Pastor Mueller 1940

REV. ELDOR MUELLER Jan. 1940

In June the congregation extended a call to Candidate Mueller, who was ordained and installed by his father, the Rev. M.H. Mueller of Dwight,June 23, 1940. That fall Saturday School was introduced in order to provide religious instruction for children 8-11 years of age. January, 1941 marked the congregational decision to admit men and women together at the Lord's Table. At the same time it was decided to abandon the two cups, one for the men and another for the women, and really employ the common cup. The decision to take these steps was restricted to the English services. However, the older members attending the German communion services voluntarily abandoned the traditional separation at the Communion Table that same year.

When your pastor came to Sterling he discovered immediately that Second Avenue Lutheran had a "men's side" and a "ladies' side" of the church - not north and south sides. The family entered "the church hall" together, then split up, with the men and boys breaking to the left and the ladies and girls taking to the right. Back in 1940 a few determined families were bucking this tradition; most, however, still complied with it. It had broken down almost completely, however, by the end of that same year.

He was also advised that "the men go to communion first, using this cup, and the ladies go afterward, using this cup." The first named was a wide chalice, which the administrant had to use very carefully to avoid spilling the wine in serving the guests, while "the cup for the ladies" was designed like the present one in use - a fine service instrument.

Historically the use of two cups had a double explanation; first of all, the separation of the ladies from the men perpetrated the old world German tradiŽtion of the superiority of the male over the female; secondly, the ladies preferred it this way because they did not then receive wine which had been filtered through the "schnurrbarts" (mustaches) of the men. That same year the voting members resolved that families should commune together; from that time on only the "ladies" chalice was used.

Tragically, most of these vessels are no longer extant. When Messiah Lutheran purchased its beautiful custom-designed, hand-made sterling silver communion ware from A.R. Mowbray & Co. in London, England in 1957 (a foreign purchase became necessary because we could not locate an American product heavy enough to serve our purposes), the original communion ware made by Schmidt in Milwaukee was laid aside in storage. These vessels, as well as the original bapŽtismal font bowl, were brought out of retirement for use at the Dixon State School, where Pastor began conducting weekly services Tuesday afternoons in 1962, as well as at the Messiah Lutheran Mission in Rock Falls. When "thieves broke in and stole" at Good Shepherd Lutheran, Rock Falls, in 1970, they took all these vessels, only to destroy or discard them, no doubt, when it was discovered they were only silver plated. Only "the men's cup" and the dinner plate-sized paten escaped this destruction.

At this point we should also record the tradition of a special plate offering received at all communion services. The communicants deposited in a basket whatever coins they wished to present as they left the altar. This "communion collection", as it was called, was given to the Pastor to purchase the bread and wine. Whatever remained over and above actual cost was considered a gratuity for the minister. This tradition was wisely laid aside by the congregation before a call was extended in 1940 because people could mis-interpret the Pastor's appeal for more frequent use of the Lord's Supper as an indirect effort to fatten his own purse. This decision was soon followed by the introduction of monthly commuŽnion services; the ancient tradition of "quarterly" celebrations had finally been broken.

By 1941 the church proved entirely too small for the worshipers coming to the English service. More and more frequently it became necessary for the ushers to send people home because of an overcrowded church. Early that year, then, the practice of duplicate English services was introduced. In January, 1940, the "every" Sunday German service schedule was reduced to two per mon.th. This continued until the congregation decided October 6, 1942 to reduce the German service schedule to four communion services per year. This was done because the attendance dropped as low as 7 per service. It was noted also that most of those attending the German service remained for the English also. Furthermore, since two English services were conducted every Sunday, it was necessary to drop the German in order to make room for the Adult Bible Class.

The Rev. A.W. Oetting, long-time Pastor of Our Savior Lutheran of Hopkins, liked to describe the present Pastor's ministry as "very successful." After a dramatic pause he'd add facetiously, "very successful in killing the German."

Actually, this was only a half-truth. When the call was extended to Candidate Mueller it was known he could not preach German, though he could read it and understand simple German. So the older members, accustomed to their ministry in their mother tongue, urged him to accept the call and read them German serŽmons because, they added, "We can't see well enough to tell whether you are reading or preaching anyway." When he accepted the call he became the only pastor in the Circuit who could not speak German as fluently as English; today he's the only man in the circuit who uses German quotations, which he must then translate for the benefit of the others. My, how things have changed in 35 years!

Those early years of pastoral ministration must have provoked many a smile for those living through this German into English transition. The Pastor carefully typed c.c. Schmidt's sermons for use in the public service and practiced reading these aloud in his study to put the message across as well as possible. Some of those sentences were so long he would occasionally lose the thought in the midŽdle of a paragraph. Emma Schueler, church organist for many years, volunteered to him that this provoked a knowing smile more than once. I ncidentally, the comŽmunion liturgy was chanted by the minister in those days, another problem the new non-German pastor had to work through. But he had his mind made up that he would not "kill German" by forcing a decision against its use; he would do his very best, handicapped tho' he was in language, and let the German die a natural death. And that's exactly what happened.

Pastor will never forget his visits with Grandma Genz in Nelson early in his ministry. She was already 84 years old at that time, had been isolated from public worship already for many years because the relatives with whom she was waiting out her days were completely irreligious. She knew and remembered a constantŽly decreasing number of older members and therefore was able to speak inŽtelligently about and inquire about a limited number of church-related people and things. Grossmutter Genz knew only two English words: "my sakes." It must have seemed odd to hear Pastor's comments about once familiar people and things punctuated with repeated "my sakes" in exclamation.