The Early Church Had Problems

Somehow I had the idea that the founders of Methodism were surrounded by friendly people.   Recently reading a pamphlet entitled “The Story of Methodism” I read that not all the neighbors were friendly.   It seems that the early Methodists were considered too liberal concerning the theology they insisted upon for membership and the freedom of worship that was found at their worship services.  

On one occasion the pamphlet records the following incident.   On their way home from a Quarterly Meeting Abraham Bemis, one of the early enthusiastic supporters of the new Methodist movement, and his daughter, Mary were mobbed.   Stones, rotten eggs, and other missiles were fiercely thrown at them.   The horses ran, their danger was great, but they escaped uninjured.   And stones, rotten eggs, and missiles only added to the number of those who sympathized with them.  

In another sermon by one of the early preachers the comment is made that had the dear old pastor wished to kill “the Methodist weed “ he had better open the church and give the intruders a quiet if not heart felt welcome.   Persecution only helps a good cause.   Would that in these quiet modern times we might have a little opposition, that with the flint of opposition we might strike the fire of faith.  

The hardship of the times and still have time for church is described in another paragraph in the pamphlet.   I quote, “To Weston they walked three miles on the Sabbath, tarried through the day and then walked back.   Frequently, many of them after the day’s work was done, walked to Weston to prayer meeting and back.   Most of them worked in the mill but not as now ten hours per day.   Then the bell rung them to work at 5 o’clock in the morning, half hour at seven was given for breakfast, an hour at noon for dinner, and then the mill wheels turned till seven and a half o’clock at night.   What think ye of this who find a short mile too long to come to church, and murmur because there is not a church at each door?” Such was life in the early churches!

A BIRTHDAY’S COMING

As honest confession is good for the soul or so an old proverb goes.   Perhaps one who writes for the Milestone should obey that proverb.   I had something typed and ready for this issue only to find that I’d forgotten to save it in my computer.   Maybe there is a way to still substitute.  

Imagine if we lived in 1888 and I told the church secretary I would copy this paper and paste it onto a disk, so she could rearrange it to fit the format of the Milestone.   It would seem strange indeed.   It would seem even stranger if I told her I’d e-mail a copy and she would have it in a few minutes.  

On December 11th this year the Immanuel Church building on Moody Street will be 119 years old.   Many of the physical tools that we use with ease would seem like wonders to a churchgoer in 1888.   The church service would seem familiar; the scripture read by the liturgist and the hymns sung by the congregation and the choir would be familiar.  

What would have seemed very different to this imaginary visitor from the nineteenth century would be what was happening in the city outside the church on Sunday morning.   The stores open for business would seem to be violating the Blue laws; people looking forward to a baseball or football game would seem out of place on Sunday.   Outside on Sunday would seem like any other day.   Perhaps they would think that the people had forgotten.   “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy”.  

My purpose in writing this is not to preach.   Historians only write about history.   However, isn’t it worth a little time to think about what we have gained and what we have lost over those 119 years?  

Sunday School Rules in 1873

• Singing and Prayer
• Reading Minutes
• Unfinished Business
• Reports from Committees
• Reports from Superintendent
• Reports from Treasurer
• Reports from Librarian concerning the state of the Library and the number and kind of periodicals taken by the school
• Reports from Teachers
• Miscellaneous

A COLORFUL LEADER

It was not long after coming to Waltham that I met Douglas Sinclair.   It was a good experience.   I answered questions about my past (I had recently been discharged from the army) my reading (did I have time to read books) and my family (at that time I had one daughter two years old).   After the questions he welcomed me to Immanuel and I sensed that I had met a very interesting and warm friend.

I had just been accepted as a church school teacher by the minister, Rev. George Butters and the School Superintendent, Milton Kilgore.   I learned from them that my recently acquired friend was also a church schoolteacher.   My future looked very interesting and fulfilling.

Just how interesting and fulfilling it was, is better told by Doug’s daughter, Martha, than by me.  She’ll tell you how she happened to write it.   Martha was one of my church school students.   She writes very well as you will see.   Her story follows: Arnold Crowley asked me to give him a copy of a writing that I did about my father on father’s day years ago.   Although I had a formal speech written I decided it really didn’t suit my father so I’ve just listed some thoughts about him.   My father was kind.   He would go visit the sick and bring his cribbage board.   He played chess by mail with a prisoner from Norfolk prison.   (The man came to visit our home when he got out of jail.  )

My father was interested: He would call his Sunday School class to see why they weren’t there or why they hadn’t done their homework.   My father was comical: He would wear a size five sailor hat when his head size was eight.   He would be in his boat on a glorious day ten miles out in the ocean and he would drive up to the lighthouse and yell up, “What be the weather?”

My father was gentle.   You would sit on his lap and he would read stories to you.   My father knew what was right and wrong: So did you when you lived with him.   My father was happy: He would always sing in the shower and he would sing hymns or hum as he painted an apartment.   My father said what was on his mind: If he was at a long meeting he would say, “Let’s get to the point now.  ”

My father could be aggravating at times: When he asked directions somewhere, if they said two miles he’d turn in exactly two miles whether it was a street or a driveway.   One day my mother said, “Doug there is a car coming” and drove right into it.  

My father was friendly: When a stranger came to church he always talked to them and even brought them home to dinner.   He always arranged church picnics, sleepovers and Couple’s Club at the beach.  

Our Church’s First Christmas

It was April 1888 when a group of Methodists turned over the first spade of dirt in a cornfield at the corner of Moody and Cherry streets in Waltham, MA.   In addition to a “Church-in-the-Cornfield” so tenacious was the memory of the Methodists that the site of the church was once a cornfield.   Anyway by Christmas time of 1888 the new Immanu-el (not a misspelling that was its name) Church was a reality and Waltham had two Methodist churches.   The new church, which had seating capacity for five hundred people, was dedicated on December 27, 1888.   The construction had taken less than a year.   The total cost was approximately $14,500.   This must have been a much-appreciated present for those Methodist in the 19th century.  

The Church of Tomorrow

As I have found some time and energy to read about what the Methodist church of yesterday was like I find myself wondering what the church of tomorrow will be like.   The church of yesterday was supported by a secular environment, which had blue laws to close business establishments, forbid public, and school sports, and generally leave Sunday for church services only.   How things have changed!   Sometimes we feel like we live in a modern Babylonia. All stores are open, big league sports, schools have practice for extra curricular activities and generally Sunday is hardly different than any week day. 

It is a relatively few modern “Daniels” who choose their church school classes versus the football practice on Sunday.   Storekeepers feel obligated to meet the competition and keep their stores open on the Sabbath.   Church and synagogue worship services take second priority over scheduled work hours.

Are the teachings of our churches and synagogues important enough that society should try to establish the priority formerly given to them?

I found an interesting partial answer to this question from an unlikely source.   I recently read a book entitled DNA by James Watson, who together with Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize for their work on discovering the structure of the DNA molecule.   I will not bore you with any details except to say that it is the molecule that contains the plan for our physical life.   James Watson believes that the knowledge obtained will provide new possibilities for improving our health.   However he adds a short paragraph to his discussion of the physical value. 

“I may not be religious, but I see much in scripture that is profoundly true, In 1st Corinthians Paul writes “though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I have become sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal’ Paul has, in my judgment, proclaimed rightly the essence of our humanity.   Love, that impulse which promotes our caring for one another, is what has provided our survival and success on this planet.   It is this impulse that I believe will safe guard our future as we venture into unchartered genetic territory.”  

James Watson goes on to talk more about the need to keep a spiritual emphasis as we delve further into scientific research.   Perhaps the church of tomorrow will regain some of the former priority when we recognize that students of science are willing to recognize the value of its teachings.