I drove out into southern Illinois this morning to attend church in Venedy, Dale's first parish after seminary. The congregation had a groundbreaking ceremony after the service for the new education center/fellowship hall. This congregation predates the synod, it's first pastor was Ottomar Fuerbringer, one of the signers of the synod charter.
The altar and pulpit
The history of this organ is fraught with early Missouri Synod history. All the founding names and places are part of the story which you can read here. Needless to say, this organ is a jewel in Mo Synod circles.
The bell tower has a bit of history as well. When we were there Dale turned the upper bell chamber into an office, partly for church work and partly to finish writing his PHD dissertation.
It's a long steep climb up to where he ensconsed himself. He was younger then. I was tempted to go up, but boy, that ladder seems just so straight up. Used to make that climb when I needed to bother him about something.
After the service the congregation met in the front yard of the parsonage, a home which is in process of being demolished. Good bye old friend, our first house as a married couple.
The windows are gone, but there's the pump!
Prayers were said, scripture read and then Pastor Eichhorn got ready to have church officers break ground with gold shovels. Not pure gold, but very pretty.
Pastor dug the first hole.
And the rest took a turn.
Finally the building committee, other officers got to take a dig with the shovels.
Now all that's left is for the house to come down. sigh.
The church has a new generation coming.
Can you stand a little more St. Salvator history?
The bells go back aways too.
And the cemetery behind the church and parsonage has saints laid to rest who were born before the country was founded.
Always there to remind us how short life is and the salavation which comes with the cross.
Amen and Amen, let it always be so, St. Salvator.
very cool
Posted by: katie | May 01, 2011 at 04:27 PM
What a beautiful altar. I've never seen that kind of communion rail. I'm glad that in the history of this congregation nobody decided to "remodel" the interior and remove the historic altar and decorations. The little church I served in Iowa once had a beautiful altar with a large statue of Jesus on it, but then in the 1959s they replaced everything with the most bland looking plain wood things you can imagine.
I'm sure the original German name of the church means, "Holy Savior" and somehow when the name was brought over into English, "Heilige" was rendered as "St."
Interesting history on that organ!
Posted by: PTMcCain | May 01, 2011 at 04:36 PM
I remember getting my head stuck in that communion rail...I also remember waving to Dad as he was on the altar or in the pulpit. Who can forget that "Devil" sermon!
Posted by: Lizzie | May 01, 2011 at 05:03 PM
Diane, you brought tears to my eyes. Beautiful photos of a very special place. I remember babysitting in that house for the children of 2 young pastors. (Lizzie makes me feel VERY old.) It didn't take Dick long to figure out why getting married there was so important to me. And it was always fun to see how big the Christmas tree would be--that still is something I tell people about. Thank you for sharing your memories and the history of this place.
Posted by: Sandy | May 02, 2011 at 01:42 PM
Sandy I was so happy to see your mom and Curt.
Posted by: Diane | May 02, 2011 at 03:59 PM