HISTORY "I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your wonders of old." - Psalm 77:11 The parish of Christ Church in Bethany was officially organized in 1799, and the church was completed in 1810. Its most prominent interior feature, a high central pulpit, was removed in an 1875 renovation, which created a Victorian interior within a New England colonial exterior. Renovations after 1950 expunged most of the effect produced in 1875 but spared the oak altar, its railing, and the oak trim of the pews. The altar itself is now visible only once a year, when it is stripped for Good Friday. During the century between the first baptisms and the first building renovation, Christ Church served a stable, small, rural, agricultural community, and up to half the households may have been at least nominally or indirectly associated with it. The population of Bethany declined by 64% between 1870 and 1920 and did not return to the 1870 level until 1950. Between the two World Wars, service attendance at Christ Church declined into single digits, and the independent parish became a mission aided by the diocese. Not only demographics, but the deaths of two consecutive pastors within a few months of each other contributed to the decline. Yet a handful of dedicated members, seminarians, and visiting clergy, aided by God's grace, kept the doors open until the church we now know could begin to emerge. For the past half century, drawing members of diverse backgrounds from nearby towns -and ones as far away as Guildford and West Hartford - providing a range of programs and liturgical modes, participating in the church and the world beyond our walls, and at the same time maintaining the continuity of our traditions, Christ Church has been deepening and expanding its communal life. As one example, the third service, tried twice before with little success, is here to stay this time, not because it has the right time slot, but because we have recognized that worship is both universal and personal, that there is one Spirit but a diversity of religious experience. Our wider world includes St. Andrew's Church, DESK, and the New Haven Deanery; seminarians from South Africa and Kenya; and our travels to Israel, Africa and the Rosebud Reservation. We have celebrated continuity on three anniversaries over recent years, the bicentennial of the Diocese of Connecticut and the Episcopal Church in the United States (1984), the bicentennial of Christ Church (1999), and the twentieth anniversary of Peter Stebinger's installation (2003). His tenure as rector is the longest in the history of the parish, and it spans almost half the period since Christ Church regained the status of self-sustaining parish in 1959. Contributed by Bill Brown, Parish Historian