Saint Matthew Lutheran Church (SMLC) was officially formed on April 16, 1950, which makes this our 65th anniversary year! Sixty-five is the age when an individual begins slow down and think about retirement. However, as a congregation, we’re still rather young, especially in comparison with our 32 sister congregations in southwestern NJ (Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Salem & Cumberland counties), of which 19 are older – the oldest being in Elmer, founded in 1726. Seventeen of the other 18 congregations were planted after the Civil War and before World War II. There are also 12 congregations younger than we are, the youngest planted in Camden in 2007, namely, Bridge of Peace.
SMLC was the first post-WWII Lutheran congregation planted in the NJ suburbs of Philadelphia. As the baby boom was in full swing in 1950, it’s fitting that Saint Matthew began as a Sunday School in the Lutheran Home, Moorestown at the urging of young mother Dorothy Shockey and her husband, the Rev. Ralph Shockey, Superintendent of the newly-opened Lutheran Home.
The congregation has been served by eleven clergy over the course of 65 years – including 3 associate pastors – of which two became presidents (e.g. bishops) of the NJ Synod. We have also been faithfully led by an abundance of gifted lay people, not to mention the countless parishioners who have spent energy, time, money and heart in serving the gospel, church and their neighbor through Saint Matthew.
Anniversaries are a good time to recognize and appreciate our history, give thanks for the risks taken and gifts given by all who’ve served, and even remember lessons learned over the years. Life in the year 2015 barely resembles that in 1950, when many households didn’t yet own a TV set and had a single income, people dressed up when flying on airplanes, and redlining was a common practice, so that Caucasians might live in all-white neighborhoods, including nearby Levittowns. Much has changed. But not everything. The human condition is the same as in all of history – we’re self-centered “turned in on the self.” Since 1950, Lutheran worship is still very recognizable, and actually has many more connections to early Christian worship (e.g., weekly Communion) and fewer to American evangelical Christian worship (e.g., revivals, no sacraments) – all through the introduction of 3 new hymnals (1958, 1978, 2006).
But in the end, the main thing that has stayed the same is the One around whom we gather – Jesus Christ. This is Christ’s church, who has faithfully worked through and at times even in spite of our foremothers and fathers (and us!). He has been the constant – going all the way back to the first Easter Sunday in Jerusalem, and forward to the first Lutheran congregations planted in NJ in 1726, through 1950 in Moorestown … to Easter Sunday at SMLC, 2015.
Although Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever, he uses ever-changing language and culture as tools to convey the meaning of the gospel so as to engage people in each age. Thus, anniversaries are also a good time to recognize the now: Saint Matthew Lutheran Church in 2015. Christ has shaped us into a unique community of faith, with gifts and good news to share with our neighbors, still calling us to discern together how best to do so, and to encourage one another to steadfastly continue in this 65 year-young mission.
To hear more about our history, attend Adult Forum on 4/19 which will be led by Rozella Bower, our congregation’s archivist and renowned storyteller.
—Pastor Ingrid F. Wengert