First Church OKC

   

(Photo taken from First Church website.)

     This past Sunday, my husband and I had the opportunity to attend First Church in Oklahoma City.  Most likely, you're familiar with this beautiful Methodist church from the damage done to it during the bombing of the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building in 1995;however, it's history dates much, much further back than that. Think homesteaders and land runs and 1889. Think beginnings of a new city and the start of new places to worship in this new city, and think First Church. This particular church got its start the Sunday after the first Oklahoma Land Rush and is known to be the oldest church in Oklahoma City to have occupied the same corner on the same street since its origin so long ago.

    The original wood-framed church building was eventually replaced by the stately brick structure with gorgeous round stained glass windows that you remember from the news, and after the damage from the bombing, the congregation chose to convert the damaged sanctuary to a fellowship hall and build an addition housing a new sanctuary and chapel among other needed rooms.  It was into this addition that we first walked this past Sunday morning.

    It took us a little while to figure out exactly where to park, but eventually we found a parking lot in what appears to be the back of the church with some spaces marked specifically for visitors. One parking lot we had entered to begin with read Permit Only, and the spaces we eventually found were pretty hard to read due to peeling paint, so by the time we got out of our vehicles, we were a little frazzled and feeling a bit like this church didn't want us there. Boy were we wrong!

   As we walked timidly up to the door, unsure about whether or not we were at the right entrance, we were relieved to have the door opened by a smiling gentleman welcoming us to church. Several others shook our hands and visited with us a bit before directing us towards a visitors center in the middle of the foyer and even more welcoming, smiling faces.  In the center of the group, bringing life to all who crossed his path was the church historian who greeted us from his walker/perch and made us laugh and feel right at home before we were directed to the sanctuary.

     Once seated in the truly gorgeous sanctuary with windows echoing the original windows in the original santuary, several more members stopped by to say hello, and they explained that we had arrived just in time to enjoy Laity Sunday (where the regular folks would take over the service) and invited us to stay for their chili cook-off meal (which was extremely tempting... except that we were in the city, and how often do we get to eat out in the city....without kids....so, thanks so much, maybe next time).  We were a little surprised by how many people went out of their way to say hello and make us feel at home.  Within a few minutes, the sanctuary begin to fill up, but we couldn't help but noticed that there was room for many, many more to attend.

   Soon the music started with a very traditional hymn sung to beautiful organ music. Unfortunately, I don't think this particular song was much of a tradition in this church as it reminded me greatly of times I attempted to lead the congregation in singing an older, mostly unknown hymn and failed miserably. It was so pitiful in fact that I almost got tickled and started laughing, and I have to think that God must get a little chuckle at our goof ups in worship. I also greatly appreciated the fact that the man who stepped up afterwards to make announcements and pray joked that by the final verse he felt like he almost had that song down. (I mean really, why not go ahead and name that elephant?, and he did, which really lightened the mood and set the stage for a fantastic rest of the service. )

    The music itself improved exponentially after that first song. The choir shared special music, and though they were small, they were definitely mighty. Their beautiful harmonies guided me into worship and soothed away any worldly worries I'd brought in with me.  There was only one gentleman in the group, but boy, oh, boy could he sing. In all, it was just perfectly perfect, and then the praise band came forward for a time of contemporary worship music that moved me to my very soul.  There were times that the presence of God so overwhelmed me that tears ran down my cheeks and I couldn't get the words to exit my throat.  Oh how I so appreciate the opportunity to truly worship my God through song, and I'm so grateful for this chance to do so on this particular Sunday.

    Because it was Laity Sunday, we got the chance to experience a variety of members participating in a variety of ways.  There was a touching and sincere prayer time, a testimony of God's faithfulness that could have served as a sermon in itself, a well-presented message that was just icing on the cake, and the adorable robed acolytes were the perfect bookends to a wonderful worship experience.

    Afterwards, members took the time to show us around, making certain that we were able to experience the chapel where the perfectly intact face of Jesus that was salvaged from the wreckage of blown out windows after the bombing has been inserted into a new window with 33 other pieces of salvaged stained glass surrounding. The room was gorgeous and serene and had a very healing feeling about it.

I really wish you could actually see this window.
Apparently, I'm no good at window pictures.

     We also were shown the fellowship hall which was converted from the original sanctuary and given a chance to visit with the very delightful church historian and to wander through the history nook with it's incredible displays of church artifacts and antiques.

This is part of the original sanctuary which is now the
fellowship hall.  So beautiful!

     All in all, we had a wonderful worship experience with the people of First Church and would be thrilled to visit again sometime. If you find yourself in the downtown OKC area on a Sunday morning, I highly recommend that you Chase this particular Steeple as well!