Storyline 75 Anniversary Edition

1932 Calgary Floods;
Glenmore Dam Constructed
(water levels similar to 2005 flooding)
1929 “Black Thursday”
(the Great Depression begins)
1938 Rev. A. Schellenberg leads
first official church service
(Elks Hall, 7 th Ave. SW, 8 people present)
THE CROSS
December 14-16,
1984 was the second
year the choir presented
Handel’s Messiah under
the direction of Elmer
Riegel. Elmer appointed
a committee of three to
undertake stage decoration.
Those involved were
Neil Bryan, Greg Hibbert,
and myself, Helena McMillan.
Asked what he envisioned as part of our design, he said, “I
would really like to see a cross.”
I looked up at the cathedral ceiling which fanned out above us
and wondered if we could put a cross in lights up there, and
then immediately deleted that thought.
Then Neil Bryan – who had a beautiful oratorical voice –
mentioned that he and his wife Katie were preparing to move
home, ‘down under.’ He said that he had a conference room
table that he believed was big enough to use to make a cross.
the cross up. They voiced the feelings of their group members,
saying the cross brought comfort, blessing, and peace. The
only thing that could be done was to have them return to
their groups and have all who wished the cross to remain to
sign a letter asking the Elders’ board to leave it up.
The decision was made to leave the cross up, where it remained
until the final service at 1201 Glenmore. The final
element of that service was carrying that cross out of the
sanctuary; the first services here in our current building began
with carrying that same cross to the front of the sanctuary. It
remains to this day.
I have often thought over the years, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful
if more of us could see a cross in the centre of our conference
room table?”
Pastor Grout was known to say that the most important thing
in our lives is what we are looking at. I choose to look at an
empty cross with the promise of light, life, hope and comfort
shining round about. | Written by Helena McMillan
(Pictured left with her husband, Douglas)
We received the okay from several members of the Board of
Elders to remove the Christian and Missionary Alliance logo
from the centre front of the church, and replace it with a cross
which had florescent lights attached to the back – but only for
the month of December, since it was only a part of the stage
design.
The lights at the cross gave a soft glow that touched many
hearts. Together with the beautiful music we were all richly
blessed.
Just before the end of December two ladies from different
‘PSALM’ groups approached me asking how we could keep