[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 69 (Friday, May 24, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E925-E926]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   A TRIBUTE TO FIRST LUTHERAN CHURCH

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ADAM B. SCHIFF

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 23, 2002

  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor First Lutheran Church 
in Pasadena, CA. On Sunday, June 2, First Lutheran will celebrate its 
110th anniversary with a day of prayer and celebration marking the 
extraordinary history of the church and its congregation.
  First Lutheran was convened in 1892 at the Grand Hotel in Pasadena. 
Originally, due to the German congregation, all church business and 
services were conducted in German. The church's constitution was even 
written in German. It wasn't until 1914 that all services were 
conducted in English and it wasn't until the early 1920s that the 
church's constitution was translated into English.
  Between the 1940s and 1960s, 800 to 1000 parishioners attended weekly 
Sunday services. The church had grown so large and so popular at one 
point that the services were broadcast for a time on Glendale radio 
station KIEV. First Lutheran's popularity was a direct result of the 
inviting atmosphere of the church's services and congregation. 
Parishioners from as far away as St. Louis, Missouri chose to attend 
First Lutheran as they settled in southern California and all of them 
remark that their decision was based on the feeling of

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``being home,'' that First Lutheran gave to them.
  The feeling of ``being home'' extended to, as the First Lutheran 
Mission Statement reads, ``all people.'' While many churches around the 
nation fought against integration, First Lutheran embraced the call to 
treat all people as equals and it was in the 1940s and 1950s that the 
congregation began to integrate. Today, First Lutheran looks like 
America. It has acted and will continue to act as a refuge for all who 
come to worship together regardless of differences.
  I am proud to be able to recognize First Lutheran for its 110 years 
of offering a place of solemn and joyous worship to the people of the 
San Gabriel Valley and I ask all Members to join me in congratulating 
the congregation for the years of remarkable achievement.

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