The first entry in the diary of young Abbie F. Lawrence of Bridgewater is dated Feb. 1, 1874: ?Converted at Raynham Mass.?
The next entry on Feb. 3 states, ?Came home to Bridgewater.?
And less than a week later, Abbie, just 21 years old, writes on Feb. 8, ?Went out and talked with the people about starting a Methodist Episcopal Church in town.?
And so she did.
?I think it?s pretty amazing in the 1800s she?d be so bold in her faith. It?s an incredible history for us to build on. It?s in the DNA of the church,? said the Rev. Patricia A. Miller Fernandes of the Bridgewater United Methodist Church, founded by Lawrence all those years ago.
BUMC is gearing up for a year-long celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone on Aug. 4, 1913 of the beautiful granite ?stone church? at Cedar and School streets.
According to a June 10, 1914 newspaper article on the occasion of the church?s dedication, Abbie Lawrence was so moved by the fervent preaching at that Raynham revival meeting, she experienced ?a remarkably bright and clear conversion? and was determined to establish a Methodist Society in her hometown of Bridgewater.
And she wasted no time.
She went door-to-door, raising $400 in short order, no small sum in those days, to secure a pastor. The first Sunday morning service was held just three months later, on May 3, 1874, in the old wooden Swedenborgian church, which today serves as BUMC?s parish house next door to the stone church.
Fernandes said she finds young Abbie?s story inspiring.
?She was on fire to learn more about God in a time when not a lot of women were leaders,? said Fernandes, who has been pastor at BUMC for nearly 10 years.
Lawrence later married a successful Bridgewater businessman, Ferdinand C. Gammons, who purchased the land at the corner of Cedar and School streets, moved the house that had been located there, built the stone church at a cost of $35,000 and sold it to the congregation for $1.
The building has many fine features, but the focal point, both inside and out, is a soaring stained-glass window designed at the time of construction depicting Christ the ?Good Shepherd? in a flowing red robe cradling a lost sheep in his arms as the rest of the flock looks up at them, rapt.
Fernandes calls it a ?gorgeous? work of art, the faces sensitively rendered, the colors subtle and exquisite, like the art glass of that era.
The window, near the front entrance, serves as a ?beacon? to the community, a reminder of God?s grace and the value and sanctity of each life, Fernandes said.
?If even one sheep is lost, he will go to find the one to bring it back to the 99,? she said.
Lawrence commissioned the window in memory of her mother, Sarah Lawrence, a charter members of the church. And in her will Abbie Lawrence set aside money so that the window would always be illuminated at night.
Fernandes thought of that bequest a few years ago when a halfway house for recovering drug users was located across the street from the church.
Many of the residents would attend the Methodist church on Sundays. But others said they could not bring themselves to enter the building. They seemed to feel they were unworthy to cross the threshold.
Still, sometimes at night, Fernandes would see them outside sitting on the stone wall across the street looking up at the radiant stained glass window with its powerful message of redemption, illuminated from within as Lawrence had requested, and praying.
?I felt even though they could not find their way into the church, they still had a connection to and longing for God and love and hope,? Fernandes said.
As to Lawrence, Fernandes said, as the light continues to shine on her window, ?She?s still making a difference.?
The congregation is planning celebrations each month to mark the 100th anniversary, beginning with a cookout and music circa 1913. They may also put on a play reenacting the church?s founding.
But as grateful as the congregation is to have had such a wonderful home for the past century, it is not a building that makes a church, Fernandes said.
The United Methodist Church has a great tradition of working for social justice, she said. And right here in Bridgewater, members of the congregation have reached out to each other and beyond, providing ?food, scholarships, camperships, love, lodging, support and acceptance, just to name a few of the ways we are the church,? Fernandes said.
BUMC provides a monthly meal to Father Bill?s & MainSpring, supports the homeless ministry through the Common Cathedral in Boston, houses Literacy Place and supplies tutors and sends school kits to developing countries and hygiene kits to disaster areas.
?The church still is a sign of hope to the world that there is healing and compassion,? Fernandes said.??
Source: http://www.wickedlocal.com/hanson/news/x273442829/Rock-of-ages-Bridgewater-United-Methodist-Church-celebrates-100-years-in-stone-building?rssfeed=true
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