Tracing Lutheran Roots
Advent Congregation’s Visit to Historic Trappe and the Augustus Lutheran Churches
Written by George Freestone and Ray Smith of Advent, West Lawn
Advent’s Men’s Group coordinated a day-trip to Trappe, PA on Saturday, May 17th. One of four facilitators of the group, Dr. Ray Smith spent some youthful and educational years living in Trappe, including have been confirmed in the Augustus Lutheran "brick" church. During his senior year at seminary, our Interim Pastor Thomas Irwin (a second facilitator) had a field placement at Augustus as student assistant to the pastor, Rev. John McConomy.
In preparation for the trip, Pastor Irwin preached from the father of American Lutheranism, Henry Muhlenberg’s, 1748 Liturgy the Sunday prior to our visit, wearing time-appropriate vestments.
First, the Advent group toured the DeWees Tavern Museum (focusing on culture of the early residents of Trappe), Henry Melchior and Anna Maria (Weiser) Muhlenberg’s Home, and the Speaker’s House (the home of son Frederick Muhlenberg, the very first Speaker of the U.S. House Of Representatives). After an enjoyable lunch, the group toured both the “Old” Augustus Lutheran Church (1743) and the “new” “Brick” Augustus Lutheran Church (1852), as well as the grounds — including the cemetery behind the Old Church and the Historic Walkway with stones dedicated from the many churches Henry Muhlenberg had a hand in initiating and nurturing.
The morning visit did much to orient the group to the period when the Old Church was beginning its ministry, highlighting the furniture, ironwork, pottery, textiles, fraktur, paintings, and more that were made by talented Pennsylvania German craftspeople and artisans. The Old Church is the oldest continuously operating Lutheran Church in the U.S. We witnessed God leading the initial call of Henry Muhlenberg to a ministry in the U.S. Our time spent in the two beautiful churches brought us closer to understanding how colonial Americans worshiped and why a three-hour worship service was welcomed — significant travel time just to get to worship, a demanding life for the rest of each week. The vast number of dedicated stones in the Historical Walkway showed the geographical range of Muhlenberg’s leadership in ministry and evangelism, modeling his understanding of Jesus’ example. This instilled a very moving experience for the Advent visitors, and linked back to what had been experienced a week earlier listening to the 1748 Liturgy.
Photos from the event can be found here, including some informative materials at the album’s beginning and conclusion:
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Advent, West Lawn
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