RINGTOWN — More than 100 people gathered at the historic Old White Church between Ringtown and Brandonville on Thursday for the annual Ascension Day ecumenical worship service.
The traditional morning service to celebrate the Christian belief that Jesus Christ ascended into heaven 40 days after his resurrection from the dead was hosted this year by the Rev. Craig D. Zimmerman, pastor of St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in Ringtown.
“Good morning. We welcome you here today to our Ascension Day service, and it’s always a joy to have you back,” Zimmerman said. “For many of you, this is coming back, and for many of you it may be your first time here. I hope that you appreciate the fact that you are stepping back in history. A very long time; this church was built in 1842. How many people have sat in the seat where you’re sitting? Isn’t that amazing?”
Zimmerman introduced the Rev. Susan Wollyung, pastor of Aurand Memorial United Methodist Church, Ringtown, and the Rev. Joseph A. “Jay” Serafin, pastor of St. John Lutheran churches in Ringtown and Brandonville, and the guest speaker, the Rev. William P. “Bill” Worley, conference minister and president of the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ.
“We are the most northern tip of the Pennsylvania Southeast Conference. You can go over to Sheppton and Nuremburg and they’re part of the Northeast Conference,” Zimmerman said.
Zimmerman said took the advantage of inviting Worley to the church for his first visit to the area.
“I wanted him to experience this service and, of course, this historic building because this is a gem,” Zimmerman said.
Located in Union Township at Brandonville Road and Cemetery Hill Road, the Old White Church was constructed in 1842 as St. Paul’s Union Church, replacing a log cabin church built about 1810 that was home to two ethnic German congregations. The current church is the oldest religious structure in Schuylkill County north of Broad Mountain. The 174-year-old church is one of only a few structures in the agricultural area and stands out with its bright white wooden exterior.
The worship service began with Jody McAndrew, a member of St. Paul’s choir, lighting the candles. Members of the St. Paul and St. John choirs sang through the service to the accompaniment of organist Janice Hoffman.
After Wollyung read the Bible lessons and Gospel, Worley walked up the steps to the elevated pulpit and greeted everyone on behalf of the 168 congregations in the Southeast Conference, Worley said he remembered the words of his preaching professor when he was sitting looking up at the pulpit.
“He said if you’re going to stand that close to God, you better have something worth saying,” Worley said. “And it’s really hard not to lean over this pulpit a finger at you all sinners sitting down there and all you great saints sitting up here (in the balcony).”
Worley said that Thursday was also the National Day of Prayer and everyone should be in a spirit of prayer with everyone around the country.”
Worley mentioned the cold temperature in the church and outside, which was about 50 degrees with a wind.
“God has called us to unity, and in some way, shape or form we find ways to be at odds with one another,” Worley said. “It is not what God wants for us. What I love about being in this space is that I see you sitting close together, Now that may be because you know each other and love each other, or indeed you are cold. God wants us to be together.”
Worley said there are so many people who do not come to church services on Sunday, and there are many who do attend do so “without being useful or productive,” quoting theologian Barbara Brown Taylor.
Worley said it is important to put the ascension of Jesus into heaven into a context with the human life of each person on Earth.
“Almost everything that happened to Jesus makes sense in terms of my life,” he said. “When I say that I love Jesus and I know Jesus, that was the Jesus that was on this earth. Jesus was born. I was born. Jesus had friends. I have friends. Jesus cried. I cry. Jesus died, and I will die, too. I have something in me that is of the living, breathing Jesus, and so do you. I’ve had some Easter-like mornings of my own, too. Not necessarily moments of resurrection the way Jesus was resurrected, but I knew joy found in the midst of sorrow, life found in the midst of death, but that’s where Jesus and I part company.”
Worley said his sermon at the Old White Church was the first Ascension Day sermon he preached during his 24 years in ministry.
“I’d like to think that God has been preparing me for 48 years to be in this spot in this moment with you all,” Worley said. “Ascension Day is the day that the present Lord became absent, which is maybe why it is the most forgotten day of the church year. Who wants to celebrate being left behind?”
Worley said that it was so important that Jesus left the world to go back to Heaven for humanity’s benefit.
“Those things have not discouraged us from coming here, but in fact it has brought us here to seek the thing that we must deeply be connected with,” Worley said. “When someone important to me is absent, it becomes clearer than ever what that person meant to me. Details that got lost in our togetherness are recalled in our separateness. Absence really does make the heart grow fonder. The quirks the drove me crazy at close range become endearing at a distance.”
Worley spoke of Jesus’ words in the Gospel about leaving the Apostles, but that leaving will mean they will do much greater things in the world.
“Jesus said, ‘Because I go to the Father, you will do greater things than me,’ ” Worley said. “Jesus expects me and you to do greater things than him. That is the hope and the meaning and the expectation of Ascension. God is with us in you, and we will do great things.”
After the worship service, everyone was invited to St. John’s Lutheran in Ringtown for a potluck dinner and fellowship in the parish hall.
Ascension Day was the first day this year that the Old White Church had a public service. The church will be open on the following dates as detailed in a sign at the church:
• Open for visitors Saturday and Sunday, May 28 to 29, from noon to 3 p.m. and Monday, May 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• An American Legion Memorial Day service will be held May 30 at 9 a.m.
• St. Paul United Church of Christ will hold a worship service on June 5 at 8 a.m.
• St. John Lutheran Church will hold a worship service on Aug. 14 at 10:30 a.m.
• The 27th annual Appreciation Day will have an open house on Sept. 18 from 2 to 4 p.m.
Church tours are available. For information, call 570-889-5164.