Over the past several weeks at church, we’ve looked down the long corridor of our church’s history, with a glimpse of a flapper dress in the hallway, a bowler hat on the coat rack, a man in uniform singing, “grant us wisdom for the facing of these days.”

This coming week in worship, we will continue our celebration of God’s faithfulness, recalling worship in the style of services during the 1950s. Looking back on our church’s journey during the 1950s, we recall one of the most striking chapters in its history. It began in the early 1950s, when it became clear that the Capitol Mall would be expanded as the need for state offices grew. The church received word that its then location (on the northeast corner of Winter and Chemeketa Streets) would be needed for the state expansion. The Elders and Trustees of that time pondered a range of options, and finally settled on a surprising proposal. The entire church building, sanctuary, steeple and all, would be rolled across the street and re-oriented on the southwest corner.

In a sense, the moving of the church, which happened in 1959, became something of a B.C./A.D. divide, marking a defining moment in the church’s life. Members who joined around that time will tell you it was so many years before or after the move. The move itself was labor intensive and lengthy, taking nearly six months as the sanctuary, weighing over a thousand tons, was rolled across the street.

In the church we were part of in Australia, there was a motto, “We are a pilgrim people, always on the way towards the promised goal” of God’s kingdom. In coming to First Presbyterian, we’ve found a “pilgrim people,” whose history includes this surprising journey of the church itself.

Over the coming months, our journey as a church will again require some pondering of options and a gradual shifting, relocating our priorities as we seek to serve God and God’s people in our day. The church that was strong to lend support to growing families in the burgeoning years of the ’50s and ’60s will seek to again grow strong in its support of families in our day, while not forgetting the members of the great generations who are still among us and have given so much.

Wherever God may lead us now, we will find that the God who was faithful to us in the glory days of our church, in its sometimes surprising journeys, will be faithful still.

Yours in faith,

Audrey Schindler

http://www.salemfirstpres.org/msgs/pp080420pf.htm

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