Dedicatory services for Asylum Avenue Baptist Church

1. It rained in the morning.
2. The morning service was well attended, with every pew filled. Additional chairs were added as space permitted.

Of the two articles published today, the article that focused on the morning service said that Charles Noble and William D. Mackenzie were at the evening service, while the article that focused on the evening service said that they “were unable to be present.”

The first Sunday service was held on October 4, 1931.

The next dedicatory service was a youth banquet held on November 17, 1931.

1. In an early preview of the dedicatory services, the Courant wrote that the “remodeled church has been in use for some weeks but the dedication of the building, the organ, and other appurtenances was intentionally postponed until later.”
2. In an article published the day of the two services, the schedule for the evening service had C. C. Noble giving the call to worship; Fletcher Parker offering the prayer; William D. Mackenzie pronouncing the benediction; and Morris Silverman leading the responsive reading.
3. In the article about the morning dedicatory service published the day after the two services, the evening service was reported to have proceeded with Morris Silverman giving the call to worship; C. C. Noble leading the responsive worship; William D. Mackenzie giving the benediction; and Jerome Davis giving his address.
4. In an article about the evening dedicatory service also published the day after the two services, neither Charles C. Noble nor William Douglas Mackenzie had been able to attend.

1. “In one sense at least, the darkness of the day enhanced the service for it was necessary to light the handsome lanterns in the auditorium.”
2. From Phelps’s sermon:

• “The church he said is to teach men and women to live better lives. We live in a day of luxuries and miracles, and yet with many people these marvelous things merely stultify our souls.  It is the task of men to lie up to our opportunities.  IN this marvelous age there is no excuse for men to live lime animals or for women to live like fools.  To have the divine spark and to let it go out is the unpardonable sin.”
• “As a golfer improves his game and the tennis player his fore-hand drive, so should man concentrate and endeavor toward a better life. By trying Christ’s way, the world gradually becomes changed, there is a peace, a feeling of charitable ness toward others.  The things of life become full of charm and grace and there is an inward sense of contentment.”

3. From Davis’s talk:

• “Religion is the relationship to God on one hand and to men on the other; it falls short if it does not include sacrificial devotion to the common good.”
• “We should have a real gratitude to God that we no longer have the prosperity delusion of 1931. And now we are faced with great problems; in the past we have been indifferent in the face of great need.  Like Pilate we have washed our hands of troublesome problems.  Now we must be sensitive to the need about us.  It is not simply a question of giving; we must remedy the fundamental conditions of our American life.”
• “Yes, America must cease thinking of collecting millions of dollars and giving them by an American dole system. America must find a way to revolutionalize the thinking and acting lives of the people so that they will realize that only as we serve humanity do we obtain title from God.”

1. Frank B. Haggard was the pastor at Asylum Avenue Baptist Church.
2. Elbert E. Gates was the secretary, Connecticut Baptist Convention.
3. William Lyon Phelps was the Lampson professor at Yale University and a former member of Asylum Avenue Baptist Church.
4. Charles C. Noble was the pastor at First Methodist Church
5. Fletcher Douglas Parker was pastor at Immanuel Congregational Church
6. Morris Silverman was rabbi at Emanuel Synagogue
7. William Douglas Mackenzie was the acting pastor at Asylum Hill Congregational Church
8. Jerome Davis was chair of practical philanthropy, Yale University.

Unattributed.  “Principals at church dedication services,” Hartford Courant, October 26, 1931, page 13.

Unattributed.  “Prof. Phelps gives sermon at dedication,” Hartford Courant, November 16, 1931, page 19.

Unattributed.  “Rededication exercises to open today,” Hartford Courant, November 15, 1931, page B5.

Unattributed.  “Religion is outlined by Prof. Davis,” Hartford Courant, November 16, 1931, page 7.