, UCC, Episcopal City Mission and Center for Public Theology & Migration.

Art: Our art team is busy prepping for our upcoming art builds where we’ll make hand signs and large vertical and horizontal banners to communicate our messaging. Please join us by RSVP-ing here and spread the word:

  • Art Build, Sunday, March 29th from 6-9PM at First Church Somerville, 89 College Avenue, Somerville.

  • Art Build, Monday, March 30th from 6-9PM at First Church Somerville, 89 College Avenue, Somerville.

Pilgrimage to Taizé Community in France in March 2026

Spend March 13–22, 2026 immersed in the Taizé Community — an ecumenical monastic community in the French countryside known for its simple living, contemplative worship, and a radical commitment to Christian unity. Each year, thousands of young adults from around the world gather there to pray through music, engage in Scripture, serve together, and build deep friendships across cultural and denominational lines.

This pilgrimage is for young adults ages 18–35. We’re hoping to bring a group of Christian pilgrims from many different traditions across Greater Boston and beyond!

Hosted by Rev. Rita Powell, Episcopal Chaplain at Harvard University, with Rev. Kelly Fassett from UniteBoston co-hosting this experience.

The cost for the pilgrimage is $2200. We will do what we can to make sure finances are not a barrier for anyone who feels God’s invitation to join in this experience.

Sign up here. The final payments will be made in the spring but this is due December 10th along with a $500 deposit to claim your spot on the trip! Please email nbuice@hds.harvard.edu with any questions.

Join us in worship, prayer, fellowship — and a taste of God’s global church.

Revelation in Ecumenical Perspectives

As a part of the Reformation Commentary on Scripture series, Rodney L. Petersen, (PhD, Princeton) along with Gerald L. Bray (PhD, La Sorbonne) have co-edited and published the volume on the highly enigmatic and consequential Book of Revelation under InterVarsity Press. Sixteenth-century Reformers, much like interpreters today, show a diversity of opinion on how Revelation is to be understood, whether through more spiritual and Last Judgment connotations, or as a snapshot in historical context. Much like the vast social and political upheaval in the time of the Reformation, we have called upon Rodney and his colleagues to remark upon Revelation in ecumenical perspectives today. Cooperative Metropolitan Ministries (CMM) and the Boston Theological Interreligious consortium (BTI), two of Rodney’s previous places of directorship, are helping to put this conversation together with friends—at the Boston University Marsh Chapel on Thursday, November 20, 2025, from 3-5pm—for an afternoon of retrospection and future revelation. (This will also be, in a way, an opening for AAR/SBL Boston, which begins the next day.) Click here to purchase the book

PROGRAM SUBJECT TO CHANGE

  • Welcome: Dr. Stephanie Edwards (BTI) and Dean Robert Allan Hill (BU)
  • BTI International Mission and Ecumenism reflections on the book: Dr. Meg Guider (BC) and Dr. Todd Johnson (GCTS)
  • Practical implications: Rev. Dr. Casely Essamuah and Dr. George Walters-Sleyon
  • Thank you/closing prayer/last word: Rev. Dr. Rodney Petersen and Thomas W. Porter, Jr., Esq.

2025 UN International Day of Peace

2025 UN International Day of Peace Boston: Act Now for a Peaceful World

Sunday, September 21, 2025, 2-4pm ET

Eliot Church of Newton UCC

474 Centre Street, Newton, MA 02458

“In a time of turbulence, tumult, and uncertainty, it is critical for everyone to take concrete action to mobilize for peace.” We have planned and organized the Boston area celebration of the United Nations International Day of Peace each year since 2010. This year’s theme is “Act Now for a Peaceful World.” We invite you to a program of Music, Arts, & Peace Education led by emcee Dawn Duncan (Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness), including brief presentations by peacemakers such as Ron Bell (Dunk the Vote), Zakiya Alake (Fair Housing and Equity), and Alda Witherspoon (Witherspoon Institute) regarding their work, with artistic performances by Cellist Miranda Henne, Singer Lina Marcela Sarmiento Tellez, and Spoken Word Poet Zenaida Peterson. It will conclude with a reading of the list of recent local victims of violence.

Co-sponsored with CMM, MCNAA, and Friends Meeting at Cambridge

Please visit https://www.idpboston.org/ for more info

Leap of Joy: Massachusetts Council of Churches Annual Meeting

*Note that the Tuesday evening Leap of Faith Gathering was cancelled*

On Wednesday June 25, 2025 beginning at 6:00pm also at the Maliotis Cultural Center at 50 Goddard Ave in Brookline,  you are invited to our Great Day of Joining, Celebration of Ministry and Annual Meeting under the banner “LEAP for JOY.”

Beginning at 6pm, we will have heavy appetizers for a time of fellowship, and celebration of ministry.

EVERYONE who wants to is invited sign up for a table for our Celebration of Ministry, beginning at 6pm. To register for your table, visit the link here.

Our program will include important updates including:

-Support for New Neighbors, including an update on our lawsuit Mennonite Church USA v Department of Homeland Security et al

-Bivocational Leaders

-Black Church Leadership & Compelling Preaching

AND we will welcome new member churches to the Massachusetts Council of Churches.

If your local church or denomination is interested in joining in 2025, please complete this application for membership. 

We’ll also welcome new Board members and thank those who have guided MCC faithfully through. We’ll welcome a new Board President too!

You’ll also connect to other local church leaders who are, like you, looking to end this unjust and oppressive society, and bring about The Kingdom of God on Earth.

 



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