Ann Groves Van Deusen

Ann Groves Van Deusen Presented at Sunday worship services on September 1, 2002

Fifty years ago on the first Sunday in September, my father stood at this lectern and spoke briefly on behalf of the Official Board to a congregation attending their first worship service in this sanctuary. I was not in attendance that day as I was beginning my junior year at Michigan State and had already departed for East Lansing. My dad had an annoying habit of jingling the coins in his pants pockets whenever he spoke in a service. My younger sister assures me that she and my mother reminded him to take the change out of his pocket for that very special day.

While I was not present for that first service or the October dedication of the new church, I remember the excitement my parents felt when they moved into a new home and a new church home all in the same year. I remember the many meetings held by the farsighted planners on the Official Board and the Board of Trustees, who realized early on that the building at Henrietta and Maple could not adequately handle the post-World War II population explosion in Birmingham and the surrounding areas. I remember a tense congregational meeting where the membership finally voted to move "way out there" to Maple and Pleasant. For my dad, the move to this building was the culmination of many nights of planning and decision making, of working with other congregational leaders to convince the more reluctant members that this was the right thing to do. The church was growing rapidly, as was the community around it. Before too long, the wisdom of those early decisions became apparent to everyone.

My father's funeral was the first held in this sanctuary. Tradition had kept funerals at the local funeral homes, since the sanctuary on Henrietta was on the second floor, accessed by twin staircases to the right and left of the street entrance. These staircases had a couple of right-angle turns that precluded bringing a casket into the sanctuary. Because my dad was still actively working at the time of his death and had been heavily involved in the church, the school district and community, Dr. Runkel convinced my mother that the church sanctuary would provide more adequate space than Bell Chapel. From that moment on, the idea of holding funerals in God's house suddenly became plausible, and indeed desirable, for many of our grieving families.

When the decision was made to build a new church, it was decided to hire a full-time Minister of Music to develop a more extensive music program for our growing congregation. Rodney Petersen was hired and arrived in Birmingham with a brand-new bride the year before the move to the new building took place. Rod and Peg moved into an apartment on the corner of Maple and Eton with the bare essentials, which included a card table and four chairs someone at the church loaned them. My kid sister spent a good part of the summer helping Rodney sort and catalogue all the choir music to facilitate its transfer to the new church.

Rodney developed a much-expanded music program which included a number of graded choirs for the children and youth of the church. In 1959 he asked me to take the Primary Choir. Russ Ives was in my first group. During 30 years as Primary Choir Director, I came to know whole families of children and their parents. I had all the William Ives children and, some years later, all the Russell Ives children. I once told Rodney that when the third generation of Ives children came along, I would know it was time to quit.

We had big children's choirs in those early days. In fact, the numbers were so large we rehearsed the boys and girls separately. The peak year for the Primary Choir saw 102 children in the choir, 60 girls and 42 boys. Now I want you to imagine what it was like to be alone in a room with 42 first, second and third grade boys after they had just completed a long school day. Need I say more? We only had 92 robes, but since early elementary children are prone to pick up every bug that school has to offer, we were always able to have a fully-robed choir on the Sundays they sang in worship.

Rodney introduced a Christmas pageant to the music program from a memory he carried from his boyhood. At one point, he asked me to take over the direction of the pageant. I will share just one of the many memories I have of those pageants. Sue Ives played Mary for us a couple of times. The baby Jesus was usually played by a large baby doll. However, at one rehearsal, baby Jennifer was sitting on Sue's lap and we decided then and there we were through with the doll, and Jennifer Ives was our first real-live Baby Jesus. Jeffrey and Kimberly Ives were both cast in the role of the Christ Child in subsequent years. Kimberly, however, decided at the last moment that she didn't want any part of this show and Sue was unable to convince her otherwise, so we were forced to substitute the doll. After all, we could hardly have a crying baby play the part of "the little Lord Jesus, no crying he makes." Joan Hook, who did not give up so easily, slipped down the side aisle and borrowed the Fulton's new baby. She took her behind the curtain and somehow managed to exchange baby for doll while the scene was in progress. Our new baby's daddy, Rev. Ron Fulton, played a king that year and got the surprise of his life when he gazed upon the infant Jesus and realized this was his daughter.

I have so many memories of life in this church from the time of my baptism through my growing up years, all in the old church, and then to Bruce and I being married in this sanctuary and raising our own children in this building. And here we are today in a church fairly bursting with activity. Creative programming, a Christian Life Center in the works, a contemporary service on Sunday evenings, an Andrew Ministry to help new people get connected, a Stephen Ministry to help minister to those in our congregation who need assistance, a listening ear and a caring heart, a mission and outreach program to touch the local community as well as the global community….so many efforts to reach out to others both within and without our church family. We are blessed with a talented and dedicated staff, a talented and dedicated congregation, and a loving Father who gave his Son in order to save us all. What more could we ask! So much to celebrate!

This church has been such an important part of my life. Almost every major event in my life has taken place here or been influenced by what I have learned and experienced here. I have been cared for and supported in sad times and, at the same time, found much joy here. I thank God for this place and these wonderful people.