"The Way We Were"

On this Heritage Sunday 2006 we remember the way we were.  We gather to celebrate the memories that we have shared within the sacred space of our historic church.  Our Building Committee has a passage of scripture printed at the top of every agenda, from Psalm 127: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.”  On the “Founder’s Window” at the front of our sanctuary are the quaint words: “They builded better than they knew.”  As we move ahead with building for the future, we pause to give thanks for those who have gone before, sharing their gifts, their love and their labor. 

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock, says the Lord.  If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into the house.”  The Laurel Street entrance to our church - exterior porch, landscaping and narthex, was remodeled only a few years ago.  Toby Deller recalls: “This church is home to me, as I have attended since the age of eleven.  I should tell you about the narthex when I first started attending.  It was very small because there was a bathroom in there.  Yes there was!  The pretty stained glass window was in the bathroom part.  It housed one old fashioned toilet with the wooden water tank high on the wall with a pull chain to flush.  Many years later that was removed and a closet for coats took up that space.  Only a few years ago it was opened up to be the lovely narthex we enjoy today.”  Our new building plans call for this area, along with the office, to be transformed into a chapel, library and cry room.

(Slides of Laurel Street entrance and narthex)

The church office has likewise gone through many changes.  “Many there are who rely upon their hands and are skillful in their work.  Be present, we pray, with those who work in this place, that, laboring as workers together with you, they may share the joy of your creation.”  Again, Toby remembers:  “The present office was part of the Fireside Room, closed off by a heavy green brocade drape on a large wooden curtain rod with wooden rings.  David and I were married in the sanctuary, the reception was in the Fireside Room, and the green drape was closed and the present office area was the brides room.” 

(Slide of office)

The Fireside Room has been one of the most significant spaces in the entire church.  “Oh, how good and pleasant it is, when God’s people live together in unity.”  John and Gladys Billing’s daughter, Mary James, also has a story to tell.  She writes:  “Most of my childhood memories are of activities associated with going to church in Ashland.  Coffee hour was always after church in the Fireside Room.  Helping set up the sawhorse tables and wooden folding chairs in the Fireside Room was always part of our job as kids.  The wood table tops were so beautiful.  We set them up lengthwise, so there was room for over 100 people to sit.  The Fireside Room was also the room to have wonderful receptions.  I have pictures of me standing with my grandparents, Ralph and Myrtle Billings, celebrating their 50^th wedding anniversary in front of the fireplace.”  Alberta Apenes writes about those dinners as well:  “What dinners those were.  The tables were rickety and the chairs didn’t match but the food set out on the tables was superb.  My mother often made the coffee on top of the big pot-bellied stove at the end of the room.  A big kettle of water was brought to a boil, she added muslin bags of coffee (like big tea bags) and let it boil until strong enough to serve.  Our Epworth League held our Sunday evening meetings in this room, as well as our special party evenings.  I remember well the time someone tried to teach us to dance the Virginia Reel.  There was more stumbling, missed steps, stepped on toes and laughter than dancing, but even so, some of the church members were scandalized that we danced in the church.”   And, finally, this from Toby:  “Much of my life has been spent in the Fireside Room.  UMW (Women’s Society of Christian Service, as it was called then) was held there as it still is.  I recall doing skits that Mary Hoxie planned and eating many a potluck dinner sitting on dark oak chairs seated at rectangular knotty pine tables made by Floyd Clapper.  Dan Mackay lives in Floyd’s home now, where some of that knotty pine can still be seen.”   And, speaking of Dan Mackay, who also grew up in this church, my upcoming “Pastor’s Page” in the ACTS will be a recounting in Dan’s own words of one particular potluck that occurred when he was about 11 years old. Dan is an excellent writer, his account is hilarious, and I know you’re going to enjoy reading it.  For now, I’ll give Alberta the last word on the Fireside Room:  “A special feature of the Fireside Room is the folding door that divided the two sides of the room.  That door is very stubborn and hard to open and close – but that is nothing new – it was like that as long as I can remember.  I don’t think any of us will miss that feature.  The Fireside Room may fall to the contractor’s hammers and saws, but it cannot be erased from our memories.”  The Fireside Room will be transformed into a spacious narthex leading out to the new courtyard. 

(Slides of Fireside Room)

Before we go on to The Barn, where most of our Sunday school classes are held, I want to mention another dramatic renovation.  Some of you have been sitting behind those posts in the sanctuary for many years, but they’re about to disappear.  The roll up door, with it’s Epworth League motto on the back, will be removed along with the posts, which will unite the front and the back of the sanctuary as never before.  At the top of the stairs there’s a closet that Toby has fond memories of.  “My memories begin with Sunday school taught by Gladys Billings.  Our classroom was, well, follow me.  Go to the back of the sanctuary and climb the stairs to the balcony and you will find a door to a small and narrow room with shelves for storage.  You can still see the old wallpaper and the threadbare carpet from the late 40s and early 50s.  There’s no window and one bare light bulb and it may seem drab to us but, to my girlfriends and me, it was our own very special hideout, er, classroom.  Gladys let us fix it up and we had an altar and a Bible, a table and chairs.  Those were special times.”

(Slide of sanctuary)

The “Education Wing,” now affectionately referred to as “The Barn” also has a lot of stories associated with it.  Originally built after WW II as a temporary structure, it has lasted nearly 60 years.  “Jesus said, let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such as these belongs the kingdom of heaven.”  Mary James remembers playing with salt clay on old linoleum topped tables in kindergarten.  When she got a little older, her favorite teacher, in her own words, was “the pretty, young, Miss Toby Kay Fox.  Fourth through sixth grade met at the top of the stairs (now Graham’s office) for music.  Norma Fremd taught us the wonderful old hymns: ‘This Is My Father’s World’ and ‘Are Ye Able.’”  Toby writes:  “David and I both taught Sunday school, he had kids in the cavern and even in the bell tower and I recall being in the upper level of the barn most of the time. The nursery was out in Cokes Cottage – a long way from the sanctuary.  Memories of classes, Christmas programs, making set decorations and costumes are all a part of those years in The Barn.  Somehow we managed to survive that little bathroom that is still there, which still has only COLD WATER.  Guess it was ok if you were a kid, but it is SO small.”  After 60 years of faithful service, the Barn will now be torn down and a new Education Wing will be built in its place. The memory of that flowered Easter Cross on the lawn last week, with the Barn in the background, is going to be indelibly etched in my mind.  The front lawn will be transformed into a beautiful new courtyard graced by the Education wing at the back, and the entry to the narthex on the left. 

(slides of Barn, Cokes Cottage)

It’s not only buildings that are going to change.  In Ezekiel, chapter 17, we have this word: ”Thus says the Lord God: ‘I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar, and will set it out; I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I myself will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain.”  The Liquid Amber trees along Laurel Street have already had to be removed to make way for the remodel.  Toni and Jaci lovingly collected cuttings from the top branches.  Several other trees will also be lost, among them a Walnut tree and the large Incense Cedar in the Montessori playground, a Flowering Plum, and a Dogwood.  Nevitt Smith tells about one that has been special to him:  “The tree between the parsonage and the Fireside kitchen we always called a Silver (or a Blue) Spruce.  It was the parsonage Christmas tree in about 1985.  When 12^th Night had come and gone, Bev and I planted it there in the back yard, where it has thrived.  It is too bad that it has to be removed.” 

(slides of trees along Laurel and Flowering Plum)

There is something sacred about stone and fire, especially when united in a work of artistic beauty.  Mary James writes about the beautiful and historic outdoor fireplace that graces the backyard of the parsonage:  “Our youth group sang songs and roasted marshmallows in the outdoor fireplace.  We loved that fireplace, with all its fantastic rock, shells and petrified wood.  My uncle, R. L. Chaney, built it.  He was a tiny man, only five feet tall, wore two hearing aids, walked with a cane, and built many of the rock porches, walls and walkways in the area.”

(Slides of fireplace)

The parsonage garage also has to go.  It’s a beautiful garage, and was expensive to build, but Nevitt writes about an incident that Anni and I can identify with:  “Beverly had to go to a meeting, and discovered that a car was parked in front of one of the garage doors. She decided to try go out through the other door by doing what she always called ‘back and fill,’ until, sure enough, she had turned the car around inside the cramped garage and drove out the second door head first.  I don’t think we ever found out who had parked the offending car.”

(slides of garage and patio)

We read in Hebrews, chapter 3:  “Every house is built by some person, but the builder of all things is God.”  And, in Joshua 24:15:  “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  The beautiful and historic craftsman house next to the church was built in 1913 and first became the parsonage during the early 50s, when Ross and Marge Knotts served the church.  Anni and I have called this house our home for the past 12 years, the longest we have ever lived in a single house in our nearly 37 years of marriage.  For Anni, it is the longest she’s ever lived in one place in her entire life!  I thank God that our daughter, Chalice, gave us a digital camera a couple of Christmas’ back.  For the past several years I have been photographing the house through the changing of the seasons.  From the first daffodils of spring, the beautiful red Rhododendrons and Trumpet Vines of summer, the amazing green, orange and red of the ivy during the fall, and the quiet beauty of winter, we have loved this house we call our home.  In some of these photos you’ll see the white picket fence and arbor that I built.  Wes Hoxie cut and shaped every single picket for me, and I never would have been able to get the scallops right without Dave Green’s help. When we tore down the chimney in the Fireside Room kitchen, the men helped me reclaim the bricks and build a beautiful patio in the back yard, where we’ve spent many happy hours as a family.

(slides of parsonage exterior)

But, of course, it’s what’s inside that counts, that makes a house a home.  There is a Greek word, temenos, which means “sacred space.”  God has gifted Anni with the artistic ability to create sacred space, and our home is truly a sanctuary.  Two beautiful oak columns that mirror the motif of the stone columns of the front porch grace the transition from front room to dining room.  The beveled, leaded crystal glass china cabinets are works of art, as are the coffered ceilings.  We have a carpenter friend who pointed out that the Oak had been quarter sawn, a technique that highlights the distinctive grain of the wood.  Part of Anni’s gift is her love of houseplants, and she has a lot of them!  She quickly dubbed the beautiful Inglenook, where she meditates every morning, as “Prayer Central.”  After my recent operation I spent several weeks basking in the blessings of Prayer Central. 

(slides of parsonage, interior)

We’re not the only ones who have called the parsonage home, of course.  Ross and Marge Knotts shared some of their slides with me for this presentation, and I know that their kids, Joe and Alice, had the two upstairs bedrooms.  Dorothy and Warren Thomas also lived here with their kids, and Dorothy sent me this:  “We were very lucky to stay in Ashland during the school years of our children.  John and Lisa had the upstairs bedrooms. John’s bedroom faced the bell tower of the church, and often times at night, he would watch the owls come below the bell tower.  Later, when it came time for science projects, he looked for and found the owl pellets on the ground below the bell tower.  It proved to be a quick and easy display of little bones and tufts of fur for the science fair project.”  In our time, Chalice had the East bedroom, and that bedroom facing the bell tower became Anni’s craft room, where she did Ukrainian eggs and jewelry. 

(slides of workroom)

Brother Lawrence once said that he was as close to God in the kitchen as he ever was in the sanctuary.  The preparation of meals for the nourishment of both body and soul is a holy calling.  Our kitchen has been a place of beauty, a place of service, and a place of worship.  “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you . . .  The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season.”

Let us pray: O Lord our God, you have supplied every need of ours according to your great riches.  Bless the hands that have worked in this place, and give us grateful hearts for daily bread, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

(slides of kitchen)