Spiritual Heritage

Sunday night we attended a hymn sing at the Morton Apostolic Christian Church.
The first time in my life that I entered a church, it was that building in my mother's arms.  I spent all of my Sunday School years there and have many memories.  I think the building was completed in 1914, but was added on to and remodeled several times since.  I remember sitting with my Grandma in church.  She had a pair of doggie magnets to play with (we didn't carry a duffel bag full of toys with us to church in those days).  I remember sitting with my Grandpa occasionally, and I even remember the approximate bench where he usually sat.  As I got older, a seed corn notebook, a pen, and a roll of lifesavers were my only distractions in afternoon services. I remember VBS, youth choir practices over the noon hour,  singing annually at Restmor, "Christian Endeavor" practices, and overnight Sunday School trips.  The two ministers that I remember best from my earliest years are Henry Grimm and Francis Rother.  Francis would preach some in German if we had visitors from Europe.  I remember Elder Joe A. Getz but I don't remember his preaching.  I remember attending the funeral of two classmates, Janice and Kathy, following a tragic car accident.  We sang out of the Tabernacle Hymns in Morton, and I was impressed with the abilities of the leaders in that big room.  I remember sitting in the back bench of the sanctuary with my friends when I was in high School.  I ushered in that big assembly room for my sister's wedding (and ended up with a migraine).  Average attendance in Sunday School when I attended was about 325 each Sunday (attendance was taken and posted on the bulletin board).  Morton church was so crowded back in the '70's that we would walk down to the B-Line (Convenience store) for lunch instead of fighting for a seat in the dining room.  You had to get to church early just to get a parking spot within two blocks of church!

Both of my parents were Sunday School teachers there, Dad sang in the Mortonaires, Mom sang in the Choralaires, and Dad served as a trustee of that big old fortress.  I was twenty years old when our family switched from Morton to the newly established Washington congregation.  When we left in 1976, I don't think they had air-conditioning yet.  Ludwig Mortuary provided the hand fans to use on hot Sundays.  Since I was one of the few students who didn't attend Morton Schools, I was a bit of an outsider, but I still developed a number of close friendships that I still enjoy today.

It was a blessed evening of singing, fellow-shipping, and reminiscing.  They had the whole church open, so we explored the whole place (including the cavern-like basement) and cultivated a lot of nostalgia.  They are in the process of building a new church building, so this old one will be torn down later this fall.

This is the Bible that I received in second grade (Joanne Getz was my teacher) and my attendance pin from my early years in Sunday School.

The pulpit in the sanctuary on the second floor.  I heard many a sermon preached from here (and probably tuned out a lot of them!).  I witnessed many baptisms in the tank behind the pulpit.

Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Ephesians 3:21

Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
Hebrews 2:12