The Community Baptist Church of Gay Head will celebrate its 325th anniversary this weekend. But a recent tax lien placed on the church parsonage is a reminder of an uncertain financial future.
Trustees for the United Methodist Church in Vineyard Haven plan to restore the interior structure of the church tower, including its nearly century-old clock and brass bell.
The volunteer-powered Houses of Grace winter shelter system has opened for its third season. “If I didn’t have this, I’d be sleeping around a fire, bundled up,” said Derek MacLeod.
The Rev. Alden Besse, pastor, sailor, president of the Martha’s Vineyard Peace Council and spiritual leader of the Vineyard Crop Walk, died on Dec. 13.
Years ago, in Whitinsville, the Rev. Alden Besse was asked to participate in a Memorial Day parade. “I thought, what can I carry? Lots of people carry guns and I’ll carry a pruning hook,” he recalled.
To many of the summer residents of Martha’s Vineyard, Union Chapel services have become as much a part of their lives as the Vineyard itself. Each year new visitors attend the chapel and become dependent upon it for their Sunday devotions.
The new Methodist Tabernacle was formally dedicated Wednesday forenoon, in the presence of a goodly number of the clergy and an immense congregation. Rev. Dr. Morrison had the general charge of the exercises, which opened with singing, followed by scripture readings by Revs. Messrs. Brown and Hamlin. Prayer was the offered by Rev. L. B. Bates, followed by singing, after which Bishop Foster arose and commenced his sermon, taking for his text Ephesians IV, 30: “And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.”
