"Remembering Our Past, Looking Towards Our Future"
Jeremiah 29:11; Ephesians 2:19-22
This morning's sermon will take a historical look at our congregation's past and our present and prepare ourselves to move forward into God's future. First, let's look back as it was. (I wish Shirley Patton, a long-time member and friend of this congregation, could read this entire section!)
Our congregation's history begins with the passage from Ephesians about the church in Ephesus with Jesus Christ as its cornerstone. The passage from Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus speaks of that congregation being built "on a solid foundation made up of prophets and apostles, with Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone." Prophets like Jeremiah, who we'll look at in just a bit, were the carriers of God's message to the people. Their words and warnings were meant to get people of faith to return to God's ways and live as God intended- with justice, mercy, and love at the core of the human soul. The Prophet Micah encapsulated that message in Micah 6:8. "But God has shown you, O people, what is good. And what does God require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly?" Those words and prophecies are part of the church's strong foundation in Ephesus.
Then there are the Apostles, who went and spread the Good News in word and deed. We have the writings of Peter and his sermon in Acts. Three small letters of John are in scripture and the mystical book of Revelation. The original disciples, μαθητής in Greek meaning "learner or pupil," became apostles, ἀπόστολος in Greek, meaning "One sent on a mission, an envoy or messenger." So, the foundation for the early church was made up of the words of prophets who called the people to live as God intended and apostles who spread God's good news to the people.
Keeping that foundation solid was Jesus Christ, the cornerstone of it all. This idea initially came from the Prophet Isaiah, when the Prophet encouraged the people back to faith. He says, "See, I will lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation…" (Isaiah 28:16). According to Wikipedia, "The purpose of a cornerstone is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure."
That same precious cornerstone of the faith, Jesus Christ, was to be the reference stone of the foundation, determining the position of the entirety of faith.
The same is true for our church, which worships here today. We have a solid foundation of prophetic teachings and apostles with Christ as our cornerstone. In fact, that original cornerstone for the first church's foundation, which was laid on June 2, 1878, sits outside our sanctuary doors as you go out to your right. It is still part of our church today.
How did this solid foundation get laid? This congregation's history begins with Rev. Moses Allen Williams, 1811-97, an apostle for Jesus with Christ as his cornerstone, also known as the "Father of the Presbyterian Church" in Southern Oregon. Rev. Williams was a Pioneer preacher and missionary. He was described as a man with a strong personality and deep convictions who lived a strenuous life. He graduated from Princeton Seminary in New Jersey, then spent three years as a missionary in Chili. He then came to Oregon in October of 1857. He worked to establish his first Presbyterian congregation in Jacksonville. His parishioners helped him build his home on 150 acres next to Bear Creek, where the National Guard Armory stands in Medford.
In addition to preaching in Jacksonville, Rev. Williams preached sermons in Ashland, near Willow Springs, Table Rock, and Little Butte Creek. By the time he had completed his ministry in 1897, he had established six congregations, including ours. Moses was also a jack of all trades, serving as Jackson County School Superintendent from 1862 through 1866, teaching music, appraising property, lending money, doctoring wounds, repairing hay mowers, and raising barns. Sometimes, he helped his wife do the laundry, make soap and preserve fruit. He kept his 150-acre farm going and found time to record parishioners' marriages, births, and deaths in his diary, some of which Cathy Carl will share during our fellowship time.
Williams kept even busier after his wife died in 1873, preaching in remote Rogue Valley settlements, including Ashland. Along with another minister sent by the Synod, Rev. Thomas Fraser, they organized the 1st Presbyterian Church on August 18, 1875, with twenty-two charter members. A stained-glass window from the original church is dedicated to them in the chapel. Rev. Williams was with the church for two years, from 1875 to 77, serving as their pastor. I believe he still preached there occasionally but spent more time at Jacksonville Presbyterian church and circuit preaching for the rest of his ministry.
The cornerstone for the first sanctuary was laid on June 2, 1878, and finished on August 29, 1879. At some point, stained glass windows were put into the original sanctuary. They are incorporated into our structure now and are the shorter windows located in the chapel. Two of the newer windows built sometime after the remodeling of the sanctuary in 1906 were dedicated to Rev. Williams. Those windows, completed in the early 1920s, are taller than the original windows from the first sanctuary and are visible from the balcony upstairs in our sanctuary.
Rev. Williams married again in 1884 at the age of 72. His new wife, Sarah Livingstone Van Dyke, often traveled with him when he preached in various locations. In October 1897, Williams' friends gave him a surprise party to celebrate his 86th birthday and 40 years in Jackson County. It may be that the picture of Rev. Williams in our narthex was given to him at that celebration. He died two months later and is buried in the Jacksonville Cemetery.
Two other names are essential for us to know about for our history, and both of them were women who are also mentioned in the newer stained-glass windows. The first name is in a window in the chapel: Martha Gillette. The window states, "Martha Gillette Guild, organized November 9, 1919". What is a "guild," who was she, and why is she memorialized in stained glass?
Church guilds for women were a means of expressing religious concerns for their congregations. They met together for support, raised funds for their church, and even worshipped and studied scripture together. This particular guild was established in Gillette's honor shortly after her death.
Who was Martha Gillette? Born in Tennessee, her family moved west, eventually landing in Ashland. She wrote of her experiences traveling along the Oregon Trail in 1850 in her book Overland to Oregon. It is a fascinating read, and you can borrow my copy if you would like. She clearly believed in manifest destiny, that God had given white settlers all of the land in America and indigenous people had no place. That was true of most white settlers back then, but it does not excuse the sins of colonialism or intentional mass genocide.
Martha also thought of herself as a Southern belle and was proud of it. Her book tells several fantastic tales, including her father going ahead of them and striking it rich in the gold rush right near Yreka at a place called "Humbug City." There are plenty of great quotes about life in those days. My favorite, however, is this one. "In those days, everyone attended church, whether from religious convictions or for the reason there was nothing else to do on the Sabbath."
Due in part to her father striking it rich and her marriage to Almond V. Gillette in 1855, Martha was well off financially. Almond owned a granite and marble slab store. Martha eventually inherited some of her father's land and sold it. Although she grew up as a Baptist, she got involved in the Presbyterian church, and I believe she was one of the founding members. She and her husband gave financially to help build the first sanctuary. Martha and Almond were buried in the Ashland cemetery, and their gravestone is still visible today.
Then, there is the window in our narthex, "Dedicated to Eugenia Atkinson," visible in the sanctuary's narthex. I don't know much about Eugenia before her marriage to A.W. Atkinson. A.W. Atkinson was born in England in 1844 and came to Ashland in 1874, where he was active in the town's principal industrial and banking enterprises; he was one of the founders of the Bank of Ashland. He purchased a one-third share of the Ashland flour mill on his arrival. In 1879, Atkinson became a partner and business manager of the Ashland Woolen Manufacturing Company. He helped organize the Ashland Library and Reading Room Association that same year. At the same time, he married Eugenia and helped found the Presbyterian Church (he was its first clerk and treasurer). A.W. and Eugenia built their dream home in 1880, and it is part of the historical homes tour here in Ashland.
Despite A.W's death in 1894 at age 50, Eugenia continued her husband's legacy, staying involved in the Presbyterian church, contributing funds for the Atkinson Memorial bridge over Ashland Creek in Lithia Park, and contributing financially to Ashland's Development.
As for the rest of the church's history, after it was established and the first sanctuary built, it was declared free of debt on 1881 Christmas Day. A second remodeled sanctuary was dedicated on February 11. I believe there was one more remodel of the sanctuary in the early 1920s when the newer stained-glass windows were also created. In the 1950's, lack of parking became a considerable problem as Main street was widened. A new piece of land was found south of town, and groundbreaking occurred on June 4, 1961. The first worship service here occurred on May 13, 1962, when I was four months old. The sanctuary was dedicated to God on August 26, 1962. The bell tower was built in August of 1968, and I am told it includes the original bell from the first church. The Mortgage burning occurred in July of 1971.
The church Admin building was completed in July of 1971, largely thanks to a sizeable donation from church members George And Julie Hunter, whose names are on two different plaques in that building. Julie died in 1971, and George in 1978. They are both buried at Scenic Hills Cemetery. Calvin Hall was completed in 1981. The Heritage Chapel was completed in 1983 after the choir room was remodeled. The stained-glass windows, which had been in storage, were installed in the chapel and sanctuary in 1984.
So now, here we are today, our present time. Our congregation is in a post-Christian world, where faith is no longer central. And instead of the old days, when Martha Gillette said everyone attended church "either out of religious conviction or because there was nothing else to do," there is plenty to do, apart from attending any religious institution. In speaking about the Church in America, Theologian and author Diana Butler Bass says, "And it's very clear that for the last 30 or 40 years, the United States has been going through a period of time where our institutions have been failing, and that there has been a loss of cultural confidence. And we could continue to go that way, but what I think is happening, what I think many of the statistics show, is that we are in the middle of a process, now, of re-visioning what it means to be a faithful person and faithful community. And we are considering what that will do for the future."
People no longer attend church because that's what everyone does or because there's nothing else to do. So, part of our mission as a 149-year-old church is to open our doors and go outside. God calls us to reach out to our neighbors and work for the common good of our community so that people know what it means to have a foundation made up of prophets, apostles, and Jesus.
Who makes up our church today? We have 101 members on the books and an average of about 55 in worship every Sunday. This church had young families as part of its makeup for many decades. By the time I arrived in 2017, that was no longer the case. Now, most of us are in our 50's, 60's with a more prominent part being in their 70s, 80s and 90s. Supporting the budget is vital in our congregation, although the number of pledging units has dwindled over the last few years. As a session, we are confident we will meet the pledge goal of $200,000 this year. In addition to paying staff and keeping the lights on, we can pay for a Safe Parking program for the unhoused and give over $ 15,000 annually in mission funds to local organizations like OHRA, Habitat for Humanity, and others. We've supported Presbyterian missionaries in the global field, and we support the work of God's kindom.
Yet, we have looming issues. We have three aging buildings that need repair or will soon require repair. Our stained-glass windows in the sanctuary need work, estimated at at least $46,000. We have dry rot outside of the sanctuary. We have a roof with shingles falling off of it, and there was at least one leak last year, which will be very expensive to fix. The Calvin Hall roof will soon need replacing. At least two of our buildings need to be painted. The gutters on the admin building need to be replaced, costing at least $30,000. We cannot keep sinking money into an aging facility while continuing to prioritize the necessary work for Jesus Christ, our cornerstone.
So, we must look to our future, pray, discern, study, and depend upon the Spirit to help guide us to what is next. That discernment begins next month, as pastors will lead us from the Presbyterian Foundation and Project Regeneration to help us come to one of seven possible ways forward as a church. We should know where God is leading us sometime early next year.
Yet we do not do this work alone, which brings us to the passage from Jeremiah. The Prophet tells the people at a challenging time, "11 For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope." (Jeremiah 29:11, New Revised Standard Version) God has a plan for us moving forward as a church. In our study, prayer, and listening time, we aim to find that future with hope and follow it. We aim not to hold onto buildings, live in our past, or cling to the phrase, "But we've always done it that way." Our call is to move forward boldly in faith, trusting God's Spirit, with our precious cornerstone of the faith, Jesus Christ, the reference stone of our foundation, who will help us determine our faith-filled future. God has been with us in our past and is with us now, and if we trust the Spirit, we will be led forward by God into our future. Alleluia. Amen.
Closing prayer:
Receive our gratitude, Holy God, for the 149 years You have led this congregation. Sustain our hearts in the current time. Open us to the future you have planned. In the years ahead, encourage us in the work of ministry. Provide insight as we move forward, led by Your creative and Holy Spirit. Bless us with consolation and insight from our failures. Challenge us in our complacency and provide us with new visions. Enable us to find joy and peace in our life together and unite us in Your perfect love, which binds all things together in harmony. Help us through it all to work to build Your kindom alongside our Messiah. Give us strength and courage to embody Jesus Christ's teachings, our cornerstone. Amen.
