page 12 s AUGUST 2008 <strong>Crozet</strong> gazette Mt. Salem—continued from page 1 outdoor lighting. They put up a church bell and a flag by the front steps. They planted flowers and cleaned up the yard and the cemetery where more than 50 graves bear the names of member families: Payne, <strong>Mills</strong>, Johnson, Waller, Morton, Frye, Sims, Massie, Walker, Adams, Wood. They saw to it that graves had flowers on them and that veterans’ had flags on theirs. They put picnic tables out <strong>for</strong> summer occasions and put a sign, embellished with an angel, at the intersection. The restrooms got fixed up. They added a clock, new curtains, ceiling fans and wall-to-wall carpeting to the church. Soon Pastor Colemon presided over the first wedding ever recorded at Mt. Salem when Bianca Jackson married James Horne Jr. The church was packed. An anniversary celebration was held marking 111 years, including a congratulatory proclamation from the Albemarle Board of Supervisors. Pastor Colemon always kept his guitar at hand, ready to play. He had a spiritual serenity about him. He was wise about God, impressing people with it. (When the movie Evan Almighty was being made in <strong>Crozet</strong>, Colemon, handsome and distinguished-looking, was picked to play a congressman and he met actor Morgan Freeman, who played God in the movie.) Other churches from across central Virginia came visiting at Mt. Salem. The church was roaring back to life. Then, last year, with the tangible features of his vision nearly realized (he lacked only the upholstered cushions in the pews), he died of skin cancer. A first spot had been cut away, but the significance of a second spot was not understood until it had insidiously invaded him. He fought until the treatments seemed worse than the disease. He always trusted God and he went on that way. Mt. Salem held a Family, Friends and Fellowship Day July 27 and they extended an invitation to all the souls in western Albemarle. They had held a similar celebration (and invited the community, too) in June, to mark the arrival of the refurbished, padded pews and both the legacy and the beginning, Pastor Colemon had left them. Raymond Moton, guitar in hand, and his family filled the small (8 by 10 feet) choir loft. They led off with “We’re Going to Sit Down by the River.” They had come over from Gordonsville. “We’re having a good time already!” said Joyce Colemon, Paul’s widow, who carries the title missionary and who has taken up leadership, at least <strong>for</strong> the time being, of Mt. Salem Gospel Church (Pastor Colemon changed the name to mark the church’s more pentacostal style). Mary Colemon (Paul’s sister) answered the call <strong>for</strong> a testimony. She hadn’t always paid attention to God, she admitted. “I found there is not only a God—there’s Jesus. And we can’t reach God except through his son.” She thanked God <strong>for</strong> everything she has, her family, her church. “Glory to God!” “God wants us to acknowledge him,” Colemon added. “It’s not up to us to question him.” Her text <strong>for</strong> the day was I Corinthians, chapter 12, verses 1-3, on the body of Christ and the need <strong>for</strong> unity in the church. The congregation was mainly women, all dressed in Sunday finery. Some were young. Some had belonged <strong>for</strong> 60 or 70 years. Sunday attendance can range from a dozen souls to 30. The Moton Family came back with “We Cry Holy, Holy, Holy Is the Lamb.” Above them on the sanctuary wall, the church’s theme from Psalm 147 is announced in stick-on lettering: “When the praises go up, the blessings come down.” On the back of the sanctuary wall is a mural of Jesus’ baptism by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan River. A small Christian flag is on the left wall and a small American flag is on the right. A painting on silk of the Last Supper is next to it. Two vases of silk lilies and fern fronds flank the lectern directly behind the altar. On the altar, whose front rail is carved with the words “In Remembrance of Me,” a large Bible is held upright and open in a stand. Candles stand on either side of it. A brass chandelier is suspended above. continued on page 22
<strong>Crozet</strong> gazette AUGUST 2008 s page 13 Our Dancers Per<strong>for</strong>mTM Albemarle Ballet Theatre Robert Garland Photographers Ballet, Jazz, & Modern Dance Register Now Come Take a Free Class Albemarle Ballet Theatre • 5798 Three Notched Road • <strong>Crozet</strong> VA 22932 434.823.8888 • www.aBallet.org • Dance@aBallet.org Free class is limited 1 per person, is not transferable or redeemable <strong>for</strong> cash, and ABT students are ineligible. Copyright 2006 -2008 Nicole Hart & Albemarle Ballet Theatre, Inc. All rights reserved
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