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135th Anniversary
This year Christ Lutheran Church celebrates its 135th anniversary. Someone
mentioned to me a while ago that they did not recall any formal celebration of
the congregation's 125th anniversary. This didn't shock me. We are a church
giving fully in the present, and we are just so darn busy living in the presence
of Jesus today that sometimes we forget to stop and remember where we have been.
But 135 years is a long time, and worth noting. Our congregation traces its
origins to the founding of St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church in Glencoe in
1875. Our congregation has had several names throughout our history, but our
current name comes from Christ Lutheran Church of Montana founded in 1887. St.
John's in Glencoe, Christ in Montana and a small gathering in the village of
Arcadia were served by common pastors during the late 1800's and early 1900's.
The 1870's were eventful times for the German immigrants who had arrived in
Wisconsin. Many of the middle aged people must have been war weary. Germany had
fought a bloody war with France ending in 1871 and the United States was
recovering from the devastation of the Civil War. Ulysses S. Grant was finishing
his second term as president and his policy of expanding rights for black
citizens in the south was facing stiff opposition from southern lawmakers.
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse were desperately trying to preserve the traditional
way of life of the plains Indians. They would defeat General Custer in the
Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. The country was being transformed by the
industrial revolution and many American cities were expanding rapidly. The
telephone was invented in 1876. In 1875 the Page Act was passed, restricting
immigration to the United States for the first time. The Page Act was a reaction
to the influx of Chinese immigrants who moved to the west to work on the
railroads. Harvard and Tufts faced off in the first organized college football
game.
We often assume that "back in the day" times were simpler and less stressful.
But our first church members faced huge challenges. They had been uprooted as
immigrants. They were homesteading and acquiring land. They faced language
barriers and prejudice. Even their church was not immune to conflict and
turmoil. In these years the Lutheran churches in America were divided by the
slavery issue, the use of English, cooperation with other protestants, how to
interpret the Lutheran Confessions and the doctrine of predestination. Christ
Lutheran was served at times by pastors from the Iowa Synod and at times by more
conservative Wisconsin Synod pastors and several pastors left or were forced to
leave due to congregational disunity. In fact, two factions of the congregation
actually called two different pastors in 1904, but only one of them showed up!
If there is one thing a person learns from a look back into the past, it's that
the church has faced challenges, stresses and even a little turmoil in nearly
every age. Thank God that Christ is faithful through the changes and chances of
human life. As psalm 103 says:
As for mortals, their days are like grass;
they flourish like a flower of the field;
for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
and its place knows it no more.
But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting
on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children's children,
to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.
Peace Pastor Peter
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