Just north of The Junction, quite a sight this morning outside one of West Seattle’s historic churches: First Lutheran Church of West Seattle marked its 90th anniversary with a bagpipe-led procession, beginning from the original 1918 church site (photo here) behind the current one, heading along Dakota to the 1950-opened sanctuary — designed by a member of the Seattle-founding Denny family — front. The video clip above shows the start of the procession (which FLCWS’s pastor, the Rev. Ronald Marshall, previewed in this article we published earlier this week), led by Tyron Heade, Pipe Major from St. James Cathedral downtown; just ahead, three more clips as the ceremony moved to the church’s door:
Once the procession turned the corner on Dakota to California, traffic slowed and passersby paused – this is a very busy section of California, right across from major new mid-rise development. As the procession participants gathered around the church’s door, Pastor Marshall offered words of thanksgiving:
And as Pastor Marshall ceremonially knocked three times, the doors opened to officially begin the church’s 91st year:
After today’s service, church members and leaders were going over to The Hall at Fauntleroy to continue the celebration with an afternoon dinner and charity fundraiser.
We first visited the church while interviewing Pastor Marshall earlier this year about his ongoing series teaching the Koran (see our story here) – he is teaching the next Koran series, by the way, beginning this Thursday (if you’re interested, call the church at 206/935-6530). His article on WSB from earlier this week includes more of the church history and information about some of its unique features; you can also explore the church’s website, flcws.org.
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