Historian's Report 1976-1977

HISTORIAN'S     REPORT        1976 - 1977

The year 1976-77 held some changes and some accomplishments  for First Congregational Church,  but,  as usual,  there is a good deal of unfinished business  to be attended  to,  hopefully,  next year.

In June we enjoyed our outdoor picnic  one lovely Sunday,  followed by games  for all ages  in the parking  lot.   Except  for work on  the rummage sale under Janet Johnston, the church was closed during the summer so that necessary repairs could be made by our hard working engineers,  Jack Cooper and Bob McMillan.   Work was also started on our fire and burglar alarm systems.   Union summer services were held elsewhere.

During  the middle of August Mr.  Hamm announced that he had  found a church of his  own and would be  leaving as  soon as possible.   We wished him well and started immediately  to make plans  for our church school program.   Mary Hawkes was  engaged as a part-time consultant to  train teachers,  and later Tom and Ava Clough were hired to work with our T.R.  group.

In September an attempt was made to hold a retreat here at the church to plan work for  the coming year.   This was not as  satisfactory as  the one held previously at Princeton,  but some progress was made,  goals were set,  and  time lines were established. There was a  farewell party  for  the Hamms  September 12.   The Rummage Sale  took place on September 21,  22,  and 23,  culmination of many months  of work by the women,  with  the invaluable assistance of Ed and Lawrence,   How anyone could want most of the stuff sold is a mystery,  but  "many a little makes  a nickle," and the sum of $7,900 was earned for the Guild's good works - which are many and varied.

In October and November we had a beautiful oratorio,  a pot luck supper,  and an enjoyable Halloween party.

December  12 ushered in the Christmas  season with the beloved Messiah,  followed by a  lovely Christmas  tea  in the Guild Room two days  later.   December 19 was  Pageant Sunday,  followed by a well attended family pot-luck supper and  the  traditional carol-sing.   All  the parts  in the Pageant were  taken by  the young people,  and it was quite a trick,  among other  things,  to dress a  four  foot-eleven  female prophet in robes  that had been made for a six foot-four male.   However,  it was a beautiful and moving service which repetition never dulls.   There was also a midnight Christmas Eve service and a very special Christmas  Sunday program.

University Plan this year has  been arranged in six-week modules with  fewer choices of courses,  following a sociable coffee hour after church service.   Although attendance at Sunday afternoon Oratorios and the Christmas  Pageant has been quite good, Sunday morning attendance has  been steadily declining.   From January through most of March we have worshiped in the Guild Room to save heat,  an arrangement that has been hard on our dear Nixon and his choir.   Even so,  the Guild Room seats were never full. The oftener people stay away from church services,  the easier it becomes  for them not to go.   Mike's sermons have been helpful and appealing to many,  but,  as Dr.  Black used to say,  a minister cannot always strike twelve for everyone at the same time.

This year we have stressed Missions.   A new feature has been introduced into each service entitled "Moments  for Mission," and we have had two sermons  by dynamic preachers returned  from the  field.   After  listening  to mission stories  Sunday after Sunday,  no one can  feel  ill-informed about  the work the combined churches do in under-developed countries.   The story that appealed to me most told how the women of a certain village used to get up at three every morning and walk for two hours  to the nearest water hole.   After filling their water jars,  they would walk the two hours home again,  carrying their family's water supply for that day - before beginning their normal work!   At last some missionaries heard about this and arranged to have an artesian well dug in the village.

In addition to the large amounts budgeted for C.A.C,  and missions of all kinds, we have had three special collections to help meet four special needs,  totaling $2172,
and our young people,  interests sparked by Mike's  father, have undertaken a "Heifer project"  for which they have already accumulated $796.78.

The Sunday after Christmas we worshipped with St.  Luke's Church,  and the Sun¬day after Easter they came to us.   Palm Sunday afternoon we enjoyed two beautiful oratorios,  in the second of which Charles Hunter's Boys'  Choir sang very like the angels they were supposed to represent.   Nixon's Children's Choir sometimes sings an anthem for us;   the Bell Choir also gives variety;   our soloists and regular choir could scarcely be improved upon.

Bette Faulkner's  flower committee creates superlative memorial arrangements every Sunday.   After service they are divided,  rearranged,  and taken to people who are ill.   Most Sundays there are three or four to deliver,  but at Easter twenty-six shut-ins received calls and gifts of lilies or growing things.

To me, however,  the most important achievement of this church this year has been the work of the First Montclair Housing Corporation, which is really an outgrowth of the Princeton retreat two years ago.   There the group in attendance decided that the best thing we could do for our community,  not just for ourselves, would be to sponsor a housing development for low and middle income senior citizens of Montclair. Under Dick Conner the first year,  and Marion Amelung since Dick went abroad, a dedicated number of hardworking trustees have persisted against almost unbelievable stumbling blocks.   I will not  list them.   Believe me, most groups would have given up against the nearly overpowering odds,  but at our  first public meeting Wallace Jones had warned us not to start unless we intended to carry through.   On March 13 we celebrated the fact that we had carried through and were now ready to go.   Uncounted hours and thought and work by all of us have gone into getting as  far as we are,  and now at last we are looking forward to ground breaking in the early fall.   There will be 131 units in an architecturally delightful building,  a project that this church can be proud of sponsoring.   Eleven trustees come from this church,  ten from other churches and worthwhile organizations in town.   We have all learned a great deal on this undertaking,  and I for one do not regret one minute of the time I have devoted to it.

Now for some statistics.   This year Mike has officiated at ten marriages,  four baptisms,  and twenty-one funerals- fifteen of which were for church members.   From May 1,  1976 through May 9,  1977,  this is  the list of those who have gone before,  each one of whom I have known and liked through the years.

Alice V.  Gordon-Smith Adele Bleim Barker Edna H.  Ames Lora E.  Ballou Dariel Steer Malcolm Steer Leon V.  Talabac Harriet W,  Heim Dorothy Gleascn Margaret Kip Jenkins John Law Campbell Dorothy Amy Starkweather James Dauchy Oakley Brenda Oliver Frost Ruth Colby Donan

No church history could be complete  that did not pay tribute  to the two devoted members of the staff who keep  things running smoothly and communications open: Joan Kalkman and Barbara Vreeland.   As Minister's  secretary,  Joan produces  our newsy little "This Week" and is as close to us as our telephones.   She deals with people, while  Barbara works with figures  - an extremely important but less well known job.   I fear we are inclined to take them and their work for granted,  but we older members know the difference they and their cheerful voices make to all of us,  and all of us say a grateful  "Thank You"  to both of them.

In closing,  I  should like  to make a personal plea  to every one of you.   As a church,  can't each one of us resolve to care  for each other,  to be more welcoming to strangers and to members who attend seldom?   We usually greet people politely and  then return to our own little groups.   Can't we follow our greetings with a little extra thought for those we don't know too well?   Some of them are bearing heavy burdens that they don't wish to talk about,  but a little sign of caring might make a real difference to them.   Learn to go the extra mile with those who are not your close friends, and you won't be sorry.   Learn  to lend a listening ear,  to go  to people in trouble,  and to' say to yourself,  "There,  but  for the grace of God,  go I,   Than what would I want someone to say or do for me?"   Then say it and do it.

Respectfully submitted,
Mildred M.  Putnam, Historian