A Proud Past, A Bright Future
A Sermon preached on Sunday, October 28, 2007
Founder's Day
by Pastor Terry Davis
First Presbyterian Church, Hartford, CT
In Ghanaian art and culture there is a bird called the sankofa. The sankofa is depicted as moving in one direction, but looking back over its shoulder. As I understand the symbolism this icon tells us that in order to move forward we need to look back and know where we have come from. The Hebrew people understood this and reminded one another and themselves that they had been slaves in Egypt and the Lord had led them out with a strong arm and an outstretched hand. I have heard more than one African American parent say to their child, boy, girl, don’t you forget where you have come from. You may have a job and education and you live in the suburbs now, but don’t forget that we brought you up in the bricks of the projects, and don’t forget that your grandparents or their parents were slaves whose fore parents were brought here in chains from Africa. Now you live in your fine house and drive your fine car, don’t forget where you came from, and don’t you forget your brothers and your sisters who still live in the ghetto.
We have entered into a time of discernment; we are trying to discover the future into which God is leading us as a congregation in the years to come. A part of discerning our future involves coming to grips with our past. I believe that this Church has a bright future in part because we are inheritors of a proud past. The rehearsal of our history may be an old story for our 50 year members, but one that is less familiar to our newer members and it is worth noting that approximately half of our members have come to this congregation in the past 10 to 15 years. In 1851 the civil war had not yet begun, and there was no Presbyterian church in the greater Hartford area and only two or three in the whole state of Connecticut. The congregational Church was the established religion in Connecticut well into the 19th Century. At that time however significant numbers of Scottish immigrants were arriving in the Hartford area, and were dismayed not to find a Presbyterian Church. They found the Congregational Churches and the Episcopalian Church and they knew that their heritage was neither with the Church of England nor with the Free Church tradition; they were Presbyterians and needed a Presbyterian Church so they created one and petitioned the Presbytery of New York to constitute them as a Presbyterian Church.
I had thought it strange in Florida that one of our new Churches found a place to worship in the Admirals club, a bar and night club, but I came here and found that the First Presbyterian Church first met in Gilman’s Saloon for the same reason; they could rent the space in a time when it was unused. The next home for our congregation in contrast was the Hartford Temperance Hall and after that the congregation purchased a Church building from the Baptists which I believe was on the site of the present Federal Building at Shelton and Main Street. This was in close proximity to the First Congregational Church which is now commonly called Center Church; Mrs. Warburton, a wealthy member of Center Church seemed to think it would be good for both the Presbyterians and the Congregationalists if the Presbyterians relocated a little further away. Aided by a substantial gift from Mrs. Warburton the Church bought this property at the corner of Capitol and Clinton Street about 1868. At that time Capitol was a thriving residential neighborhood; the Bushnell would not become a reality for nearly 60 years; the state capitol alternated between a New Haven Location and the Old State House and Trinity College occupied the space where the Capitol building is today. This was our corner and our neighborhood and the Church thrived. What is now Hodge Hall was the first Sanctuary on this site, and after a fire damaged that building the present sanctuary was built, designed by one of the premier architectural firms in the country, Renwick and Sands. The pastor, the Rev. J. Aspinwall Hodge was the building contractor and the Church members did much of the labor, and this beautiful space, not looking terribly different than it does today was dedicated in 1870. Well into the 20th century the majority of the members were Scottish immigrants or the descendants of Scotts. People of different backgrounds came into the Church; some because they married Scotts and others were attracted by this thriving Church which was already building a reputation of being a welcoming congregation.
When some Ukrainians sought a home in the Presbyterian Church they first met in this Church to organize before moving into their own Church, and many of them returned later when that Church could not sustain itself.
The birthing of this second immigrant congregation really established First Presbyterian Church as a Church for immigrants, not just Scottish immigrants, and we have also been the birthplace for a Korean Presbyterian Church and a Spanish speaking congregation which is no longer affiliated with the Presbyterian Church.
Our history records that at the height of our membership we once had 800 members on the roll of the Church. I had the privilege of coming to know Wil Kilgore, the pastor of the Church at the time of its 100th anniversary and at the height of its membership. Wil confessed to me that he never really had a congregation of 800 active members, although the membership roll was this large. He claimed that Dr. Johnstone met every Scottish immigrant who came to Hartford and enrolled them in the membership of this Church even though only a minority of them would become active members. But the Church was a thriving congregation in the 50s and 60s, a time of great growth for the nation and its Churches. There were Easter Sundays when people were turned away from the services because the sanctuary was filled to overflowing.
Although 50 years later in a city which is very different from the Hartford of the middle of the 20th century we find ourselves a much smaller congregation we are inheritors of a proud tradition of service to and involvement in the city, and we continue to be a Church of immigrants which welcomes people from varying backgrounds. I thought that the first people of color to become a part of First Presbyterian Church came almost 50 years ago, but Ruth was looking through our oldest records which are on microfiche and discovered in the record of marriages a number of couples that were married in the Church with the note by their marital records, colored, or later just col. She could not determine if any of them were members, but they were married in the Church.
Today although the majority of our membership continues to be of European heritage the largest growth of the Church has come from the African American community, and immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean, especially Jamaica, Ghana and Guyana.
We also have a long heritage of service to the Hartford community. At first the church was a way station for Scottish immigrants trying to find employment and their way into a culture that was new to them. When the Church was built the undercroft, the room beneath the sanctuary was a community recreation center complete with one or two bowling lanes. The building where our offices and Johnstone Hall now are was originally built as what we now would call a family life center today, then it was simply called a gym, a place for recreation and particularly basketball. Forty years ago First Presbyterian Church was one of the founding member Churches that joined together as SPA, Services Performed For The Aged, to begin a meals program for Senior citizens. This ministry expanded to the working poor and the homeless, the hungry and the needy, and to youth in the adjacent neighborhood as the same Churches and others became Center City Churches, which today has become Hands On Hartford. This church has been the backbone of this organization with the pastors and members of this congregation providing leadership on the board, as volunteers, and as a substantial financial contributor.
With a long and a proud history the Church continues to stand in the midst of the City of Hartford today, a beacon of gospel light and an open door of welcome for everyone regardless of their national, racial, or ethnic heritage, without regard to their sexual orientation or their place on the socio economic spectrum. We have members living in poverty and others with incomes in excess of six figures. We are an example of what the realm of God looks like.
The story of the Pharisee and the tax collector should remind us not to break our arm patting ourselves on the back, but that does not mean we need to minimalize the contribution that this church has made to thousands of individuals who have been members over the past 156 years and to the life of the city. The Pharisee's problem was not just that he was proud of himself but that he despised others. We ought not to regard ourselves as superior to other Churches, but we have every right to take pride in what God has done in and through the First Presbyterian Church in Hartford.
I am not sure what the future of this Church will look like. Every congregation in the country is facing new and different challenges and opportunities in a post Christian age, in a secular society, but I don’t believe that the God who brought us this far intends to leave us now. If we belong to the God revealed in Jesus, and if we continue to walk in Jesus way I am confident that this Church has a bright future ahead of us.