CELEBRATING OUR PAST
First of all, I would like to congratulate Westminster on this 115th anniversary and for abolishing the debt on the mortgage. How many of you here today were part of Westminster in the former location at Fourth & Lybarger? It seems like a long time ago.
The transition was an exciting time for all of us. Committees under the direction of the Session had worked hard for a number of years; the decision to sell the property rather than to add on or remodel again was fixed; new property was identified and purchased; and then in July of 1988 while Judy and I were studying in Berkeley at the Pacific School of Religion I received a call from Ruth Beck, the Chair of the Board of Trustees, that we had an agreement to sell the property to the Salvation Army.
Everything went into high gear for more than a year; plans were finalized; construction contracts were arranged; church furnishings were stored in members’ homes, at St. Peter Hospital and anywhere else room could be found.
We made arrangements to rent the building adjacent to this new property for offices and meeting space for small groups. And we entered into an agreement with the Masonic Lodge to rent their facilities for Sunday School and worship and for occasional dinners.
The transition in the temporary locations lasted eighteen months. We referred to it as our “wilderness experience.” Just as ancient Israel’s experience in the wilderness was filled with ups and downs – so was ours. But instead of forty years we only had to endure a year and a half.
Our first contractor was not able to be bonded so we had to look for another. The delay was frustrating. We broke ground July 30, 1989. Construction began October 9, 1989. We were embezzled in the amount of over forty thousand dollars. It prompted cuts in the final product but I am proud of the way the Session handled it and how the congregation responded.
The choir remembers the acoustics at the Masonic Temple. A practice/warm-up room that was alive – a sanctuary space that was so dead that the notes projected a foot or so from the mouths of talented singers and then fell away. But they carried on. We all did.
There were many joys and adventures. Somehow new members were attracted to our church despite having to find us – meeting in a Masonic Temple, next to a cemetery, and a couple of blocks from the brewery. And in September of 1990 we moved into this new building and were pleased with the final project, knowing that a substantial part of it had to be delayed.
We began to enjoy the fruit of the labor of so many, too many to enumerate. The dedication was on October 28, 1990, and I call your attention to the verse of scripture that is inscribed into the dedication plaque outside the front door. The text is from the Epistle to the Hebrews:
For every house is built by some one, but the builder of all things is God. [Hebrews 3.4]
The entire plaque reads: DEDICATED TO THE GLORY OF GOD This church building represents the vision, prayers, talents, love, labor, faithful pledges and memorial gifts of members and friends of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Olympia. “For every house is built by some one, but the builder of all things is God.” [Hebrews 3.4]
That inscription is still there. It was true then. It is still true today. We celebrate this anniversary of Westminster and give thanks for this facility.
The Rev. Dr. Dwight W. Whipple
March 22, 2009
|