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Friday, 01 February 2008 |
By Nick Burdick
Special to the Express
IRASBURG — A small but very dedicated and loyal group of faithful church goers here met at the United Church on the Common Sunday morning, Jan. 27. The 9 a.m. service featured the normal fare of hymns, call to worship, sermon, prayer, devotions, and the always needed offering.
But, this service was a very happy one for the Irasburg Church. After
nearly three years of having interim and fill-in ministers for Sunday
services and funerals, the church once again has a minister of its own.
The Rev. Harvey Bartlett of Bradford is officially the minister of the
church for 20-plus hours a week, and of the Brownington Village
Congregational Church for the other half of the week.
Brownington and Irasburg have forged an agreement to hire one minister
for the two churches. Many churches are now forced with this
arrangement, due to the fact that fuel costs, electricity, insurance,
and a multitude of other costs to “keep the doors open” are rising
faster than the churches can afford them.
The Rev. Bartlett, who likes to be called “Harvey” has a long and
varied work history. Born in Guilford, Conn., and raised there, he
headed off to seminary in Illinois, where he served his first two small
churches.
From there, he went to graduate school in Scotland, at the University
of St. Andrews. It was at this point in his life that he took a break
from “the calling” and headed back to Guilford to run the family
sawmill business for 15 years.
Then, after serving three small churches in Pennsylvania, he moved to
Vermont and took the church in Bradford, where he stayed for the next
14 years. Although he retired from that position, he quickly explains
that 20-plus hours in each of the churches up here is a retirement of
sorts from Bradford, where he was putting in over 60 hours a week.
Harvey also explained that, although he will rotate from one church to
the other, he will spend whatever time is needed for the situation at
hand, and then make up the time with the other church. “Whatever the
call is, I will go,” he stated with a smile.
Harvey and his wife Judy bought a home in Bradford, and Judy is the
director of curriculum and a teacher at a pre-school co-op there, so
they have decided to stay in Bradford, and Harvey will travel. He has
been told that he is more than welcome at the home of the Rev. LeRoy
Hastings, to use office space, stay over, or whatever else he needs. He
has an office in the church in Irasburg, and Ken Johnson has told him
there is always an extra bed at his house if the weather is bad, or
some other reason he needs to stay around.
Harvey and Judy have been blessed with five children; three boys, and
two girls. Sadly, one of the boys died. The youngest boy is still in
college, and the other boy is a carpenter and lives at home. The two
girls are married and live in Greenfield, Mass., and there are two
grandchildren to round out the family.
“Both churches are doing just fine,” Harvey added. “We have had annual meetings in Irasburg and Brownington, and all is well.”
We certainly wish Harvey and both of these fine churches well in their journey.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 04 February 2008 )
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