I was born into this church, housed in this building, and never
left, even when I lived out of town for over fifty years. This
building and its congregation shaped my faith, and I believe it
represents yours as well.
I was born the year after the First Baptist Church and the First
Congregational Church together formed the Franklin Federated
Church. You may know the story. The great hurricane of 1938
blew the steeple of the First Baptist Church into its sanctuary,
effectively destroying the building. In the spirit of Christian love
– and a bit of self-interest – the Congregationalists invited the
homeless Baptists to use their facility – and by the way, since the
Congregationalists were without a pastor, could Reverend Schluntz
minister to the them as well as his own flock of Baptists? The
offer was accepted, Mr. Schluntz served both congregations, and
in less than three years, they decided to work together and become
the Franklin Federated Church.
So the Baptists and Congregationalists were still learning to
live together when I learned what it means to be a Christian. The
unity-out-of-diversity I learned here became the benchmark by
which I decided whether to join another church – and I never did,
always preferring to commute from wherever I lived to this
building which became the home from which I ventured into the
world and to which I always returned.
11. Brown church 1
This is the church I attended as a child. It was a sprawling
brown shingle-style church with wide porches and a tall square
clock tower. I thought it looked like a library.
2. White Church 1
This is the kind of church I wanted to attend, a big white box
with a tall, pointy steeple, like the Congregational Church my
grandparents worshiped in.
3. Brown Church 2
What I didn’t realize was that while I was wishing for a white
box with a pointy steeple, the sprawling brown building designed
by Walter Paine and dedicated in December, 1895 was shaping my
faith in ways I would not appreciate until decades later.
4. White Church 3
One day, while eating breakfast across the common from the
church my children’s father grew up in, it hit me. There were no
front windows on the entry level of the building. It looked like a
fortress. I started looking around at other old New England
churches; no porches, few front windows. Not very welcoming.
I began to appreciate the theology of this building.
25. Aerial View
I noticed that old New England churches tended not to be
embellished with crosses on the outside. That is the case with our
building – unless you are in an airplane or helicopter. From the
air, you can see that the roof tree of the church forms a cross. We
don’t flaunt our faith; it’s just who we are.
The head of the cross, the location of the communion table
and the pulpit are in the east. When we worship, we look in the
direction of the resurrection.
6. White FFC
Somewhere along the line, while I was looking at churches
that did not fit my faith, the Franklin Federated Church changed its
appearance.
So this is the church to which we brought our children. It was
still the sprawling building with wide porches, but white aluminum
siding covered brown shingles, and the bell tower was shortened,
because the wind kept blowing the siding off the taller structure.
Today our vision statement reads: We strive to be a
community of abundant welcome, growing together in Christ and
serving with love.
Please join me in a tour of this church building to see how it
embodies our vision statement.
37. Porches
Do you find porches welcoming? I do. They provide
protection from rain, sun, and even wind as you enter the building
– or a place to gather and chat with friends in the open air. Our
building is blessed with two porches, a big one over the entrance
to the south narthex near the parking lot, and an even bigger one
over the entrance to the north narthex.
I was a child when the church purchased the Lewis property
next door to pave as the present parking lot, an accommodation to
worshipers arriving mostly by automobile. I think that’s why the
south entrance now sports our “welcome” sign.
8. Porte Cochere
One welcoming feature I’ve always liked is the porte cochere
which allows automobiles to discharge passengers under cover.
9. Ramp
A more modern welcoming feature is our handicap ramp with
a dedicated parking space, allowing handicapped and even
wheelchair access to our sanctuary, parlor, and one of our meeting
areas.
Now let’s walk up the ramp, enter the building, and proceed
to the back of the sanctuary.
410. Cross and Lily Window
As we move up the north side aisle, look across the room at
the stained glass window in the south, with its cross and Easter
lilies. This is where the light of God shines in on Sunday morning
worship.
11. Sanctuary toward Pulpit
At the back of the sanctuary, we look across the auditorium
style arc of the pews toward the pulpit. Notice how the slope of
the floor allows everyone an unobstructed view of the front of the
sanctuary. There are no “best seats” in this house and everyone
has a good view of the action.
12. Dove and Bible Window
Let’s move down the south side aisle. Imagine how the slope
invites little children to run and play. This is a place for everyone,
not just adults who want it quiet. Look across the room at the
stained glass window with the dove of the Old Testament looking
down at the Bible, symbol of the New Testament, the scriptures of
our faith.
13. Chancel
At the front of the sanctuary, note that there are no bars, no
rails, no barriers between the congregation, and the minister and
others leading the service. The lower chancel with the communion
5table is accessible to all, just a couple of steps up from the level to
remind us that this is sacred space.
The upper chancel, traditionally the place for preaching the
word of God, is also reachable, up just three more steps. What
later renovations have obscured is that, by moving the pulpit, this
area used to double as a stage for shows and performances. This
was always intended as a space where humans and the divine
interacted.
Up another level up toward heaven, the choir loft and the
visible organ represent another way we mortals reach toward our
God. You can’t see it from here, but when I was a teenager, both
the senior and junior choirs entered the choir loft by a side door,
a seemingly mysterious entry by those representing the musical
heavenly host.
Note that the doors on either side of upper chancel have the
arch of the rainbow supporting the cross. These doors are special,
the only ones in the building with this motif. In more formal
times, the minister appeared through one door on the upper
chancel without being observed getting there – a little
representation of the mystery of Christianity.
14. Pulpit View
Standing at the front of the sanctuary, turn around, and look
out over the pews. Note that you have the ability to see every
person, every face in the congregation. Our own Rev. Mary Poole
says this provides a special way for the minister to connect with
6each individual in the congregation during the service.
15. Baptisms
You may be aware that the main difference between our
Baptists and our Congregationalists is their manner of baptism.
The Congregationalists tend to favor infant baptism and use our
Baptismal Font and a splash of water on the forehead. Warm
water is used to avoid little ones crying from the shock of cold on
their faces.
Notice the breaks in the chancel floor, punctuated by rings, in
front of one of those special doors. These are traps to a special
place which I’m guessing was a renovation by the
Congregationalists to welcome Baptists into their church home.
Now let us open those trap doors in the floor. Baptists don’t
baptize little children; they wait until the person being baptized is
capable of a knowing decision to be a Christian. Only then does
one receive the rite of Believers Baptism, full body immersion in
the water. Steve Kinson and I recently spent an hour poring over
the original blueprints of this building to see if they included a
place for a baptistry. They did not, leading us to conclude that the
installation of the baptistry – a major project – was one of the
marks of the two churches becoming one body that supports the
traditions of both denominations.
Under those carpeted boards is a copper tank with steps,
down which the minister and the person being baptized, both
dressed in weighted robes, descended into the water – hopefully
warm water – for a full body immersion of the baptizee. In these
7pictures, you can see the beam that was removed for baptisms, and
perhaps catch just glimpse, in the corner, of the old steps into the
tank.
Unfortunately, we have not been able to fix the leak in the old
tank. That stuff in the tank is our new portable baptistry that can
be assembled on the level of the sanctuary so we can again
perform Believers Baptisms.
16. Beams
Before we leave the sanctuary, look up at the ceiling beams
supporting the roof that protects us – rainbows and crosses in all
directions, a visible metaphor for our faith, the rainbow of our Old
Testament, the scriptures Jesus learned, supports the cross of the
New Testament, which in turn supports the covering roof.
17. Parlor
Christianity is a faith of community. Our parlor is a
comfortable place to meet in small groups, to sit and talk, to do
business and enjoy each other’s company
18. Gathering
And like Jesus’ followers, we like to eat together. (We also
have a dining room and kitchen downstairs for larger banquets.)
And notice the painting on the wall of Jesus being baptized by
John.
818b. Painting of John Baptizing Jesus
It hung in the sanctuary of the Baptist Church down the street until
1938 when it was cut out of its frame and hung here, another
symbol of the unity of our two churches.
19. Stained Glass: Jesus
When I was a child, the parlor was the children’s chapel.
This stained glass window depicts a popular scene of Jesus
welcoming children. Ours is an especially beautiful version. At
night a light shines through, so to passers-by, this is the church of
the lighted Jesus.
20. At the Temple
The painting over the mantle in the parlor shows twelve year
old Jesus and his parents at the Temple before one of the priests.
As a child, I imagined this also depicted the young prophet Samuel
being dedicated at the Temple before the old priest Eli. Two
children’s stories in one picture.
21. Faces of Jesus
We all know that Jesus was Jewish and probably had semitic
features, but the pictures we grew up with portrayed him as a light-
haired European. Realizing that people are most comfortable with
a savior who looks like them, we display pictures of Jesus as
others might think of him.
922a. Libraries
Growing in faith requires learning and information. We have
two libraries which double as meeting rooms so we can work and
learn together.
22b. FDR Library
We don’t just stay in this building. We go out into the wider
world to serve others. These are a few of the service projects we
have done under the leadership of our Missions Team.
23. Food
We feed the hungry by providing boxes of Cheerios to the
Grow Clinic and bag lunches for Common Cathedral.
24. Buckets
We help in time of disaster with donations and supplies like
clean-up buckets.
25. Giving Tree
And make sure families in need have presents at Christmas.
That, my brothers and sisters, is the theology of this building.
May we always be a community of abundant welcome, growing
together in Christ, and serving with love. Amen.