An address on the 125 Anniversary of this parish

(Photos by Jennie Reed and others)

Reflections on Christ Church, Laredo, Texas 125th year, September 24th, 2006.

I wanted to offer a few reflections on Christ Church’s birthday. A printed text is available in the church entryway, and is somewhat longer than what I have to say.

Before I begin, let me wish all of you a very Happy New year. Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year began yesterday, so to you, and especially to our neighbors at both our synagogues we want to say, “Mazeltov!” 

First, some thanks are in order. Thanks to Pastor Dale Young, at First Presbyterian Church who kindly alerted me almost 6 months ago to the fact that Christ Church is 125 years old. Their celebration took place just over a month ago, and our congregations have been neighbors, both downtown and now in the Heights, and we are grateful for the relationship of the last 125 years.

Secondly, many thanks to those who have worked hard on this event. This is too long a list for me to read, but let me give public thanks to a few of the principals. Many thanks to Elena Holloway, Julia Jones, Sheila Glassford, and Genny Monteith for all their hard work and planning. I want to give special thanks to Connie Miles, our faithful secretary who has labored many hours with bulletin production, countless phone calls, and details too numerous to mention.

Third, I’m grateful to Bishop Lillibridge for his time with us. This is his first official visit to Christ Church as bishop, and we hope it is one of many!

Fourth, thanks are due to many people, who through the years have blessed Christ Church with their life, with their labors, and with their love, expressed in so many ways. Many of them have now gone before us into life eternal, but their lives have touched us and many others, and for that we are profoundly grateful.

Fifth, I want to thank the members of other churches and faith communities here in Laredo. We are indeed surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses of other God loving worshippers, and for their life, witness and support we give God thanks.

Finally, I want to say thank you to my wife Anne, and my daughter Suzanna for her partnership in this ministry we share.

Shortly after I arrived in town I noticed that Laredo Episcopalians are comfortable and well aquainted with La Posada Hotel. Perhaps it is because the first Episcopal services were held on that site, in the old courthouse above the jail.

At the request of Mrs. George C. Woodman, Sr., Bishop Robert W.S. Elliot came to Laredo via the newly opened railroad, on Feb 20, 1881.  Two adults and five children were baptized, and an unknown number confirmed. Episcopal Services had been held occasionally at Fort McIntosh, but never with regularity. However, the first vestry of Christ Church had three officers from the fort, and close association with the church continued for many years.

Later that night, in that same courtroom at the Sunday night service, $1000 was raised for a church building.  William Adams donated a lot on Farrugut Street, and later the congregation bought the adjoining lot from him for $50.  The Bishop encouraged the fledgling congregation to keep raising money but forbid them to use card games or raffles to do so.

The first Rector, Mr. M. Chapin, was here for six months. I can only guess as to how the bishop persuaded him to come. He went back to New York, but for many years continued to contribute to the life and ministry of Christ Church.

By the summer 1882, Yellow Fever was raging along the Rio Bravo, and Bishop Elliot came and spent his six weeks of vacation serving the parish here in Laredo. Clergy vacations were more strenuous in those days!

By  March of 1883 the first wedding in the new building took place. Much of the building was finished, but the floor was not yet laid.  Planks had to be laid over the open beams for a temporary floor when Miss Dora Gertrude Burdick and Thomas O. Philibert , came up from Monterrey to be married in the new church building.

By June of that year, regular worship began at the church on the corner of Farrugut and Davis streets.

For the next several years the parish was served by pastors who stayed a few months and in a few cases a year, and in a very few cases almost two years.

In April of 1886, after a rather heated election, the Democrats calling themselves the “Botas” and the Republicans calling themselves the “Guaraches” both staged parades which degenerated quickly into a shooting match. A number of the Vestry members and parishioners of Christ Church were involved in the melee. Perhaps explains the short tenure of the Rev. C.W. Hoge, who came in March, just a month before the shooting started, and left in early July the same year!

By June of 1888 the beloved Good Shepherd window had been installed. Christ Church and Church of the Good Shepherd in Corpus Christi had both ordered windows. Somehow they got ours and we got theirs! The window currently graces the front of the Chapel here on this site.

In 1894, the Church was blessed by the tenure of the Rev. J.W. Ward, who spent 14 years serving Christ Church till his retirement in 1910. He is buried in the city cemetery on Meadows street.

Just a few years after the Rev. Ward retired, in 1913, the Rev. Charles W. Cook came to Laredo from New York. His tenure of 24 years helped shape Christ Church in ways that still resonate today. He and his wife Mabel’s children, Mary Cook and Ralph Cook were life long members of this parish, and their legacy continues through the many lives they touched.

His wife’s sister, Deaconess Bickford, was a tireless minister here in this community, and ministered faithfully in this community for many years.

And so, the church at Davis and Farrugut continued and grew. During the first World War, the parish records show a large number of names with military ranks attached to them, and a number of burials of young men preparing for the war in Europe who died in training accidents at the Fort.

After the Rev. Charles Cook retired, the Rev. William X Smith arrived. This young energetic man wooed the organist, Miss Alice Perkins who had recently returned home to Laredo after receiving a degree from the American Conservatory in Chicago.  They married in 1940.  When the Rev. Smith accepted a call to a church in California in 1941, the vestry minutes mourn the loss of their organist. (The record does not show whether they were sorry the rector left!)

Another Smith, the Rev. Benjamin Smith guided the parish through the years of World War II, and again the names of  some military men begin to show up, this time due to the men training at the Laredo Army Air Field.

And in 1953, the Rev. Richard I. Urban and his wife arrived. Through the 50’s and 60’s, for 16 years he guided Christ Church. By the early 60’s the parish was convinced that a move was necessary and began the plans for moving from downtown to our current location in the Height’s neighborhood.  John Snyder, Horace Watson, Harry Sames, David Slaughter and other men on the vestry worked with the rector to make the move a reality. (In those days only men could be on the vestry!)

Episcopalians love their buildings however, and the major memorials of the old church, including the altar, the windows, many of the pews, and two hand carved pieces that the Rev. Cook had produced, were installed in the chapel here.

Then through the 1970’s the Rev. Joseph Sheldon was rector. During his tenure the country and the church went through major changes. The Vietnam war was becoming even more unpopular, and the social unrest that began in the 60’s seemed to grow rather than diminish.

It was during Joe Sheldon’s tenure that most of the stained glass windows in our current building were installed. It was also during this time that the vestry minutes begin to show that the air conditioning began to have problems!  Father Joe’s annual addresses list Evangelism, Stewardship, and Worship as the main goals for the parish. Perhaps this sounds familiar!

Episcopalians may love their buildings, but they love their prayer book even more, and it fell upon Rev. Sheldon to guide the church in adopting the new prayer book, and then through all the controversy that surrounded the ordination of women to the priesthood.

In 1982, The Rev. Eulalio (Lalo) Luna came to Christ Church.  He inherited the task of helping the church through the changes of the previous decade. Lalo’s deep love of Christ, and his calm demeanor helped a great deal in helping the church continue to move forward in ministry.  Over the next few years he sought  to put prayer and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ at the heart of Christ Church. I spoke with Lalo this past Thursday, and he asked that I convey to you his prayers and wishes for the future of Christ Church.

In 1988 The Rev. Alan Conkling arrived in Laredo. The parish records begin to show the first regular services in Spanish began during his tenure. Services in Spanish are scattered through the records, but Alan began them in earnest, and they continue to this day.

In 1993, another New Yorker was called to Christ Church. The Rev. Alfonso Narvaez, a journalist who had seen the light, came to serve at Christ Church. He and his wife Dabney brought new energy to Christ Church. During the Al  Narvaez time, our food outreach program, New Leaven became a ministry serving more than 400 families a month with food. Al also helped form the Habitat for Humanity affiliate here in Laredo. He and Dabney expressed their regrets at not being able to be here, but were expecting two grandchildren to be born this very week!

And in 1999, the Rev. Sherridan Walker, my immediate predecessor was called to be the rector of Christ Church. Sherridan was the first woman pastor at Christ Church. Children’s ministry was undertaken with renewed energy, and our active Sunday School, and our Godly Play training, and much of our revitalized parish facilities are part of her legacy. 

Now on our 125^th Anniversary, what awaits this congregation as we begin our next 125 years? After two years here I have a few observations.

I believe God wants us to continue to work together to heal our own community. There is no lack of ministry opportunities. Drugs, and alcohol dominate many of our families.  Poverty, in all its forms, educational, financial, emotional, and spiritual afflict many of our citizens. Each faith community in our city has particular gifts that God wants to use to bring healing, and freedom in Christ to many of these people. The violence across the river, and the issues surrounding immigration, are places where we must engage our community, and bring our very best skills to bring healing to both sides of our river.

At the same time I believe God wants us to grow a new focus on world mission.

Christ Church started as a ministry to people in Laredo, most of whom were already Christians, and in most cases Episcopalians.  And for the last 125 years we have sought to provide a caring Christian community to all whom God has brought into our midst.

But in the last 125 years, the world has changed. In 1900 the world population was about 1.6 billion people.  In 1900 about 560 million were Christian, or about 1/3 of the population. By 2006 there are about 6.5 billion people, and about 2.1 billion are Christian. The percentage in each case is about 1/3.

We live in a time of great global uncertainty. Fear and mistrust between people rage around the world like an angry virus. Yet this is the very world for which God gave his only begotten Son.

Jesus words at the end of Matthew’s Gospel are clear. Go into the whole world and make every single person a disciple. We have 2/3 of the world to go, or somewhere in the 4 to 6 billion range. There are more than 2 billion of us who are Christians.

As we have seen from recent events, many of those people are hostile to what they perceive the Christian faith to represent. Yet we must never forget, that Jesus Christ died for all, including those who are hostile to the cross of Christ. I address you as one who did not believe, and who ridiculed those who did, and yet I can now say with confidence:”Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”.  I have been redeemed, thanks be to God.

I believe that God is calling not just Christ Church, but all the church to have a renewed commitment to mission and evangelism, especially to people who have never heard about Christ, or have never heard the Gospel expressed in a way that was culturally clear and relevant.

I believe that this effort must be ecumenical in nature. While there are still many obstacles that divide Christians, there is also a unity we share that is far greater than our differences.

Christ Church began with a missionary bishop coming to found a church here. May Christ Church during it’s next 125 years be part of the sending of missionaries and founding churches in other places. 

This past April we were blessed by the visit of an elderly priest. Father Ed Sterling , now in his mid 80’s has served the church as a pastor for more than 50 years. He was born in Laredo, and spent his childhood here. But after seminary he spent most of his active ministry on the west coast.  In a letter from April of this year he wrote: “Word’s aren’t adequate to express my gratitude for the experience of being there with you and the privilege of giving the final benediction. ….Indeed thinking back to the visit brings the sense of the church militant and the church triumphant very close together in the presence of Christ. …I think of an oft recalled memory; the choir marching up the ailse singing “Lo the dead is risen, God for evermore.” The faces of those people… seemed to impress the truth of the message.” He concludes with a wish that we continue to share that message with all whom we meet.

We are part of the Church who share the promise that the gates of hell shall not triumph, but be overthrown. We are part of a blessed company who do not look back to a glorious past, but whose hope is a heavenly city.  We celebrate the past, and give thanks for it, but let us make no mistake. Those who have gone on before us are now part of that great cloud of witnesses cheering us on, that we might do our part in showing forth the Risen Lord. God grant that we may run this race with faith, hope, and above all, charity.

Amen.

The Rev. Paul A. Frey

September 24, 2006

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