The Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly (2024) is on hand as an Indiana church celebrates 200 years of mission and ministry

A sermon on being salt and light by the Rev. Tony Larson highlights a historic service at First Presbyterian Church in Columbus

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

Members and friends of First Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Indiana, celebrated the church’s 200th anniversary with joyful worship on Sunday. (Photo by Rich Copley)

COLUMBUS, Indiana — At the very beginning of Sunday’s worship service celebrating the 200^th anniversary of First Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Indiana, the church’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Felipe Martínez, stood up, smiled broadly, and said, “Good morning, church. Hey, church — happy birthday!”

Watch the landmark service here beginning at the 14:40 mark.

After Martínez recognized former pastors in attendance as well as guests including the Rev. Sara Dingman, synod executive of the Synod of Lincoln Trails, and the Rev. Susan McGhee, executive presbyter of the Presbytery of Ohio Valley, Jen Riddle, the church’s Director of Children, Youth and Young Adult Ministries invited the children forward.

First Presbyterian Church’s pastor, the Rev. Dr. Felipe Martínez, at right, and the Rev. Tony Larson, Co-Moderator of the 226th General Assembly, lead worship on Sunday. (Photo by Rich Copley)

In a nod to the “Salt and Light” Scripture that the Rev. Tony Larson, Co-Moderator of the 226^th General Assembly, would soon be preaching on, Riddle focused on the lighted candle the children would carry off to their own children’s church. Riddle shined the light from her phone into a colander and onto a dark piece of paper on the floor.

“What do you see?” she asked. “A whole bunch of dots,” a child replied. “When we go into the world, we are those separate dots of light. Can you be little, tiny pieces of the big light to share God’s love?” Riddle asked the children. “We as a church have been gathering for 200 years to learn how to share God’s light, and you are a part of that.”

Larson chose “Salty and Luminous” for his sermon title. He thanked the church for “sharing” Martínez, who also serves the larger church as Co-Moderator of the Unification Commission. “This is important work,” Larson said. “It involves patience and pastoral sensitivity. As my own congregation is learning, serving higher councils of the church takes time and attention.”

As First Presbyterian celebrates 200 years of ministry, Larson invited those gathered Sunday to go back in their minds even further, to a first-century gathering of believers, where people typically enjoyed a meal following worship. “I imagine after worship they talked about how their kids were doing, health issues, the ways they could support one another. I sure hope they talked about widows and orphans in their community,” Larson said. It could be they also ventured into topics such as business and politics, he said, adding, “in those days, being a Christian was risky.”

In the first century, people were expected to worship the Roman emperor and the gods of the Roman empire to show their loyalty, Larson said. Refusing to do that “was seen as a challenge to Rome and a threat to society,” he said. “Empire taught that gods needed to be appeased. People who refused to honor gods were seen as a real threat to their neighbors. It’s no wonder the early Christians didn’t want to talk much about business and politics.”

“It would have been the most rational thing in the world for those early Christians to stay hidden,” Larson said. “Yet Matthew’s gospel records Jesus teaching his disciples they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.” After Jesus spoke those words, “Can you hear the creative gulp in the first Christian church?”

Our current context is a bit different, Larson said. “You’ve been engaged in mission and ministry for two centuries,” he said, then asked, “What does being salty and luminous mean for us?”

As part of Saturday’s ordination service for the Rev. Jerusha Van Camp at First Presbyterian Church in Evansville, Indiana, Larson observed that congregation “was salt and light to her, and now she will be salt and light to this presbytery.”

Once worship had ended, worshipers posed for a celebrative photograph. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Larson said throughout his ministry, he’s learned how important it is “to tend to the people who show up. But it’s also important to be salt and light in other places.” One of those places is the Surfside Beach Dog Park, where Larson often takes his dog, Martin Luther. About six months ago, a woman there told him about her neighbor who’d just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. This woman had left her church at age 7 and hadn’t been back in 70 years.

“Thanks be to God, she had a friend who didn’t go to church but had a pastor,” Larson said. He met the woman at a nearby park. “I could tell her that her best attempts to make confession were not sufficient for that time. But here’s what I know: You are precious in the sight of God. God has not left you and will never leave you,” Larson told the woman. “If you ever have courage to go back to a church, I pray it will be a good experience.”

On Fridays, neighbors of First Presbyterian Church in Columbus can stop by for a hot meal and conversation. “You find ways to meet people’s needs,” Larson told those in worship. “That’s some salty work you’re doing.”

To be both salty and luminous, we must “better discern God’s call for compassion and justice,” Larson said. “Jesus has called us to flavor everything with our kindness, bind together our neighbors with compassion and season everything with love. How are you being salty and luminous? Ask yourself every day and listen to what the Spirit is telling you: You are salt, and you are light. Thanks be to God! Amen.”

First Presbyterian Church’s choir contributed mightily to Sunday’s bicentennial service. (Photo by Rich Copley)

Other service highlights included beautiful contributions by the FPC choir accompanied by Jordan Lewis and the singing of “We Give You Thanks,” with lyrics by the church’s emeritus organist, Ray Hass, to supplement Daniel L. Schutte’s “Here I Am, Lord.” Hass added four verses, including these two: “For all those who grace this place/Who come to worship face to face/Who live and die to leave their trace/We give you thanks” and “For all those yet still to come/To continue what we’ve begun/And at last to say, well done/We give you thanks.”

First Presbyterian Church Bicentennial Committee Co-Chairs Rachel McCarver (left) and Sherry Stark (right) with Columbus Mayor Mary K. Ferdon, who read a proclamation honoring the church’s historic achievement. (Photo by Rich Copley)

After worship, members and friends gathered for a photo outside the church, met with Larson to hear more about his service as Co-Moderator, then celebrated with the rest of the Columbus community at a Columbus park. Columbus Mayor Mary K. Ferdon declared Sunday “First Presbyterian Church of Columbus, Indiana, 200^th Anniversary Day.”

Celebrants also scooped up hot-off-the-presses copies of Paul J. Hoffman’s “200 Years of First Presbyterian Church in Columbus, Indiana.” A former journalist, Hoffman is an FPC member.

During his time with some of those who’d earlier attended worship, Larson discussed his life and ministry to date, including how he got to know his fellow Co-Moderator, the Rev. CeCe Armstrong. The two had their first conversation in February just before deciding to stand for office. “We decided we would talk about having authenticity and depth, aligning ourselves with God’s will,” Larson recalled.

First Presbyterian Church member Paul Hoffman (center) wrote a book about the history of the church’s first 200 years. (Photo by Rich Copley)

He said both are excited about opportunities to travel across the country and around the world. “The Church is very much trying to be out there in the world, strengthening relationships,” he said.

He described the moment at the 226^th General Assembly when commissioners determined they would reconsider their vote on divesting from energy companies.

“It’s not often a body says, ‘Maybe we need to listen more,’” Larson said. “It was a moment I knew the Holy Spirit was working with commissioners. … A Young Adult Advisory Delegate from Puerto Rico talked to us about storms in the Caribbean. A commissioner from Texas said the legacy of fossil fuels keeps the doors of the church open. It was a moment where we saw how expansive the Church is and how hard it can be to hold it together. It was hard work by the Assembly to find that middle path.”

At the church he serves, Trinity Presbyterian Church in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, part of the building is a community center, where “way more people” pass through the doors than do people, say, attending worship. Larson gets letters from people who’ve been blessed by services provided there, with messages including “I’m still married,” “I’m still allowed to see my kids,” and “I’m still alive because your church provides space.”

“That’s one way I know the church is being salt in the community,” he said.

For those still wondering what that looks like, Larson recommend the short film “The Last Repair Shop,” a documentary short by the Los Angeles Times that won a 2024 Academy Award. The film describes devoted craftspeople who maintain more than 80,000 musical instruments for students out of a nondescript warehouse.

“We repair things because we love them,” is the message of the film, according to Larson. The passion the craftspeople put into their work of repair “has changed people’s lives.”

“Our churches can be repair shops, healing breaches in our world,” he said. “Not so people can work harder, but because we love them, and God loves them.”