125th Anniversary Celebration Keynote Address
Trinity Lutheran Church
Traverse City, MI
19 October A+D 2008
Dear Honored Guests, Fellow Members of Trinity, and Friends:
In the words of Pastor Fitz, “Welcome to one of Trinity’s Red Letter Days” - one of those days that we will always remember What a special day it is to be with members of the “household of faith” and our dear friends as we celebrate 125 years of God’s blessings here at Trinity.
As a member of Trinity’s oldest family in continuous membership since 1888, I am humbled by this opportunity and finally must admit publicly that I truly must be older than 29 which I have been telling the students for years.
Today’s task is both a daunting task and a privilege for I have been asked to express the collective memories of Trinity’s saints over the past 125 years.
In preparation for today’s keynote I was given two charges: the first from Pastor Zagore who knows me too well: Pastor said, “Keep it short”; and secondly, from Bruce Ahlich, Chairman of the 125th Anniversary Committee, “let the ‘skeletons out of the closet.’ ” With those two directives, I have chosen to borrow loosely from the paraphrase of St. Luke when he wrote in the first chapter of his Gospel:
1Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses … 3Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to [present] an orderly account for you, 4so that you may know the certainty of the things you [have heard].
and, from Pastor Krieger in a church bulletin from the 1950s
"Lord, fill my mouth with worthwhile stuff, and nudge me when I've said enough."
The first memory to share is that of Pastor Rook who served Trinity from 1921 to 1929. Pastor Rook was highly regarded by the young people of the church. Two students took four years of confirmation instruction. To our young people here today, imagine taking two full years of confirmation instruction complete with memory, being confirmed, and then taking the same two years all over again. That was the kind of teacher Pastor Rook was. The love and loyalty of Trinity’s youth continued as Pastor Rook grew the “Young People’s Society” or Walter League into a very successful youth program for its day.
Pastor Grueber was installed as Trinity’s Eighth Pastor on November 10, 1929, which is coincidentally the same day as Dr. Martin Luther’s Birthday. (I wonder if that was coincidence or God’s sense of timing.) Pastor Grueber brought a connection with the early days of the Missouri Synod to Trinity. Pastor Grueber was born on a farm in Frankenmuth 51 years after its founding. He was baptized and confirmed there as well. In addition, Pastor Grueber also attended St. Lorenz Christian Day School. Pastor Grueber also led congregation in its Golden Jubilee Anniversary in 1932. This also connects us to President Hoeseman as he served as the Senior Pastor of St. Lorenz prior to becoming our District President.
Even in keeping the Eighth Commandment, there is an interesting story to share about Pastor Grueber. Pastor was considered a kind and gentle man, but also a man who practiced the use of the Law as well as the Gospel. Every Sunday, the Sunday School students had classes in the basement. When it was time for Church, all of the Sunday School children processed to the front of the church and sat together instead of sitting with their families. One Sunday, two girls (who happened to be cousins) decided that they really had to share some interesting news with each other. One of the girls was named Virginia Oberlin and the other one was named Arlene Birkman. During the middle of his sermon when Pastor discovered that these two girls were talking, he simply stopped his preaching and stared down at Ginny and Arlene. He didn’t say anything. No, he just stopped and stared. If you see Ginny Bishop or Arlene Tremain today, they’re still talking but not in church.
In my sermon last March, I referenced how Pastor Grueber was the shepherd of this flock through the cataclysmic Great Depression and WWII – that was no easy task. Here was God’s servant humbly serving God’s people. Many of his children and their families still are members of Trinity and reside in this community.
One of Trinity’s giants was Pastor W. Harry Krieger whose memory still is very much alive at Trinity today. Coming to us from the Carolinas, Pastor Krieger was part of a small group of both confessional and highly liturgical pastors within our Synod. Here was a man whom God visioned to grow this community of faith. Arriving in 1948, Trinity was soon committed to building a new church, but not just any church. This was a church of historic design for the time and place. Our beloved Trinity was disparagingly referred to as “Krieger’s Vatican in the Sand Dunes.” Much of what is Trinity’s physical structure and worship practices can be traced directly back to Pastor Krieger.
To make our new church a reality, Trinity sold bonds just like a municipality and they sold. Our edifice was built by Comstock Construction. Casey Comstock’s father built our church and today, Casey and his family are members. Comstock Construction also built our latest addition in 2006. If you haven’t figured it out by now, Trinity likes it traditions.
Most of you have heard about the Dedicatory Walk from the Seventh Street Church to our present location in 1949. Some of you present walked it. Some of us were carried in our mother’s arms in it. And, some of you reenacted that walk last August. But, did you know that when the Church was built and ready for dedication everything was in place: (1) the building was done, (2) the dedicatory materials were printed, and the (3) officiants and dignitaries in place. We were ready! Or, so we thought. Our beloved Altar Guild who had labored so long and lovingly over hand crafting the vestments, paraments, and seeing to all of the things necessary forgot one thing. No one had ordered the candles! This was discovered too late to order anything and Fed Ex wasn’t around. What were they to do?
Where could they find beeswax candles for the next day? My friends, there was only one place in town who had just what we needed – St. Francis Catholic Church. Yes, Trinity’s first altar candles were gifts from the good people of St. Francis.
History records (January 1951 Church Bulletin) that there was another time that St. Francis was involved in our new edifice. Early in our new building, Traverse City was part of the Grand Rapids Diocese and its bishop, Bishop Francis J. Haas, toured our sanctuary and stated how impressed he with the Church’s beauty and symbolism.
My most vivid memory of growing up at Trinity occurred when I was five or six years old. Every Sunday afternoon in December, all of the Sunday School children gathered for a two hour Christmas Program Rehearsal for the upcoming Christmas Eve Sunday School Christmas Program. It was the typical (and I hate this phrase) mid-century Christmas Program complete with a vignette of Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, Shepherds, Wisemen, and Angels. It was probably near the end of the program because the “staging of characters” was occurring within the Chancel when out of the back in his deep voice, we all heard, “No, no, Fay Smith (who was cast as the angel) that will never do.” I remember jumping in fear and sitting back in the pew as Pastor Krieger walked forward. Although I am paraphrasing his words, I never forgot the content of his words. “Fay,” he said, “everything in heaven is perfect.” You are wearing glasses and in heaven there would be no glasses. You have two choices, give up the part or take off your glasses.” Faith took off her glasses!
This was a time of sacrifice when Trinity had exhausted all of her resources and found herself $10K short to begin building, God’s people pledged that amount of money in 45 minutes – Remember that’s $10K in 1949 dollars. Because the operation of Trinity was such a bold endeavor, Trinity would annually hold a Sacrificial Sunday in which people who loved their church would come forward and drop in whatever they could to pay salaries and bills.
As Pastor Krieger was elected District President and speaking of District President; President Hoesman, did anyone show you the former District Office location when it was here? Well, as Bruce Ahlich referred to you as the equivalent of a bishop if we were in the Catholic Church, I need to tell you that the current men’s restroom in the church was the District Office. And, unlike the traditional Catholic bishop with his throne, Trinity can provide you with two thrones in its District Office! Anyway, the Krieger family would eventually move to Ann Arbor, Trinity called Pastor Hawlicheck. Although his tenure was short, we will never forget his 35-45 minute sermons. Those of us who had him for Confirmation class remember his three-day a week schedule: 1) Catechism on Monday, 2) Book of Acts on Wednesday, and 3) studying The Lutheran Hymnal on Fridays. The good thing about Confirmation class being three times a week was that it was only for a year and we were confirmed.
Pastor Pieper was our 1960s kind of guy. Although small in stature, he had large ideas to change Trinity. Pastor Pieper removed the red and black brocade dorsal curtain behind the altar and exposed the bare brick. There was a plan to hang a gauze-like netting over the Crucifixion window and have it drape down behind the altar in an ethereal sort of way. This was to be capped with a crown-like structure much like the chapel roof line of Valparaiso University, which coincidentally would have matched the roof line for the proposed gymnasium in the 1966 school addition. The gymnasium, however, was not built at that time. Pastor Pieper also began to change the gothic vestments and paraments into a simpler design with the emphasis on color and the absence of symbols. For a brief period, Trinity had more of an Anglican look than a European Gothic church. I had the privilege of knowing him quite well as he was the Circuit Counselor and once a month would come down to the District Office which was across the road from Concordia-Ann Arbor. On his return trip, he would pick me up and bring me home for the weekend. Walt always gave me a book to read that he had just finished. The one that I remember most was “Soul on Ice” by Eldridge Cleaver, a member of the Black radical group, The Black Panthers.
Pastor Fitz was installed in January, 1971. For those of us who knew him and worked with him, here was a man of God – a humble, compassionate man who was always so afraid of giving offense to anyone. Unless you worked closely with Pastor Fitz, you would not know that he turned down a lucrative professional ball contract to pitch for Kansas City. He loved his sports as we would hear every Sunday from the pulpit, but as a physical education instructor at St. John’s-Winfield, Kansas (now closed) he continued to keep in shape. EV would literally run up and down the old stair from his office to Luther Hall. If he was in a hurry, he would take 2 or 3 steps at a time.
EV was obsessed with time. If Pastor Fitz wanted to meet with you, you did not forget what time it would be. With EV, it was never “Let’s make it 3:15 or how about 10:30?” No, with Pastor Fitz, it was 3:17 or 10:33! The same thing applied to the start of services, when we would stand outside of the doors to the chancel five minutes prior to the start of the service. Every minute, literally, he would go back to the office and call time. Every service started exactly on time.
During Pastor Fitz’s tenure, a young whirlwind blew into town by the name of Pastor Gieschen. Pastor Gieschen was a multi-faceted and multi-gifted man. Like Pastor Zagore, he was blessed with a memory for names. Once he met you; he knew you, your entire family, and your connection to Trinity. We all loved Pastor Gieschen and knew God had bigger plans for him than just serving Trinity which meant earning his doctorate from Michigan. After he returned from a six-month sabbatical in England, it was time to write his dissertation. Because he was always so busy, he waited until the last minute to complete his research on the role of angels in the Old Testament. He wrote and he wrote and he still wasn’t getting it done. On the weekend prior to its submission, he called me and asked me if I could preach for him because he needed the time to write. He wrote and he wrote, but he could not get it done fast enough, so he wrote literally 48 hours + without any sleep. Finally, he finished. His research was done. He was ready to hit print and drive down to Ann Arbor. But, his computer would not cooperate. No matter what he tried, his computer simply refused to print. Out of frustration, he told me that he slapped the side of the tower and, by God’s grace, it started printing. George Ford and I had been talking and knew what he had put himself through, so George and I convinced him that he was in no shape to drive. George drove him down to Ann Arbor with his finished dissertation in hand while he slept.
Ah, there is that line in my notes:
"Lord, fill my mouth with worthwhile stuff, and nudge me when I've said enough."
I could go on and on, but I won’t because the people that I want to talk about next are all sitting there giving that look of “No, don’t say a word, so I always listen to my pastors. Well, most of the time.
God’s timing is always perfect and this week He provided me with the real story of Trinity’s saints and reminds us that He is still Lord of this Church.
Instead, I want to close with a story that took place in my office last week that takes us back through the tunnel of time to 1884 and connects generations. One of our Kindergarten parents came to me and asked if he could share an interesting story about his family history. His great, great grandfather, a Mr. Fromholtz, was contracted to dig the basement of our first permanent church on Seventh Street in 1884. He had fabricated a dredge that he used to scoop out the hole that would allow the foundations of Trinity to be built. And, now, his great, great, great granddaughter is enrolled in our school. How God always brings us back to where we started to our foundation – Christ Jesus. Please take your red Bible Bookmark that are found in today’s program and read with me the printed passage from 1 Corinthians 3:11 –
For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid,
Which is Christ Jesus.
To Him be the glory, now and forever.
Note: Bruce Ahlich and Bob Schultz in recognition for their service were given a framed and matted drawing of the 2006 church and school done for the 125th at the end of the presentation.