The history of Grace and Holy Spirit Church runs deeper than the just 10 years since Grace Episcopal and Holy Spirit Lutheran merged – they’ve worshiped together since 2006; through a fire and pandemic.
“We haven’t gotten divorced yet, have we?” joked Mike Schafer, a member of the congregation and attorney who helped with the merger. The anniversary will be marked June 9 during its service at 13 Court St.,, followed by a luncheon.
“I feel like our worship, our mission, everything is so much more enriched because we have combined forces,” said Gwen Barbato, the junior warden of the Episcopal Vestry.
The church ministers to more than its congregants. Hungry? It operates a soup kitchen. Cold? It housed a daytime warming shelter for homeless people, although the Salvation Army operated it last winter. Need support through a hard time? It hosts 12-step programs. It even allows parolees to meet with parole officers in a more relaxed setting than a government office.
The church, located in the heart of downtown Cortland, has found itself giving back to the community when it can, and sometimes, even when it cannot – like a 2016 fire that displaced the church for a year during renovations. Community churches, businesses and organizations came together to get the food for Loaves and Fishes into fridges where it could.
“It’s our role as Christians,” said Lynn Stark, treasurer of the Mission Leadership Board. “That’s what being a Christian is.”
“But to make it happen, you need investment from your leader – your pastor or priest invested,” Schafer said. “And sometimes it’s a push from the congregation or a couple of individuals in the congregation; sometimes it’s a push from up top.”
Loaves and Fishes is a good example of that, he added. The Rev. Bill Greer, the former pastor, established the program in 1984 after visiting Loaves and Fishes of Tompkins County in Ithaca.
“He said, ‘There are people around here who are not getting enough to eat, we should have this,’” Schafer said. “And that was 36 years ago. It was a tough push with the congregation to have poor people coming into the parish hall.”
The church is governed by three groups:
•The Mission Leadership board, which oversees the combined congregation.
•The Episcopal Vestry, which maintains the church’s connection to the Episcopal Church.
•The Lutheran Council, which maintains its connection to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
Grace Episcopal Church was incorporated in 1847 and moved into its current building in 1860. Nearly 100 years later, Holy Spirit Lutheran Church was formed. Holy Spirit was briefly housed on Tompkins Street, before moving to the SUNY Cortland Interfaith Center.
In 1999, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and national Episcopal Church paved the way for Grace and Holy Spirit in Cortland. The two organizations called for a common mission, aligning Lutherans and Episcopalians.
Grace and Holy Spirit started worshiping together in 2006. The two merged in 2014 under the Rev. Peter Williams, the former pastor. The vote was unanimous.
“That was a big deal,” said Regina Granthum, chair of the Mission Leadership Board. “We have invited everybody to participate. We did have a few people who were the ‘committee,’ but everybody’s voice was heard at the table.”
And once the two churches joined hands, the work continued.
“The thing that I always liked about joining with the Lutherans is the expression, which is a Lutheran expression,” Schafer said, “‘Our hands, God’s work.’”
