For those of you who did not get a chance to view this week’s service, we have an exciting announcement to make: We have a minister!

Thanks to the efforts of our wonderful Search committee – Liz Ammons, Steve Schmidt, Mimi Olivier, Marsha Lawson – we can officially welcome to our Congregation Rev. Bruce Taylor. You will all have a chance to learn more about Rev. Bruce in time, but for now, let me tell you a little bit about him. Rev. Bruce attended the Andover Newton Theological School, where he was ordained in 2009. As part of his pastoral education, Rev. Bruce ministered to the patient and staff population of Fletcher Allen Health Care Center in Burlington, Vermont, where he engaged hospital patients and their families in pastoral conversation and prayer as they faced serious illness, served as an on-call chaplain, and led televised, interfaith Sunday services in the hospital chapel.

Rev. Bruce also developed adult RE curricula on Transcendentalism and Howard Thurman, the African American theologian and philosopher of radical non-violence whose ideas greatly influenced the life and work of Martin Luther King Jr.

After his ordination, Rev. Bruce went on to serve as part-time minister for the First Parish Church in Bilerica from 2010 to 2015, where, in addition to the traditional duties of ministry, he led a strategic planning effort for church growth. Rev. Bruce has also served as part-time minister for the Ashby First Parish Church, the First Universalist Society of Wakefield, and the First Church of Leominster.

Outside the world of ministry, Rev. Bruce enjoys hiking in the White Mountains and nature photography, and has been a member of the New England Flute Orchestra of Indian Hill since 1988! 

We look forward to having Rev. Bruce join us this fall in our project of shared ministry, and we hope you will all, when the opportunity arises, extend a warm welcome to him as a new and valued member of our church community.

If any of you are looking to learn a little bit more about Rev. Bruce, you can view his ministry website here.

Best,

Paul Marcucilli, on behalf of the Board