Friday Foto Friends: Tavares FUMC--The Way I Remember It!

Note: I originally wrote this post back in 2011, when asked by an old school friend if I would write something for the new website at the church where I grew up.  So I will include that original post here, with a few additions or edits to bring it back to now.  However, please note that I wrote it originally with that dear old church family in my mind..."The Way I Remember It".

"I was glad when they said to me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord.'" Psalm 122:1

Original Post, 7/23/2011

The picture of Jesus and the Lambs I have included above represents to me one of my fondest memories of the old First Methodist Church building that I remember best.  Although this picture of a stained glass window is not one of the windows from that original building, it is the closest depiction of that window I have ever seen. When I found this little postcard it brought back such sweet memories of Sunday morning services as a child, gazing up into the serene face of Jesus as He cradled the lamb in His arms and carried it to a place of safety.  I can honestly say that this was the first impression of Jesus that I can remember...and it has often given me comfort.  As a matter of fact, it was this vision of Christ that came to my heart this past week as I wrote in a previous blog entitled, "My Father's Cane", which was written about my father, Bill Mursch, whom many of you will know and remember from his days as a former member of Tavares FUMC. As a matter of fact, we held his memorial service in your current beautiful sanctuary just a very short time ago.   http://pamelasopenwindow.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-fathers-cane.html.  (in May of 2011)

If anyone has any good color photographs of those beautiful stained glass windows from the old original church, I would love to have a copy.  I know we all mourned the loss of those magnificent windows when the former "new church" was so tragically lost to fire several years ago. As I recall, the other window was of the "Ascension of Christ" up into the clouds... (see Acts 1: 9-11) and I often pondered over that vision so many times in my childhood and youth...wondering just what it would be like to be "caught up into the clouds" with Jesus someday...a day which could be closer than we think. 

Rev. Ed Montfort - 1960

Steve Sperry in front of Chapel at MYF Camp -1965



I wonder if we truly realize the impression and impact such things as stained glass windows, peaceful sanctuaries, sacred hymns, an open Bible, a welcoming hug from a Sunday School teacher on an early Sunday morning, and a word spoken in truth and love from a dedicated Pastor may have on a young impressionable child. 

I still remember the pastors of my childhood and youth from the Tavares church...Pastor Ed Montfort, Rev. Dick Knight, and Pastor Randall Parsons.  They each played a significant part in my life...Pastor Montfort took me through confirmation and pronounced me a member of the church at the tender age of ten.  Rev. Knight encouraged our youth group and inspired us to reach out to our friends and invite them to MYF and to go to the MYF Camp in Leesburg. (of which I later became a summer youth counselor...my first "job"!)




Rev. Dick Knight - 1965  and
then below....at my sister Doris'
wedding in 1966-----





Our wedding, Aug. 16, 1969- Rev. Randall Parsons on far right with
Organist Louise Caldwell on far left, and soloist, Carolyn Parsons (Campbell) next to her!

And then of course, Rev. Randall Parsons...came along in time to encourage me in my walk with Christ as a young woman preparing for marriage...and actually performed our wedding ceremony in the  "new church building" in 1969.


Thank you to Mrs. Bunny Rapalje for her faithful picture taking of almost every event of my life!!! Perhaps you will find yourself or one of your friends in some of these classic vintage pictures! 

VBS 1957

VBS - 1958

I have so many other memories...memories of Vacation Bible Schools...   and Sunday School classes and my efforts to earn my "perfect attendance" pins each year... My Sunday School teachers that I can remember were: Miss Marion Duncan, Mrs. Virginia Duncan, Mrs. Peggy Matthias...and I am sure there were a lot more. 

Sunday School 1957

Easter 1957

Easter Sundays with our funny little flowered hats, stiff petticoat dresses and new white patent leather shoes...

Easter Sunday 1958?



Children's Choir - 1958


And then there was the wonderful Children's Choir directed by Mrs. Venona Jones, a retired preacher's wife.

Church Christmas Party 1962, with Miss Tripp as our music teacher

Yes, these are just a few of my precious childhood memories from being a part of the First United Methodist Church of Tavares.  There are so many other thoughts, images, and convictions that became a part of my spiritual make-up as a result of these early positive influences.  

You see, one cannot simply sum up early Christian teaching in just one blog.  My life was so impacted by the people, the music, the preaching, the teaching, the youth groups, the Sunday School classes, the Vacation Bible Schools...that I went on to become a preacher's wife myself!  So much of what I learned at Tavares Methodist Church became an integral part of my spiritual growth and development...and God took those seeds, planted and caused them to grow and blossom into mature Christianity...a way of life and a Christ-centered relationship that I have shared with so many others throughout the years...only God knows for certain what impact and how far reaching those early impressions have made on the lives of those with whom I have been privileged to know.

Thank you, Members of Tavares First United Methodist Church, both old and new, for your part in the transformation of my life!  

May God continue to richly bless your church as it continues to follow in the footsteps of Jesus...the "Church at the Crossroads where the Cross Lights the Way..." (or something to that effect I recall was the theme when the church moved to its present location) 

P.S.:  I just found this little Sunday School pin in my very old jewelry box.  I am sure I must have had some others, and maybe even some for Perfect Attendance, but they are long gone.  But this one is a little treasure from my early days in Sunday School. So thankful for those memories: