400th Anniversary of the First Church in Weymouth, Massachusetts

 Here is a remarkable story.  In Weymouth, Mass., you can worship on any given Sunday, with a congregation that began in 1623.  Just three years after Plymouth Rock!  It boggles the mind, that this congregation has been gathering for worship every Sunday since then, and is considered to be the oldest church in the USA offering continuing weekly worship.

As you might guess, a church this old also must have some interesting stories to tell about its many years of faithfulness. And you would be correct.  Regarding their history, nothing stands out for me as much as the association with the Smith family.  As in Abigail Smith Adams, who grew up in this congregation before marrying John Adams (in the church parsonage) and becoming the second First Lady of the United States, a celebrated letter writer, and one of the chief definers of the role of First Lady.  Her father was the pastor of the church, and its longest tenured minister - serving a total of 46 years.  Awesome as that is, there is more to tell about Rev. Smith.  Indeed, he was one of the first people anywhere to read the newly written Declaration of Independence to a gathered crowd, in this case, from the pulpit of the church which is still in use, to this day.

I love this kind of history.  And so I am glad to say that the church has given me the responsibility of writing their 400th Anniversary Hymn.  It is written, and in the hands of the church's music director, Jane, who has written a brand new tune to go with my words.  Exciting indeed.

The church has been celebrating its 400th all year long, and had a special concert several weeks ago.  

I enjoyed working on this new hymn with Jane Cleary, who is the music director and also a long time part of the congregation.  Here is how it unfolded...  I sent Jane a list of questions to consider as we began our work.  Jane sent me a nice informational email answering many of the questions and adding additional helpful details.  From it, I was immediately inspired to write their hymn “Four Hundred Years Before Us”.  When it was done, I sent the first draft to Jane.  Jane loved it.  Better yet, she composed a brand new hymn tune to go with it, which she completed on October 28, 2023. 

Anniversary Sunday is still on the horizon, December 10th of this year.  The hymn will have its debut on that day in worship.  I am so honored to be a part of their amazing and wonderful 400 years in this way.