From The Jemez Valley Messenger (newsletter of the Jemez Springs Presbyterian Church), January/February 2000/Vol.5 No.1
“All the Good News that Fits”
What We Did At The End Of The Century
It was inevitable – on the eve of the fifth year of publishing the Messenger, and a new millennium – that your editors would try to emulate every other publication in Christendom in this first edition of the new year, and publish a year-end wrap-up of church highlights of sorts. It was just too tempting. But along with temptations come pitfalls, and in our case, the likelihood of overlooking some major event of the church year. So we apologize in advance for all the omissions we’re sure to commit. And to soften the slings and arrows headed our way we wish each and every reader a joyous new millennium, launched – just before the calendar clicked over – by that miraculous flight and apparition on our chancel window. Happy New Year! – J.C.
Along with growing a year older, Jemez Springs Community Presbyterian Church seemed to grow stronger in the last year of the old century, but the indicators were subtle and less tangible than the bricks and mortar reports that follow. New friendships, words of encouragement, selfless accommodation to others, and, of course, prayers and expressions of love, and a closer walk with the Lord…those were the true accomplishments of the year that we are unable to chronicle. Here, for the record, are some of the more obvious highlights of 1999.
January/February
A sign proclaiming the Jemez Springs Presbyterian church was responsible for picking up trash along two miles of roadside from just north of the Fitzgerald Center through the heart of the Village and south to a point opposite the former Jemez Valley clinic went up in the winter.
The choir began the new year in new choir robes.
Missionary from Africa Mike Wicker preached at the Palm Sunday service and also stood in for Rev. Tom Hart at the ecumenical Easter sunrise service at the State Monument so Tom could be with his wife, Dawn, for the birth of their first child, a son, Jack.
During a January retreat plans to renovate the nursery room, and perhaps move it elsewhere in the downstairs as well as other related improvements were discussed.
March/April
Bill Musgrave constructed two handsome new signs that were installed at the north and south corners of the church, including hanging panels for advertising special church events to the public.
An outreach effort to send the Messenger to members who do not attend church regularly was instituted.
Gay and Carl Fahringer joined the church and Gay soon joined the stalwart Prayer Warriors.
Marty Dole began raising funds to go to Australia as a student ambassador in the People to People program, a major student and adult exchange program.
Rev.Tom Hart and his wife, Dawn, were guests at a baby shower in the old sanctuary organized by Wendy Strain and Vonda Dole.
Elise Weed asked all church members with email to provide her their addresses so she could compile a complete church list.
The food pantry, increasingly well known in the community’s Christmas, Thanksgiving and year-round mission efforts to area needy, got new shelving installed by Chuck Francis and Emmett Cart to accommodate the increase in donation.
May/June
The deacons hosted a lunch for about a dozen bikers from the Christian Motorcycle Association on their annual Run for the Son trip, organized by CMA member Mike Dole but unfortunately no area youth took advantage of the invitation to attend. Also, on the way home pianist Percy Owens was injured in an accident on the way back to Albuquerque.
Chuck Francis suffered burns when a hot water heater at the Cañon Community Center exploded, also more severely injuring the director, Babara Trujillo, and other workers.
The Deacons’ Spring Fling gourmet dinner earned $550 for the Deacons’ Fund.
A contingent of 12 women from our church attended the Women of Virtue Conference in Albuquerque.
July/August
Our church marked its 118th birthday on the Fourth of July with a fiery sermon by the Rev. Dr. John M. Shields (a Rev.Tom Hart look-alike) and the publication of a special historical edition of the Messenger.
Long-time members, Jack and Mary Kelly were honored at a reception prior to their move to Texas to be near the family of their son and daughter-in-law.
Nearly two dozen members and friends helped clean up our church cemetery behind Our Lady of Assumption church.
A $100 gift from our church’s Peacemaking drive helped produce an anti- violence and anti-drugs and alcohol program at the Jemez Valley Middle School.
September/October
Rev. Tom Hart announced that he would be returning to full time ministry as an associate pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque.
Mike Dole began taping the Sunday sermons to be made available to those unable to attend worship.
Prayer Warriors began to meet weekly on Friday afternoons in the sanctuary. Increasing use of the Prayer Warriors and the prayer chain by members of the community at large was recorded this year.
The Young at Heart Gospel Choir of Albuquerque, featuring 70 voices, provided the worship service on August 22 through the efforts of Dick and Ann Lake.
Rev. Tom Hart preached his final sermon and was honored at a luncheon after worship. Our choir sang “Grace” and “On Eagles’ Wings,” at his installation service at First Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque.
November
The Rev. Kelley Wehmeyer Shin accepted a call as stated supply pastor and became the first female pastor in the church’s history.
A united Thanksgiving service with members of Our Lady of Assumption was held in our church, but not before a potluck to end all potlucks.
Eighteen boxes with turkeys and other fixings were filled by Mona Francis and distributed by her husband, Chuck, to the needy in time for Thanksgiving.
A second annual auction earned $800 for the food pantry and to buy new pew Bibles with auctioneer Rick Lauer in black cowboy hat and looking suspiciously like Garth Brooks.
This year’s peacemaking offering headed up by Becky Christman netted $350.
A new 27-inch TV and VCR purchased by the Christian Education committee in the spring was put to good use showing the video, The Parables of the Potter, thanks to Dick and Ann Lake.
December
Rev. Kelly Shin’s husband, Kent, immediately joined the choir and played Christmas carols on the violin for the day after Christmas service. And his son, Darren, along with Anthony Strain’s son, Ryan, joined their dads in a rendition of “We Three Kings” during Epiphany Sunday services.
Also jumping into church activities this year were Melissa and Casey Jaramillo, both taking on the 4 and 5-year-old Sunday School youngsters, supplementing the efforts of Rosemary Cart and Mona Francis who teach the intermediate class and Anthony Strain the oldest students.
The Canticle of Joy, this year’s Christmas Cantata was performed to a full church under the direction of Patty Mahoney, who with the choir members overcame great trepidation at year’s end to perform the Hallelujah chorus from Handel’s Messiah during the annual candlelight service. The choir also led the singing of Christmas Carols during the annual luminaria tour at the State Monument.
In mid-December the Wickers, Helen, Mike, Julia, Michael and Susanna, winged their way back to South Africa to resume their missionary life in Zimbabwe where they will provide leadership training.
Finally, the year ended on an eerily miraculous note, with the appearance on the front window above the chancel of an almost perfect imprint of a bird of unknown species, perhaps an owl, like some unexplainable messenger of the Holy Spirit.
During the Sixties and early Seventies, the Jemez Springs Community Presbyterian Church went through hard times, remembers Maudell Berglund, whose husband, Marlon Berglund, served as church treasurer during the decade between 1960 and 1970.
In a letter to Elder Anthony Strain, Mrs. Bergland recalls her “20 plus years as a happy resident of Jemez Springs and my involvement in the community.”
Referring to the special edition of the Messenger published on the 118th birthday of the church this past July Fourth, Mrs. Berglund recalls her “vivid memories of the years least shown in the Messenger’s calendar of events, 1960- 1970.”
“Although I was not an active member of the church, my husband, Marlon Berglund, was for quite some time, through good times and bad. Though not one to “toot his own horn,” he gave greatly to the church, as did others in the community. As treasurer, he was aware of those that gave to the church during times of need.
“In the sixties and early seventies when the church needed a minister (in addition to the Rev. Wilbur Hall and Rev. Paul Stevens), Rev. Summers and Rev. Candelaria made the trip to the church in Jemez Pueblo and then on to Jemez Springs to conduct the Sunday worship services.
“During this period, the church suffered from poor attendance and subsequently hard times. On many an occasion, the late Jerry Washburn paid the church’s utility bills when donations could not meet the obligations. The Caldwells (Mama and Papa Lew) continued to contributed in many ways, even after they were unable to attend services on a regular basis, they contributed financially to the church to assist in the expansion needed to help increase attendance.
“There was no place for children to attend Sunday School, and no real space for gathering, other than the sanctuary. In the early seventies, the Session ruled to extend the old sanctuary by 12 feet, add a foyer, and two large classrooms, and close the streetside (west) entrance.
“Utilizing a generous endowment left by the late Hugh Miller, and specifically earmarked for the church expansion, along with a small mortgage, bids were let and Marlon Berglund was awarded the contract with the lowest bid, with the next lowest bid coming in $6,000 higher.
“The toughest part of the job was trying to make the new construction look as the old adobe portion of the sanctuary. It was the desire of the congregation that the old feel of the church be carried into the new additions. Disregarding the standard techniques of square and plumb was a challenge for my husband, who prided his work and precision.
“The late Robert Swain, a Session member and building committee member, served as building inspector and helped with much of the construction. Shortly after the addition was completed, new pews were acquired (at minimal cost) to replace the aging ones.
“Once this work was complete, the church was better able to serve the familys in the community, and attendance began to gradually increase, with Sunday School being provided, and potlucks occurring on a regular basis with an actual kitchen and bathrooms available for the congregation, a renewed sense of purpose was felt by all.”
Mrs. Berglund concluded by urging others with memories of the church’s history to get in touch with the Messenger editors “as part of an ongoing effort to document the entire history of the church.”