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Consecration Service Sunday, December 15th, 2002

This Sunday, December 15th, First United Methodist Church in Irving will realize a dream they have working on for nine years. Bishop William B. Oden will preach and formally consecrate the congregation's new sanctuary in services at 8:30 and 11:00 Sunday morning.

All present and former members of the church as well as interested members of the community and friends of the church are invited to come and be a part of this historic occasion. There will be a reception in the Family Life Center from 9:30 to 10:30. Childcare will be provided.

The church's district superintendent, Rev. Jim Dorff, the present pastors Dr. Rusty Hedges and Rev. George Strickland will assist with the consecration service. In addition, four of the church's former pastors, Rev. Mike Walker, Rev. Phil Mercer, Rev. Ed Blythe and Rev. Earl Harvey, have been invited and are expected to be a part of the celebration.

All of the choirs of the church, children, youth and adult, will be a part of the service. In honor of the occasion, First United Methodist Church in Irving has commissioned a special anthem, which was written for the consecration by Dr. Benjamin Harlan. The anthem is entitled, "Upon This Rock." Dr. Harlan is Dean of Music at Southwestern Baptist Seminary in Fort Worth.

The new sanctuary will seat 650 people. It was built in just over thirteen months at a total cost of about $2,800,000. The new building contains 13,100 sq. feet of space. The top of the cross at the peak of the steeple is 146 feet high and is visible from many parts of southern Irving. The interior ceiling rises 46 feet above the floor. The design of the new sanctuary includes exposed beams in the ceiling, which carry forward, some of the features that are part of the previous sanctuary. The design attempts to honor the history and tradition of the church by incorporating the best of the old in combination with state-of-the-art sound and video technology.

First United Methodist Church in Irving was among the first congregations organized in Irving. It was founded in the summer of 1908 with the help of Rev. M.H. Read, who at the time was pastor of the Methodist Church in Grand Prairie. The first sanctuary, a small frame building, was completed in 1909. The present sanctuary has served the congregation since 1937 and will continue to be used as a chapel.

Rusty's Letter from the Pastor

Dear friends,

This Sunday will be a real milestone in the life of our church. After years of dreaming, planning, discussion, fund raising and construction, we have come to the moment when we will consecrate our new sanctuary. I feel very privileged to be a part of such a special day. It will be wonderful to welcome our Bishop, William Oden, to our church and to have former pastors back to be a part of this consecration day.

This new sanctuary will be a marvelous tool that we can use to proclaim the message of Christ. It makes a powerful statement to our community of our faith in God and our commitment to serve the people of Irving. Our new space will be a "sanctuary" in the fullest sense of that word. It will be a place where we can come for refuge from the challenges of daily living but not a place to hide. It will be a place to come for renewal and rest so that we can return refreshed to a hurting world. It will be a place to come and sit, if only for an hour, and know that we are in the presence of God. I know I speak for all of us when I extend thanks to those who have labored so long to make this dream a reality.

As I thought about this service of consecration, I thought about Lincoln's words at Gettysburg. He said in part:

"We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract."

As we gather on Sunday, our purpose will not be to make the new sanctuary a holy place. Our purpose will be to recognize that the sacrifices of so many faithful women and men who have been and still are a part of this congregation make this a holy place. In the years ahead we will return again and again to this place to celebrate weddings, to remember and give thanks for those who have died, to baptize those who seek a place among the people of God, to recall the wondrous acts of God, to lift our voices in praise and to experience the reality of God's presence in our midst.

Sunday will be a special day. I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Grace and peace,

Rusty