New church building opens in Kingston

KINGSTON The Rev. Canon Mark A. Pearson was one happy clergyman this Christmas season.

Two days before Christmas, Fire Chief Bill Seaman handed him the Permit to Operate a Place of Assembly for the new church building at 80 Route 125, and on Christmas Eve, Trinity Church held its first worship service there.

People driving along Route 125 in the southern part of Kingston for the last 14 months have noticed new construction just down the driveway leading to the New Creation Healing Center. Now that building is open.

Colonial New Englanders used the term Meeting House to describe the building in which both sacred and secular events were held. Because this is the intent for the new building, it will be called The Meeting House.

For years, New Creation Healing Center has offered seminars on wellness addressing the whole person body, soul and spirit. Some of these seminars taxed the facilities of the existing building.

With several special events planned for 2015, the much larger space is welcomed. Additionally, various events for the wider community will be held in The Meeting House, including classes on environmentally friendly gardening and various musical and dramatic events.

State of the art audio-visual equipment will be installed as funding becomes available. The acoustics have already proven wonderful for music.

The Meeting House is square and yellow because we wanted to pick up the Colonial architectural style of the existing medical/counseling/massage therapy building, Pearson said. We initially wanted something in the classic New England white church on the town green model. But the space we were allowed to build on was square, not rectangular. We looked into New England history and discovered that the classic New England white church was really the second style of Meeting House. What came first was a square building with a hip roof, topped with a widows walk, a small spire and bell. They were painted many different colors, but not white. Our model is the Old Ship Church in Hingham built in 1681. We copied the design of Old Ship in many ways, except we have electricity, indoor plumbing and heat. We trust no one, including architectural purists, will mind, Pearson said.

Pearson has a rich musical heritage. He was a fourth generation member of the Men and Boys Choir at Christ Church, Fitchburg, Mass., and later became a professional organist-choirmaster.

He said, Weve held various special services in the small chapel of the old building. Tenebrae during Holy Week and various services of Lessons and Carols have been much enjoyed despite the poor acoustics and limited seating. Were looking forward to holding these services in The Meeting House, as well as holding other services such as Taize worship. And since were also part of a healing center, we will continue to have healing services, but now on the handicapped-accessible ground floor.

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New church building opens in Kingston