A History of St. Michael’s Church

Feast of St. Michael’s & All Angel’s, September 27, 2009

The Rev. John Donnelly

 

Let us pray.

 

Lord, under your headship, may we be and make disciples for Christ, as we go forward in the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

With today being our celebration of the Archangel Michael, I want to tell you a  story about the church that bears his name.

 

If things had been different, you would be sitting not in St. Michael’s , but in St. Patrick’s Church.  On St. Patrick’s’ Day, 1957, the first Holy Eucharist of the new Episcopal church in Wayne was celebrated. The Vestry, then called the Executive Committee, wanted to name the church,” St. Patrick’s.” But, the Bishop had another idea.  He was afraid that  “St. Patrick’s” would sound to much like a Roman catholic parish,  so he  decided to name our church after the Archangel Michael.

 

Now Sunday services in the early years were held in the cafeteria of Wayne Valle High School.

·         Some of you know this better than I do. 

·         Now, do we have anyone present today, who ever attended one of those services of St. Michael’s in the cafeteria of Wayne Valley High School?  Would you please stand up?  Here are the early pioneers of St. Michael’s Church.  We honor you.

 

So, the story goes that this five acres of land, where this church  now stands, was purchased for $30,000. The Parish Hall was built and consecrated in 1959, and if could see slide number one---services were held there, until the new church could be built.

 

The first rector of vicar of St. Michael’s was the Rev. William Strain.  During his tenure the church grew and in 1965, if we could see slide number 2—the nave and sanctuary were completed.  However, it took our spiritual forebears 20 years to pay off the debt for the buildings that we now enjoy.

 

In 1968, The Rev. Frederick Gutekunst, who is pictured in slide #3, was called as   the next Rector of St. Michael’s. He served from a good long tenure until 1990.  Many wonderful things occurred in his ministry, but today I would chiefly like to give thanks for the seeds he planted for a deeper spiritual life in this congregation..  The late Norma Snider, a long time member of this parish, worked very closely with Fr. Gutekunst.  In 1990, she wrote a brief history of church, in which she described the impact of his ministry upon our parish.

 

“From 1973 onward, Fr. Gutekunst began to emphasize a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. His messages from, the pulpit became more evangelical, with strong appeals to the emotions.”  Norma continues to write that Fr. Gutekunst instituted a mid-week prayer and praise service, which was held weekly for nearly 20 years. She writes, “Many parishioners as well as Episcopalians from other churches and denominations were drawn to these services led by Father G. These informal services featured prayer, praise, bible readings, prophecies, and personal sharing about what God was doing in their lives.”

 

So, that sounds like an exciting time.  I wonder if there is anyone here today who attended those early Prayer and praise services?  More pioneers.

 

It is clear to us that during this time, a wonderful foundation was laid.  The focus upon a personal relationship was coupled with

·         a growing  desire to experience  more  freedom in worship—worship which was infused with spirit, life, and  joy,

·         not just at Prayer and Praise on Wednesdays, but every time the church gathered four worship

·         That was combined by the desire upon many parishioners to learn  more  about  the Bible—the Word of God,  because God speaks to us through His word today.

 

It was this rich foundation which attracted Mother Ellen and me, if we could see slide #5, to accept the call to become Rectors of St. Michael’s in 1991.

 

 For Ellen and me both, I can say, that the past 18 years have been the most rewarding of our professional lives.  You see, when we came here, we did not want the parishioners to follow us as head of this church.  Whom did we want to follow as head of this church?

 

The book of Ephesians tells us that God appointed Jesus as head of the church.  So, if Jesus is head of the church, then we can assume that like any leader, He has a plan of this church.  And if he has a plan for his church, then we rest assured that he can make that plan know n through the Holy Spirit.

 

For  the past 18 years,  the Rectors and the vestry have spend a lot of time—listening; listening to God’s Word; listening to one another; listening to  the congregation; seeking the unity of purpose that comes when we become one of heart and mind in  His spirit. And because we have listened, the Holy Spirit has spoken, and led us to do many things. Three if which I’d like to talk about today:

  1. The Holy Spirit has led us to exalt and enjoy our holy God in worship and praise.
  • As you know, worship at St. Michael’s is not like your average church. If we could see slide #5.
  • True worship is not just sitting in church.  True worship is expressing your love to God through song, prayer, and praise.  Next slide  
  •  Over the years, we have discovered that as our enthusiastic and heart felt praises go up top God, then His blessing of peace, joy, happiness and healing come down. #6, # 7.
  • Now, over the years, Mother Ellen and John Levy, who is our retired Minister of Music, and our worship team worked unceasingly to open up our worship—and the congregation began to follow.  Let’s see # 8 and # 9.
  • And moving to number 10, in the Lord’s good time He brought Jan, and Paul, number 11---who added their own gifts to our worship.  Could we give all of them, plus the worship a team, around of applause?  We appreciate you.

 

 

 

So, first the Lord has been leading us to exalt and enjoy our Holy God in worship and praise.

 

Secondly, the Lord has led us to be disciples of Christ.  Disciples are Christians who are actively engaged in learning God’s word, so that they might grow to become more like Jesus.

 

St. Michael’s has always been a place where people made friendships, as we see in slide # 13, but, as we see in slide #14.  Over many years, small groups have provided opportunities for many of us to not only make friendships, but to learn God’s Word. . Let’s see slide # 15.      In order to hear more about this, I have asked Kristin DeVos  to join us.

 

1, When and why did you first become in small groups at St. Michael's?

 

2. What did you get out of the experience, personally?

 

3. What did you learn?

 

4. Would you recommend that those, who have not yet tried small groups consider doing so?  Why?

 

Let’s look at the next slide, # 16. 

 

There is something that I have wanted to say to this church for a long time now, so I am going to ask you to indulge me here for a moment.  I do not believe that any of you really understand the long hours of prayer, long hours of study, long hours of planning, long hours of writing, and long hours of meetings that Mother Ellen has devoted to our small group ministry and our sermon series over many, many years.

·         Her passion has been not just to create a successful program.

·          Her passion has been to wait upon the inspiration of  the Lord, so she could weave  together

    1. dynamic  Small Groups,
    2. supported and upheld by relevant inspirational   biblical preaching and worship. 
  • You see, we have discovered that God changes lives when we let God use both our worship and our Small groups to reinforce His message so that He can change our hearts.
  • That’s what Jesus wants.  He wants to change our lives for the better.

a.    And that does not just happen automatically. 

b.    It happens when one person has the vision, the knowledge, and the dedication to patiently weave together all the pieces and  people,

c.     and to  offer that to the Holy Spirit so that meaningful change can happen in the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

St. Michael’s, I need  to tell you that Ellen   has gone above and beyond the call  of duty, at great personal  sacrifice, and I believe that we all owe her a debt of gratitude.

 

Okay, so if we could see slide #17---The Purpose Driven Life brought many new faces, Slide #18, and new members, slide # 19, to our congregation. 

 

Slide # 20---We continued to build disciples through the Knowing God sermon series and small group ministries.

 

So, the Holy Spirit has , number one, led us to exalt and enjoy our Holy God in worship  and praise, # 2 and finally, number 3, to make disciples of those  who  do not yet know the love of Christ.  Slide #21.

 

The Light House Project was actually a part of the original vision that we received fro St. Michael’s.

  • We believe that t St. Michael’s has never been meant to be just a warm and fuzzy, closed community, which did not care about the world around us.
  •  We believe that God wants us to share this good news of God’s love with those around us.  In the past, we tried many things, such as the Neighborhood garden.  Some of our efforts bore fruit; some did not.
  •  But it seems to me that the Lord has been building up this body of faith, for many, many years, that we are now at a point of strength, courage, knowledge, and maturity, that we are ready to reach out in ways that never have before..

a.    We have seen some signs of this through the numbers of you, who have invited friends to come to services on our two recent Bring Your Own Friends Sunday.

b.    We are seeing now seeing signs  of this  through  the  100 plus people  ,  who have already signed up  for the Faith in Action  program,

i.              where we will not just go to church,

ii.     but we will be the church—

iii.            by serving,  in Jesus’ name, people in our local  community.

 

 So, now this story, our story, continues to be written as THE light of Christ is shining through this community, this family that we can St. Michael’s.  May it shine throughout northern New Jersey through us, together.

 

By the Grace of God, may we be faithful to the legacy of all those who came before us, as together, we go forward in the Holy Sprit.