Members of Resurrection Lutheran Church braved the snowy weather Sunday afternoon to attend a special service to say farewell to the building that’s housed their congregation for the past 54 years at 9920 Grand Ave. in Franklin Park.
“Today is exactly five years since my mother died. So it’s also hard for me to be here. She was here for my ordination almost 20 years ago,” said the Rev. William Hutchison during his sermon on Sunday. “I’m not sure, but I think I’m the last person who was ordained at this church. … The point is that I feel a special attachment to this place because of that.”
As he spoke, congregants began to cry.
“I feel my grandfather’s spirit today. I never met him, but he started this church in his basement in his home and had services there for over 10 years,” said Aaron Gessner, the grandson of Richard Wimmermark, who helped launch the church. “Today I could feel his spirit in all these people and in this building.”
In April, owners of Resurrection Lutheran Church put the property up for sale. By July, the village of Franklin Park had approved the purchase of the property by the Society of American Bosnians and Herzegovinians, a Muslim congregation. At the time of the sale, Susan Flanagan, the council president of Resurrection, said the reason the church decided to sell the property is that the building had become too large for their parish.
“This service was fantastic. It’s emotional. I’ve been here since 1979 and watching things change. I wish that it would continue here and continue to grow but you know, it’s disappointing that it hasn’t,” said Shari Hajek, 50, after the service on Sunday. “But I’m sure that the people who are here, they’re strong people and I think they can rejuvenate the church and make it grow even more so.”
Toward the end of his sermon, Hutchison also said the congregation had to factor in the changing demographics of Franklin Park. He cited the fact that the Hispanic population in the west suburbs had expanded considerably since he was ordained in the late 1980s.
“One of the questions and one of the undercurrents that this congregation continues to wrestle with, is how to witness in a diverse community. There’s simply no way around it,” Hutchinson said. “There are no easy answers, and back when I was a pastor here we considered that when I left … that the person who would replace me would be bilingual. But that plan eventually fell through.”
Resurrection Lutheran Church’s next home is a few blocks away at the First United Methodist Church, which is at 9857 Schiller Blvd. The first service at the new address is set for Dec. 11.
“We spent the whole summer looking at a lot of different churches in the area and the kind of spaces they had available for us,” Resurrection Pastor Chris Hanley said, adding “the most important things were how accessible the new location would be for our members, what time we’d be able to worship and if we’d be able to continue our outreach ministry for the homeless.”
He said one of the logistical challenges Resurrection faces now that’s moving into a space it doesn’t own is working on more collaborations with other congregations in the area, including First United Methodist Church and the Society of American Bosnians and Herzegovinians.
More Top Picks Portable Grill
“We realize that we can no longer just be our little church on our own,” he said. “We need to figure out what kinds of collaborations can be done to help this whole neighborhood and Franklin Park, and how those relationships will work because we don’t have a map for that yet.”
Alex V. Hernandez is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.