Omaha daily bee., 1906-11-12
LAST SERVICE IN OLD CHURCH
Lowe Avenue Presbyterians Bid Fare
well 20 Passing Structure.

Lowe Avenue PresbyteriHns Bid Fare
well 20 Passing Structure.
For tho last time the congregation OF
Low Avenue Presbyterian church yesterday
worshiped in the old building which has
been its home for eighteen years and the
morning service was in the nature of a
farewell to the old structure. The new
pressed brick building on the site Of the
old Fortieth and Nicholas streets, is near
ing completion, but viii not be ready for
occupancy until about Christmas. In the
meantime the services will be held in the
Walnut Hill Methodist church at 4 o'clock
in the afternoon.
Yesterdays services We're appropriately
held in the class room, which is the oldest
part Of the structure and in which the
first meetings were held in 1855. and there
was a tinge OF sadness in them. Rev. A.
S. c. Clarke, owing to the special service,
did not take part in the general exchange
Of pulpits I'm the morning. but occupied his
own. The leaving of the old building was
the theme Of his discourse
This is our last service in this old
building" he said. This day ought to be
one Of holy and sacred memory as we allow
our minds TO go back over the years that
this building has been occupied. It is fit
ting, the work began in this older part
Of the building that It should close in It.
Memory weaves wonderful charm
about these old structures, 1t has been
place Of love, the home of our sorrows and
our joys. We may rejoice that we are able
to build larger and more beautiful build
ing for the worship of God, but there is a
charm about this old place. Somehow there
comes TO me q feeling Of sadness as we
leave e.
Some persons might say. why make
fuss about an old building like this? II
is not of much intrinsic value as we found
when we came to sell 1t. Yet Is that all
You know it is not. There is something
more than intrinsic value to old familiar
things because Of the memories that clus-
ter around them. 1t is marvellous how
the feelings Of men gather around a GER
tain locality. Every nation has it's sacred
place. The church of God ought to be a
very dear place to us. Here it is that the
change in our lives. regeneration, takes
place, where the visions are seen and new
ideals are had.
I'VE ought TO be proud of the influences
that have gone out from this church. Two
of it's former officers are now working in
the foreign missionary field and one in
homo missions in California. Another is
in Minnesota preaching. We ought to give
the church great place in our lives, We
ought to think of something besides what
we eat and what we wear 1t Is the. church
that minister to this"
The workers who have gone out from
the church to whom DR.. Clarke referred
are Rev. Charles Fleming of Long Prairie,
Mimi; Rev. Knox BauGe IN California, and
DR.. j. W. Mexican and DR.. Claude w.
Mason with their wives medical mission
aries in Laos, Slam. All these men were at
one time members and officers in the
church. This number is considered quite
large for one church only eighteen years
Of age and no more formidable in numbers
than 1t has, at times, been. The church
now is one Of the strongest in the city,
active in all the impulses Of religious and
charitable work