Home for the holidays: Worshipers will return to First Congregational Church sanctuary on Christmas Eve

There’s no place like home for the holidays —and on Christmas Eve, members of Riverhead’s First Congregational Church will be worshipping inside the historic church’s sanctuary once again, after months of forced absence due to the potential imminent collapse of the church roof.

The congregation will gather in the sanctuary for their Christmas Eve candlelight service.

“A lot of people are very emotional about it,” said the Rev. Dr. Sean Murray, the church’s pastor. “People are very excited to worship there again.”

The 106-year-old historic church came close to collapse in June, after the roof’s entire support structure essentially crumbled due to years of pressure on the east wall. The very day that Calverton-based RC Construction finished building emergency wooden support towers to prevent a total collapse, the 25-foot ceiling of the church came down and rested on the towers.

Now, the church has been re-roofed, the walls have been restored and the ceiling redone. Soon, the stained glass windows will be uncovered, shining light on the sanctuary for the first time in six months.

“We’ve really been up against the clock, and we hoped the timing wouldn’t be quite as tight as it is,” Murray said. “The call has gone out to the congregation to help.”

Some things won’t be finished in time, like the sound system, but that won’t stop members of the church from gathering to celebrate the holiday as they do each year. Volunteers from the congregation are in the sanctuary today cleaning the carpets, dusty from renovations. Murray says he hopes to have the church’s original pews moved back in on Wednesday after being stored in a vacant East Main Street storefront next to Blue Duck Bakery since June. Volunteers are asked to come help shine and polish the pews and clean and decorate the rest of the sanctuary.

“Everything’s just really dusty, so we need teams of people with dust rags, Pledge, that kind of stuff,” Murray said.

The renovations have not come cheap; Ron Blake, the church’s chairman of building and grounds, estimated the costs to be around $500,000. “That’s a lot of money for a congregation with about 70 active members,” he said in a July interview.

The congregation has just begun to pay off the cost, according to Murray.

“We’re going to be paying for at least a couple of years just for the repairs we’ve made already,” Murray said.

The church will be holding a fundraiser brunch on Jan. 24 at the Dark Horse from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Proceeds from the brunch will go the restoration. The congregation has also created a GoFundMe page for online donations.

The congregation has been meeting for worship in the church’s adjoining fellowship hall, which has been tight quarters according to the pastor, but there will be plenty of room in the church’s sanctuary on Thursday night, when the congregation will sing joyful carols, starting at 8 p.m. All are welcome, the church says.