You’re So Old!!

(Adapted from a sermon preached for the 195th Birthday Celebration for First Presbyterian Church-Memphis on June 11, 2023.)

“You’re so old!” …said the 6 year-old classmate of my oldest daughter. It was the week of Mother’s Day, and with the help of their teachers, the kids had completed an “All About Mom” sheet that included their responses to questions like, “What is your mom’s favorite food?” and “What is your favorite thing to do with mom?” At the top of the sheet was the question, “How old is your mom?” Now, for almost everyone, this is always a funny prompt, with their kids thinking they are 12 or 72.

For some reason, the Lammers girls know exactly how old my husband and I are. I’m not sure why? It’s not like we talk about our ages all the time. But all three of them are keenly aware of our ages. So while my friend is chuckling, looking down at her daughters’ response of “16,” I find myself staring at the cold hard facts that when asked, "How old is your mommy?" my kid very matter-of-factly responded, “43.” Which brings me to the moment that her classmate looked at my paper, looked up at me, and said, “You’re so old!” I am, in fact, a decade older than that particular girl’s mother, so I understand why she boldly proclaimed this. Having our kids later in life, my spouse and I often find ourselves as the more “senior” parents in the community.

This encounter a few weeks back has me reflecting on what it means to call something or someone “old.” Merriam-Webster dictionary has a very, very long list of synonyms for the term “old.” Some of them are pretty negative – like “over-the-hill,” “expired,” “obsolete” or “senile.” However, some of them are positive – “mature,” “durable,” “classic,” or “timeless.” It almost seems like maybe there is some agency involved here – some power in determining how one’s brand of “old” will be understood, experienced and talked about in our world today.

So I ask you, First Presbyterian Church of Memphis, Tennessee, what kind of old are you? At 195 years of age, I feel as confident as a 6 year-old in looking around this space and boldly proclaiming, “You’re so old!” So what will your brand of “old” be?

I want to put into context just how very old this church is in the grand scheme of life in this city and this nation. In 1828, the year our church was founded, John Quincy Adams was president. Later that year, Tennessee’s own Andrew Jackson would be elected as the seventh president. There were only 24 states in our nation. It was a mere 45 years since the end of the revolutionary war. America had not yet seen the first steam locomotive. The population of this country now is more than 25 times the size as it was then. Arkansas was still a territory, so in many ways, Memphis sat on the edge of the frontier at that time. Memphis had a population of 500, when this church was founded as the second congregation in town – our neighbors right next door at First UMC were less than two years ahead of us in their founding. Memphis was incorporated a mere 2 years before this church was founded.

In 1832, the city deeded to the church this site we call home, at the corner of Poplar Avenue and Third Street (now called B.B. King), and we have been here every since. The church building burned down and was rebuilt in 1884, so the earliest folks who walked the halls of this building were probably sporting some fabulous Victorian fashion.

So this church you are sitting in, is very, very old.

And to be very old, means that this community has witnessed a lot - the good, the bad, and the ugly. This church watched this city grow and prosper, and make a name for itself through the cotton exchange and the lumber industry, and become the home of several of the largest corporations in the world and the second busiest cargo airport in the world. This church also witnessed the pain and terror of chattel slavery as Memphis served as a major hub for slave auctions. And this community, just a few years after its founding, saw the forced migration and expulsion of thousands and thousands of indigenous peoples as Memphis was a major thoroughfare on the Trail of Tears.

The history of this church closely parallels the history of this city. The early years were plagued first by the Civil War in the 1860s, then the yellow fever epidemics a decade later. The pastor of this church during the at that time, the Rev. Henry Bowman, infamously refused to abandon caring for the sick and dying, and the disease eventually took his life along about 30,000 Memphians. This community grew and added on to their building three different times. The church saw incredible growth until the years following the second world war, when many residents migrated out to the suburbs, and the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a mere one mile away, left a dark cloud over this city, and particularly its urban core.

But this community stayed. And I see this as an important defining moment in the life story of this community. While many, many folks fled east in Memphis and to the neighboring suburbs, and built bigger church buildings on sprawling property, First Pres stayed right here, in the same spot deeded to us by the city in 1832. We stayed in this old building on this old plot of land. I believe that this is the point in the history that emphasizes why First Presbyterian Church of Memphis is the best kind of “old.”

What this community has done through 195 years is to serve as a testament to the truth that God calls us to new things all the time - as individuals AND as communities. I can assure you all that this community here is not doing all of the same things that it was doing 195 years ago. Or 100 years ago. Or 50 years ago. Or 25 years ago. Whether it is responding to a yellow fever epidemic in the 1870s or a Covid-19 pandemic in the 2020s, this church has followed the call of God to do a new thing, or, to do some of the same things in new ways. The heart of this church is right here, in this old spot. The faith of this church is right here, in this building with these people. Throughout time the mission of this church has been and is to do God’s work here, in this spot, even as the work needed has changed.

In recent decades, that call from God has led this community to be an integral part of serving those who find themselves living on the margins in downtown Memphis. That is why First Pres was instrumental in helping to form the Hospitality Hub. That is why First Pres provided an early home for the Memphis Interfaith Association, otherwise known as MIFA. This church has housed a day care and numerous 12 Step programs. And currently, on Sunday mornings this community operates a soup kitchen and clothing closet and sponsors a birth certificate program, helping the disenfranchised to secure important documents that help us all to seek resources and more fully participate in our society.

But why does this matter? What is the importance of naming this fact that while so many left downtown Memphis, we stayed? How is this an example in understanding God’s work in this world? Perhaps it’s because Memphis is one of the most food insecure cities in this nation. Memphis has the highest rate of childhood poverty of all major US cities. At the start of last school year, the number of students identified as experiencing homelessness in Shelby County schools had tripled from the year before. And last year, in a move called heartless by many, the Tennessee legislature made it illegal to live in a tent on any public property, effectively criminalizing homelessness itself and forcing those without a place to stay to “keep it moving” or else.

So while this church may be old, it finds itself always responding to the needs of the present. Doing God’s work today, even as that work is ever-evolving.

When I looked at the lectionary text today, I smiled. It’s truly a God thing that the Call of Abram in the Book of Genesis was one of the readings for today. In this text, you heard how God creates a new covenant with Abram, instructing him to leave the land and the family he has known and God will make a great nation of him, blessing him, and using him as a main player in God’s ultimate story. And Abram, or Abraham, becomes one of the central figures in Judaism, Islam and Christianity.

I want to point out how in verse 4 it says, “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” Seventy-five years old. This is the average life expectancy of a person in Tennessee today, with all the modern scientific knowledge and medical advancements! So, we know that Abram was very old, especially by ancient standards - like probably Guiness Book of World Records-old in that time. And God chooses him. God looks upon this man who is very “old” and God does something new with him. He becomes the starting point for a new chapter in God’s eternal story. What a text for us to read on the 195th birthday of this church community! When I look at the work done by this church family over time, and when I look at the work being done today, I cannot think of a better text for us to read this morning. 

Do we face challenges now, and as we look toward the future? Absolutely. These pews are not full on Sundays. Church attendance is down across the board at the majority of churches. Millenials and Gen Z have brought us the rise of the religious “nones,” and a crop of young people who are skeptical of organized religion, and slow to join organizations. The years of disrupted routines during the Covid-19 pandemic have nearly all churches wondering where some of our former regular attendees have gone. And this beautiful, sacred and holy 139 year-old building also has 139 year-old problems. She needs some TLC, and usually TLC on historic landmarks isn’t the cheapest TLC around. Do we face challenges? Absolutely.

However, we have been here for 195 years, and faced a lot of challenges over that long span of time. Our track record for survival, for innovation, and for reinterpreting God’s call in each new era in this city is a strong track record. We are old, and God has again and again chosen to use this community to do a new thing in the city of Memphis. The Holy Spirit moves through these walls and down these stairwells and through each and every person who gathers here and guides us again and again to know what God’s work must look like next. We are continually led to know how to be Christ to the people we encounter in this city. The fact that we are celebrating 195 years is the most amazing testament to the fact that, as the song says, “surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.”

First Pres, you are so old! Yes! We are so old! Praise God. And God isn’t done with us yet.

Amen.