Week of Events Scheduled - Presbyterians Celebrate 150 Years

Week Of Events Scheduled

Presbyterians Celebrate 150 Years

Special events at First Presbyterian Church Sunday will mark the beginning of its Sesquicentennial Week, which will continue through Nov. 14. The church was founded Aug. 21, 1826, the first organized congregation in the village of Ann Arbor.

In November 1836 the small church was the scene of the formation of the Michigan Antislavery Society. This will be commemorated by the dedication Sunday and acceptance of a plaque to be mounted in the church and of a Michigan Historic Site marker to be placed outside the Ann Arbor News building, location of First Presbyterian Church at that time.

Participating in the dedication will be Martha Bigelow, director of the historical division of the Michigan Department of State, David J. Bishop representing The Ann Arbor News, and Robert M. Warner for the Sesquicentennial Committee and the church.

The 9:30 and 11 a.m. services on Sunday will also include the ringing of the church’s first bell by the superintendent of buildings and grounds, Archibald Preston; a solo on the harp by Faye Seeman during the prelude; a sermon “On the Church of the Future” by the Rev. Robert E. Sanders; and a litany of thanksgiving.

In the afternoon, a symposium on “Presbyterians and the Revolution: Retrospect and Prospects” will be held in the Curtis Room, open to the community. The speaker will be the Rev. John M. Mulder, assistant professor of American Church History at Princeton Theological Seminary.

A graduate of Hope College in Holland, Michigan and holding a master of divinity degree from Princeton Seminary, Mulder has studied extensively in American colonial history and modern American history and has a PhD degree in American history from Princeton University.

Respondents to Mulder’s address will be the Rev. Paul R. Dotson, director of the Ecumenical Campus Center; Charles M. Monsma, assistant professor of political science at Eastern Michigan University; A. K. Stevens, U-M professor emeritus of English language and literature; and the Rev. Bela Vassady, theologian-in residence at First Presbyterian and professor emeritus of systematic theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania. The introduction will be made by Howard H. Peckham, director of the U-M Clements Library. Peckham, Monsma, and Stevens are members of the church.

The presentation of an original opera, "The Tower of Babel," on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings at eight o’clock was commissioned by the church as another program to mark its 150th birthday. A homecoming banquet will take place on Nov. 14, the final day of the sesquicentennial week, with former ministers, directors of Christian education and music, and secretaries returning as guests.

The Rev. Henry Kuizenga from LaVerne, Calif., senior minister 1952-61, will preach at the morning sesquicentennial festival service at 9:30 and 11 a.m. The Rev. Ernest T. Campbell from New York City will give the major address at the homecoming banquet at 12:30 p.m. that day.

At 3 p.m. on Nov. 14, there will be an opportunity for members and for friends in the community to greet returning ministers and other guests in the Lewis Room.

Materials from the archives will be on display throughout the week, beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday.

Historic Site

This Michigan Historic Site marker will be placed outside The Ann Arbor News building following its dedication Sunday at First Presbyterian Church.

JOHN MULDER