Plymouth Magazine-Spring24-FINAL - Flipbook - Page 12
Rediscovering the Ministry of Rev.
Stoddard Lane in Plymouth’s Archives
By Allie Shambaugh-Miller (she/her)
On Jan. 17, 1943, Reverend Stoddard
Lane delivered his final sermon to the
Congregation of Plymouth Church. He
was unaware that in four short months,
he would pass away from an unexpected
illness, leaving a Congregation devastated
by the loss of their pastor in the midst of
World War II. He was unaware that his
words on the importance of Plymouth’s
history would be rediscovered 80 years
later in a basement closet, himself now
a part of that heritage. Unaware on that
Sunday, Lane delivered these words:
Rev. Stoddard Lane
“
We agree to differ.
We resolve to love.
We united to serve.
”
– Plymouth’s motto introduced
by Rev. Stoddard Lane.
When Allie Shambaugh-Miller began her research
on Stoddard Lane, she was asked to investigate
the origins of Plymouth’s motto. She could not
find evidence that Lane authored the statement,
nor did she find any citation about where the
motto came from. Shambaugh-Miller concluded
that Lane more than likely introduced the motto to
the congregation and Plymouth adopted it.
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“I have often said that a church is people,
worshipping, learning, serving, and
practicing brotherhood together. But
that’s not the whole story. Plymouth
Church is not simply Plymouth Church
of today, it is Plymouth Church of
yesterday… it is a long line of men and
women who for 86 years have poured
lives into this church… Plymouth is
a tradition. It is not only a present
possession, it is a rich heritage passed
along to us by the past… God help us to
be worthy of it.”
The poignancy of those words struck
me as I carefully thumbed through
the pages of one of the 35 original
sermons written by Lane. The sermons
were mixed together with other
remnants of Plymouth’s history, all
preserved in church bulletins, letters,
minutes, scrapbooks, and VHS tapes. I
remarked at how fortunate I was to hold
Plymouth’s history in my hands.
In spring of 2022, Drake University
Professor Timothy Knepper reached
out to gauge my interest in performing
research on Rev. Stoddard Lane,
Plymouth’s Senior Minister from 1929
to his death in 1943. Plymouth member
Mark Rosenberg sought to sponsor a
student to research the lessons that Lane’s
ministry could offer to the Congregation
today. Afterall, Lane championed
tolerance, pacifism, and Christian
political action throughout the upheaval
of the Great Depression and World War
II. As a third-year history major, I eagerly
agreed to join the project.
In August, fellow Drake student
Gracie Geist and I joined the Archives
Committee at Plymouth as we pulled
dusty plastic totes and filing cabinets out
of a storage room in the gymnasium. We
shuffled through hundreds of folders
and put aside anything with Lane’s
name or the dates of his ministry. After
a few sessions, we possessed a full tote of
scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, service
bulletins, and, most exciting to me, the
original typed sermons.
The Drake University Archives and
Special Collections graciously allowed
me to transfer the Lane materials to their
space to be indexed, placed into archivalgrade folders and boxes, and digitally
scanned for long-term preservation and
use. As I handled each individual paper,
the remarkable story of Lane’s humanity,
faith, and dedication to social justice
