Amidst the commotion of a large church luncheon, the Rev. John Hamilton of the First Congregational Church of Norwood spoke about what it means to be a part of a congregation that has thrived longer than the country’s Declaration of Independence
“It’s really a celebration of not just being around for such a long time, but a celebration of what we have done and continuing to do things important to the community,” Hamilton said, standing in the back of the packed Pingree Hall, located within the First Congregational Church. This past weekend, the Norwood church celebrated its 275th anniversary with a two-day celebration of not only history, but future dreams as well.
“This is a community that does take chances,” Hamilton said, “Our Facebook page is very active and we’re ven* involved with social media. The gospel message is still the same; we’re just using a different way to get it out there. It’s about dreaming the future, not planning it.”
Hamilton stressed the importance of dreaming the future during the service, the size of which he compared to a Christmas or Easter event. The weekend itself was planned by a series of committees, but, as Shelia Lockwood and Lorna Tassi explained, the task was not very difficult because of the outpouring of support from the church community.
“There were at least 70-100 people involved in making this weekend happen,” Lockwood said of the event’s volunteer involvement. Tassi added that, “the community has a strong spirit of generosity.”
The two women, who headed the event’s planning committee, began the process of organizing the celebration months in advance.
“We had two main goals for the event,” Lockwood explained. “We wanted to work together to capitalize on the unity, energy, and vitality of the church and we also wanted to honor and recognize the fact that we are a spiritual and social center, not just serving one another but the community.”
As Lockwood said, embracing the community was a huge part of the celebratory weekend, which included a special service as well as a luncheon and coffee hour that featured several boards filled with pictures of past church events and patrons. Another focal point of the event was the rich historical background of the church itself, established in 1736. In order to chronicle some of the pinnacle moments connecting with church and societal history, Patty Wheeler and her fellow committee members worked to create a timeline and display genuine artifacts from the church’s beginning.
“It was challenging in the sense that there were so many stories and records to choose from, so we tried to pick those that interlaced with what was happening in the church and what was happening outside of it,” Wheeler said, gesturing to the timeline stretched across the entire church entranceway. Wheeler also helped to organize the weekend’s culminating event, a historical reenactment of Thomas Balch’s time as the church’s pastor.
“I’m thrilled to have so many interested people who care about the past and about the future,” said Mary Hemman, who has been a member of the congregation for 61 years. “Our slogan for the celebration is Remember, Rejoice, Renew and that’s how we plan to celebrate both the past and the future.”
For more information on the First Congregational Church, visit the website at http : //firstcongregational-norwood.com.
Caitlyn M. McGoff – TRANSCRIPT BULLETIN