The Weekend of September 27th and 28th was the second big weekend of Northwest Church’s 50th anniversary. That was the church that I grew up in and Edi and I were married in. I obviously have many memories that go way back there and it was significantly influential in my growing up years.
The pastor who was there for the time I grew up was a man by the name of Bufe Karraker. He started as the pastor there starting when the church had just about 80 people (in the 1960’s) and led it to a time when it regularly drew over 2,000 every Sunday morning. He passed away in 2001. Since then, the church has had several interim and a couple of non-interim pastors who didn’t work out. Attendance has dropped off significantly (I believe now under 1,000).
A couple years ago the now-former interim pastor (#2) decided to renovate the main sanctuary. That project was recently completed in time for the 50th anniversary festivities. There were two weekends of activities, the first of which happened during the Monterey Jazz Festival weekend. We missed out on that but I believe it featured as many of the former pastors and deacons as they could round up.
The second weekend was a music reunion and Edi and I participated in that. I believe we may have set the record for having come the farthest to participate (probably by a factor of at least 10). The choir director who was there in the late 80’s and early 90’s is back as the full time music director and he put together a great morning of music, choir, and musicians from the 1960’s through 2000’s.
The festivities began for us with a rehearsal and potato feed (an old tradition) on Saturday evening. When we arrived, they had us make out name tags that included the years we were involved in the music there. I had a hard time figuring out the first time I actually played (I attended starting in 1977). I finally settled on 1983 through 1992 and 1999 through 2004 for a total of 14 out of 21 years. Again, I’m feeling a bit old…
I volunteered to go pick up the tympani as that little detail hadn’t been taken care of yet. Little did I know, the arrangement was made for us to borrow the tympani from my very first percussion teacher with whom I played at Northwest in my early years playing there. So I went over to her place to pick them up and had a fun time catching up with her. When I got back and rejoined the rehearsal (over an hour late), I discovered one of the pieces of music had her name penciled in on one line and mine on the other. This time, I’d cover it all by myself.
That was my first time in the sanctuary since the remodel. It retains its same distinctive basic shape, but is otherwise significantly different. The acoustics are noticeably different than before. In addition to playing music there, I also mixed house sound for several years. It’d be quite different to do it now than it was back then. They also added another set of isles. On balance, I like what they’ve done with the place. And I should hope so given the amount of money (I think a couple million) they spent on it.
After the rehearsal, we chowed on potatoes, caught up with each other, and took decade photos. I was in the 80’s, 90’s, and 2000’s, and Edi joined in for the 90’s and 2000’s. The 70’s group was a fair bit smaller, but I was surprised how many were there in the 80’s. All the surviving Karraker kids were back.
Sunday morning, we played the 8:00 and 9:30 services. In the 11:00 we had to go over to Paul and Tracy’s church for Gideon’s dedication. The reception in the 8:00 was quite warm. There were 6 choir songs, far more than a usual Sunday morning. Most of them were older. It was like old times again. And the music really was quite good. While I try hard not to get stuck in the past, it made me really miss those special times. Even our harpist, Penny Beavers, who played there faithfully from the 70’s through the late 90’s or even the early 2000’s (I forget) came back. All that was missing was Bufe…
On Sunday evening, we went back for another nostalgic evening. First, there was a bar-b-que complete with that special meat only known by central Californians called tri tip.
Then, there was another dedication, this time dedicating the original chapel to Bufe. The Bufe Karraker chapel is where Bufe married Edi and I. It’s where Northwest grew in its early years from a small church to a large one. Roberta was there, along with the kids. The current interim pastor said a few words as did former associate pastor Mitch Rabera, whose last Sunday on staff at Northwest wound up also being Bufe’s last Sunday (it was the week after Edison was born). Rusty (one of Bufe’s sons) preached a mini-sermon, too. Beautiful new signs were unveiled designating it the Bufe Karraker chapel.
Then, resuming a tradition Bufe started years ago, we all got together for a Summer Nights talent show. It was fun, goofy, entertaining, family friendly, and even featured a few prizes… oh, and an old dentist doing ballet in a tutu. Ahhh the nostalgia…
I’m hesitant to ascribe the timing of things to God, as though he made the world revolve around me… or me around it, but it sure was excellent that this whole weekend of celebration happened to be on the one weekend that Edi and I planned to be in town. And I’m very glad it worked out that way. All those years I was at Northwest were, I believe, the best years there. And that weekend was probably the best this year. It’s a treat to get in on the best and our whole vacation was … the best…
V-