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| Parishioners line up to receive Holy Communion as Lyonsville Congregational United Church of Christ celebrates its 170th anniversary. |
Southland Savvy
Hazel Sharp doesn't recall the first time she entered Lyonsville Congregational
United Church of Christ.
After all, it was sometime during the Hoover administration.
"I was carried in," Sharp, 84, said.
Slyly, she waited a beat before adding, "I expect to be carried out."
It is a circle of life that Sharp may be in no hurry to complete, but it is also one the Indian Head Park church has seen navigated dozens of times in its 170 years. In fact, Sharp's great-great grandfather, Joseph Vial, was one of the 18 original members of what is now the oldest Congregational church in Cook County, and markers bearing the name "Vial" dot the Lyonsville Cemetery, which sits on the hill behind the church.
Two churches, actually, occupying the corner of Joliet and Wolf roads.
Overlooking Joliet Road is the original building, finished in 1858 at a cost of $1,800. An addition built in 1949 makes the connection to the current sanctuary, erected in 1961.
On days when church is in session and the curtains in the sanctuary are open, the view is of the cemetery.
"It's really quite beautiful," said Patty Haigh, a 30-year church member who also sits on its Buildings and Grounds Board. "And comforting, when you stop to think how many of our congregation have family there."
There are 15 Civil War veterans, killed in action, buried on the grounds. It is a fitting resting place, considering the role the original church played in the War Between the States.
Church lore says local soldiers on leave from the Illinois 127th Regiment essentially used the building as a recruiting post, laying out the muster roll on the communion table to fill ranks thinned by injury or death. Church records show 72 locals signed up in what was then called the Congregational Church of Flagg Creek to fight for the North, and 36 of those men were members of the congregation.
Before all of that, in May of 1843, six pioneer families in the area officially established a congregation with the goal of building a church. The 170th anniversary of that decision was celebrated last month by the congregation, and is being referenced throughout the summer in Pastor Bob von Trebra's Sunday sermons.
On June 23, he recalled an earlier anniversary, when he was new to the church in the late 1990s. At the time, he'd uncovered a book of sermons delivered at the church in the 1800s, and thought he'd deliver one to his current flock.
Editing ensued. Heavy editing. And when he'd cut the sermon by half, it was still long.
"I can still remember the eyes glazing over," he said.
Von Trebra was preaching that morning to a group of perhaps 50 congregants, a far cry from the 449 members the church claimed in 1933, on the occasion of its 90th anniversary.
He dwells not on the size of the group, however, as much as he does the size of the group's faith.
"People will tell you this is as healthy as the church has been in some time," he said. "People are working together. People are feeling connected spiritually to God and what God is wanting us to do."
The church's mission statement contains five points of emphasis:
- Preaching, teaching and living the gospel.
- Sheltering travelers and refugees.
- Feeding the hungry.
- Healing the sick.
- Nurturing new churches and ministries.
Von Trebra noted that in his time at the church, three members of the congregation have gone on to seminary school and the ministry. Three other seminary students have interned at the church on the way to leading other flocks.
"We teach them and send them out," he said. "That is a very powerful thing."
Ultimately, though, the power that has sustained Lyonsville Congregational is in the folks who come back, Sunday after Sunday.
Lois Soehrman, 86, of Westmont, was a 29-year-old resident of Countryside when she joined the church in 1955. Her strong, clear voice is easy to hear when hymns are being sung during services, and one of her favorite moments of the anniversary celebration was joining in on a gospel favorite, "Oh Happy Day."
But her favorite memory of her church goes back decades, to a midnight mass in the old building — a simple Greek revival style rectangle, just eight rows of pews deep.
"My daughter played the flute, and at Christmas Eve service she was up in the balcony," she said. "We only had candle lighting. So many people came up to me and said it was very inspirational — that made me feel good."
Making people feel good is something at which Lyonsville Congregational seems to excel. No further evidence is required than Sharp's answer when asked what makes a church a church.
"Community," she said. "That connection, here, is inescapable."
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