First Presbyterian Church
A History Lesson
Sermon for June 13, 2004
by Pastor Susan Barnes

Children's time:

(I had cut-out figures from red, blue, purple, and orange construction paper.)

Our first reading is the sort of grisly story that makes some of us squirm and wish it wasn't in the Bible. And then others of us sit up a little straighter and listen carefully because it's a story full of action. It's about a troublemaker named Sheba , the son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. But before we can hear that story, we need to hear a little political background.

David is the king. He's purple.

He has two parts to his kingdom, the north – blue and the red, south.

( Israel in the north and Judah in the south, are still rivals. Here's how I managed to learn the difference. North has an ‘r' in it. So does Israel . Judah has a ‘u' in it. So does south.)

David's son Absalom (red) has tried to oust his father. He wanted to be king. He has an army (red people). David is not happy, but he doesn't want his son killed.

David's general, Joab, (blue) conquered Absalom's army, and killed Absalom.

David wants all of Absalom's army (red) to support him as king, so he takes Absalom's general, red, and puts him in charge of his army (blue people).

David wants to be the king of the blue people and the red people.

His new general's name is Amasa (red, with a purple hat)

How do you think Joab (blue) felt about that? Yes, mad.

(Putting Amasa in charge of David's army is like Lincoln replacing Ulysses S Grant with Robert E. Lee at the end of the civil war.)

All the blue people, Israel , the kingdom in the north, are not happy about being led by someone from the south, Judah (red)

The blue people and the red people fight over who has priority with King David.

All the people in the south aren't united; the tribe of Benjamin (orange) is not happy that the tribe of Judah (red) is supporting David.

And so Sheba (orange), a Benjaminite, protests that David is not his king, and invites the tribes of the north to join him in the rebellion. Some do. (blue people go with Sheba .) David has to do something to stop Sheba .

David's new general, Amasa (red, with purple hat) is delayed in mustering the troops, so David asks his old general, Joab (blue), to take another army in pursuit of Sheba . Amasa's army (blue) eventually catches up with Joab's army (blue). Can you tell they are both supposed to be on the same side? Why? They both support king David.

Do you remember how Joab felt about Amasa? What do you suppose he did to Amasa? Yes, that's right. He killed him.

What do you suppose God thinks about this story? One child answered “Bad. Because there's too much killing and fighting.” We prayed for peace.

Keep in mind the children's time as you listen to our old testament reading. It is on page 296. Remember the political treachery and intrigue Listen for the word of God as it is found in 2 Samuel 20:14-22.

14 Sheba passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel of Beth-maacah; and all the Bichrites assembled, and followed him inside. 15 Joab's forces came and besieged him in Abel of Beth-maacah; they threw up a siege ramp against the city, and it stood against the rampart. Joab's forces were battering the wall to break it down. 16 Then a wise woman called from the city, "Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, 'Come here, I want to speak to you.'" 17 He came near her; and the woman said, "Are you Joab?" He answered, "I am." Then she said to him, "Listen to the words of your servant." He answered, "I am listening." 18 Then she said, "They used to say in the old days, 'Let them inquire at Abel'; and so they would settle a matter.19 I am one of those who are peaceable and faithful in Israel; you seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel; why will you swallow up the heritage of the LORD?" 20 Joab answered, "Far be it from me, far be it, that I should swallow up or destroy! 21 That is not the case! But a man of the hill country of Ephraim, called Sheba son of Bichri, has lifted up his hand against King David; give him up alone, and I will withdraw from the city." The woman said to Joab, "His head shall be thrown over the wall to you." 22 Then the woman went to all the people with her wise plan. And they cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri, (Betsy, please rip off Sheba 's head.) and threw it out to Joab. So he blew the trumpet, and they dispersed from the city, and all went to their homes, while Joab returned to Jerusalem to the king.

This ends our old testament reading.

You might wonder what on earth this story has to do with celebrating the gifts of women (PCUSA emphasis this Sunday). In the midst of all this murder, battling, and war, the wise woman of Abel found a way to save her city. In the face of the machine of war, women were often powerless. There wasn't a lot they could do. But the Bible has stories about women who stood up to a pharaoh, who stood up to kings, who stood up to generals in order to save God's people. Most of the books of the Bible were recorded by men, but some of the women's stories came through anyway. Our gospel reading is found on page 90. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 24:1-11.

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, taking the spices that they had prepared. 2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in, they did not find the body. 4 While they were perplexed about this, suddenly two men in dazzling clothes stood beside them. 5 The women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. 6 Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee , 7 that the Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again." 8 Then they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb, they told all this to the eleven and to all the rest. 10 Now it was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told this to the apostles. 11 But these words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.

This ends our reading of God's word.

The gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John tell different stories for different reasons at different places in the church's history. But they all agree that the first witnesses to the resurrection were women.

Women's names were sometimes written out of stories. We don't know the name of the wise woman of Abel. I think perhaps saving a city from destruction is somehow less interesting than sacking, looting, and pillaging a city. We certainly have more stories like that in the old testament.

Historically, women's contributions to the church have often been overlooked. And so the denomination sets aside one Sunday a year to celebrate the gifts of women.

The Women's Support Group asked me to do that today.

Some of you have seen Blest Be the Tie, the centennial history book published in 1984, when First Presbyterian Church was 100 years old. Virginia Piper and Betty Roumpf made a list of all the names of people who had ever been members of the church. They wrote “when our church records were first started 100 years ago, I am sure they were quite clear and readable to the recorders. One hundred years later, though, it takes quite a bit of interpretation and sometimes imagination on the part of the researcher. For instance, I have heard repeatedly of ‘six charter members', all ladies. However, the first list of members I ran across showed [these] charter members including one Mrs. M.S. Mitchell, Mrs. Sarah J Collins, Mrs. Frances S. Keough, Miss Jennie M. Keough, Mrs Kate Ames, Miss Louisa Geiser, Mrs. Emma (Geiser) Pollman, Miss Frances S. McClung, Mrs. Mary J Bowen, Mrs. Helen M Griswold, and Mr. W. A. Papoon. Notice it was 1 man, and 10 women. The second list of charter members [she found] was John Edmundsen, Mrs. John Edmundsen, Eliza R. Gray, Margaret Irland, Margaret McComas, and a Mrs. Mitchell. In any case, women were here at the beginning.

Those lists reminded me of the lists of women present at the empty tomb; the gospels don't all agree about who was there.

Women were a part of First Presbyterian Church in the beginning. We have many of their names, and some of their stories.

The Ladies' Aid Society bought the land for the church in 1887 or so. In 1899, Mrs. JL Nickels was the collector for the church. She visited members, collected money for the church and received 10% of moneys collected as her payment. In 1899, she earned $6.90. Later that year in October, it was voted to adopt the free-will offering system to be paid in weekly or monthly installments and the pastor be paid on the first of each month.

In March 1923, as soon as the national church approved women as deacons, 9 women were elected as deacons here. Mrs. James T. Donal, Mrs. ME Swan, Mrs. Charles Wendt, Mrs. HH Cravy, Mrs. WH Ellis, Mrs. EF Kennon, Mrs. H Kirkpatrick, and Mrs. R.H. McKim. Women had served as trustees; Nina Wendt and Anne Whitmark.

“In 1951 the new church building committee had been enlarged” to include women, bringing it to five men and two women. “In 1959, Mabel Ericson and Carolyn Morris were elected as Baker's first women Elders.

“There were ….many women's organizations between 1936 and 60: the Improvement Society, the Missionary Society, and the Faye Walker Guild. The Faye Walker Guild was a society to unite the young women of the church. . Faye Walker was wife of Dr. Sydney A. Walker, pastor 1936-1950. Their daughter, Ruth said, “My mother never ceased to be amazed and pleased that the Faye Walker Guild was named for her.”

The women's groups combined in 1956 to be the Presbyterian Women's association. Noted women during 36 and 50 were: Mildred Rogers, Ruth Evans, Estelle Wagner, Gertrude Fortner.

Mabel Erickson was a beloved Sunday School teacher. She continued to hand out the Bibles to the third grade children many years after she was no longer able to teach Sunday School. She used the ‘honor thy father and mother verses'—and made sure the parents heard the whole verse.” Here's the verse from Ephesians 6: 2 "Honor your father and mother"-- this is the first commandment with a promise: 3 "so that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth." 4 And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Eileen Lee led the choir; Mabel Erickson and Mrs. Carolyn Morris were elders; Helen Foersterling petitioned the session on behalf of the adult class to start a library in the church.

Alice Sanford and Maxine Taylor were added to session. By 1969, six women served on session. They were Mrs. Betty Kuhl, Mrs. Doris McKim, Mrs. Maxine Taylor, Mrs. Marian Jones, Mrs. Peggi Timm, Miss Linda Conard, youth elder. Teresa Kostol ran the junior choir 3 rd -6 th grade in 1972. Christy Anderson did it later. Teresa also played the organ.

Carol Colley made the beaded pulpit scarves. Mildred Rogers was treasurer since 1950. Edith Chadwick was memorial fund financial secretary.

Many of these names I know from funerals I conducted. I'm glad their names are in this history book. The last remaining charter member of the church, Louisa Geiser, died April 14, 1961 .

The women ran a thrift store for awhile. It brought in over $2,000 one year. The income was used by the women's association for building improvements, church programs, or charitable causes.

Pansey Allen was the longtime keeper of the kitchen fund. They used it to buy things for the kitchen, and raised money by catering dinners downstairs for community events. It was the mustard seed money for Rogers Hall.

Over a third of our members have joined the church since the fellowship hall was moved from downstairs to the new Rogers Hall. That means that only two thirds of you remember ever having a church dinner downstairs. So I expect this is new information to some of you. We have some really old tables in the stairwell by the narthex. They are heavy wood tables, covered with formica.

In the course of finding out more information about the women of the church, I talked to Sherm Allen. All those church dinners downstairs were held on the homemade tables, made out of plywood and metal legs. People were forever borrowing them for dinners and for garage sales. They were getting a little wobbly, so Sherm Allen and Duane Cassidy reinforced them to make them sturdy. And they still are sturdy, and still borrowed by community organizations for events and people for garage sales. They aren't much to look at anymore, but they are very sturdy, as you know if you've ever lifted one.

I count myself in that 33% group who has come in the last five years. For me, the church has always been this way, but for the other 66%, it hasn't.

For the centennial, the historians collected letters from pastors. Here's what Lowell and Stephanie Byall wrote. They were interim ministers from 1983 to 84.

“First, Lowell began serving in March as an interim pastor. When Stephanie began attending, the two of us were engaged and then married, you asked us to serve together in team-ministry starting October 1. Never before had you had a woman minister, nor one with Southern Baptist credentials, nor had any previous minister been married while serving the congregation, nor had there been more than one minister on the staff.

The interim service you asked of us was bold: ‘Don't just help us maintain the status quo. Help us move ahead.'

I think the church has been moving ahead, but it got a good start from the previous members.

Two months ago, the women's support group hosted a dinner where we asked women to talk about the women who had influenced their faith.

Trish Nichols said, “I was lucky enough to have three grandmothers alive when I was a child.” She remembers especially the one who always had cookies in the cooky jar. She said, “Every Sunday [my grandmother] went to church alone. I begged my mom to let me sit with her. As a teenager, I'd get up early and go to church just so I'd get to sit with my grandmother. She gave me faith. When I think of the Christian faith, I see her face.”

Anne Kirkpatrick said, “my grandmother was 99 years old when she died. She came over on the Oregon Trail as a young girl. She'd read the living Bible. [When I was little, she'd tell us kids] stories of the Oregon trail. I'd want to go outside and play, but I'd give anything to hear those stories again. She had great faith. She took me to church, along with every other kid in the neighborhood she could find.”

Betty Kuhl spoke of the woman who made a difference in her life: Jean Whitbread. Jean spent more money than she should have on a new coat for her daughter Joyce, one of seven children. That Sunday, the church was gathering clothes for missionaries. Each person brought an item of clothing to the communion table. Joyce brought her beautiful new coat forward. Jean was surprised at her daughter, and admired her deep feeling. She was the kind of girl everybody loved. She was killed in an auto wreck at Anthony; her funeral was in Pendleton, and it was standing room only. They played Amazing Grace on the bagpipes.

Dickie Givens remembers Mrs. Hiltz, who ran Christian Endeavor. She helped the kids, whether they were members or not.

Betsy Ferns said that when she moved to Baker, Marian Jones greeted her at the door. She said “I want to be ‘Marian Jones.' I want to be like them.

We have a responsibility to the young people here. Who knows what the church will be like when the children grow up? What will they remember of what we do? What stories they will tell about us in fifty years? I hope it will be about a church that celebrates everybody's gifts. I hope they will remember how we prayed and how we worked to follow Jesus together. Amen.