by Orlo Shroyer, April 20, 2010
The older I get the more I reflect on memories of days gone by and the events that had an impact on my life. The majority of those memories center around the church and the community where I grew up. A phrase popularized by Hillary Clinton in the mid 1990s that “It takes a village to raise a child” certainly applied to my childhood days.
I was fortunate to have grown up in the 1940s and 50s in the small Midwestern town of Guthrie Center in central Iowa, population around 2,000. My Dad was a plumber and my Mom was a stay-at-home Mom who was almost always there when I got home from school. A real treat was a plate of warm oatmeal cookies with candied orange slices baked in them waiting for me when I got home from school. I can still smell the aroma of those cookies and when paired with a glass of cold milk, that was one of life’s real treats.
Along with school, most of my “social life” centered around the church. My family went to First Christian Church, Disciples of Christ, at the corner of 4th street and Main. It was a two-story brick building with the fellowship hall and children’s Sunday school rooms down stairs and the sanctuary and adult Sunday school rooms upstairs. There was a balcony and while it was off limits to children, we would sometimes sneak up there and gaze out over the sanctuary. At that time the sanctuary looked like such a large place. When I am fortunate enough to return to the church of my youth today, the sanctuary seems like a much smaller and intimate space than it did in my youth.
Many special memories come from my long-time association with that church. Perfect attendance at Sunday school was always an annual goal. Summer Bible School was an event we all looked forward to. A friend and I got “suspended” from Bible School one time but that’s too long a story to include here. As we got older, Christian Youth Fellowship activities helped us learn some important social skills. Our minister made sure we developed self-confidence by having us speak in front of the congregation on a regular basis.
[Photo: Orlo Shroyer visits with Lillian Grove, his childhood Sunday School teacher, during December 2009.]
My wife and I were married in the church in 1963. My mother’s funeral and my wife’s parent’s funeral were all held in the church. The sanctuary was being remodeled at the time my father died so we had to “borrow” the local Methodist church for that service.
I don’t remember all of my Sunday school teachers as I was growing up but I do have a special memory of one lady who would visit our Sunday School class each year. I always looked forward to Lillian Grove coming by and sharing a story about one of Warner Sallman’s paintings. We had at least four of Sallman’s paintings hanging in our church and Lillian would bring the painting and a little booklet written to interpret the paintings. I remember four in particular. They were The Head of Christ, Christ in Gethsemane, The Lord is My Shepherd, and Christ at Heart’s Door. While I enjoyed them all, my favorite and the one I remember best was Christ at Heart’s Door.
Lillian was a soft-spoken lady but her presence demanded respect and of course we knew that if we didn’t pay attention and were disruptive we would not only have to answer to our Sunday school teacher but our parents as well. I don’t remember how old I was when I first heard Lillian describe one of Sallman’s paintings but I do know that she continued to come to our classes through high school so I would have heard each presentation at least two times.
With the help of her booklet, Lillian would point out the various features of the painting. There were three features in Christ at Heart’s Door that made the most lasting impression on me. First, was the heart-shaped light that surrounds the figure of Christ and the door. Lillian would remind us that Christ was standing at the door of our heart, hoping we would let him in. The second feature was that there was no external handle on the door. The only way the door to our heart could be open was from within. It had to be our decision whether Christ would enter our lives. The third feature was the thorns that had grown up in the garden and were reaching out to touch the hem of Christ’s garment. These thorns represented the sins in our life and Christ would forgive them if we ask.
The booklet that Lillian used with the Christ at Heart’s Door was written by Howard W. Ellis in 1946. I had been searching for a copy of that booklet for some time. I wanted to use it to share the story with young people in our church in Jefferson City, with the hope that it might touch their lives as it did mine. With the help of Randy Dillinger at Anderson University, I was able to purchase one on eBay. One thing I had forgotten was that Christ at Heart’s Door was painted in 1942, the year I was born. The booklet is a special treasure.
Another real treasure is when I have the chance to visit my boyhood church, I get to say thank you to Lillian Grove, now Lillian Leatherby, for the special memories I have of growing up and remind her of what an influence she was on my life. She is now 94 years old and on oxygen but I can still give her a hug.
