Pastor Fowler’s Sermon for our 150th Anniversary, September 7th, 2025
“Celebrating Our Foundation”
Matthew 16:13-18; Ephesians 2:11-22
Presbyterian Minister Rev. Howard W. Stratton, Superintendent of Missions, Synod of the Columbia, wrote the initial portion of this morning’s sermon.
Rev. Stratton was ordained to the ministry of the Presbyterian Church in 1866 over the same church of which his father had been pastor nearly a quarter of a century. Soon afterwards, he began preaching in Kansas, and in 1871 came to Oregon, ministering to the Presbyterian and Congregational churches united at Albany and in work with Rev. Moses Williams in Ashland. Rev. Stratton gave the following handwritten sermon as the original cornerstone was laid on June 2, 1878. This sermon was found in the church time capsule. The cornerstone lay just outside our sanctuary door today. The copy of the handwritten sermon was in poor condition and is, in several places, illegible. Cathy Carl, our church historian, spent several hours trying to decipher what she could, and I worked to fill in the blanks as best I could. I estimate you will hear about 30% of the total sermon given by Rev. Stratton that day. So, Rev. Stratton, as part of the great cloud of witnesses gathered with us this day, I humbly apologize for my attempts to bring your words to light and for any misinterpretations. The original sermon is available to see this morning and will be placed back into the congregation’s time capsule.
So take yourself back to Ashland, Oregon, in 1878. What was the recent history of the nation and this area leading up to this day?
In 1851, the Oregon Territory was organized, offering a whites-only place to settle. That same year, Gold was discovered in the Rogue River valley.
Indigenous tribes lived throughout the Rogue Valley at this time. When American settlers arrived, they found the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa tribes living in the Ashland area and throughout Southern Oregon. When settlers made the first donation land claims in January 1852, there was a Shasta winter village called K’wakhakha at the site of Ashland Plaza. The late Grandma Aggie said that her people, the Takelma, had performed a sacred Salmon ceremony on the Rogue River for 22,000 years. Native Americans were here long before us, before settlers came and “claimed” it.
Between 1852 and 1856, there were four years of conflicts and broken treaties as local Native Americans tried to defend their ancestral land. Suffering from diseases and hunger, as well as deaths from the fighting, the remaining Shasta and Takelma were forcibly marched in 1856 to the Siletz Indian Reservation, 150 miles north along the Oregon coast. Conflicts with Indigenous tribes would continue in Oregon for another 20 years until January 31, 1876, when the United States government ordered all Native Americans onto a system of reservations throughout the western lands of the United States.
Oregon became a state in 1859, the only state in the US with an exclusionary clause. The Civil War concluded in 1865. Former slaves were then given the right to full citizenship after the war, as well as the right to vote. Yet these new rights were not secure by any means.
In 1870, women began to organize nationally to seek the right to vote. In 1872, Ashland Academy was formed, which one day would become Southern Oregon University. The stock market crashed in 1873, resulting in a vast national economic depression. In 1876, Many things happened! America celebrated its Centennial birthday, Graham Bell invented the telephone, and Thomas Edison invented the phonograph. It would be another 3 years before he invented the light bulb. During this time in history, Billy the Kid and the James gang were active in the US. The Battle of the Little Bighorn occurred.
In 1878, Ashland’s population during this time was approximately 400 people. It will be another six years before there is railroad service in Southern Oregon. With that proper historical mindset, let us now travel in our minds to June 2, 1878, to the small community of Ashland, on the hill where the Bard’s Inn now stands.
“All of us are beneficiaries of scientific research and instruction, and other works of public charity. But among all these various agencies for doing good, none exerts a wider influence than the Christian Church. The expenses of many institutions organized and maintained are limited by the type of case or the cost involved.
Every village cannot support its own hospital or college. There are neither patients for the one nor students for the other. But there are patients and students for every community, not only for medical science or collegiate study, but also under the tutelage of our Heavenly Creator in sanctuaries such as the one we begin constructing today.
Now there are memorials more lasting than any graves upon tablets of marble or granite, which sooner or later must crumble and perish under the transforming ravages of the touch of time. The ancient altars are no more. The grand temples, which so attracted the admiration of multitudes across generations, were admired to the extent that the Creator was forgotten in the artistic work of their making.
I have pondered that, under the shelter of humbler edifices consecrated by faith and prayer, noble men have etched their names on imperishable marble. The world loves to remember benefactors long after they are dead. Their names remain in the idol temples of their masters' earthly altars. These edifices were made of the most precious materials and magnificent workmanship. Sometimes these buildings were created as offerings to our benevolent God, and perhaps some small blessing was received.
In ancient Israel, thousands of years ago, central places of concourse were constructed for worship, to which at stated times, the faithful gathered. Many were engaged in the offering of animal sacrifices in order to atone for their sins before God.
The spiritual service of God, which became more and more clearly recognized, prepared the way in the future for the Christian Church’s multivarious agencies for doing good. With Christ as its cornerstone, our religious institution grew.
The growth of religious thought has had a history that has been carried through all the ages upon historical stones. Temples & cathedrals exist throughout our world, serving as both creations of art and religion. We dedicate one such temple here this day.
Our only proof of faith in this life is not found in buildings, however, but is demonstrated in being lovers of peace. We are not cowards forced into battle. We hold that Calvinism is the champion of liberty, and our goal is set before us to have peace, even if we have to fight for it.
I see in you gathered here this day a peaceableness with all missions, and know you have a history of which would measure us proud.
Never has the growth of a church been so rapid and fruitful as during the last quarter of a century. Christ is our cornerstone and has blessed us. As of this day, the Presbyterian General Assembly, which holds its annual session in the City of Pittsburgh, provides the following statistics. We number 38 synods, 178 Presbyteries, and in round numbers,5000 ministers, 5260 churches, 600 committees, 615,000 Sabbath School numbers, and during the last year have expended over $8 million dollars sustaining the various institutions of the Church.
Nearly all of the great fields have grown. Today, it is harvesting time for another Home Mission Territory sustained by the cost from our denomination here in Oregon. It may seem that it is absurd to establish a church in this location in the next 3 years. But this one faith-led, hopeful effort, more fragile, we have known before in our Mission operations. We should therefore sustain our Mission Board more broadly and thus help to extend the blessings of other remote destitute regions, such as here in Ashland.
This Stewardship from these founding church families has given us direction and will help this Church in her self-sustaining and growth.
The buildings that are but edifices erected upon the land will find their completion in the blessing of God and the Holy Spirit. This fledgling congregation will be a bond of union, fellowship, Christian work, and instruction, as well as the birthplace of immortal souls. We give thanks to God for the blessing of this time and place, all to be built upon the faith of disciples long before us, such as Peter the Rock and the other disciples, as well as those disciples of Christ with us now. We build upon this cornerstone of our faith, Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.”
For the last 150 years, this congregation has continued its work with Christ as our cornerstone. This means we have reflected Christ’s teachings in how we interact with each other and how we have treated those outside our doors.
Today, that means we have a heart for those in need and seek to be a blessing and support to the community around us. Through Christ's grace, with Christ as our foundation, we are dedicated to doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. Over the last few years, we have opened our doors repeatedly to the unsheltered, provided meals at Thanksgiving and Easter, offered our parking lot as a safe place for those who live in their vehicles, created a ministry for our neighbors with our Little Free Food Pantry and Neighborhood prayer box, given gifts to families in need during the holidays, sponsored two Ukrainian war refugee families and brought them here to Ashland, reached out to the mobile home park across the street on Siskiyou Blvd., built several homes through Habitat for Humanity, given direct offerings once a month to other non-profit organizations and ministries such as the Ashland Community Food bank, ACCESS, The Maslow Project, Hearts for Seniors, the Jackson County Sexual Assault Team, and many others. We have provided food cards each month to those who are hungry, given gas vouchers to travelers, worked in partnership with agencies like OHRA, Jackson County Fuel, and St. Vincent de Paul to provide help with rent and utility costs, and offered several COVID-19 shot clinics to our community. We have welcomed our neighbors to pet blessings, Oktoberfests, Advent and Easter Fairs. Our congregation has participated in the 4th of July and Pride parades. We have given bones to our land acknowledgement statement, providing multiple scholarships each year to Indigenous college students at SOU. In addition, as an open and affirming congregation, we welcome and affirm the entire human family. We are committed to Christ's sacred hospitality, inviting people of all races, ages, genders, sexual orientations, and mental and physical conditions to join us. We continue to share the Good News in worship at 8 and 10 am in person, and have faithfully broadcast Christ’s good news every Sunday, even amid a pandemic, on our YouTube channel for close to six years.
As we continue our work and ministry in the years to come, we will do so with Christ as our cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple of God. We will seek to fix and upgrade our facility so that this church may continue its work long into the future. We will continue to preach the good news and demonstrate our faith in what we do and say. We will open our doors to the neighborhood around us. We will live out our faith with open minds, open hands, open hearts, and an open table. We will reach out and welcome new faces, while cherishing well-recognized ones, growing this congregation, and serving the community around us. And someday in a future yet unknown, maybe someone will find this sermon and read portions of it out loud to those who gather to celebrate another anniversary for this congregation.
Thanks be to God for our past, and for the great cloud of witnesses who have gone before us and are with us now. Thanks be to God for our present, and for this body of believers who bring light and hope to a dark and dreary world. And thanks be to God for a future yet to come, and for the continuing opportunities that will come to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly in faith with Christ as our foundation, our cornerstone. Alleluia! Amen.
