January Wanderings

Sesquicentennial.
What is the definition? A one-hundred-and fiftieth anniversary.
What is its part of speech? Adjective.
What is its language of origin? Latin.
Use “sesquicentennial” in a sentence? This year, First Christian Church will cele-brate its sesquicentennial anniversary.

Yes, in 2021, our congregation will be 150 years old. The hard date was Thurs-day evening, April 27th, 1871 when seventeen people met and signed the Charter through which First Christian Church came into existence. Two months later, a piece of property at the intersection of Goldsboro and Academy (now Vance) Streets was se-cured. The rest is history, though it is history that we will have ample time upon which to reflect this year. We will launch our formal celebration on Tuesday, April 27th, and a series of events will take us to the weekend of September 24th-26th, when we plan to blow the roof off this place.

Kathy Daughety has been leading a committee that started planning our celebra-tion. The group includes Doug Boone, Todd Brame, Casey Childers, Jeannette Ether-idge, Patsy Ferrell, Bob Kendall, Theresa Mathis, Cathy Mount, Linda Walling and me. Very soon, we will have some smaller groups working on some of the activities that will be part of the grand celebration, so there is a place for you as our work proceeds.

There will updates and promotional information every month, beginning here in January. But our work has already begun, and you can help. First, start helping us compile information about the church’s history – photographs, written materials, newspaper clippings . . . whatever you may have tucked away in your drawers, closets and scrapbooks. We need to assemble and document these resources soon. Second, we are trying to compile a list of people who will be interested in celebrating our Ses-quicentennial along with email or mailing addresses – former members and people who grew up in the church, those who married or had babies dedicated in our sanctu-aries, friends, relatives, former staff members and more. Our sesquicentennial is not just for us – it is for all of the people who have been part of or been impacted by the faith and witness of First Christian Church. So, start your rummaging, check you ad-dress files and let’s get to work.

Your first assignment: make sure you can spell “sesquicentennial.” It is going to be a huge word for us this year, and I don’t mean the number of letters it contains.
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Blessings and Peace,
Gary

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