A SUNNY WORLD FREE OF FEAR
“A fiercely debated investigation into Ireland's Catholic-run institutions says priests and nuns terrorized thousands of boys and girls,” stated an article in the Age of Friday 22 May, 2009. In Congregationalism children knew nothing of terror. Only one participant spoke of feeling afraid and guilty, during a bible study. I found Congregationalism to be an accommodating body in which I felt no threat or discomfort, one participant stated.
How fortunate we were in the sheltered and sunny world of our Congregational childhoods.
Did we value the secure world of Congregationalism? Not for a minute. Not then. We just took it for granted that what was what the world was like. But we value it now. And we all live richer, quieter and more secure lives now because of the heritage that we have shared.
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“When you have
once had
a great joy
it lasts always
quivers gently
on the edge of all the
insecure adult days
subdues inherited dread
makes sleep deeper,”
wrote Tove Ditlevsen, in ‘Self Portrait 2’.
As former Congregationalists, we understand what she meant.
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EQUALITY
Congregational churches were egalitarian, and contained a mixed group of people. Participants valued this fact.
In Congregationalism, everyone had the opportunity to have their say and every voice was of equal worth, stated one participant.
A former member of Geelong Congregational Church said of his church community:
We were varied in social status, yet all were accepted. Marj and Jack Matthews attended; he ran 3GL, the radio station, and she was matron of the Geelong hospital. We had a number of intellectuals, and two solicitors’ families, Ray Apted and his son Ian from Apted and Associates and Ralph Higgins from Price Higgins and Fidge, one of Geelong’s oldest law firms. Jack Gates had young kids and lived in a modest house in South Geelong. The caretaker and cleaner of the building where my father had his office was a member too. My grandfather, George Herbert Wright, could neither read nor write. He had been a coal-miner before he came to Australia. He drove a horse and cart and sold vegetables. He was senior deacon and was greatly respected.
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Another man spoke of the acceptance given within Congregationalism to an unusual man:
Mr Stuart Snell rang the church bell. The Snell family lived in Friars Rd, Chewton. Their son Stuart never married. In childhood he had decided that he was going to fly. He jumped out of a tree and injured both his legs. He had a peculiar gait. But in this town he was a well-respected citizen. At the football he was on the gate. He got the dressing sheds ready.
He was big in the Congregational Church. He was respected and loved by all. He loved the young people. But he would shoo away any young people that he didn’t know to be Congregationalists because he felt threatened. On the last Sunday in the month we had a song service. Young people from outside would come because of the tea and biscuit, but he used to chase them away. “Shoo,” he’d say, “Go away.”
After the service we would have tea. Mr Docking was a dairy farmer; he brought the milk. Someone else brought the biscuits. Mr Snell turned on the urn. There was a big old trunk; the cups and saucers were kept in there. I remember Mr Snell picking silverfish out of the cups with his hands and blowing into the cups to get them out.
One of his jobs was to ring the bell. The church has been sold now and someone lives there, but the bell is still there. Mr Snell would arrive on his bike. At 5 to 7 he would ring the bell. Sometimes the bell-wire got into a crack in the timber support, and made a dreadful noise. Whenever Mr Snell rang the bell, the dog next door would howl.
Mr Snell wound up the clock. He took up the collection. He counted the money.
One birthday—probably when he turned sixty—we gave him a party in Chewton Town Hall and everybody turned up. We gave him a suit, a sports jacket, a shirt and a cardigan. He wore those clothes until the day he died. They opened up the family grave in the Methodist section of the cemetery and he was buried there.
He was a wonderful man. From outside he looked like a retarded old dero. But he was loved in the Congregational Church.
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A PLACE OF LOVE AND SUPPORT
One participant wrote:
As a married student-pastor (caring for a Congregation and training for the Ministry) I was constantly impressed by the sense of equality and care which was shown to me by every other Congregational minister I related to or encountered . . . To this day I value and give thanks for the attitude they all expressed.
Said another,
My little church in East Cheltenham was so good to me. What they gave me. Strengthened me. So supportive when my wife died. The support was unbelievable.
Another stated,
With hindsight, the greatest blessing of my Congregational background was the unconditional love which we were given. This was no Utopia; there were spats, and things that needed to be sorted out, but they were approached and dealt with without hullabaloo. Congregationalists knew how to deal with conflict.
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A SPACE IN WHICH FAITH COULD GROW
A participant wrote,
As I am now in my middle eighties I have been through many variations in my faith. Fortunately in that I have been greatly supported by a fellowship which is open minded but deeply committed, so even the most radical of thoughts can be entertained without the skies falling.
Another said:
I give thanks that Congregationalists were not constrained by creeds in their search to glimpse the mystery of God. This is a gift that must be offered to the church in the 21st century as we try to communicate the faith today.
Aspects of growth in faith are explored in the next section.
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A COMMUNITY FOR SOCIAL ENRICHMENT
One participant described aspects of Church life. “What were the good times?” I asked. “Marrying me, “ said her husband. Ignoring that, she replied:
We had great Sunday school anniversaries. A platform was built. At one anniversary I sang. My husband crouched down in the pew, but I wasn’t as bad as he had expected. We had anniversary concerts every year with each class putting on an item. The ladies in the guild used to organise fetes. I loved going there. I used to go back to evening service at 7.
Valda’s husband Cyril was a marvellous man in the church, and a good friend. He was an electrician and used to crawl under the floor-boards to fix something. Nothing was a problem; it could be fixed. Valda’s eldest daughter, now away on the farm, played the piano and organ.
Several times a year, before church, we had breakfast at Valda’s- every mortal thing to eat- it just kept coming and coming. Cyril offered more and more.
One year we held Christmas dinner for 80 in our front room. Once we cooked a pig on a spit. A girl from St Stephens came and kicked up her heels dancing. I organised a piper going up and down.
We had good times and sad ones too. We organised progressive dinners to different houses. At one do we brought our youngest son home from hospital and laid him on the settee. He was 28 and dying of cancer. He enjoyed what he saw that night. We had wonderful community.
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PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
I believe that the greatest contribution Congregationalism made to my life . . . no, the second greatest—, the greatest was finding my wife at a C.Y.F. camp— was that it taught me to think for himself, said one man.
A woman spoke of
. . . the liberty to make our own decisions. I am so grateful for the training I had, to bring out my leadership qualities and to help me to find my spirituality.
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OLDER FRIENDS WHO NURTURED THE YOUNG
One woman stated,
A number of adults who were contemporary with our parents became our trustworthy friends. We could go to any of them if we needed to. They were genuinely interested in us as people. My Sunday School teachers were significantly older than me; they had experience of life. We had so many friends of our parents who were genuinely interested in us. They were like aunts and uncles. We often called them that.
Another said:
Young people at Black Rock . . . were blessed with their deacons there. Looking back, I am well aware that they, like us, had “feet of clay.” But their nurture was superb; they encouraged young people to assist at services and even invited CYFers to become Young Deacons at 18 years of age. Not everyone was asked, but I was . . .
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ENCOURAGEMENT TOWARDS LEADERSHIP
One participant stated:
The main Congregational value, I now realise, was the encouragement to leadership given to all. Members were encouraged to be their best in any field, not just the church. There was no nervousness about Christians leading in business or politics. That attitude bore much fruit in the early 1900’s.
A woman said:
I valued what I learnt as I took on responsibilities for participation in services, and in planning for Youth Group activities and Sunday School lessons.
The pattern of our early church life has continued in our family, and in each church where we have been members. We have tried to encourage others; we have taken on responsibilities where there was a need (e.g. starting a youth group, set up a library, organized a prayer tree, etc).
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AND GENERALLY . . .
I valued the freedom, tolerance and independence which I found there, said one woman.
A man answered:
For me, the best aspects of Congregationalism were the graces of freedom of worship, a feeling of having at least some place to search for those elusive “God moments”, and fine fellowship.
Another woman replied:
As a Congregationalist, I learned to be accepting of others, and not to judge hastily, I was encouraged to air any questions, discuss doubts openly, to live out my faith by caring for others, by accepting challenges or difficult situations as an opportunity to grow and learn. Bible study groups were very serious, but also encouraged real feelings and opinions to be shared, not just what might be the “right” answer. Positive encouragement of each other was modelled and productive. These are all wonderful life skills.
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Next: Chapter 16. Growth in Faith
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