European Roots (Shared by Pastor Bruce in worship on january 14, 2018)

As you have probably heard by now, Trinity UCC is celebrating 200 years of service here in the Waynesboro area. In the last week or so, I found out that 1818 must have been quite a year in this area. Not only are we celebrating 200 years, but I found out that the Evangelical Lutheran Church is 200-years-old, as well as, the town of Waynesboro itself!

Throughout this year, during our Sunday worship services, we hope to look back at Trinity’s legacy and celebrate our religious heritage and Christian development by looking at portions of our history that may surprise you.

So, this morning we are starting with the question, “Did you know…that Trinity was started mostly by German immigrants coming to this country from the Palatinate area of the old German Empire?”

In the early 1700’s, many German people followed Martin Luther, and separated from the Roman Catholic Church, and created the Lutheran Church in Germany. There were other reformers at the time as well that worked to begin the Reformed church such as, Ulrich Zwingli. And yes, I agree, neither of them look very happy. But the desire for religious freedom led to many German migrations first to Holland and later to this country.

The guarantee of freedom to worship as they pleased brought many religious sects to Pennsylvania. Why PA? Well, mostly because this was the best advertised colony, and William Penn was the most enthusiastic promoter for the land that held golden promises for these new religious seekers. Penn even went to the point of visiting Germany to extend a personal invitation to come to Pennsylvania.

The first German immigrants came to the ports of New York and Philadelphia. From there, they scattered over a wide territory, northward up the Hudson River, westward toward Reading and into Lancaster and York counties, then southward into Maryland and across Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. It was from these early migrations that the foundation of the Reformed Church in the U.S. was laid and from which our for bearers came.

These immigrants were people of energy, initiative, and enterprise. No matter their social and economic backgrounds. Otherwise, they would not have undertaken the hazardous ocean crossing, and could not have cleared a continent following their arrival in this new world. They possessed many admirable qualities – they were strong-willed, hardworking, and devoted to their beliefs. They also had some not so admirable qualities – such as their stubbornness. And as we move through this anniversary year, I’m sure you will see a little of all of these qualities…some things will make you proud, some will make you just shake your head!

But for most all of these individuals, religion and faith was not a Sunday ceremony, but the basis and inspirational foundation for daily living.

Bourns Meeting House (presented by garrett austin, as john bourns, in worship on February 11, 2018)

Good morning to all of you fine folks here this morning! My name is John Bourns and if you can’t tell, I came to this fine country all the way from Scotland way back in 1751. At the time, I was just a wee lad of four-years-old. My family moved and settled in Lancaster County because of the promise of religious freedom.

Eventually in, or around 1773, my wife Esther and I crossed the South Mountain by way of Mentzer Gap Road and arrived in Wallacetown, which is what Waynesboro was called back in those days.  I had a lot of plans for myself and my family, and I picked out a beautiful spot right beside the Antietam Creek near what is known as Roadside. There I built our house. I also built a blacksmith shop and sawmill, and I used the water from the creek to provide myself with the power I needed to run the mill. I got very good at making sickles, which many of you modern day folks might not know what they were used for…but the farmers knew what they were and used them to cut up their grain crops. My business really grew, mainly because I worked really hard at everything I did and the people here grew to respect me.

Me and my wife ended up having 11 children…yeah, I know, that’s a lot of kids! But we wanted them to go to school and many of our neighbors had the same hope for their kids. So, I ended up building a cabin on a hill just on the eastern edge of town as a meeting house where church could be held on the Sabbath and children could be taught during the week.

Here’s what it looked like back then (Photo 1). Oh, I know, it’s nowhere near as grand as your building here! And you can see in this picture (Photo 2) there wasn’t a whole lot of room to move about! 

I built it with logs I sawed in my sawmill, and I hammered out the door hinges and all the fasteners and nails in my blacksmith shop. It was my gift to the people of Waynesboro! Children came from up to six miles away to attend school at my schoolhouse. 

But in the spirit of religious tolerance and cooperation, which is the reason my family came to this wonderful country in the first place, all kinds of religious denominations used the cabin as a place of worship on Sundays. There were worshippers that were Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Covenanter (which was my church) and your forbearers as well… the Reformed.

Here’s what it looks like today (Photo 3).

Well, I really appreciate you inviting me here this morning to share a little of my history and my involvement in Waynesboro. I hope, as you continue through your year of celebrating 200 years of ministry here in this fine town, that your celebrations continue to be joyous. Thank you!

“Houses” of Worship (shared by Pastor bruce during worship on April 29, 2018)

Did you know that when our German Reformed ancestors first settled in this area, they worshiped at the Evangelical Reformed Church of Irishtown, just south of Zullinger, which is the current Salem Church in Washington Township? 

There weren’t many churches back in those days. Sometime around 1773, which is when Salem Church was formed, there weren’t many ministers to serve churches. Because of the fact that travel was difficult and slow, members of the Salem Church came to feel the need for a congregation nearer their home in Waynesboro, so they withdrew from the Salem congregation to organize a new church. This is why the Salem congregation is known as "Trinity’s Mother Church," since we were formed out of, and with the support of, their members.

In 1807, the Reformed church, along with the Lutherans and the Presbyterians, started to build a house of worship together. It was on Mechanics Street, which is the current Church Street, and it is where the Waynesboro Church of the Brethren is located. The church was completed in 1818 and dedicated as Christ Union Church. The Reformed congregation had its first communion service on November 15, 1818, and had a total membership of 83.

In 1826 the Reformed people decided to build their own house of worship, mainly because they wanted to keep German as their language in worship and exclude English. So, they built a small log house of worship where we currently are located, which was consecrated on May 20, 1827. It was known as Salem’s German Evangelical Reformed Church in Waynesboro. Conrad Dotter, one of the members, donated the land on which the building was built, and we’ll hear more about Mr. Dotter and some of his antics in a later “Did You Know.”

Are you counting how many buildings our congregation worshiped in so far? We’re not done yet! In the year 1833, a new church building was started, this one made out of brick, and it was completed in June of 1834. As the church continued to grow, there was need for a larger building. So, in 1871, at a cost of $20,000, another building was constructed which is the foundation of, and for the most part, aside from various renovations and additions, our current building.  

In the 200 year history of Trinity, there were actually four buildings, (five, if you include Salem), that our ancestors worshiped in at various times. In the next few months, we’ll be talking more about these historical details of our history including talking about our steeple. In fact, a little challenge and friendly competition - a prize will go to the person(s) who come up with the correct answer to how tall our steeple is, and how big the cross is at the top of the steeple. Members of the 200th anniversary committee are not eligible for prizes and are not allowed to give out the answers!

The Church Steeple and Bell – (Shared by Pastor Bruce Druckenmiller during worship on June 10, 2018)

During last month’s “Did You Know?” moment, I challenged the congregation to guess the height of our church steeple and the cross at the top of the steeple. I didn’t see any guesses on the sign-up board, so, I’m assuming you don’t want to know. But as churches were built to provide places for worship, church towers with high steeples became focal points to indicate locations for local and distant travelers. When Trinity’s first brick church was built, it contained a tower with an even taller spire.

In Photo 1, you can see the tower being dismantled. It’s lofty presence with vertical lines enhanced the appearance of the church, directing viewers eyes upward toward the heavens. Because the steeple was one of the highest architectural features in the town, it provided a landmark for people to find the church from any part of town.  It told all who saw it, that a religious presence was standing watch in the community.

Trinity’s steeple majestically stood for many years. Eventually, the weather elements naturally took their toll on the wooden structure. It was first rebuilt in 1953. In Photo 2, you can see it being rebuilt. The new steeple is constructed of steel resting in a brick tower. It’s covered with enameled aluminum. The bell tower is constructed of wood with the bell resting on a concrete slab.

In 2005, the Property Committee recommended another much-needed steeple restoration at an estimated cost of $55,000 which repainted the bell tower. The congregation determined to complete the steeple restoration project by 2006. To raise funds, the Evangelism Board published a cookbook consisting of recipes from Trinity members and this was going to be the prize for the person who guessed closest to the actual height of the steeple, but since no one seems to want to know the height of the steeple, I’ll just give it to Don Stevenson as a gift for being our preacher this morning.

In 2014 we had the latest work done on the bell tower when it was covered in vinyl so that it would not need repainting every 5 years or so. The cost of that project was around $106,000. The steeple part of the tower is still the enameled aluminum since it is difficult to find anyone with the equipment needed to do any work on something that tall.

A bell, of course, is usually installed in a tower in order to sound an auditory message to the community that there exists a religious presence and the ringing of church bells signify the time for worshipers to gather for a church service. Our first bell was hoisted to the belfry on June 7, 1871 and it weighed a mere 1,568 pounds. With the accompanying fixtures, the weight was nearly 2,000 pounds. Sadly, the bell cracked and had to be replaced. Fortunately, it was decided that the sexton at the time, a Mr. Haas, was NOT to blame though some thought he was “a little strong on the rope.” A smaller bell, only weighing 1,233 pounds, was placed in Trinity’s tower on July 24th, 1877. It had been made in the bell foundry of McShane and Company of Baltimore.

So, just out of curiosity, does anyone want to know how tall our steeple is? You know I’m dying to tell you, so here goes.The steeple is 145’ tall and the cross on the top of the steeple is 6’ high and rests on a copper ball which was on the original steeple.

So, next time you’re driving through town or walking by the church, look up and remember our ancestors in faith who had a huge desire to let the people of Waynesboro know that there was a religious presence located here on North St.

Conrad Dotterer - (shared by garrett austin during worship on September 9, 2018)

I come before you this morning a broken and penitent man…in fact, I’m a little embarrassed of myself! I suppose I should tell you my name, but before you make any judgement from things you might have heard about me, let me explain my actions.

My name is Conrad Dotterer. So, what have you heard about me? Maybe you heard that I donated this piece of ground that the church is built on. Back in 1826, the ledger book’s first entry for our new church was that Conrad Dotterer donated ½ acre and thirty dollars. My name even appears ahead of George Harbaugh, who was the father of Henry Harbaugh, who people look at as a saint…maybe he was…maybe he wasn’t, I don’t know. (pause) But he was a better man than I. 

You see, that’s not the only thing I was known for. As a leader of our church I helped convince our members to leave the Old Union Church where we worshiped with those Lutherans and Presbyterians, and move to this spot here on North Street. I have to admit, it was mainly because I was convinced that we needed to keep German as the language that we worshiped in. We needed to preserve the sanctity of our full German liturgy! Surely that’s what God wanted us to do…to keep the language of our homeland alive!

I didn’t care that our children were learning and speaking English in school. I knew this was the right thing to do, and nothing anyone said would convince me otherwise. But those heathens didn’t listen to me. They went and called a pastor who was going to offer worship services in both German AND English. Im Namen Gottes Im Himmel, warren sie so falsch, dass ich davon uberzeugt bin! Oh, excuse me, sometimes when I get excited I switch back to the native tongue!

Now where was I…oh, yes, I remember. I decided to fix them! The first Sunday they were doing an English worship service, before dawn I went to the church with a bucket of tar, that’s right, this stuff. I painted the latch on the door, I painted the door itself and the frames, I painted the boardwalk coming up to the door, as well as the fences…oh, it was a beautiful job! A true painter would have been envious of the job I did!  Then I went and hid in the bushes to see what would happen.

The men were the first to arrive, and as they tried to clean the tar off the door it got all over their clothes. Oh, and the dresses of those prim and proper women were soiled just by rubbing up against the fence. But you know, I figured out I was wrong - so wrong in doing that - just because I didn’t want change to happen. And just because I thought I knew better than everyone else what God wanted for our church. You can see why I’m embarrassed!

It took a while, but I eventually did figure out that I can’t make the church into my own image. I can’t force my ideas on everyone else thinking I’m right and everyone else is wrong. That’s not church! But I came to realize, which is why I said I’m a broken and penitent man, that I’m not perfect, no one is, and the church is made up of imperfect people. And God uses us all.

So, I’m truly sorry for the tar episode. The people of Trinity way back in 1830 forgave me…eventually! And together we all helped build Trinity into what it is today. Thanks be to God! One last thing…does anyone need any tar?

Frances Rottler & “The Peanut Ladies” – (Shared by kay yaukey during worship on October 14, 2018)

Good Morning good people of Trinity! I come to you this morning as one of the Peanut Ladies of Trinity. Yes, that’s right, you heard me correctly, a Peanut Lady. My name is Frances Rottler and I think most of you, if not all of you, have heard the saying that your best ideas come to you in the middle of the night. Well, I experienced that firsthand.

One hot July night I was lying awake trying to come up with a way to earn money for the church to help pay for the new Sunday School addition that the church was building, and the answer just popped into my mind. I thought about how during the Christmas season we always had roasted bags of peanuts for the holidays. Why not have peanuts available thru out the entire year?!

So, I started roasting peanuts in my garage with a few other women, like Kathleen Marker, who incidentally was a great salesperson, and the idea really caught on - boy, did it ever! We soon outgrew my garage and we moved the whole business to the church. We actually had a peanut room which was where the men’s bathroom is downstairs. And back in those days, if you didn’t know where the peanut room was, all you needed to do was follow the smell. Nothing smells as good as peanuts roasting!

Each week we roasted and we usually had between 15-20 people help out and boy, did we have fun. It was hard work at times but we would talk and laugh and eat, and just have a wonderful time as we worked together to help our church. The peanuts would be boiled in hot water, blanched and cleaned, and eventually boiled in shortening and then laid out to dry. We probably roasted about 100 pounds a week and within a 6-month time period, we made over $400. Multiply that by the 15-plus years we roasted the peanuts, we made well over $12,000 for the building fund! That was pretty good money back in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s.

We sold the peanuts in small bags for 10 cents, or occasionally we would sell a one-pound bag for a dollar. Over the years, we’ve probably sold over 10,000 bags of peanuts. We would sell them in office buildings and to the various clubs around town. Earl Jacobs was quite a delivery man of the peanuts. But there were so many more involved, like Florence, Harvey and Helen Bricker, Mary Coffman, Barbara Fleagle, Alma Funk, Ruth Gilbert, Ida Hare, Maud Jacobs, Rhoda Lecron, Maude Little, Rhoda Martz, Edna Mathias, Hilda McFarland, my mother, Carrie Rottler, Lois Stoops, Lorena Stouffer, Becky Wagaman, Marybelle Warnich, Flo Yordy, and so many more over the years.

We just enjoyed making money for a good cause, our church building fund, and we just enjoyed being together! We figured as long as people liked to eat peanuts we would keep doing it. So, as you celebrate 200 years of Trinity, please remember the commitment of the peanut ladies, who might have become “a little nutty” after a while, but it was for a great cause!