From Pastor Pat: Where Did I Come From?
When you ask God, what we learn is simply marvelous
(May 1, 2015) Perhaps one of the questions that makes parents’ hearts skip a beat when their child asks it is, “Where did I come from?” However, when we pause to ask the same thing of God, what we learn can be simply marvelous.
Where did I come from? What moved our church ancestors here in Danbury to found this congregation? On this, our Church’s Anniversary Sunday, we’ll pause to honor all our members who have been part of First Church for 20 or more years. (Our own Al Benedict holds the place as the longest member for his 83 years with us.) But this is not just a celebration of all the “old hands” in our church. It’s going to be a chance for all of us to learn the REAL story of First Church, from the time that the first families arrived here, fending off wolves and disease, through all the challenges and joys that make up the history of a church family. We’ll learn things about our current church building that you never knew, or noticed, before.
In this season of Resurrection, we will learn how First Church has, time and again with the grace of God, risen from hard times to good times – how, with the catastrophic destruction of our last church building in 1907, this church building has literally “sprung up from the ashes.” This Sunday marks the 116th anniversary of the dedication of the current edifice, which took place on May 2 and 3, 1909. Weather permitting, we’ll take a post-Coffee Hour stroll up the hill and down Wooster Street to the site of our first church, and to the original graveyard where rest the earthly remains of some of our founders. Whether you know it or not, some of their descendants are sharing the pews with you on Sundays even to this day. I look forward to seeing many of you, as we explore what it really means to be a “Resurrection People. -- Pastor Pat Kriss