It's been ten years

The last service at East Lake United Methodist Church on June 27th.  Betty Madewell (on the second row in the photo below) was present at that closing service and told me she had been christened at the first service in this building on Easter Sunday, April 8, 1928, when the sermon by the Rev. Jack Anderson was entitled "A House Not Made with Hands."  River Setliffe noticed that Mildred Setliffe had been ten years old when she attended that first service in this building.  River, who is Mildred's great-granddaughter, was then ten years old herself, when she came to the church's last service.  She's almost hidden between her father and her brother, far to the left in the first row, in the picture below).

This photo, taken by John Shearer, shows some of the worshipers inside East Lake United Methodist Church before the service started).

First pew (left to right):  Jimmy Setliffe, River Setliffe, Sam Setliffe, Jim Setliffe, Carol Setliffe, and Charles Moses.
Second pew:  Henry Mason, Charlotte Mason, Jane Helton, Betty Madewell, Ed Madewell, and Ken Smith.
Third pew:  John Paul Williams and Martha Morgan Gardin.
Fourth pew:  (I can't tell who they are).
Fifth pew:  couple visiting from First-Centenary UMC and June Rollins Tant.

Those who contributed to the service that day:

• The Rev. John Paul Williams sang "My Tribute"
• Laura and Richard Young, John Coniglio, and Nell Williams were the musicians who played and sang for us.
• River and Sam Setliffe were the acolytes who lit the candles.
• Jim and Jimmy Setliffe were the ushers.
• The Rev. Bonnie Setliffe Jacobs preached the church's final sermon, using the same scripture that the Rev. Jack Anderson had chosen for the FIRST sermon after that building was constructed.  (The point I wanted to make was that we who comprise the church take the spirit of love with us, wherever we go.  It isn't about buildings, but about love.)
• John Shearer wrote about the closing service for Chattanoogan.com.

Nobody could have guessed that exactly ten years later (on June 27, 2020, a Saturday) I would be attending Virtual Annual Conference at noon in St. Louis (1:00 pm Eastern Time).  The church is indeed not the building, but the people, however we gather together.

Friday Five ~ Dreams

Jan @ RevGalBlogPals said, "I have just started studying Jung and dreams with a group of friends.  I am hearing about lucid dreaming and imagining, which have opened me up to wondering about dreams in general.  So how about wondering with me?"  Here are Jan's five questions.

1.  Everyone dreams:  Do you remember your dreams?  How often?

Yes, I nearly always remember my dreams.  I started studying dreams 40 years ago, in the early 1970s.  One of my friends actually taught dream workshops, and I probably first heard about lucid dreaming — being aware that I'm dreaming — from her.  When I started writing down my dreams upon awakening, I began to remember more and more each time.  Eventually, it took too much time to record my dreams, so I would simply be aware of dreaming and make a mental note of whatever seemed important for me that day.  I also think about any odd things in my dreams and ponder them during the day.

2.  Did you or do you have a recurring dream?  Share it, if you'd like.

Like most people, I recall dreams about running from someone.  Those used to be scary, when I was young.  When I learned to control my dreams and was aware of dreaming even while I was still asleep, I had fun in my dreams — and rarely, if ever, have had nightmares since.  When whoever was chasing me in a dream was just about to catch me, I would laugh, speed up slightly, and dodge the reaching hand.  My dreams became playful and joyful, and I would wake with a smile on my face, feeling like I could run forever.

3.  Have you ever had recurring themes or images in dreams?  Examples?

Besides running, flying in my dreams was always fun, even before I knew about lucid dreaming.  I *knew* flapping my arms couldn't make me fly like a bird, I knew I was dreaming, and I flew anyway, rising off the ground and hovering there, with a smile on my face.

4.  Do you day dream?  About what?

Sure, I daydream.  I remember writing out a daydream many years ago, when my three children were young and took all my time.  It was all about what I'd do when I "had the time."  I shared it with my mother, who laughed and explained why running away to a place with nothing but books and cushions and a reading lamp wouldn't work for me.  "You'd need your piano," she said.  Oops!  She was right, and running away with a piano would be a bit hard to do.

5.  What are your dreams/hopes/goals for the future?

Another recurring theme in my dreams has been the church I grew up in.  I called to mind with no effort at least three times I dreamed about East Lake Methodist Church.  Once I ran into my dad on the sidewalk in front of the church, long after he had died.  I asked him, "Does Mom know you're back?"  (Now THAT is an interesting concept to ponder!  I knew he had died, but I was simply joyful that he was "back.")  In another dream, I exited the side door of the church onto the front porch of my childhood home — also a very interesting thought.  But it's the third dream that gives me pause.  I drove by the church (in the dream) and noticed it was hollow like a cave, deep into the fellowship hall beneath the sanctuary (see the "cave" under the stairs on the left).  A hollow church.  Something was missing.  The church was dead, long before I preached the last service there in 2010, and it was closed.  A year later, I returned to celebrate new life as a Presbyterian congregation began worshiping there.  My dream is for new life and transformation among dying congregations, which (in my opinion) will come only with major changes in thinking about the purpose of "church."

I think it's a fascinating coincidence that today's Quote of the Day, which appears on my sidebar, is this by Anais Nin:

"Dreams are necessary to life."

Then and Now ~ one year later

June 2011

New City East Lake Church

June 2010

  East Lake United Methodist Church

Full circle

This morning my church life came full circle.  Though pastors in the United Methodist Church have our membership in the conference rather than in a church, nevertheless we must designate a local church as our charge conference.  I chose East Lake UMC, where I grew up.  I went there after retirement because I wanted to move my mother's membership back "home" where she also grew up.  By that time, she was in a nursing home, but it made no sense to leave her membership at my last church appointment.  So I moved us both back to East Lake Church.  Mother's membership ended in November 2004, when she died.  Mine ended last week, when I preached the final sermon and the congregation was no more.  (Thanks to John Shearer for this photo of worshipers before the last service at East Lake.)

The congregation at Forrest Avenue UMC also had their last service on June 27th and closed their doors.  It was my first church appointment, and I served as their pastor from 1987 to 1991.  Last Sunday, I managed to get from East Lake's 9:30 service, after a short visit with friends, across town to North Chattanooga just as their last service started.  The whole day was bittersweet for me, with my childhood church closing on the same day as the first church I pastored after seminary.

I now live in St. Elmo, in the same block as the St. Elmo UMC.  They are meeting at the Lookout Mountain Church because they lost their building in a fire last summer and the church on the mountain had lost their pastor.  It's a good match, for now.  I went down front during the closing hymn at this morning's service, and the Rev. Mark Dowell announced that I was moving my membership.  Lots of people shook my hand and welcomed me to their congregation, but one surprised me when he said, "Nobody even mentioned that we have your piano."

My piano?  It's at home.  But no, he meant the grand piano (or is it a baby grand?) that Scott Medley played for today's service.  This week, the piano was moved from Forrest Avenue UMC to the Lookout Mountain Church.  Full circle!  The Rev. Carol Wilson, who preached the last sermon at Forrest Avenue, and I, who preached the last one at East Lake, told the people that the church doesn't end when a particular congregation does.  Rather, our influence goes on, as we take the spirit of love into the community and into other congregations we attend.

Little did I know that the music would continue in this way, with Forrest Avenue's piano leading the service in my new church!

John Shearer wrote about last week's church closings for Chattanoogan.com:  Two Local United Methodist Churches Hold Final Services.  Clint Cooper wrote about the closings for the Times Free Press:  United Methodists discontinue Forrest Avenue, East Lake churches. To read all I've written about these churches, click here.

Report on Sunday's church closings

I witnessed the last services of two congregations on Sunday, both celebrating what the churches accomplished over the years.  I counted 43 present at East Lake United Methodist Church, which began in 1908 as Ida M. Bass Memorial M.E. Church, South.  That's Methodist Episcopal Church, South, so named because M.E. churches north and south separated before the war between the states.  Because I was preaching Sunday, I couldn't very well take photos during the service.  The photo above is "after church."

I dashed across town after the 9:30 a.m. service at East Lake and got to Forrest Avenue exactly at 11:00 a.m. as their service was starting.  This church, which began in 1887, was once known as Hill City, the former name for North Chattanooga.  I was pastor at Forrest Avenue from 1987 to 1991 before the growth of the North Shore area.  Here's a photo John Shearer took to illustrate his wonderful article about the final services at East Lake UMC and Forrest Avenue UMC.  This is Conley Mercer with me.

John Shearer's photo of some worshipers before the service at East Lake shows my brother's family on the second pew:  my nephew Jimmy Setliffe, his daughter River and son Sam, my brother Jim and his wife Carol, and her father Charles Moses.  River was the youngest person present and noticed when I said my mother Mildred was ten when she attended the first service in the current building.  River pointed out that she is Mildred's great-granddaughter and also ten years old when the church closed.  Betty Madewell, present at the closing service, told me she was christened at the first service in this building on Easter Sunday, April 8, 1928.  The church history says the sermon preached that day by the Rev. Jack Anderson was entitled "A House Not Made with Hands."  I used that scripture (2 Corinthians 5:1, 17-20) for the closing sermon, picking up on later verses in the same chapter to make the point that the bricks are not what's important -- we who comprise the church take the spirit of love with us, wherever we go.

Jim and Jimmy are both interested in historical items, like this bronze plaque in the foyer at the front door that dedicates the organ to those in the church who served in World War Two. The picture below shows the name of my father, William Elmer Setliffe, Jr., who came home from the Pacific after being in the Philippines and Japan.

To read other posts I've written about the two churches, click here.

Celebration of 102 years at my home church

The last service at East Lake United Methodist Church was a celebration, and greeting old friends was a joy.  I plan to write more about it this week, for those who are interested.  For now here are photos of the altar with fresh flowers from the crepe myrtle in my yard between the two lit tapers and the pair of windows next to the pew where my mother seated us children, conveniently located near an exit door in case we acted up during church.  When my brother Jim arrived this morning, he hugged me, reminded me it was exactly two years today that he had liver transplant surgery, and went straight to "our" pew beside these windows.  His family filled most of the pew:  Jim, his wife Carol, their son Jimmy with two of his children (River and Sam), and Carol's father.

Will it be like homecoming ... or a funeral?

Under METHODIST, UNITED in the list of sermon topics in today's Chattanooga Times Free Press (on page E6) is this announcement about tomorrow morning:

East Lake, 2903 E. 37th St., "Passed Away," 9:30 a.m., the Rev. Bonnie Setliffe Jacobs, guest speaker as the church holds its final service and celebrates its 102-year history.

Church family and friends will gather one last time (at least in this building) for a time of closure and fond memories.  We have folks planning to "come home" from all over, including some from Nashville, Lenoir City, and Knoxville, as well as from churches all over the Chattanooga area.  The Chattanooga District Superintendent will be there, along with several other pastors, active and retired.  It will be like homecoming!  Or a funeral.  But this isn't really the end of the story.  Come tomorrow morning to hear what I think comes next.

Church closings

East Lake United Methodist Church
Last week I learned that East Lake United Methodist Church, where I grew up, will close at the end of this month. When I also found out the current pastor is going on a mission trip and won't be there June 20th and 27th, I volunteered to keep it open those additional two Sundays. I've been calling old friends and lining up people to come on our last Sunday, if not the next two Sundays as well. And then today's mail brought the news that Forrest Avenue United Methodist Church, my first appointment, will also close at the end of this month. I, along with other former pastors and former members, am invited back for the final service -- on June 27th.

Forrest Avenue United Methodist Church
I learned a lot in seminary, but not how to be in two places at once!  I was sad to think I'd miss the final service at Forrest Avenue UMC, but I was committed to East Lake UMC.  And then I remembered that they don't meet at the same time.  East Lake's service is now at 9:30 a.m., and Forrest Avenue's is at 11:00 a.m.  They are 25 minutes apart, but both in Chattanooga.  Maybe I can slip in a little late and make it to a second service the same morning.  I'm sure gonna try!

I took these photos this evening just before the sun disappeared for the day.