St. John's Lutheran Church, Cedar Mills, MN/125th Anniversary

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St. John's Lutheran Church, Cedar Mills, MN celebrated its 125th Anniversary on September 10th, 2017. It was held at the church. Lyla Baur, Paul Scharrer and Kathryn Scharrer, James Baur and Terri Baur represented our family. The organizers even reserved seats for us in the church!

I thought the service was awesome. St. John's still uses The Lutheran Hymnal in their regular services. It was neat to be using a familiar liturgy (page 32). The pastor had a good sermon filled with law and Gospel. The question he posed to the congregation concerning the church's history was "What is the most important day in St. John's history?"

Many answers ran through my head. Was it when the charter members met. Was it the first services held in the local district school house? Was it the baptisms, confirmations and marriages which took place in the days of yesteryear? The estabishment of the school? The building of the church? The list went on.

The pastor's answer was "Today is the most important day." That answer took me by surprise, but than I had to totally agree. Today was a colmanation of all those previous things. If we weren't gathering today, those other achievements would have failed to pass down the Great Heritage to the present generation. Wow, what a thought!

What heritage got passed down? Here I was gathered with a body of fellow believers. We were sharing God's Great Heritage. What a blessing. The families of 5 charter member are still in the congregation. St. John's and what it preaches are thier heritage.

I discovered something new. St. John's is part of my heritage. Cedar Mills was always just an abrstract place on the map. I found I had real roots to that congregation.

The church was full.

Thoughts from Kathryn Scharrer

These are the thought of Mom and Paul

Awesome services and music friendly people warmly welcomed
Lots of participation of the members and nicely planned

Things we learned

Grandma started the Ladies Aid and taught a year at the school.
Grandma taught a year at the school.
There was an older pastor there whose uncle was a member when Gr. Baur was pastor. He told Paul that his uncle regarded Pastor Baur as his favorite pastor and that his uncle was very particular so that was a compliment!!
Grandpa B was the first pastor to be ordained at the church.

Kathryn Scharrer thoughts were these too but I felt like I had a huge family hole filled.

As we were in church I was emotionally moved as *I thought of Grandpa sick and Grandma struggling to help him in his illness and keep their son sheltered form how awful it was.
I thought of how it was for Dad to be at his Dad's funeral and then continue with out him.
I have also thought how Grandma never talked about it. Was this due to the extreme sorrow or thought no one was interested. Dad also never talked about it.
Grandpa Baur finally became a very real person.

Picture taken at the gravesite of Alfred Baur and Clara Baur in 2017 Left to Right Paul Scharrer and Kathryn Scharrer, Lyla Baur, Terri Baur and James Baur & Molly source:Kathryn Baur collection

Left Top to Bottom: * Lyla Baur * James Baur, Kathryn and Paul Scharrer Center Top to Bottom: * Baur headstone. Picture is of Alfred Baur gravesite in 1927 and the original church. * Alfred Baur footstone Right Top to Bottom: * James Baur, Kathryn and Lyla Baur * Clara Baur footstone * Paul Scharrer, Kathryn Scharrer and James Baur and Molly * Lyla Baur source:Terri Baur collection.

Food Tent:'Top Center:Kathryn Scharrer and Lyla Baur source:St. James Lutheran Church, Cedar Mills, MN collection

Outside pictures. The school has additions built around the original school building. This is where Clara would have taught school. Alfred and family lived in this parsonage. Dad was born in the old parsonage. source:St. John's Lutheran Church, Cedar Mills, MN

Pictures Left to Right Confirmation Certificate signed by Alfred Baur. Note: I've noticed a lot of pastors just signed thier first initial to documents. I wonder if this is why Dad's signature was RN Baur... *Communion Ware which was used in St. John's first church. It was later sent to Ralph Baur when he started a mission congregation in Merna, NE. He later took it to WA where he used it at Salem Lutheran Church, Edmonds, WA. When he retired to MN he brought it with him. **The altarware was loaned to St. John's for their 125th anniversary by Mom who had it stored in her attic. After the celebration I was offered the choice to take it home with me. We discussed this with Val Murphy and her parents, Adeline Zummach and ??. It was decided the Altar Ware belonged at St. John's. It was part of the Baur, Zumack, and St. John's heritage. We were given the option to retrieve it if a family member entered the ministry and had use for it. * Picture board of Alfred Baur **Alfred Baur posed with confirmation class. I am unable to read the names/date. **Alfred Baur, Clara Baur, and Ralph Baur sitting on steps when in Detroit for Alfred's cancer treatment. ** Alfred Baur, Clara Baur, and Ralph Baur standing in front of St. John's new parsonage. ** Alfred Baur's casket being carried out to gravesite. People are identified elsewhere on this Wiki. ** Five year old Ralph Baur looking at his Dad lying in state inside parsonage. We believe the wall is the one opposite of the parsonage bay window. * A list of sons and daughter's of the congregation who entered the work of the church. Note that Ralph Baur is first on the list. Also note Baur was spelled Bauer and the location should be Mountlake Terrace, WA. Another name of which stands out for me is Raymond Duehlmeier who was a professor at Martin Luther Academy, New Ulm, MN when us Baur kids were in high school. He was there when Clara Baur was matron of the girls' dormitory. He often let me know he knew Grandma. I wish I had done a better job of listening. * Picture of the wall size timeline display. The pictures are of Alfred, Clara, and Ralph. It should be noted that the picture for 1917 is wrong. Ralph was born in 1922, a year before the new parsonage was built in 1923. I'm not being critical here, just want to make the correction for the sake of accuracy. This timeline was really awesome. A lot of work must have gone into it! * More confirmation certificates, some signed by Alfred * The cross and candlesticks of the altarware given to Ralph Baur (see above entry). *The framed note reads: ** "This communion ware, cross and candlesticks are originally from our first church built in 1896. **In 1950 the altarware along with the baptismal font, pulpit and hymn boards were donated to Rev Ralph Baur (Rev Alfred Baur's sone)) to use in a Mission Church in Broken Bow/Merna Nebraska. Rev Baur took the altar ware with him to the next church he served in Seattle, WA. (note:This was Salem Lutheran Church, Edmonds, WA and in Mountlake Terrace, WA before the congregation relocated. ***The baptismal font was of special interest to Kathryn Scharrer because she had alway been told that she and Dad were baptized in the same baptismal font. Now she know how/why! **Mrs. Ralph Baur still had it and borrowed it to us for display at our Heritage Sunday in January and 125th Anniversary Celebration. source: St. John's Lutheran Church, Cedar Mills, MN