Here we are in September!

And September is a month of anniversaries at MBPPC. First, the building has a 100th anniversary coming on Saturday, September 21st. On that day in 1924, the cornerstone of the sanctuary was put in place. MBPPC was chartered on another September day — September 24th 1906 (meaning that our 118th anniversary is also coming this month). Before the congregation was chartered, members of the Mount Baker Park neighborhood to a vote as to whether the new church should be Methodist or Presbyterian. The Presbyterians won out, and the York Road Presbyterian Church began worshipping a few blocks south of the current MBPPC location.

 In 1910, the lot at 3201 Hunter Blvd. became available. After a legal battle that concluded in the Washington State Supreme Court, a variance was granted to build a church on the site instead of private homes. The first building on the site was a wooden, clapboard structure. The current building, designed in the Romanesque style by the architect A. H. Alberston (who also designed St. Joseph’s Catholic Church and The Cornish School), was dedicated and began housing services on Sunday, March 22nd, 1925. We will mark the 100th anniversary of the placing of the cornerstone at our September 22nd worship service.

 September is also the anniversary of month of the start of my pastorate at MBPPC — Wednesday, September 6th, 1995. It is hard for me fully to take in the fact that I have served as pastor at MBPPC for 29 years! So many people, so many changes, so many new adventures! What seems timeless is the quality of relationships among the members of this worship community. The relationships have been, and are, the foundation of these years, and Christ is the foundation of it all. Thanks be to God for calling this congregation into being 118 years ago. And thanks be to all the people who have embodied faithful discipleship from the days of the York Road Presbyterian Church to the 100th anniversary of of the placing of the cornerstone, to today.

In Christ,

Lee