As an inspirational community of faith embracing multiple generations, we take care to mark the milestones in one another’s lives through special rites of passage that honor the sacredness of time at every stage of the lifecycle.
Child Dedications
Families can at any point request to have a Child Dedication performed by a minister in our Sanctuary. Usually, this simple ceremony is held during a regular Sunday worship service and publicly welcomes the child into the community. It ordinarily involves a bloom dabbed in water, a blessing of the child, and pledges of support for the child’s parents and family members. This ceremony can be done shortly after a baby has been born or adopted into a family, or it may be done when the child is at a later age, if the family decides that this rite of passage might hold special meaning for it then.
Youth Passages
At UU Wellesley Hills, we pay special attention to the youth in our congregation and celebrate their growing in years and insight here in our midst. We have a Coming-of-Age service for those teenagers who worked with mentors and formulated a “Credo”, a personal statement of their religious beliefs and spiritual perspectives, which they then declare publicly. We also hold a Bridging Ceremony each spring for students who are graduating from high school and launching into young adulthood and starting another phase of their lifelong faith formation.
Weddings Ceremonies
Our ministers are glad to serve as celebrants for friends or members of the congregation who are getting married, and also for other couples from the wider community looking to be married in our Sanctuary or Chapel. Working with the minister, couples can be closely involved in devising a wedding ceremony that speaks intimately and eloquently to their personal circumstances.
Please note that as a Welcoming Congregation, UU Wellesley Hills joyously celebrates same-sex marriages. We also honor religious pluralism and approach all interfaith marriages with respect, sensitivity, and understanding. Our ministers will happily join with co-officiants who may want to share in solemnizing and celebrating the couple’s commitment.
Memorial Services
During a tender time of mourning, our ministers work carefully with friends and family to craft a fitting tribute to the one who has died, and do this in a way that it feels emotionally resonant with the survivors. In some cases, this may be a simple Celebration of Life honoring the deceased; in other cases, this may be a more somber Service of Remembrance recognizing grief at the loss of an important person. These will often be held in our Sanctuary or Chapel. Our ministers can also arrange with families to do a Memorial at a local cemetery or a Committal graveside.
If you have questions about the availability of certain dates, the options for renting church spaces, or the fees customarily paid to minister presiding at these rites of passage, please email info@uuwellesley.org or call the church office directly.