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This is From the Archives, where we present something from our extensive collection of archival photos, records and all manner of materials dating back to when the church was First Methodist Episcopal, to First Methodist, to Church of the Savior, to St. Paul's to Crossroads.
This week's archives item is a little different. It's not an interesting historical document or picture this week, instead it's an unusual piece of electrical infrastructure in our church that was set up to serve a very specific purpose related to our Sunday School program. It's another one of these things that has been around the church for decades that you may have walked past many times and never noticed.
If you go into our stained glass and history room at the back of the sanctuary, you will find the great Christ and the Children window that was saved and restored in the last few years. But perhaps you've never noticed that there is a lone light bulb way up on the wall on the left side of that window. You've probably never noticed it because 99.9% of the time it is turned off. Or maybe you did notice it, and tried to find a way to turn it on, and discovered that there is no light switch anywhere in that room or in the vicinity which controls it.
What is the purpose of this light? It was used for decades as a Sunday School bat signal, a call for help for someone in that room to come downstairs to the Sunday School to help with something. Maybe the students were getting a little rowdy, or maybe there were just too many of them for the number of teachers and helpers to handle.
If such a dire situation arose, a presumably harried adult would use a dedicated wall switch in one of the downstairs classrooms (a switch which is still there) and the light in that far off room upstairs would come on. Then someone in that room would come downstairs and help, presumably.
It is fascinating that they set this signal up in such a way that you could only turn it on or off from downstairs in a Sunday School classroom, meaning that someone HAD to go down there if for no other reason than to turn off this random light.
So, the next time you are walking by that room at the back of the sanctuary, take a moment to notice that light. And if you happen to see it turned on, now you know what to do! Run! Help!
(Click to open the images in new windows.)
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