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UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST OF LAWRENCE, KANSAS

03. THE VIEW FROM HERE 04. MAUNDY THURSDAY SERVICE 05. GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE 06. EASTER SUNDAY! 08. EASTER OFFERING: UKRAINE AID 09. EASTER LILY DELIVERIES 10. “MAMA BEARS” FILM SCREENING & COMMUNITY PANEL 11. CONFIRMATION SUNDAY 12. CONFIRMATION RETREAT THANK YOU! 14. MAJOR CHORAL WORK SUNDAY 15. PRIDE PARTY 2022 SAVE THE DATE! 16. COMMUNITY NEWS: FAMILY PROMISE & HEAD START 18. VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL 2022 SAVE THE DATE! 19 PLYMOUTH HISTORY: THE DICKSON FAMILY

Last spring, those words felt like a prayer. We could not predict what the year ahead would bring. The future felt tenuous and uncertain. That’s still true. We may have setbacks and unanticipated challenges in the months ahead. It’s even likely that we will. Even so, I believe we’re turning a corner this spring. The light is shining through our shared life in ever more visible ways. Weekly worship participation is robust. Forty children in kindergarten through fifth grade attend Our Whole Lives classes here each Wednesday evening. One hundred and thirty of us are sharing life in weekly Lenten Covenant Groups. Maybe best of all, we’re preparing to celebrate Easter Sunday worship together in the sanctuary for the first time since 2019. It will be Caroline’s and my first Easter leading worship in-person at Plymouth. That’s a massive deal for us. The story of resurrection feels immediate in a new way. Life, love, and hope are stronger than death, and all that deals it. I’m deeply grateful for your companionship through these wilderness years and so filled with hope for all that God will yet do in and through us. Thanks be to God! See you in church,

pring yard clean-up feels different this year. I still felt a little twinge-y in the early spring of last year. Even the daffodils reminded me of being in crisis mode. Vaccines were becoming more widely available, but I hadn’t had mine yet. Our kids were venturing back into the school buildings on a limited basis, but school at home was still a big part of our life. We’d just crossed the first anniversary of broadcasting Sunday worship live from a nearly empty sanctuary. We’d endured through a full year of preaching and praying and singing praise to God in a room full of empty pews. Yet, over that year, I learned to trust you were there with us in spirit, like a great cloud of witnesses, felt but unseen. That trust proved well-placed. We’ve made it through this together, Plymouth Church. Covid may or may not be done with us yet. That remains to be seen. We know for certain now that our congregation is filled with tenacious, courageous, and steadfast people who firmly believe that God is not done with us yet. To paraphrase John Robinson’s charge to the passengers on the Mayflower at their departure, there is still more light waiting to break forth from Plymouth Church.

Our Maundy Thursday service is one of the most beautiful, powerful, and moving services of the Plymouth calendar. The service commemorates Jesus’ Last Supper with his Disciples and the establishment of Holy Communion. The service returns to an in-person worship event for the first time since 2019 this spring. 4

Come experience the last days of Christ’s life through this powerful dramatic presentation of the Passion Narrative. 5

aster Sunday is back in person in all its glory, pomp, circumstance, and celebration for the first time since the spring of 2019.

Believe it or not, this will be the first inperson Easter celebration ever held by Rev. Dr. Valerie Miller-Coleman and Rev. Caroline Lawson Dean since coming to serve at Plymouth. It’s been a long three years. Come and be a part of the spirit of renewal, hope, and joy that the remembrance of Christ’s resurrection and Easter brings to our community and world. Plymouth’s Brass will once again add to the worship of our 9:30 am service. Be here and add your voices to the triumphant full house singing of the Hallelujah chorus. The Gathering of Grace Band will offer its musical talents to the worship of our 11:30 am service.

Easter Offering Plymouth’s Mission and Service Board has designated a vital cause which our Easter offering will help support (find out more on page 8). This offering will be taken up during both of the morning services.

Fun and Fellowship Between services, come to the Mayflower Room for coffee and fellowship time. We will have Easter gift bags for children and a fun photo booth for families.

aybe February 24 felt like a run-of-the-mill Thursday in your house. But you may have spent that day glued to your TV, radio, or social media, trying to make sense of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Over the past six weeks, we’ve expressed horror and sadness as Russia bombed hospitals, schools, apartment buildings, and other civilian areas. We’ve watched millions of Ukrainians flee, seeking refuge within their country or neighboring nations. We’ve cheered the Ukrainian people’s determination to fight this attack on their sovereign nation. Russia’s invasion has quickly caused a full-scale humanitarian crisis. As God’s people, we’re called to ease the world’s suffering. And right now, Ukraine is calling out to us.

The United Church of Christ’s (UCC) relief fund efforts will provide shelter, food, and other care to war refugees and internally displaced people. It also will help refugees and asylum seekers from African, Middle Eastern, and other countries who had sought refuge in Ukraine and now are twice displaced and citizens of more than 125 other countries living in Ukraine. As a member of the ACT Alliance, UCC support is being targeted to people most in need through humanitarian relief partners with a history of working in the region. For example, Hungarian Interchurch Aid has worked along the Hungary-Ukraine border for years. It is focusing its war relief in Ukraine in two border cities. In a 10-day span early in the conflict, it trucked 278 metric tons of food and non-food items into Ukraine for relief efforts there.

Plymouth’s Mission and Service Board has voted to donate our Easter Sunday offering to the United Church of Christ’s Ukraine Relief Fund and the Plymouth Language Program. All of the funds collected on Easter Sunday will be dedicated to service. The Plymouth Language Program (PLP) funds will support refugees and immigrants who want to learn English locally, nationally, and internationally. PLP’s free online English as a second language courses have had a huge impact during these past few years. The Plymouth Language Program has increased 400% since going online! PLP now reaches students in more than six states and three different countries. Graduates of the program are returning to volunteer. The program currently has a waitlist and is exploring ways to expand.

Throughout Lent, we remember the love of God that is poured out through Christ Jesus on the cross in His death and celebrate His resurrection that leads to everlasting life. What better way to honor His love than to help others in need? Please let Rev. Caroline Lawson Dean, or a Mission and Service Board member know if you have any questions.

12:00 pm Doors Open Cost $10

12:30 pm Short Film Liberate LFK: The Past, Present and Future of LGBTQ+ Activism at KU.

12:45pm Feature Film 2:15 pm Community Panel This panel is moderated by Rev. Caroline Dean of Plymouth Congregational Church. Panelists: Stephanie Morales Macedo (Producer, Liberate LFK short film), Dawna Raehpour (Free Mom Hugs of Kansas), Gryffin and Becky Eason (community members), and Derrick Hurst (Rainbow Kids and Families). Over 30,000 conservative, Christian mothers call themselves "mama bears" for ferociously fighting for their children's civil rights and the entire LGBTQ+ community. This brand new documentary premiering at SXSW explores the journeys of two mama bears and a young lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance exemplifies why the mama bears movement is vitally important.

n Sunday, May 1, the Plymouth Chancel Choir will bring the message through the power and beauty of music. The choir is venturing into new territory as it sings a major work from the jazz genre. Nidaros Jazz Mass, composed by Bob Chillcott, is an innovative setting of the Latin Missa brevis or short mass. The fivemovement work draws on various jazz styles described by the composer as a gentle Kyrie, funky Gloria, ballad-like Sanctus, laid-back Benedictus, and a passionate Agnus Dei. Nidaros Jazz Mass was commissioned by Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, Norway. This cathedral is the most important Gothic monument in Norway and was Northern Europe's most important pilgrimage site for Christians during the Middle Ages. Its construction took place from 1070 onward. Bob Chillcott, a British choral composer, conductor, and singer, has become one of the world's most widely performed composers and arrangers of choral music. His compositions reflect his broad taste in music styles. Chillcott was a member of the King's Singers from 1985 to 1997, a chorister and choral scholar in the choir of King's College, Cambridge, and has served as conductor or guest conductor to major university choirs and the BBC Singers. In addition, his music has been widely recorded by many professional choirs and ensembles.

ur friends and Mission Partners at Family Promise of Lawrence, Kansas, want to recognize the generosity and efforts of Plymouth Church in supporting local families in a housing crisis. To the right, see the Impact Report that reflects how Plymouth’s giving and serving made a difference in the lives of families in the Lawrence community in 2021. Thank you for serving our community in this way, Plymouth members and friends!

lara Cox, the Head Start Director at ECKAN, has received the "Administrator of the Year" award from the Kansas Head Start Association. ECKAN operates the Head Start program housed at Plymouth and is one of 26 agencies that serve over 40,000 young children and their families across the state. Clara started her career as a bookkeeper with ECKAN over 35 years ago, moved into fiscal administration, and then transitioned to the Director position. Clara has been an excellent partner with Plymouth, always working to ensure high-quality services for children and families and maintaining strong collaboration with church leadership and staff. Our congratulations to Clara for her leadership and well-deserved recognition!

on September 18, 1854, the Lawrence Association is formed and, according to Cutler’s History of the State of Kansas, the first religious service is held in Lawrence City on October 1st. The account of that first service was published from a private letter in Boston’s Puritan Recorder: Last Sabbath, was my first “prairie sabbath;” it was the first Sabbath our parties had assembled for the “hearing of the word.” The Rev. Mr. Lum, sent us by way of the American Home Missionary Society, preached very acceptably. The place of worship was in our large receiving and boarding houses; we have two nearly adjoining each other, each of them about 20X48 feet, covered and thatched with prairie grass, very warm and very good. We had a large and attentive audience. Cutler ‘s History also recorded that same day the first Bible class was formed and for many weeks the citizens of Lawrence were called to the house of worship by the ringing of a large dinner bell. On Sabbath evening, October 15, a meeting was held at “Oread Hall” (a large tent for religious services), for the purpose of forming the first Congregational Church in Kansas Territory. Deacon Dickson, of Massachusetts, was Moderator, and O.A. Hanscom, Clerk. After the object of the meeting had been fully explained by Rev. S.Y. Lum, and the matter fully discussed, it was voted that Rev. S.Y. Lum, S.C. Pomeroy, Deacon Dickson, A.D. Ladd, and M.H. Spittle be a committee to draft articles of faith and a covenant as a basis for the formation of a church.

By Plymouth History Committee Member Jim Hanni

That same evening, October 15, 1854, nine individuals signed on as charter members of “Plymouth Church of Lawrence City.” Those members were:

magine being a fifteen-year-old boy, like C.H. Dickson, living the established lifestyle of a New England farm home and community in 1854. Your father, Charles Dickson, is a deacon of the Congregational church in Groton, Massachusetts, and he’s about to leave your family for a while, and put you in charge.

Samuel Y. Lum Samuel C. Pomeroy Charles Dickson Oliver A. Hanscom Franklin Haskell

Lewis Litchfield Mrs. Lewis Litchfield Mrs. Carrie R. Lum Anna Tappan

The church in Lawrence established, Plymouth church’s first Moderator, Deacon Dickson, returned to Massachusetts to settle his affairs and prepare his family for its move to Kansas Territory, open to settlement via the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Theirs would be one of the early parties of settlers under the new Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company.

In spite of his well-ordered life in New England, in the late summer of 1854, Deacon Charles Dickson sets out on a journey with the Emigrant Aid Society to the Kansas frontier, to what had been early-on called “New Boston,” also “Yankee Town,” and now “Wakarusa.” He will be there when,

What follows is an excerpt from the paper presented about that fifteen-year-old boy, C. H. Dick-

son, in his recollections of that epic journey and his introduction to Plymouth Church upon arrival in Lawrence, in his own words. The paper was presented to the annual meeting of the Kansas State Historical Society on January 17, 1893, when he was 53 years of age:

their travel). Not-withstanding the length of time consumed, what with music and dancing, singing and games, abundance to eat and drink, probably no merrier party ever sailed up the “Big Muddy.”

I was the eldest son of Deacon Charles Dickson, who was well known to many early settlers of Kansas. I was born in Groton, Mass., August 10, 1839. On the 5th day of March, 1855, our little band of New Englanders, my father’s family of six members, under the auspices of the Emigrant Aid Company, left Groton Junction (now known as Ayer) bound for the “Kansas Plains.”

After disembarking, we all filed up to a small brick hotel at the upper end of the levee. It appeared to be the only hotel in the (Kansas)City, and was kept by Col. S. W. Eldridge, who afterwards for many years kept the “Eldridge House” in Lawrence. We had now reached the end of our journey by public conveyance, but were still nearly 50 miles from our destination.

The air that March morning was crisp and frosty, the snow from two to three feet deep, and in many places in drifts of six feet. The sleigh-bells jingled merrily as we drove 3 ½ miles to the train. Such is my farewell remembrance of my childhood home. I have never revisited it.

Sunday, the 19th, was spent by our party, as far as practicable, in the good old Puritan style to which we had been accustomed.

“

Monday morning everything was stir and bustle in preparation for our overland trip to Lawrence. But it was 2 o’clock before we finally got started. As we were about ready to leave the hotel, a man entered whom I at once took to be a fullblooded Indian, although I had never seen one. He was straight and rather tall, with prominent cheek-bones, and much darker skin than any white man I had ever seen. Imagine my surprise when several men in our party, including my own father, greeted him with great cordiality as if meeting an old friend. It was John Haskell, father of John G. and Hon. Dudley C. Haskell. He had just come down from Lawrence, where he had spent the winter, and had acquired a good mahogany color through the action of the Kansas Zephyrs (wind). He was the first person from Kansas we had met since leaving home, and had much interesting news to tell us. At 2 o’clock 32 of our party, with three teams and wagons, which had been bought and fitted out, and with such bedding, clothing and provisions as were necessary for the trip, started for Lawrence.

We arrived at St. Louis on the afternoon of the 9th, where we were overtaken by a small Boston party under the charge of Rev. Charles Lovejoy. Our combined party, now numbering 45 souls, took passage on the “Kate Swinney,” for Kansas City. Besides our emigrants and other passengers, there was on board a detachment of U.S. troops under command of a lieutenant, with a brass band. As that was the first trip the boat had made up the river, and the stream was full of snags and sand-bars, we tied up to the bank every night, and were eight days making the trip to Kansas City, arriving there on the 17th (the 13th day of

The weather, which had been pleasant in the morning, had been gradually changing for the worse. The sun was clouded in, the wind was getting quite chilly. A part of the men and boys had to walk, and as we commenced to wind our way up a long, crooked ravine, over stumps and stones, hills and ditches, to get out of the city, I began for the first time to feel very homesick, and to think

that “going to Kansas” wasn’t very funny after all. We drove out that night as far as the Shawnee Baptist Mission, just over the line into Kansas. Doctor Barker and family gave us a cordial reception, and entertained us the best they could. During the night eight inches of snow fell; but the sun rose clear and bright next morning. That day we traveled to Rev. Paschal Fish’s place, near where the town of Eudora now is. The dwelling of Mr. Fish, who was an educated and wealthy Shawnee Indian, was a double log house, each room perhaps 16 feet square. He at first hesitated about taking in so large a party, but as both men and teams were very tired from dragging through the melting snow all day, and the night was getting cold, he at length agreed to take us in if we would be satisfied to occupy one of his rooms while his family occupied the other, and cooked for us our supper and breakfast. That night was one I shall never forget. The room assigned to us had a large open fireplace, one bed, and perhaps a half-dozen chairs. Think of 32 people, men, women and children together, sleeping in that space of 16 by 16 feet. Well we did, somehow, using the bedding from our wagons. First, we had supper. Our hostess had to set table four or five times, for so many. As I was one of the boys, it was late bedtime before my supper was over and when I went to the sleeping room I found all the party but one (and he sat up in a rocking chair by the fire all night) spread out on the floor bed, many of them “sawing gourds” at a lively rate. On looking for bedding, I found that one buffalo robe was all that was left for me; so wrapping it around me, I managed with some difficulty to wedge myself into a small crevice in the prostrate mass of humanity, near the fire, getting several sleepy growls for disturbing a young lady’s feet for my pillow; and although I presume it was not very agreeable to her, she didn’t kick hard enough to keep me awake. She afterwards became the wife of one of the principal merchants of Lawrence.

Rev. Lum

Rev. S.Y. Lum’s house, Mr. Lum’s family occupying the other. Mr. Lum was one of the most prominent men in the city, and was the first pastor of the first church organized in Kansas (excepting of course the missions established among the Indians), and my father was one of the first deacons of the same, the Plymouth Congregational church, at Lawrence.

The next day about noon, being the 21st of March, we entered the “Historic City,” amid cheers and shouts and hearty hand-shaking; for we were the first wave of the mighty tide of immigration which was to inflow during that year, 1855, and the coming of which had been eagerly looked for by the hardy band of pioneers who had come in the fall before and wintered here in their tents and sod houses, and who already had had a foretaste of the mighty struggle that was to be waged with the minions of slavery for the possession of Kansas soil.

The next day being Sunday, Miss Anna Tappan, now Mrs. O.A. Hanscom, of Lawrence, who was living with Mr. Lum’s family, invited me to attend Sunday-school with her. Having always been a Sunday-school boy, I readily accepted the invitation. As we walked along Massachusetts street toward the river, I inquired where the church was, to which my partner replied, “Wait and see.” Presently, we came to a little shabbylooking building, not more than 10 feet square I am sure, built of very rough native lumber, and no battens over the cracks, with the words, “Lumber Yard,” over the door, which stood

My father’s family found shelter in one room of

Plymouth’s Hay Tent Church in 1854 open. Simply saying, “Here it is,” Miss Tappan led the way into the “Sunday-school,” which had already assembled and was seated on rough boards laid on nail-kegs, while S.N. Simpson, the superintendent, and proprietor of the lumberyard, was just reading the opening hymn. To say that I was surprised but feebly expresses my feelings. The contrast between that and the Sunday-school I had been used to and had left but three weeks before was too great for my mind to grasp all at once. But the songs were sung with just as much zeal, if with less volume; the prayers were offered with as much earnestness and fervor, and the lessons discussed with as much apparent interest, as I had been used to elsewhere. I left that little pioneer Sunday-school with a much more homelike and contented feeling than I entered it. I had learned a lesson not taught from the books. My Sunday-school experience is but a fair example of the wonderful and indescribable change and contrast met in every phase of life by eastern people who first settled in Kansas...

er 13 on the church register. The register also shows that in May, 1860, Rebecca and Charles transferred their membership to the “Cong. Ch. Wakarusa.” An 1857 Surveyor General’s map, as well as the tax rolls for 1863 (earlier tax rolls having been burned in Quantrill’s Raid of August 21, 1863), archived at the Spencer Library, confirm Charles Dickson acquired a 160-acre farm, that is the Southeast quarter of Section 25, Township 13, Range 19 of Wakarusa Township in Douglas County. Thanks to Michelle Coffey of Kansas Secured Title of Lawrence for identifying that property today. It is located just two miles south (of the South Lawrence Trafficway) on US 59 Highway. Just take the Route 458/N. 1000 Rd. exit, and turn left. The farm is located less than a quarter-mile on your left, at 1372 N. 1000 Road. Charles Dickson was also one of Douglas County’s Commissioners at the time of Quantrill’s Raid in August, 1863 when he, along with Commissioner F. Gleason, replaced George W. Bell, who had been killed the day before by Quantrill’s raiders (in Andreas’s History of Kansas, Douglas County). Charles and Rebecca Dickson are buried in Lawrence’s Oak Hill Cemetery, section 1, Lot 37.

The original Plymouth Church register, which today resides at the Spencer Research Library at the University of Kansas, shows that young C.H.’s mother, Rebecca F. Dickson, joined Plymouth church the next month, in April, 1855 as a large group of new members joining the oth-

And what about his eldest son, C.H. Dickson, the author of our story? He became a farmer, like his father, and

at age 23, enlisted at Ft. Riley, Kansas (1862). He married Julia Fanning in 1864 and in 1869, moved to Osage county, entering a 160-acre government claim, on which he farmed the rest of his life, and died at the age of 70, on New Year’s Eve, 1909. His obituary stated that he left his widow, a son, Frederick, a daughter, Elsie and two grandchildren, Lucille and Julia. His obituary also stated the following: “he became interested in religion and united with the Congregational Church. He was an active church worker, especially so in the Sabbath school. He is remembered as one of the few who never used liquor or tobacco in any form. Being one of the earliest settlers in Kansas, he was elected president of the Old Settler’s Association. With the retrospective view of his life the quiet farmer that we younger people have known is transformed into a hero. He belongs to that class of pioneers whom we delight to honor.” Charles H. Dickson is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Quenemo, Kansas today, but before he died he must have taken great satisfaction in having participated in the planting of the seeds of faith and covenant at Plymouth Church nearly 54 years earlier.

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