Faith of Our Fathers

As organist for my church, I get to pick the songs and this last Sunday I picked this familiar hymn of my childhood.  As we sang with gusto, I couldn't help but remember the little church of my youth.  Just recently they celebrated their final service.  With aging members and dwindling numbers, they made the painful decision to close the church.  With heavy hearts, I am sure.  The actual building is to be sold and moved away.  I can only hope that it will house another family of believers who need a building to worship in.  That building held so many memories.   My sisters were married there, my parents' final blessings heard there.  My mother sang in the church choir and I myself played organ for Sunday Worship.  We girls sat in the front rows and usually caused our father great embarrassment by our giggling and quick whispering or note passing.  Many times, he would reach across pews and with a hard FLICK to the ear, we were disciplined into silence.  For a moment.  After church, we attended Sunday School and then walked home to Sunday dinner of chicken noodle soup and the Jamestown Sun funny pages.  Youth Group was always held on Wednesday evenings and in the summers VBS.  I remember long games of Ante Over the parsonage garage and the cups of kool-aid in the afternoons. Christmas Eve Candlelight Services, Sunrise service on Easter.  So many memories, and if I close my eyes, I can see the members' smiling faces and hear their thick German accents.  No matter how long we were away, we were always welcomed back with a smile or a hug.  It has always been a comfort to me to know that building was still warming souls and the thought of it being moved tugs at my heart.  I know it's just a building, and the true faith is carried on within us, but it's still painful to realize UMC of Wishek will soon be a distant memory.