History and Archives: A Partnership

Historical and Archival Records

Workshop participants from Maine and Massachusetts

Marlene and ohers at Torsey Memorial UMC

 Recently Marlene and I represented Peoples UMC at the most recent meeting of the New England Conference of Archives and History workshop and semi-annual meeting held at the Torsey Memorial UMC in Readfield. Representatives from Belfast, Augusta, South Paris and Readfield participated at this meeting for the first time. Those having been on the commission or members of the Society who are long time members included folks from Merrimac, Massachusetts, Poland and Corinna, Maine and another person from Vermont. The workshop was presided over by Kara Jackman, Archivist for the Conference, whose office is at Boston University. The workshop was co-lead by Nancy Noble, Archivist for the Maine Historical Society. Nancy is also a member of the Long Island UMC and serves as the secretary for the General Commission on Archives and History. After Lunch, prepared by members of the church, both the NEUMC Historical Society and the Archives Commission shared meeting time. This meeting was presided over by Rev. Margaret Bickford from Rumney, New Hampshire.

Nancy Allen and Nancy Noble

These groups only meet twice a year and the membership decided that the next meeting should be in October and held in Western Massachusetts. The purpose of this would be to encourage people from all over the Conference to participate.

Kara Jackman

Nancy Noble and others

For we first timers the workshop proved to be very valuable. Both presenters, Kara and Nancy being archivists concentrated on record keeping. Kara began the program with a power point presentation titled, Records Management at Your Church. One of the points she made was that if a church closes the records need to be sent to the New England UMC Archives for proper storage. She also said that if churches merge then records should either be transferred to the archives of the surviving church or the new church that may result from the merger, otherwise they too should end up in archives in Boston. In the meantime she also said that records should be maintained in an orderly fashion and that if anything goes to Boston she only needs one copy of whatever may be on the archival list. I handed her a copy of the Peoples history, From a Seed Grew Roots, and she said that was not what she was looking for since it was a perspective on history. She has it anyway.

This comment, if I interpreted it correctly, led me to think about the relationship of archives to history and vice versa. One cannot work without the other. Archives have no value if they just sit and are never revisited. History cannot be written without the records that have been kept. Archival materials have no value unless someone meaningfully interprets what has been reposited in the archives. I think that is recognized by the History Society and the Archives Commission meeting together.

Rev. Margaret Bickford

After lunch Rev. Margaret Bickford presided over the meetings of the NEUMC History Society and the NEUMC Archives Commission.


Sanctuary at Torsey Memorial

Dr. Torsey

 

 

 

 

 

Following the meetings those in attendance were taken on a tour, first to the Sanctuary of this church. Certainly much older than Peoples the sanctuary is a wonderfully bright place to worship. While the building is old the set of drums at the front of the church that is presently presided over by Rev. Desi Larson, looks to be modern in its spiritual demeanor.

Entrance to Kent's Hill School

Embedded in loor

Once our brief tour at the church was complete we then went down the road to Kent’s Hill School which once served as the Wesleyan Seminary for ministerial training. Kent’s Hill while serving as a private high school for 250 Coeds still has a United Methodist connection.

John Tyler shows bell chord at Kent's Hill

 

 

East Readfield getting new roof

Jesse Lee sign

 

Modern conveniences

Jesse Lee

Once we were done at Kent’s Hill we then travelled to the East Readfield Methodist Meetinghouse. This is a church that dates back to Jesse Lee and is still used by Readfield Methodists during the summer months. While in meeting the Society had donated $1000 to the new roof that is presently being installed. The meetinghouse itself dates to 1795 and is the oldest surviving meetinghouse in the state of Maine. While the building is quite small it has been maintained well and makes a fascinating visit.

Musical instruments

Stone plaque identefying Oldest Methodist Meetinghouse

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the tidbits I discovered in the brief history of the Torsey Memorial was that Pastor Tom and Kelly’s eldest daughter, Patsy, was the youngest person to receive her certificate as a lay speaker at age 12 while growing up in that congregation. I was also told by John Tyler of the Readfield Church that it was while a member of that church that Pastor Tom received his calling to enter the ministry.

 

 

 

 

In the months ahead we on the Archives committee have our work cut out for us in better organizing our own archives and would encourage anyone interested in that task to contact myself, Art Tordoff, or any of the others on the committee which includes Chris Ward, Rosemary Herd, Doreen Gay, Betty Smith, and Marlene Tordoff with others who assisted us during our 175^th celebration.

 

Alive With The Lord

Alive With the Lord

The days, April 11 and 12 are only two days in the long life of Peoples Church, but they were filled with sharing, serving and celebrating our Christian and Methodist faith.

Beginning before 7:00 a.m.  in the morning Brad Morrison began preparing breakfast for the once a month Men’s Breakfast. With pancakes, sausage and bacon along with juice and coffee the once a month get-together was underway. Our usual location in the vestry would soon be overtaken by an aerobics class that usually meets in Ellis Hall. A call from Kathy Brann indicated that we could wedge ourselves into a corner of Ellis Hall since she and Amy Wellington would already have their Craft and Scrapbooking Day set up in the hall.

The men were few in number on this morning with Brad, Art, Keith, Jim, Earle, Tom and Dan in attendance. After an opening prayer we sat down to eat and chat. Chatting can run the range of thoughts that men may engage in from sports to the life of the church. We all felt that it is important to serve the community and we should be determining in what way that might be done. While nothing was decided, at least the talk of the day centered our thoughts on how we might serve beyond what we already do.

Since the women came to set up more materials for their craft and scrapbooking day, we invited them to partake of the feast that Brad had prepared. In turn a few of the men stayed around long enough to assist Amy, Kathy and Rosemary as they continued to perfect their “craft room”.

Returning later in the day to see how things were going, I found that there were several people of all ages involved in scrapbooking and other crafts,  but was informed that some people had already come and gone and others were still expected before the day was over. Several tables had been set up and a great amount of material was scattered around the tables. There were many pieces of machinery around the edge of the room that could be used for cutting paper with any number of design cutters. Since it was around noon time that the pictures were taken, several of those participating had frequented Subway and Ananias for sandwiches. I spied all kinds of sweet treats that had been made available at the kitchen counter. Thanks are extended especially to Kathy and Amy for making this opportunity available.

At 1:30 p.m. a team of 13 folks from Peoples travelled to the gym at the Elm Street UMC for the second annual “Stop the Growling” food packing event. Cori Heatley from Thornton Heights UMC spearheaded the project for the Casco Bay Cluster for this second year of operation. Her goals were to pack 32,000 meals and raise $7800 to support this $.25 a meal project through Outreach Inc. She had set up three packing sessions that ran from 12:00 noon to around 6:00 p.m. Peoples among other teams were scheduled for the 2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. slot.

Arriving around 1:30 p.m. were Keith and Becky Snoddy, Janice Huelin, Rosemary Herd, Linda Wade, Bonnie Farrand, Carol Bruneau, Betty, Eric and Ellis Splettstoesser, Betty Smith and Art and Marlene Tordoff.

Once we were given a brief training session the two teams that we were on began to package 2 scoops of pasta and a scoop of a nutritious soy mix into a bag that already included a packet of cheese. The packets were then passed to the scales for weighing, followed by heat sealing and then placed on a grid with two layers of 18 packets. These would be placed in a carton and sealed. In a little over an hour the two teams had packed 16 boxes. Many of the team members then were free to go, but one team stayed long enough to pack an additional five cases. If our figuring was correct Peoples Packers had actually packed 4,536 meal packets.  To help support the purchase of the ingredients we at Peoples had collected nearly $400. If the event is held next year, our hope would be to improve on our participation.

Cori reported after the packing was complete that 120 folks had participated and together 26,152 meals had been packed.

Most of the meal packets would be distributed around the state to food pantries, school lunch programs and emergency situations.

 

 

On Sunday, the congregation celebrated with the help of Pastor Tom, some of the ushers and the choir, Holy Humor Sunday. In some churches this day has been celebrated for decades and longer. The hymns may have had familiar music but the lyrics were changed with the sound of joy. In surprising Pastor Tom, Rosemary Herd did the children’s sermon and every time she came to a particular word in her story the congregation raised a picture of Tom that was taped to a stick. Fun was had by all and yet the message of joy brought direction to how we should be with each other and with all folks that we might meet at work, at school, within our families and beyond.

The Lord does provide us all with opportunities to share and work together while having fun and enjoying his Spirit.

While others may be flying a kite our world allows us to continue our service with joy!

Peoples Celebration 2015

He Is Risen

The most significant week in the Christian calendar has taken place in the days leading up to Easter. Maundy Thursday which commemorates the Last Supper was held on Thursday Evening with the washing of hands, song, message, scripture and the darkening of the altar. Following this on Good Friday evening a Tennebrae service was held.

On Sunday morning brave souls were called to Fisherman’s Point at Willard Beach and braved the cold temperatures to celebrate with others Resurrection Day. Arriving before the sun rose into the heavens above Cushing Island, Pastor Tom led the group in a service that greeted the sun as a symbol of our risen Lord. “Christ Is Risen!” was the cry that all present said in following a Litany spoken by the pastor. There were two songs that were sung by the group; Morning Has Broken and Jesus Loves Me. The scripture for the morning was from John 20: 1-18 and the message was titled, “It’s Early”.

It was a good feeling to be with folks that we are often with in other locations and it was also meaningful to be able to speak and converse with others that perhaps we have not seen and been with in a long time.

The sun broke over the island around 6:17 AM and by 6:20 lit the sky ablaze with a glistening strand of light cast upon the waters of Portland Harbor.

Within half an hour and walking across Willard Beach to the parking lot we could look back and see the sun rising through the trees and silhouetting the restored fishing shacks and the few tall trees that can be seen at Fisherman’s Point.

Those present then proceeded to their automobiles and most headed for church where a sumptuous breakfast was prepared by Chef Brad and Chris Ward with the help of Sam, Danielle, Sally and Kathy. All who attended were well fed and many conversations were carried out and observed with folks that perhaps we had net seen for quite awhile.

 

At 9:45 AM the bell in the church steeple tolled inviting folks to come to church for the Easter morning worship service. Many families were present and many folks who often may only be in church on two celebration days of the year were in attendance.  Sometimes the communion railing has been festooned with many flowers in the past, but the numbers of memorial flowers was considerably fewer than in the past, yet there were enough to memorialize those members of families that were considered saints in our lives.

He Lives, Because He Lives, and Amazing Grace were the meaningful congregational hymns of the day and the choir sang a beautiful piece that added to the spiritual meaning of this day. The scripture reading was taken from Luke 24: 13-25 and Pastor Tom concluded the use of the verses of Amazing Grace in his Lenten series, titling his message, Good News of Grace.

Children in the Lego Club led by Andy Folley had their display symbolizing the Easter Story on display in the entryway as people would enter or leave the church.

After the children’s message they were excused to do an Easter Egg hunt led by Rosemary, Carol and others. Once that activity was completed the children returned to be with parents in the sanctuary where all of those in attendance participated in Holy Communion. It was truly meaningful to see whole families having communion together.

We do hope that everyone left this week’s service with new light shining on them from above and that they are able to take that light to share with others that they come in contact with in their daily lives. May the Lord be with you and all those that we meet in our daily lives.