The Little Brown Church In The Vale

Services

Sunday - 9:30AM Sunday School, 10:30AM Worship Service

by: Karl Magenhofer

05/11/2023

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Let me continue my music kick for another day.


Yesterday, I talked about songs that play often in my head or come to mind in many different situations.   Some become habit almost.  One of those songs is “The Church in the Wildwood.”   When I arrived in the valley decades ago, it wasn’t long before I was working in the morning at WSVA.  In those days between 5-5:30 the station played a show called “Hymn and Gospel Time.”  Susan Hawthorne who put the show together played several songs regularly that I really enjoyed, one of them was an incredible version of Power in the Blood, another is the song I’m writing about today.


It became a little inside joke with Frank Wilt and me.  Sometimes the show would run a bit short, and Frank would have to add a song and whenever that happened, he would play “The Church in the Wildwood.”  Like clockwork I would either run into the studio or crank up the speaker in the newsroom.  Frank even edited together an extended version of the song that I think we only played in-house for our amusement and edification.


I have attended a lot of churches in my lifetime and some of the smallest have provided a sense of family and fellowship beyond what others can.  I think often of Lakeland Presbyterian outside Baltimore.  It was nowhere near the wildwood for sure, but when you walked into that small stone church there was an immediate sense that you were among family members.  It’s part of the reason that Angie and I got married there.  To folks like, Dot Kerler, Miss Joan, Bill Burkhardt, Rev. Dallas, Miss Flora and Rev. Harris…thank you for making that space a place where you felt God’s love from the moment you stepped through the door.


It is my prayer that we have a little bit of that here at Timberville as well.  In a way I know that it's here from our family’s experience in looking for and finally finding a church.  I also hear some of the conversations in the hallways and in the sanctuary on Sunday’s and I know that the people who worship here love one another.   I am truly blessed to Pastor here.


Here’s one of my favorite versions of Church in the Wildwood:

 

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Let me continue my music kick for another day.


Yesterday, I talked about songs that play often in my head or come to mind in many different situations.   Some become habit almost.  One of those songs is “The Church in the Wildwood.”   When I arrived in the valley decades ago, it wasn’t long before I was working in the morning at WSVA.  In those days between 5-5:30 the station played a show called “Hymn and Gospel Time.”  Susan Hawthorne who put the show together played several songs regularly that I really enjoyed, one of them was an incredible version of Power in the Blood, another is the song I’m writing about today.


It became a little inside joke with Frank Wilt and me.  Sometimes the show would run a bit short, and Frank would have to add a song and whenever that happened, he would play “The Church in the Wildwood.”  Like clockwork I would either run into the studio or crank up the speaker in the newsroom.  Frank even edited together an extended version of the song that I think we only played in-house for our amusement and edification.


I have attended a lot of churches in my lifetime and some of the smallest have provided a sense of family and fellowship beyond what others can.  I think often of Lakeland Presbyterian outside Baltimore.  It was nowhere near the wildwood for sure, but when you walked into that small stone church there was an immediate sense that you were among family members.  It’s part of the reason that Angie and I got married there.  To folks like, Dot Kerler, Miss Joan, Bill Burkhardt, Rev. Dallas, Miss Flora and Rev. Harris…thank you for making that space a place where you felt God’s love from the moment you stepped through the door.


It is my prayer that we have a little bit of that here at Timberville as well.  In a way I know that it's here from our family’s experience in looking for and finally finding a church.  I also hear some of the conversations in the hallways and in the sanctuary on Sunday’s and I know that the people who worship here love one another.   I am truly blessed to Pastor here.


Here’s one of my favorite versions of Church in the Wildwood:

 

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