Joey Baker was a baby when he made his mark — on a pastor.
Baker’s grandma, Joyce Dowty, still recalls that day. The Rev. Larry Jirsak had just baptized the baby and was lifting him up to show the congregation.
That’s when the unexpected happened. The baby spit up formula in the pastor’s suit pocket.
“Pastor Larry just laughed it off and continued like nothing had ever happened,” Dowty recalled.
Now 15 years old, Baker will be confirmed at United Church of Christ, Congregational Church in Scribner. And he will be part of another memorable time for the congregation on Sunday, May 7.
This will be the last Sunday that UCC congregants have a service in their church building at 614 Howard St. The congregation has received an offer from another church to buy the building. UCC congregants plan to find somewhere else to worship.
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“We don’t have the number of people it takes to operate a building,” Dowty said. “We are going to continue as a congregation. We just won’t have a building.”
The UCC congregation will have its final service at 1 p.m. in the church. Jirsak will lead the congregation in a “Service of Thanksgiving” with favorite hymns, the confirmation service and special music by area residents Shelly Martin and Nancy Schroeder. Former pastors plan to attend and the public is invited. After the service, a fellowship lunch is planned in Scribner’s community center.
“Everybody is welcome — anybody who wants to say ‘goodbye,’” Dowty said.
The event won’t be easy for Dowty and her longtime friend and fellow church worker, Chris Christ, also of Scribner.
“It’s going to be very hard, because we’ve been so involved in the church and it’s been our church for 35 years,” Dowty said.
Her pal agrees.
“I’m going to bawl my eyes out, because it’s so meaningful to me,” Christ said. “I always feel more full when I go to church. When I walk into the doors, it feels like I’m home.”
The church has been home to parishioners for decades. The congregation was organized in 1871 at Pebble in Dodge County. Church history records that the first pastor, Andrew Warwick, drowned while crossing Pebble Creek in a boat.
In 1876, the congregation moved to Scribner and had services at Meyer’s Hall.
The existing church was built in 1882 for $1,600 and has been transformed throughout the years. The congregation is now 152 years old and the building more than 140.
Dowty and Christ have made many memories during their time at the church.
They remember the church’s Shrove Tuesday Pancake Feed, which took place for years.
“For three hours solid, we served pancakes and sausage,” Dowty said.
Church members dished up lots of pancakes and sausage for the community. The congregation would use at least two, 10-pound bags of pancake mix.
“We’d buy a case of sausage and there was very seldom any sausage left,” Dowty said.
The church ran a fundraising, food stand during the Dodge County Fair in Scribner for years. Members sold hamburgers, hot dogs, sloppy joes, homemade pie and other items. The stand was well known for its hot beef dinners.
Money raised via the stand was used to send church and community kids to Camp Kaleo, a Christian summer camp, at Burwell.
The church stopped having pancake feeds about three years ago and hasn’t operated the food stand for the last two.
Christ said she has other recollections.
“The biggest memory I have is the way we decorated the church for Christmas — the Hanging of the Greens,” Christ said.
Before Christmas, the church had a service during which the sanctuary was decorated.
The pastor would explain the meaning of each decoration — such as the wreaths — and then the congregation sang a song. Dowty said that’s usually been one of their favorite services.
Dowty has other memories, too. One time, former UCC Pastor Linda Newman asked if Dowty would conduct a one-day Bible school for the kids. Dowty agreed to do so.
That agreement led to 22 years of leading the Bible school, which became a weeklong event each year. Dowty and Christ ran the food stand during those years, as well.
Dowty and Christ recall when Newman asked them to accompany her to a women’s retreat at Camp Kaleo several years ago. Five women from the church attended.
“We had the best time out there,” Dowty said. “It was very relaxing, very spiritual, very calming. I had a great time.”
Dowty said she’ll miss hearing the pipe organ in the church.
“That’s been one of our big attractions,” she said.
The women have appreciated their pastors throughout the years.
“He’s a very devoted pastor,” Dowty said of Jirsak. “He’s always been there for us.”
The women also said the same of Newton.
“She was very good us for us, too,” Dowty said.
They also fondly recall a church minister, the late Rev. Wally Barth, who always looked on the positive side of life. If parishioners grumbled, he encouraged them to let trivial matters drop.
One Sunday years ago, the women were upset about something that had happened in the church.
As deacons, it was their job to collect the offering that Sunday.
“We were taking the offering plates back up to the altar and this huge clap of thunder hit; It rattled the building,” Dowty said. “We looked at each other and thought ‘Wow!’”
After the service, Dowty and Christ began talking to other congregants about the loud clap of thunder.
“Nobody else heard it,” Dowty said.
Both women thought the situation was freaky.
“We thought it was Pastor Wally’s way of telling us, ‘Just be quiet and let it go,’” Dowty said. “We quit grumbling and let it (the matter) drop.”
Now, they look back on that situation with humor.
And even amid the bittersweet prospect of saying goodbye to their church building, Dowty looks forward to her grandson’s confirmation with a little humor, too.
“Hopefully, he won’t puke on the pastor again,” Dowty said, laughing as she pointed out, “Pastor won’t be carrying him this time.”