[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 112 (Friday, July 13, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1511-E1512]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    CELEBRATING THE 190TH ANNIVERSARY OF LYME CONGREGATIONAL UCC IN 
                             BELLEVUE, OHIO

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 12, 2007

  Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of an amazing 
achievement. Lyme Congregational United Church of Christ in Bellevue, 
Ohio, celebrates its 190th anniversary in July 2007. A series of events 
through the month of July commemorate this historic occasion.
  On July 15 and July 17 of 1817, a total of 10 people were examined to 
form the charter membership of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Wheatsborough. According to church documents, traveling minister 
Reverend John Seward charged the members to ``walk worthy of their high 
calling.'' Throughout the year, Reverend Alvin Coe, a Presbyterian 
missionary to the American Indians, occasionally preached to the 
largely Congregationalist membership. In March 1820, Lot B. Sullivan 
came to Lyme looking for employment and was soon ordained and installed 
as the congregation's first minister. This ordination was the very 
first performed west of the Cuyahoga River, and ministers came from 100 
miles around to participate in the ``laying on of hands.'' Church 
records note that early salaries were $400 per year, two-thirds of 
which was in the form of produce for the minister and his family.
  In 1828, the community of Lyme built a new schoolhouse. For the next 
7 years, the church held its services in that school building. In 1835 
the congregation built its own church building, which was dedicated in 
1836. The building is the only church the congregation

[[Page E1512]]

has known and has been in continuous use for 171 years. Hand-hewn and 
built to stand the test of time, the church remains a beautifully 
simplistic structure.
  Formally incorporated as a Congregational Church in 1873, Lyme 
Congregational U.C.C. calls itself ``A Family Church Where All Are 
Welcome'' and this motto rings as true today as at the church's 
founding. Families have grown and maintained the church through many 
markers of history: It was founded less than 10 years after the first 
settlers arrived in the Firelands of Northwest Ohio and only 2 years 
after the first people came to Bellevue. It was standing for 6 years 
already when the Erie Canal opened, and 16 years when Oberlin College--
the first in the U.S. to admit women and African Americans--was 
established. The church continued in witness to history as our Nation 
passed through the Civil War, the joining of the Transcontinental 
Railroad in 1886, the Wright Brothers' Kitty Hawk flight in 1903, the 
introduction of the Model T Ford, World War I, the Suffrage of Women in 
1919, World War II, the Korean War, the dawn of the space program, the 
first moon walk in 1969, the Vietnam War and the tragic shootings at 
Kent State University nearby, the collapse of the Twin Towers in New 
York in 2001, two Gulf Wars and United Nations missions, from telegraph 
to telephone to cellular phones, from the writing of letters to radio 
to television to computers and digital cameras. Through all of these 
incredible changes in one continuous thread of history, 36 ministers 
have led this flock. The members celebrate their history and have 
carefully preserved artifacts and documents from the church's founding 
nearly two centuries ago.
  In the Book of Psalms in the Holy Bible Psalm 100 tells Christians, 
``Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with 
gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord 
he is God: it is He that has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His 
people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with 
thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him and 
bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting and His 
truth endures to all generations.'' Few congregations can attest to the 
message in this Scripture as well as that of Lyme Congregational United 
Church of Christ. I am very pleased to acknowledge this anniversary 
celebration and join in a remembrance of the past, reflection of the 
present, and hope for the future.

                          ____________________