Celebrating ‘the return of the remnant’ in Springfield, Massachusetts

LOUISVILLE — With united hearts and voices, Martin Luther King Jr. Community Presbyterian Church in Springfield, Massachusetts celebrated on Sunday what it called “The Return of the Remnant”: the rebuilding and dedication of a sanctuary burned five years ago by an arsonist.

Watch the celebration here. The 2 hour, 40 minute service was held in the beautifully restored sanctuary and was led by the church’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Terrlyn L. Curry Avery.

Numerous guests, including the contractors who helped make the project possible, Springfield-area faith leaders, presbytery and synod representatives, and others made for a warm and lively celebration, held in a reconstructed sanctuary that features a labyrinth on the floor.

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“I want you to look around at this wonderful tapestry of God’s people,” Curry Avery told those gathered. “Your testimony here today is a living testimony that we are united in hope.”

“We’re here, y’all, and we’re not going anywhere,” she said. “We are reclaiming our space.” Throughout the service, Springfield artist Erin Washington, who grew up in the church, painted some of the sights those in worship were experiencing.

“Today is a testimony to what it means when we say, what you have meant for evil, God has used for good,” said the Rev. Dr. SanDawna Gaulman Ashley, who leads the Synod of the Northeast. The synod “is so proud of your witness here in this community. We look forward to seeing what God will do next.”

A pair of church deacons came forward to remember the work and energy of church members active throughout the past few years but who passed before the project was completed.

Shannon Rudder, president and CEO of Springfield-based Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services, said the agency was “born of this very church. Here, a courageous congregation believed that even the smallest seed in God’s hands could grow into a mighty work of service, compassion and justice in action. Martin Luther King Jr. Family Services is the fruit of your faith.”

“We are proud to stand forever as partners in this work, in this ministry and in hope. This is your new chapter, and today we rise together in joy and in purpose in your new chapter,” Rudder said. “I know it was great sorrow and complexity, but I want to acknowledge how you held fast to God’s providence.”

“This is more than a reopening,” Rudder said. “It is a rebirth and a joyful rising.”

The Rev. Jihyun Oh, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly of the PC(USA) and Executive Director of the Interim Unified Agency, sent a letter offering thanks to God “for your perseverance these five long years in witnessing to our God, who is a God of hope and of life. Your resurrection faith proclaims that love overcomes hate, death does not have the last word, and when God wills, new life can come, even from what seems barren, dry, and ashen.”

“I celebrate with you and the community of love that gathered around you in the aftermath of the horrendous act of hate five years ago that this day of reopening has come,” Oh wrote. “I pray that this day of celebration will be filled with joy and love as you share stories of healing and hope, of God’s faithfulness, of the sustaining work of the Holy Spirit even through the hardest and lowest times, and of the true promises of new life in Christ Jesus. May grace abound to overflowing.”

On behalf of the Pastors’ Council of Greater Springfield, the Rev. Dayhige Wright noted that “what hate tried to burn down, hope has rebuilt. Today is not just the rededication of a building, but of our belief that God still brings beauty out of ashes.” As he invited people to make their offering, Wright said, “Your giving today is an act of defiance, an act of declaration and an act of participation in resurrection.”

The Rev. Dr. Shannan Vance-Ocampo, general presbyter of the Presbytery of Southern New England, offered God thanks for “the opportunity to be part of your church — the church of liberty, justice, peace and wholeness.”

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“We remember the saints and ancestors who surround us, for everyone who worked so hard to get us to this place: for the people who showed up on the day of the fire, the day of arson and terror; for good people in federal agencies who continue to labor.”

“We give you thanks that even though this building burned, you protected life. No one was hurt, and we give you thanks for that small mercy,” she said. In addition to thanking PC(USA) ministries including Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, Vance-Ocampo offered thanks for the church’s session and deacons and for “former leaders of this church, some who are part of the great cloud of ancestors around us.”

Curry Avery took obvious delight in inviting three key contractors forward so those gathered could thank them for their hard work. “It was clear it was a labor of love. You understood this assignment went well beyond the walls of this church,” she said. “More than anything, when I made a request for something, your response was always, ‘I’ll try, pastor,’ and you always came through.”

“In the three of you, we have seen the Lord who provides, the God who heals, and the God of peace. Thank you for letting the Lord use you,” she said. “We are deeply, deeply grateful.”

During her sermon, Curry Avery turned to Matthew 28:10: “Then Jesus said to [the women], “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers and sisters to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

She recalled the day in December 2020 when she first learned of the arsonist’s impact.

“Beloved, we did not ask for the fire, and God did not cause the fire. A person caught up in hatred and violence started the flame,” she said, “but I am a strong believer in what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good.”

The women mentioned in Matthew 28:10 — Mary Magdalene and “the other Mary” — were “literally standing at the door of death,” Curry Avery noted. Jesus tells them not to be afraid and to go tell his siblings to go to Galilee, where they will see him.

“Before we can do any of those things, we must not be afraid,” Curry Avery said. “When we’re afraid, we find ourselves dying a slow death.”

“The world needs to see what’s happening here today, like the women who were the first storytellers of the resurrection, to remind the world that hate could not hold us,” she said. “Beloved, the world must know that a hate crime was perpetrated on us during the height of a racial justice awakening after the heinous murder of George Floyd and just nine days before the insurrection at the [U.S.] Capitol.”

“Folks must know the story of pews overturned, ashes everywhere, Bibles burned and our sanctuary destroyed because our skin has been kissed by the sun.”

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“The world must connect with our pain of picking up the pieces, y’all, especially because folks were watching our every move. There were cameras everywhere. People were talking, speculating, advising, even when we didn’t ask for it,” she said. “On top of all that, Covid was still rampant and racism was still held as a premium in this society.”

“Through it all, God’s love was manifested through the people,” she said. “There was an abundance of care, and this is the story we must tell. If we leave it just at the place of what happened to us, we miss the point of what happened for us. Through the process, God showed us that no matter what is going on in life, we will be taken care of. We saw God’s mercies each and every day.”

“If you lean into the repositioning of your life right now, you will be resurrected,” she said. “Beloved, this is our resurrection. This is how we live as resurrected people.”

“We have been repositioned: not just MLK, but this community has been repositioned. This nation has been repositioned.”

“This is a portrait the nation needs to see. They need to know that love reigns,” she said. “When you tell the story, don’t just tell about the church burning. I need you to tell about the resurrection.” The story is “a portrait of multiracial solidarity.”

“I won’t pretend there weren’t some weary and frustrating days during this rebuild that took five years,” Curry Avery said. “But the words and knowledge of our ancestors kept us afloat.”

“God has repositioned us so our story may help resurrect the nation,” she said. “Each of you gets to decide: will you stay at the grave, or will you be resurrected? The return of the remnant is here, and we have been repositioned for resurrection. Amen? Amen.”