So who are we? We are the Regulars, the ten (plus) who worship regularly on the Lord’s Day. Who are we? We are the extended community of family and friends who call the church home. For reasons of health, of work, of timing, not everyone is able to come out on Sunday mornings. During Covid, we added a virtual presence to keep people with us. Who are we? We are the people who have contact and connection but have slipped away. Ten and ten is as much an invitation to return to the worship and work of the church as anything else. Who are we? We are a neighborhood in the Kingdom of God. By God’s grace we exist, in the freedom of the Holy Spirit we worship, by the free gift of salvation in Jesus Christ we have new life, eternally in the life to come, renewed by grace in the life right now.
So, week 1 of checking in on the Ten and Ten challenge, ten members of our church family who are not among the ‘regulars’ and the $10K for our roof challenge. The cliched response might be a graphic of the old Uncle Sam Recruiting Posters: We Need You For… Funny how today, a graphic might be a meme instead.
The First Presbyterian Church of Perth Amboy has a ‘founded’ history of two hundred and twenty years. And I say founded history, because its roots in the community go back even further. The ‘official’ founding was in 1802, but there was a Presbyterian Meeting House in the City before that dates to the Revolution and even earlier.
What makes me really proud of that earliest history is our place in the Loyalist City of Perth Amboy during the Revolution, with the Royal Governor’s Mansion and Ben Franklin’s son serving as the king’s stooge…er…governor until his arrest. We Presbyterians served on the side of freedom. Not sure exactly what we did, but it was so irritating to the British that they turned our Meeting House into a stable. Holiest horses of the Revolution says I! Makes me want to boast to all the other pastors out there.
Taking us even earlier, if you go down to the International Park on the corner of High Street and Sadowski Parkway, you will find a quote pointing back to the Presbyterian minister and his flock who came ashore here in 1683. We have been here since the very beginning. Now, one story I was told is that they were aiming for New York but missed, well, things happen when Jesus takes the wheel. And Jesus brought Presbyterians to Perth Amboy.
Something that really blew my socks off about the history of our church was the final chapter of the Sanctuary do-over in 1902. In 1802, a white clapboard church was erected on the site of the present church. That architecture can be seen ALL over the state and the eastern seaboard. But, in 1902, the sanctuary was replaced with our present sanctuary. I never gave it much thought, but I assumed the final chapter of the first sanctuary was demolition and removal. My socks were blown off when I found out it was still around.
They moved it several blocks up Market Street and re-purposed it as a residence, the function it still serves today. In those days, things were not just thrown away, but reused, renewed, and recycled. How is that for a life lesson for today? This is OUR church.
So ten people of our church community to come join us this summer? Renew old acquaintances, enjoy the fans, worship the Lord in the post-Covid environment? What’s the church worth to us? A new roof? How much else? Ten and ten, reuse, renew, rejoice?
Peace,
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