HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT
The Reverend Dr. Lillian Daniel
First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn’s
145th Anniversary Celebration
June 3, 2007
First Congregational Church,
www.firstconge.org
630-469-3096
This sermon was transcribed.
Introduction to the
Scripture:
Today, on the Sunday of our Annual Meeting, we celebrate an
anniversary that has passed in April—145 years of history. For the last month or so, some of us on the
church staff have been immersing ourselves in the history of this church. Reading letters from the past and past
anniversary speeches, I have had piles of documents all around my office. At one point, committee and council members
came in, and when I explained what I was doing and how excited I was to go over
all these materials, someone said, “Lillian, you need to get a life.” I love reading this history. Is it my history? Absolutely!
When we join a community of faith, we gain a history—as surely as Moses
in the desert is our history, or Jesus in his walks—now, this is our
history. As I considered what text might
be appropriate, as I read about some considerable ups and downs in the church’s
life, these words from Romans seemed most appropriate.
Scripture: Romans 5:1-5
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in
which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces
character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us,
because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that
has been given to us.
Sermon:
On April 15, in 1862, 11 people came together to found this church. Their names are recorded: Deacon and Mrs. Jonathan Yalding, Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Van Tassle, Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Standish, Mr. and Mrs. Harvey Gifford, Mrs. Caroline Brooks, Miss Emily Brooks and Mrs. Rhoda Ruddock. The time was the Civil War, when our country was in upheaval. At that time, there was no full-time, established church, although members of various denominations would gather at a meeting house that was located right at Stacy’s Corners, now called Five Corners.
These 11 founders wanted their own church, so they purchased a meeting house from the Baptists—but that wasn’t enough for them. They had to make it their own. How do you make a building your own? You move it to an entirely different location. Congregationalists have to do things their own way.
Apparently, the move was motivated by two different conditions: One was that the center of town was moving toward the railroad and the other was that the current location of the meeting house was right across the street from a very rowdy tavern—where all the fun that the people were having at the tavern was distracting people from the minister’s worship. At that time, they literally moved the building. We are told that at one point, the building got out of control and threatened to slide down the hill. Deacon Yalding, one of the founders, who we are told was extremely small in stature, threw his strength behind the building and kept it from slipping.
On the 50th anniversary of the church, they remembered Deacon Yalding by saying, “There shall be no play of Hamlet with Hamlet left out. I can see him this far time and space: energetic, impetuous, impulsive, earnest—always helpful. Hear me, men and women, there were times when the old church would have gone to wreck and ruin, if it had not been for that restless, persistent old man. I loved him and honored him then; I honor and love him still.”
On that day, another tragedy occurred that almost derailed the entire congregation. Apparently, there was some chicken pie that was made, “of doubtful ancestry or age,” we are told, that incapacitated the movers of the church. They had to take several days off to recover physically, before they could come back.
Back then, the church had plain, wooden pews. In this case, they were considered luxurious, because they had backs—and you could bring your own cushions. There were only kerosene lamps. There was no organ. Instrumental music was provided by Deacon Yalding’s melodeon, which he carried back and forth on his back.
At that time, the congregation didn’t have consistent ministers. In fact, it didn’t have them for many years. As the finances went up and down in this struggling church, there was a time period when they thought it was all over. The women’s groups would raise money by quilting and serving dinners, but even they had been tapped out. It looked as if the congregation would not make it—until a wandering Baptist evangelist came into town, preached in the church, and so inspired the town, that the church was “resurrected,” if you will, and able to call full-time ministers. Perhaps it would not surprise you to know that, given these difficulties, they had a practice with membership of “forced attendance.” Within the original church, the members were required to attend every single service, and to behave circumspectly in their daily lives. “Persons found guilty” of in-attendance were to be admonished, rebuked and suspended until given satisfactory evidence of repentance. Some of you feel a little awkward when you run into me at the grocery store on a Monday morning—I want to bring back that principle!
Now, this
Our history of caring about intellect and books began
early. The first collection of books for
the first public library in
In that first 30 years of the life of the church, we are told by one person who remarked 75 years later, “The country was finally at peace. The church had survived its infancy—financial colic, temperamental tantrums, and other typical infantile hazards had been overcome. The congregational church was well-adjusted with its members and its community.” …and has been ever since.
We are told that they began to outgrow their space at the five corners, and wondered what to do. With all these struggles, at one point, there was a fire. People so admired our church that even “loafers and infidels” grabbed buckets and ladders shouting, “Come on, boys, we must save the church.” …as loafers and infidels are wont to save.
In 1892, we achieved a new location—property on Forest and
We are told that, yet again, financial problems cropped up. “The trustees, having more bills than they could handle, turned over to the Ladies Aid a monumental debt of $450, which we assumed and paid off” by quilting. “Not every effort to pay debts and to curtail expenses was successful. A special meeting in September 1896 agreed to pay the back salary of the minister and then reduced his salary from that date on. A special meeting had to be called one month later, the purpose being the acquisition of a new minister.”
In 1905, we had a choir that had 34 members. By now, the town was rapidly changing—1917
led to the current site on
Eventually, the war that was supposed to end all wars was
over, and we went into a period of modernization in this community. There were new churches, new subdivisions,
free mail delivery, the advent of house numbers, bridge clubs, women’s clubs,
service clubs, more telephones and paved streets, the new high school,
additional grade schools. By now, the
The year 1929 led to a drop in the economy, followed by little improvement and bad economic times. We are told that in many of those new subdivisions, weeds grew, as houses were put up for rent as families were forced to live together and double-up to get through those hard times.
In one interesting note, I see that as a church, our problems with climate control go back very far. I want to quote to you an impassioned letter typed by the minister of that day, in 1928: “My Dear Mr. Rogers: Mr. Robertson tells me that the Building Committee Sunday considered briefly but took no action in the matter of providing heat for the church offices. There has hardly been a day since we moved in that we have been comfortable for more than an hour or two at a time.” So, I’m proud to know that we can continue in that tradition, by running our heat and air conditioning simultaneously on Easter Sunday, thus making everybody uncomfortable. We want to claim that as our heritage, I think.
After World War II, there was another boom in population, as
people flooded into the suburbs. We are
told that—does this ring a bell—they experienced some school overcrowding. “The post war years brought a phenomenal
exodus from the city and new residents from other areas moving into
Later, they said of the children of that day, remembering in 1932, “For many years my father was superintendent. He was very fond of children. All the classes were held in the one main church room and there were a few kids, girls as well as boys, who did not know how to behave, just like some I have seen in rather recent years, but good teaching eventually overcame their deviltry and some of those rascals actually amounted to something.”
But as interesting
as all this history is, the great thing about our church’s history is that they
never got stuck in it. They were always
taking risks, trying to grow, never looking back at the glory days, but always
seeming to look ahead.
Speaking of rascals who
turned out to amount to something, I want to take a moment to acknowledge our
Work Campers
After church today,
at our meeting, we will look at where we are as a congregation. The news there is good and I want to tell you
what I hope you already know—that
I am extremely proud to be associated with this ministry that we share together.
But we must not end,
not even in the present, but keeping in the tradition of our forebears, by
looking ahead. So, we commission the Senior
High Work Campers for their mission trip to
145 years ago, our gracious God sent her blessing upon a small band of 11 people, who were crazy enough to think they could start a church. They survived bad chicken pie, a revolving door of guest preachers, shortages of money, and the changing trends and forces of the land around them—but most of all they believed.
At one point your spiritual ancestors literally moved a church building, and when it slid, they leaned their backs into it to keep it from sliding down the hill.
Now you work campers sit before us. With 57 people going on this trip, you far outnumber the entire population of our first church. We are now 100 times the church we were in 1862. Could those 11 people have ever imagined a world in which 57 of you would be getting on a flying machine to go across the country to help those in need?
Could they imagine a Sunday, as we had a few weeks ago on
Youth Sunday, when six of you stood in this pulpit and spoke with such
eloquence and honesty, about your faith and the real struggles of your life? Would all of you please come forward to
receive your crosses.
Commissioning of Work Campers:
On this, our 145th anniversary celebration, I pass the challenge of those 11 first members on to each of you.
Take with you their courage to see a church that did not yet exist. Take with you their commitment to improve the lives of others. Take with you their “can do” spirit, that allowed them to not only keep their church from sliding down, but challenged them to always move up.
So go now with the blessing of your family in Christ, and
with our gratitude. Go, having been fed
at this communion table that has fed you and others for 2,000 years. When you receive your communion, receive this
blessing as well: We thank you God for this
meal, from which we take strength to serve you. Give bread to those who have none, and a
hunger and thirst for justice to those who have plenty. Amen.