First Sunday of Lent

Lectionary Scriptures: Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-10; Mark 1:9-15

"Where there is no vision, the people perish" (Proverbs 29:18)

A postscript to the 140th anniversary of First United Methodist Church of Reno, Nevada

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It’s true, you know: those who are ignorant of the past cannot transcend it; and those who do not think of their future cannot have one.

When The Rev. John Wesley, British Anglican priest and destined to become the founder of the Methodist Movement, coined the phrase, "I look upon all the world as my parish," he could not have imagined the rapid spread of Methodism throughout the British Isles, the European continent, and the American colonies much less Nevada! Eventually the spiritual movement became an organized denomination in Baltimore on Christmas of 1784. To this day the sun never sets on the presence of the Methodist witness to the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

Of necessity we must "fast forward" to 19th-century Nevada. On this first Sunday of Lent when we remember Jesus being driven by God’s Spirit into the wilderness to reflect upon his Divinely-called mission, it seems appropriate to acknowledge the courageous men and women of the faith who ventured into this expansive desert territory to be faithful to the biblical challenge to "make disciples of all nations, baptizing them...and teaching them to obey everything" that Jesus taught (Matt. 28:19,20). I offer this sermon as a postscript to our having celebrated the 140th anniversary of this church last year, though there is evidence that a Methodist society was first organized in the Truckee Meadows as early as 1863. Oh, there are so many spiritual and human interest stories of Methodism’s early days in this state! I have time for only a very few to share with you today -- some poignant, some heroic, and others humorous.

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The first white man to set foot in Nevada was a hunter, trapper, and expedition leader named Capt. Jedediah Smith. The year was 1825. Variously called "Rocky Moun- tain Jack,"" Uncle Jack," "Old Jed,"(though he died at age 32!) and "Bible toter," Smith was known as a devout Christian and a staunch Methodist. Though there is no evidence that he established a congregation or preached a sermon, Jedediah Smith made the first Methodist footprint in our sand and sagebrush.

Gold, silver, building the railroad, enactment of the Homestead Act, and escaping Civil War hostilities prompted pioneers to venture westward. Among them were trained local preachers, laymen who earned a living behind the plow or as a merchant. They started Sunday schools and preached on Sundays. Typical of Methodists on the move, tireless ordained circuit-riding ministers on horseback followed the migration to do the marrying and administer the sacraments. Nevada historian Myron Angel wrote in 1881 that folks lived their religion in practical ways. He observed, "The trials so often endured.. develop a spirit of charity, forbearance, and good-will toward one another; and all the graces of Christian love and tenderness are frequently illustrated" in mining camps and tent cities "where no spire points the way to Heaven..."

But a certain Rev. H. Richardson, the agent of the California Bible Society, had a different perspective as revealed in a report he filed in 1874: "Is there a State in our whole Union where there is so little religious restraint, such ignorance of the Bible, such flaunting at its teachings, such Sabbath-breaking, such heaven-daring profanity, such common drunkenness, such unblushing licentiousness, and such glorying in shame...?" Perhaps Richardson exaggerated just a trifle.

Living conditions were harsh. At the turn of the 20th century, The Rev. Eugene W. Van Deventer was the longest serving and widely respected presiding elder (district superintendent) in Nevada’s history - 17 years. He supervised local preachers and ordained ministers covering an area of 500 miles in which he visited several times each year. He was a large man of about 250 lbs., a fervent preacher, a fearless reformer, and children were amused by his very loud snoring. Van Deventer reported to the Conference of 1890 that after three years of unparalleled drought, there followed a winter of almost continuous snow storms, deep snow, and severity of cold. He said that he had traveled 7,810 miles by buggy, rail, and on foot "with a knapsack on my back," on snow-plows, snow-shoes, and bob-sleds.

The Rev. F. M. Willis was a pioneer Nevada missionary of the 1850s and ‘60s. In his memoirs he wrote: "I preached in sitting rooms, vacant houses, carpenter shops, or any old place until the little schoolhouse that now stands about one mile below Sparks was built in the spring of 1864. The site of the present flourishing town of Reno was then populated with an abundance of jackrabbits and cottontails" Willis said he built a home north of Verdi. Be- cause the cost of hay was very high, he could not afford to keep a horse in the winter. And at one of his preaching stations, Glendale, someone stole his saddle and bridle. For most of a year he walked from his home to Glendale and back - some 18 miles one way! He wrote: "...many times I took off my boots and bathed my blistered feet in the clear cool waters of the Truckee. How often I thought of Jesus, weary, worn, and foot-sore, walking from place to place fulfilling his mission..."

The title of "father of Nevada Methodism" goes to Jesse L. Bennett, the minister of Carson Valley, the "Cradle of Nevada Methodism," in 1858 -- a gentle, modest man, but tough. He walked his 200-mile circuit of preaching stations, including Genoa and Eagle Ranch (later to be named Carson City). He also preached the first sermon ever heard in Virginia City on C Street in 1860. A hat was passed for the collection, and Bennett was amazed to receive several hundred dollars from a prosperous folk ready to pay well for such a novelty as a street preacher. Bennett also planted a church in Washoe Valley by 1861.

The Rev. Thomas H. McGrath, a former Irish seaman who jumped ship in San Francisco, became a barroom entertainer, and later converted, had been assigned to Car- son in 1862 and also served as chaplain to the Territorial Legislature. He was not without controversy. During one legislative session an elected representative was heard complaining that the chaplain was taking up valuable time giving prayers at the opening session each day. The detractor was a miner who said he could endure the prayers if some good would come of it; for instance, that a huge rock in his mining tunnel would be softened or the water flowing there would be more plentiful. Word of the complaint reached McGrath. The next morning when the Assembly was called to order, the Methodist preacher offered this supplication to God: "Oh Lord: We pray Thee to remember [our Assembly member]. Make the rock of his tunnel as soft as his head and the water in the ditch as abundant as the whisky he daily drinks. Amen." McGrath went on to become this church’s first official pastor for one year in 1868.

The first church building to be erected was in Virginia City on the corner of D and Taylor in 1861 by The Rev. S. B. Rooney at the cost of $2,000 with a seating capacity of 150. It was the year Congress created what then became called the Territory of Nevada. One of the members of that church’s official board was Capt. Henry G. Blasdel, who would become the first elected Governor in 1864 when Nevada achieved statehood. The Virginia City church building passed through several disasters, having to be rebuilt three times. Eventually the last structure was moved to Sparks.

The second church to be erected was in Dayton in 1863 under the pastoral leader- ship of J. H. Maddux. The third church to be built in the same year was in Washoe City while McGrath was pastor. The fourth church building was built in 1865 at Gold Hill by The Rev. A. F. Hitchcock. Then came the mining camp at Austin where The Rev. J. L. Trefren built the largest church edifice in the state with the exception of the Roman Catholic building in Virginia City. There is quite a fascinating story about how Trefren financed the project by selling shares of mining stock to people on the East Coast based on speculations of yield, which didn’t meet expectations. With the funds collected Trefren was also able to install a magnificent organ.

Finally, in the Cradle of Nevada Methodism, after several attempts to build begin- ning in 1861 with Territorial Governor James Nye attending the planning meeting, Carson City managed to erect a house of worship in 1865-66 and Governor Blasdel was on the board of trustees. The pastor, Warren Nims, was seen every week-day driving a two-horse team pulling a lumber wagon, hauling the stones for the new church. It was quite a sight to see short Rev. Nims’ plug hat bobbing up and down from the springless seat on which he perched. By the way, it needs to be said that the Methodist Church claimed yet another governor - Grant Sawyer, elected in 1962.

Reno’s first building on Sierra Street just north of First Street was completed in 1871 when The Rev. A. R. Ricker was pastor. It’s bell tower housed a bell weighing one ton and 40 inches in diameter. A second larger building of brick followed at the Sierra Street location in 1900; and our present structure was completed in 1926. Our church has had a colorful, amusing history. For example, The Rev. Leslie Burwell (1906-1910). The city council had outlawed street preaching. Burwell and his congregation gathered on Virginia Street for their meeting. Burwell was arrested and put in the city jail with drunks. Convicted in a city court, he appealed to the Supreme Court, which held that anti-street speaking was unconstitutional. Then there was pastor Alfred Case (1927-1931), who held a series of forums on current topics. Reno mayor Roberts, much to the pastor’s embarrass- ment, told the audience that the only way to stop bootlegging was to put a barrel of whisky on every street corner and let everyone help himself. Neither Reno nor any other city accepted the mayor’s proposal.

Please allow a digression to the Gold Hill church. The year - 1873. The pastor was Valentine Rightmyer. He was a rather private, quiet, and sensitive individual. In that year a painful discovery was made that he died of starvation. He had a large family and a small salary. In order to keep his family well fed and clothes, he denied himself life’s necessities. He never complained. But local citizens who had plenty would have generously given had they known of his situation.

Fluctuating with the boom-and-bust of the mining industry Methodist churches flourished throughout the state and some closed down. At one time we had congregations in such other places as Carlin, Elko, Tuscarora, Eureka, Ruby Hill, Ely, Ruth, McGill, Hamil- ton, Mason Valley, Fallon, Lovelock, Goldfield, Tonopah, Winnemucca, Battle Mountain, Sparks, Minden-Gardnerville, Hazen, Wellington, Yerington, Smith Valley, Paradise Valley, Caliente, Pioche, Las Vegas (by the early 20th century), and reaching out to Native Americans with a ministry on-going at Schurz. In the last 30 years Nevada has provided hospitality to Tongan congregations. In 1873 African-Americans who had settled in Virginia City established a church two years later on E Street between Union and Center Streets under the jurisdiction of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Their pastor was The Rev. Wier. When the terrible fire of 1876 swept through that city, their little church was reduced to ashes. That congregation was unable to sustain itself. Today in Sparks we have a dynamic AME church with an equally dynamic woman pastor - Terry McCray-Hill. We would have to wait until the 1950s to have our first ordained Methodist woman, and now The United Methodist Church is blessed with many women pastors, district superintendents, and bishops. The first woman pastor of this church was Mo-Chi Huang (now Lam), who served as my associate pastor in the early 1980s. Later The Rev. Judith Stone served with Bob Olmstead, and Jacqui Meadows became a senior pastor here. Currently we have five women pastors serving churches in northern Nevada.

One final historical note: Methodism has always placed a high value on education. So it is not surprising that in 1894 the first president of our University of Nevada in Reno for 20 years was an ordained Methodist minister, 45-year-old Joseph Stubbs, who was a scholar and a powerful influence for education throughout the state.

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Etched across the edifice of the Hall of Archives in Washington D.C., that houses such historic documents as the Declaration of Independence, are these words: "The Past Is Prologue." So, everything we have been talking about in the past is prologue to what you and I are left to ponder: what will be our individual and congregational legacy to the Methodist spirit of Christianity in Nevada well into the 21st century and beyond?

Will we take seriously the covenant that God first proclaimed to Noah, passed on through Jesus, and offers to us now: that we shall be blessed with the gift of God’s saving love? I hope that we will understand our past and transcend it so we may envision our future and fulfill it.

The Rev. John H. Emerson
pastor emeritus