It was a trip back into the past and a salute to the future as the congregation of the Mattituck Presbyterian Church gathered yesterday for a ceremony marking the church’s 300th anniversary.
Dressed in colonial garb, parishioners greeted the public as children happily played games of yesteryear, including hopscotch and potato sack races. The event included tours of the church and balloon-adorned cemetery, horse and buggy rides, crafts, musical performances, and a farmers/artisans market. Last night, a concert was held and today, a worship service at 10 a.m. includes former MPC pastors and other special guests.
Rev. Patrick Smith led off a ceremony yesterday, giving thanks for the church’s “three centuries of history and beyond.”
Dr. Mark Tammen of the Long Island Presbytery said MPC has stood long before there was a presbytery, or even before there was a United States. The church, he said, has weathered economic and political upheaval. The challenge looking ahead, he said, is to hear what the Lord is calling the parish to do, in the next 300 years.
A neighbor from down the road, Rev. Dr. Peter Kelley of the First Presbyterian Church of Southold reminded that when the church was founded in 1715, it was the Mattituck Meetinghouse, years before the current structure was built.
Speakin to the loving service provided by MPC miles from home, Pastor Jonas Jean-Louis of the church’s sister parish, located in Haiti, discussed the church’s outreach and mission, which began in 1984, when MPC partnered with Service Chretien d’Haiti, a sister of the World Church Service, to work on La Gonave, an island off the coast. That partnership has led to the creation of scholarships for over 300 elementary school scholarships, dental care, joint worship, and building a church in the mountain village Nan Sema, where a well was built for fresh water and a medical clinic created. Before the well, 10,000 people had to walk four to six hours a day for fresh water, he said.
“The church is a light for the community,” Jean-Louis said, inviting those in attendance, in honor of the 300th anniversary of MPC, to come to Haiti and see the church’s service in action, as well as the work that still needs to be done in Anse-a-Galets.
Also in attendance was Grady Parsons, of the Presbytery’s Office of the General Assembly, who honored the momentous day.
Dressed in colonial garb, MPC parishioner Ken Ackley conjured up the “ghost of Thomas Duncan” and reflected on the church’s long history. “Bully for you, MPC!” he said, inviting the crowd to join in.
“I have often wished buildings could talk,” New York State Senator Ken LaValle said. “We could sit in the pews and this building could talk to us. I applaud Mattituck Presbyterian Church for 300 years of dedicated and devoted service. This church is a member of the community and provides services and a moral compass.”
The church, Suffolk County Legislator Al Krupski said, “is more than a building. The church soothes the community, and it’s done with so much joy in every heart. It’s really moving.”
Reflecting on the 300th anniversary, Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said if the original settlers could come back, they might at first be confused by how the world has changed, or marvel at technological advances. But in the end, he said, they would find, as they watched their beloved church in service, that not much has changed in the hearts and mission of its parish at all.
MPC, the supervisor said, helps to feed the hungry through its Crop Walk and Loaves & Fishes mission, shelters the homeless through John’s Place, and works to “alleviate suffering in Haiti, Nepal, and right here in town.”
If those early parishioners could come back and sit beside current church members, a testament to MPC’s long history of service, Russell said, “They would be proud.”
Parishoner Tom Gahan, also in colonial garb, thanked mother/daughter event organizers Tammy and Meghan Cavanaugh and reflected on the purchase of a swath of land from Aquebogue to Cutchogue for seven pounds of wampum. Since those early days, he said, “Some things are quite different — but a lot has not changed.”
The ceremony ended with a heartfelt rendition of “Happy Birthday” as the crowd sang to the church and looked upward at its glorious spire, reaching into the sky.
