LOOKING UP, April 23, 2008

Dear friends,

On Sunday, April 13, I concluded my sermon by quoting from the history of First Church, which was published in the program booklet for the dedication of our sanctuary on March 17, 1929. Whether you were there or not, it bears repeating:

In 1926 the church entered into a contract to buy the site known as the Ransom property at the southwest corner of Park and Academy Streets. But the congregation was not as yet united on a new building project.

Then on Saturday evening, March 13, 1926, the church was destroyed by fire. At once steps were taken to do something definite about the building of a great church. Meanwhile, services were held in the Masonic Temple.

On November 3, 1926 at a big church banquet, the Rev. W.H. Phelps, launched the campaign for funds, the goal suggested being $100,000 to be paid by July 1, 1928. The goal was reached in a memorable service on Sunday, November 7, Dr. C.B. Allen of Detroit assisting in the services.

The contract for the construction of the new building was awarded to H.L. Vander Horst on August 29, 1927. Ground was broken on October 1, 1927. In September 1927, the place of holding the Sunday services was changed from the Masonic Temple to the Capitol Theatre.

Work proceeded rapidly on the foundation work of the new church so that the cornerstone was laid and dedicated on December 4, 1927. It was the judgment of the pastor and the Building Committee that we should build but one unit at that time. On February 20, 1929, Dr. F. H. Divine of Brooklyn, NY came to lead us in another financial campaign. The goal was $200,000. It was a challenge to the faith and heroism of the First Church congregation. But they met it nobly on Sunday, March 3, celebrated a memorable victory with subscriptions amounting to over $201,000.

We face the future with confidence. God has marvelously blessed us. We fully recognize that we have taken but one step on the path to completing our church project. We sorely need our workshop, the educational unit with its classrooms and equipment. That must come in the not far distant days.

With hearts filled with gratitude to God and with a spirit of sustained loyalty and consecration, we dedicate this beautiful temple of worship on this day, March 17, 1929.

I asked Bill Welke, a retired professor of accounting at WMU, to find out how much the building campaign began in 1926 would be in today’s dollars. He checked the internet, got back to me, and told me to multiply by 10. So think $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 for the amounts above.

Then I asked our archivist Avis Keene to find out what our membership was in those years. Checking old West Michigan Conference journals, she discovered it was 1,029 in 1927 and 1,136 in 1929. Our current membership is right between those two numbers at 1,056.

Which is to say, “If they could do it, we can do it!” Although the Roaring 20’s were good times, the stock marked crashed six months later and the Great Depression began. Did all those pledges get paid? We can assume they did not. But what is clear is that for the next 15 years, until the conclusion of WWII and the burning of the mortgage, there were no missed monthly payments, and no threat of foreclosure. Our forbearers simply rose to the challenge, in good times and tough times alike. God bless their souls!

Now we are moving “Forward in Faith,” and last Sunday’s announcement by Campaign Co-Chair Derek Wheaton indicated we are well on our way. As of Friday, April 18, we had received 30 advance gift/pledges totaling $823,000! That bodes well for what is yet to come, and offers great encouragement for the rest of us to consider making not only generous but sacrificial pledge/gifts.

My hearty thanks to all of you who responded to our invitations to pledge early. Your wonderful response has made our challenge goal of $4,000,000 seem attainable. We are encouraged and full of hope for Commitment Sunday, May 4. God bless your souls!

Someone asked me last week what I was going to preach on after “Forward in Faith.” They remarked, “It seems like you’ve been getting us ready for this for months!”

I chuckled and replied, “Oh, we’ll just go back to ‘good old average’ Christianity!”

Which of course does not exist! There is no such thing, for the imperative of the Gospel is always to challenge the status quo, always to urge us to “unbind our hearts,” share the Good News, love and serve our neighbor. Nothing “dull/normal” about any of that!

What is just ahead in May after Commitment Sunday is Pentecost and Confirmation, both of them “high” holy days and festivals of celebration. After that, I’m thinking of something like “Christians Under Construction” for our next sermon series. Sounds appropriate, doesn’t it?

I would also like to clarify something that I said in my April 6 sermon (reprinted here in my last column). It had to do with my sense of “spiritual blindness” affecting some among us who have their minds all made up about Forward in Faith, and will not support it. One of you took me to the task for that, which allows me to expand on it. Omitted from the Looking Up reprint was my opening disclaimer, “I could be wrong about this...” which is not just boilerplate. When I say that I mean it, and 40 years of experience has proven it!

What troubles me is not so much opposition to the project, as the resoluteness of mind and heart that defies even the Holy Spirit to change it. Spiritually, that’s just not a good place to be on any issue, I think; but, it’s up to each of us to work it out with God in terms of our values, priorities and beliefs.

As “protestants” we have a long history of being opposed to one thing or another in our Christian beliefs and practice. But I hope it’s the “loyal opposition,” which means that at the very least you may pledge your prayers. If you can’t bring yourself to pray for the success of Forward in Faith, then can you at least pray for God’s will to be done, in and through the church we all love and care about so much.

Thank you!,   

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