Growing around that landscape are flowers representing the many other places our people have called home: the thistle of Scotland; lignum vitae of Jamaica; lotus of Malawi; yellow trumpet of Nigeria; the jasmine flower of Pakistan and Mal jasmine; the spathodea flower of Uganda’s flame tree; flor de maga of Puerto Rico; the Victoria amazonica water lily of Guyana; the impala lily, or desert rose, of Ghana; the daisy of the Netherlands; Connecticut’s mountain laurel; and the chaconia, or wild poinsettia, of Trinidad and Tobago. The entirety of the mural is encapsulated by a strawberry vine, an image that’s become a symbol of our church, as well as a symbol of growth and flourishing, generally. Together, they remind us that this congregation has been planted in Hartford, but has always drawn life, beauty, wisdom, and community from a much wider world.

The photographs surrounding the mural tell another part of that story. They preserve moments when members of this church ventured beyond these walls together. The pictures on the wall show a small fraction of the many people who have served, but some of the people you’ll find on the wall, representing this larger, communal action over time, are: Carolyn Blick, George Blick, Shannon Hopkins, James Wilson, Alyssa Wilson, Nancy Baseel, Joseph Awuah, Marissa Cort, Asa Cort, David Labins, Solana Gadson, Grant Spears, Amanda Green, Stacey Kujawa, Corinna Tamburini, Susan Labins, William Ofori, Abena Adzenyah, the Rev. Carl and Shirley Dudley, Joy Doran, Barb Yates, Holly Billings, the Rev. Terry Davis, Keith Rhoden, Jr., the Marchant family, and South Windsor Girl Scouts, their leaders, families, and friends. There are also faces whose names we no longer know. They belong here too. They remind us that the life of a church is always larger than the part of its story any one generation can remember.

There is something especially fitting about the location of this mural. On one side of the library hangs the patchwork quilt created for our 150th anniversary; on the other, these windows created for our 175th. The quilt gathers many pieces into one; the mural opens windows onto the world. Between them is something of the story of First Presbyterian Church of Hartford: a community woven together from many people and many places, deeply rooted here, yet always looking outward—traveling, welcoming, learning, celebrating, dwelling in, and serving the world beyond our walls. We remember those who came before us not simply to preserve their story, but to continue it—and perhaps to leave this place and this community more lovingly tended for those who will come after us.

Next time you visit First Presbyterian, we hope you’ll stop to take a closer look at the mural, find the flowers and faces you recognize, and discover some you don’t.