“Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the LORD. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham, your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many” (Isaiah 51:1-2)
I have always been a nutty history buff. A great historian once stated “Remembering our history does not mean we won’t make the same mistakes. Forgetting our history, however, assures that we will make the same mistakes.” God is a God of moving forward; yet, once in awhile God calls on the people to “remember” from whence they came. God invites us to look over our shoulder and remember our spiritual ancestors and the legacy of faith that they left behind. The writer of Hebrews does a wonderful roll call of faith in the eleventh chapter and then encourages us to “lift our drooping hands and strengthen our weak knees” (Heb. 12:12). It is as if the Holy Spirit is saying, “When you look back upon these spiritual giants, take courage and get back in the race of faith!”
A week ago, our worship leader Nancy Snell uncovered a precious document
in the Garfield Memorial church safe. (I will let you ask her what she was doing digging around in there :). It was the minutes of a Post-Depression Conference held in September of 1929, which recorded a pivotal moment in the life of this church. The 96th session of the Pittsburgh Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church (which was our home conference at the time...And yes, I can't believe it was Pittsburgh either!)… records that “Orange Church” was in dire straights. At the time, the church had dwindled down to 30 or 40 “nominal members” with an active constituency of 8! However, at this conference a momentous happening was being recorded. Here are the exact words from their official minutes: “Orange Church, which has been without a pastor for several years and had become almost extinct, has through the faithfulness of the few left to ‘carry on’ suddenly come to a new day” (Sept. 4, 1929).
What had occurred is that a developer (the Van Swergan Company) had undertaken an extensive real estate development in the area, and a new county road was being completed “passing so close to the church property that the county commissioners were about to condemn it” (with only 8 folks in attendance, who could blame them?). Yet, these faithful few caught a vision. If a road was coming through, that meant that there would be people travelling on that road. What if they cut a deal with the developer and moved the church off to the side of where the road would be? Thus, they worked out a deal with enough money to move the facility and to hire a new pastor. The minutes of the conference record that the Methodist Church suddenly had a “splendid new plant, entirely free from debt, with which to begin anew.” Apparently there was another Methodist Church at Orange Center (at Kinsman and SOM Center Roads) that chose to give up the ghost and the minutes say was “sold for a small amount and did disappear in this way.” Our spiritual ancestors chose the fight of faith, however, even if that meant moving out of the way (literally!) and making way for human traffic.
What a legacy! When I read this, I literally cried. With all of our Strategic Mapping, launching of new services and ministries, etc… we are only marching to the beat of these faithful drummers. People who saw the gospel as something greater than themselves, and were ready and willing to do and give “whatever it takes” to see that gospel shared! That’s a history that I am proud to be sharing in, and a heritage that should weigh heavy on all of our shoulders. Let’s remember that “rock from which we were hewn,” and keep it rolling!
I have always been a nutty history buff. A great historian once stated “Remembering our history does not mean we won’t make the same mistakes. Forgetting our history, however, assures that we will make the same mistakes.” God is a God of moving forward; yet, once in awhile God calls on the people to “remember” from whence they came. God invites us to look over our shoulder and remember our spiritual ancestors and the legacy of faith that they left behind. The writer of Hebrews does a wonderful roll call of faith in the eleventh chapter and then encourages us to “lift our drooping hands and strengthen our weak knees” (Heb. 12:12). It is as if the Holy Spirit is saying, “When you look back upon these spiritual giants, take courage and get back in the race of faith!”
A week ago, our worship leader Nancy Snell uncovered a precious document
in the Garfield Memorial church safe. (I will let you ask her what she was doing digging around in there :). It was the minutes of a Post-Depression Conference held in September of 1929, which recorded a pivotal moment in the life of this church. The 96th session of the Pittsburgh Conference of the Methodist Protestant Church (which was our home conference at the time...And yes, I can't believe it was Pittsburgh either!)… records that “Orange Church” was in dire straights. At the time, the church had dwindled down to 30 or 40 “nominal members” with an active constituency of 8! However, at this conference a momentous happening was being recorded. Here are the exact words from their official minutes: “Orange Church, which has been without a pastor for several years and had become almost extinct, has through the faithfulness of the few left to ‘carry on’ suddenly come to a new day” (Sept. 4, 1929).What had occurred is that a developer (the Van Swergan Company) had undertaken an extensive real estate development in the area, and a new county road was being completed “passing so close to the church property that the county commissioners were about to condemn it” (with only 8 folks in attendance, who could blame them?). Yet, these faithful few caught a vision. If a road was coming through, that meant that there would be people travelling on that road. What if they cut a deal with the developer and moved the church off to the side of where the road would be? Thus, they worked out a deal with enough money to move the facility and to hire a new pastor. The minutes of the conference record that the Methodist Church suddenly had a “splendid new plant, entirely free from debt, with which to begin anew.” Apparently there was another Methodist Church at Orange Center (at Kinsman and SOM Center Roads) that chose to give up the ghost and the minutes say was “sold for a small amount and did disappear in this way.” Our spiritual ancestors chose the fight of faith, however, even if that meant moving out of the way (literally!) and making way for human traffic.
What a legacy! When I read this, I literally cried. With all of our Strategic Mapping, launching of new services and ministries, etc… we are only marching to the beat of these faithful drummers. People who saw the gospel as something greater than themselves, and were ready and willing to do and give “whatever it takes” to see that gospel shared! That’s a history that I am proud to be sharing in, and a heritage that should weigh heavy on all of our shoulders. Let’s remember that “rock from which we were hewn,” and keep it rolling!
