By Marianne Sullivan, Courier Senior Staff
Writer:
DEEP RIVER:
On Sunday the
members young and old of the Deep River Congregational Church will mark the
founding of their church with a torchlight parade, an event designed to
commemorate the church’s history and to carry forward its light into the
future.
In the years before
1835, the Congregational Church that served residents in the area was located
in Centerbrook. That was a distance of 2 1/2 miles or more for many living
north. In March 1835, residents of Deep River
“planted” a new church in the northern part of what was then known as Saybrook.
What began that year
with 49 founding members, has grown and thrived. Today the church has more than
600 members who are involved in many areas of service to the community and the
world.
The torchlight
parade symbolizes the “carrying of the light” from the mother church in
Centerbrook to what became the Deep River Congregational Church. The Sunday
parade begins at 9 a.m. at the Centerbrook Meeting House after a short
ceremony. The church invites all others to join with them in the parade to
support the torchbearers along the way as they walk the 2 1/2 miles along Route
154 from Centerbrook to Deep River.
Walkers will arrive
at the Deep River Congregational Church in time for the 10 a.m. service. There
the torch will light a candle in the sanctuary that will remain lit into the
175th anniversary year, beginning in March 2009.
A year after
founding its church, the families of the congregation began to build it. It
stands today on the same site on Main Street, serving as a stately example of
architecture so well known among New England churches.
The Reverend Timothy
Haut, in announcing the torchlight parade, said the church is a congregation of
old and young, with more than 150 children in the Sunday school and an active
youth program.
“Our church is a
member of the United Church of Christ, a denomination that is concentrated in New England but with active congregations throughout the country,”
Haut said. “Deep River Congregational Church is a welcoming community.”