Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make
straight in the desert a highway for our God.
- Isaiah 40:3
It is mainly for some clue to where
I am going that I search through where I've been; for some hint as to whom I am
becoming or failing to become that I delve into what used to be.
- Frederick Buechner, The Sacred Journey
The Church of the Advent's story begins in 1871, just six
years after the War Between the States, when a small group of Southern
planters, investors, and railroad men organized the Elyton Land Company to buy
4,150 acres of raw land in north central Alabama. They intended to create an
industrial center and reap the rewards. The very next year Bishop Richard Hooker
Wilmer sent a deacon to establish an Episcopal mission in the new town, named
after England's leading industrial city. Thirty-two-year-old Philip A. Fitts, a
Tuscaloosa lawyer and ex-Confederate soldier, arrived to serve congregations in
Elyton and Irondale along with the sixteen communicants he reported in
Birmingham.
In February of 1872, for the sum of five dollars, the Elyton
Land Company deeded to the Episcopal Church one quarter of a choice downtown
block. The company's largest stockholder, Josiah Morris, was a prominent member
of St. John's Episcopal Church in Montgomery, which contributed $400 to help
the Advent build its first church. By 1873 a frame church building seating 200
had been constructed facing Sixth Avenue (behind where the present church
stands).
Growing a new church and a new city was more challenging
than the "magic" that Birmingham's "Magic City" nickname
suggests. Just as the congregation prepared to celebrate admission to the
diocese and Fitts's ordination to the priesthood, they also encountered a
financial panic that was sweeping the nation, followed by a devastating cholera
epidemic. On the heels of these two calamities came a depression in the
struggling city's economy that lasted six years. So, despite the touted promise
of plentiful natural resources for making iron and great fortunes, Adventers
and other pioneering settlers faced lean times.
In that first decade, the Church of the Advent had six
different rectors (three of whom served a year or less). Undoubtedly this
initial period of turnover and vacancy formed a strong tradition of committed
laity carrying on the life and leadership of the church. The first measure of
long-term stability came with the Rev. Thomas Jefferson Beard, who arrived in
1882 to begin his fourteen-year ministry. Four years after his arrival, in
1886, Birmingham's economic boom finally came, ushered in by burgeoning
pig-iron production and real estate development. Both the city and the Advent
flourished.
But the long-awaited prosperity was short-lived. Just about
the time the congregation began planning for a new church building to house its
growth in the coming century, the city's economy began to slow again. It limped
along, eventually becoming part of the nationwide depression of 1893, the
effects of which lasted until the end of the century. Under Mr. Beard and a
committed vestry, however, members of the Advent summoned both confidence and perseverance
to face challenging times. They laid foundations for the new church structure
in 1887, and then weathered repeated halts in construction when funds were
depleted, finally in 1893 completing the church in which we worship today.
From the beginning, the Advent's heritage has been one of
new beginnings, strong faith, continuity, and adaptation to change. Is this an
exalted view of the past, or does it embody a core truth that we carry with us
today? What telling traits have prevailed over the 130-plus years since the
Advent's founding?
Certainly, the Advent has been blessed with good leadership.
After repeated turnover in the first decade, the church has called rectors who,
sustained by strong lay support, have served long tenures, marked by growth and
the ability to respond to a changing world. The Rev. John G. Murray (later the
first elected presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA) touched on
this in 1903, when he wrote as he prepared to leave the Advent: "Probably
without a parallel in the history of the Church in America is the record of our
relations during the more than six years of our common labor together for God
and man," and the vestry replied, "You leave us the largest,
strongest and most united parish in the whole Diocese of Alabama." This
combination of continuity, commitment to tradition, and clergy leadership has produced
new ministries and contributed to the church's ongoing vitality, from starting
a day school in the 1950s to adapting to liturgical changes and to new roles
for women in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.
Another essential part of the Advent's heritage is pastoral
care, symbolized by the statue of the compassionate Christ overlooking downtown
Birmingham from the church's 20th Street facade, expressing Christ's invitation
to "come unto me, all ye that travail and are heavy laden, and I will
refresh you" (Matt 11:28). For many older parishioners, the Advent's
pastoral care heritage is most vividly recalled in memories of longtime rector
John C. Turner, standing at a hospital bedside, or in the loving fellowship of
church gatherings. For twenty-seven years Mr. Turner was "uncle" to hundreds
of Adventers. Today, Advent clergy
and volunteers carry on this heritage.
From the Advent's earliest days, women of the church have
played a central role, contributing energy, dedicated service, and significant
funds. Time and again women's groups provided financial support to expand and
furnish the church, and to carry on its work. One story that dates from 1891
(as the congregation struggled to complete construction of the new church
building) tells of a challenge made to the men of the building committee, that
if the men would raise $5,000 of a $7,000 note that was coming due, the ladies
would provide the balance. (No one knew that the Ladies' Aid Society already
had two $1,000 bonds on hand for that purpose!) The church's first stained
glass windows, installed on either side of the altar in 1898, were given by the
Ladies' Aid Society and St. Agnes Guild. Four years later, the Ladies' Aid
Society gave the altar and reredos, imported from Munich, Germany. This strong
tradition of leadership and service has continued over the decades, through
horseshows and garden pilgrimages and now in the annual Lenten Lunches that
bring hundreds of people to the church throughout Lent and raise thousands of
dollars for outreach programs.
The church's role in the life and development of the city of
Birmingham, its sense of commitment to the city center and the needs of all
citizens, is a motif spanning decades of church life. For example, skimming the
parish handbook for 1929 (when Charles Clingman was less than halfway through
his twelve years as rector, and before the real onslaught of the Great
Depression), we see references to the Advent's director of social work, whose
salary was paid by the Woman's Auxiliary Guild, and to the "free
kindergarten," founded under his predecessor, Middleton S. Barnwell, to
serve needy children living downtown. Today, the Advent sponsors over two dozen
local outreach programs and overseas missions.
Strong preaching
and teaching also mark our heritage - exemplified by Advent rectors throughout
our history and by a host of distinguished guest speakers. John Turner laid a
firm foundation for the noonday Lenten services and preaching missions, when he
brought in church leaders and renowned speakers to give the parish the benefit
of the great thinking and preaching of the day. This tradition continues to
enrich our church, shaped by each dean's interests and a committed
congregation.
Long before it became a cathedral the Advent had close ties
to the diocese of Alabama. A diocesan office at the Advent was proposed early
in the 20th century, and in 1922 Bishop Coadjutor William G. McDowell became
the first bishop consecrated at the Advent. His office was above the rector's,
in the space later called Mount Ararat by Bishop Charles C.J. Carpenter, who
spent two years as Advent rector before beginning his long tenure as McDowell's
successor as bishop. In 1982, under rector and dean Brinkley Morton, the Advent
became the cathedral of the diocese in a service conducted by Presiding Bishop
John M. Allin.
Our church has grown and continues to grow. We grow
not only in numbers but also in our walk with that one man, Jesus of Nazareth,
who came to redeem us. “Adveniat Regnum Tuum” - Thy Kingdom Come -
is emblazoned on our coat of arms. These words, taken from the prayer
Christ taught us, remind us that it is God’s hand, not our own, that guides us
on this walk into a new millenium.
Two wonderful books about our church’s history, The
Strength of Her Towers and How Firm a Foundation, both written by
Rebecca Pegues Rogers, can be purchased from the Episcopal Book Store.
