Peace Lutheran Church welcomes new pastoral couple
Nov. 12—A fresh face is in place in one of downtown Aiken's newest churches, with the Rev. Simeon Crass having come aboard as Peace Lutheran Church's pastor.
The congregation, based at Richland Avenue and Newberry Street, now hears on a weekly basis from a native of Rock Island, Illinois, who attended high school and college with his future wife, Jamie. They moved to Aiken in late July from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, taking the helm of a congregation that dates back to 2014 and had its initial gatherings in The Alley, at Aiken Municipal Center.
"I was assigned to Peace Lutheran right out of the seminary," the rookie clergyman said. "In our national church body, we have a seminary, and when you're done with seminary, they pair you up with a congregation, and so I received an assignment down here, and my wife and I picked up our stuff and we made the move."
That move has come to involve 10 a.m. Sunday worship services and an educational outreach built around the belief that "men, women, and children are rescued from sin and its effects by the rich and undeserved mercy of God, and that through a heart-level trust in Jesus called faith, forgiveness and real, lasting life become ours," as stated on the church's website.
The pastor recalled, "I went to a Lutheran grade school, and the first time I remember saying out loud that I wanted to be a pastor was actually in second grade. For the life of me, I don't know exactly why, but from early on, I wanted to be a pastor. I liked my pastor at my church. I had a couple of pastors in my family, and I had just a really encouraging staff ... Because it was a Lutheran elementary school, my teacher thought that was awesome, and my principal, over the years, encouraged it, so it was really just a mix between certainly the grace of God and then Him putting some pretty spectacular people in life."
His introduction to Aiken has been "perfect," he said. "I have never been at a church like Peace, and I have never been in a city like Aiken. The warmth and the generosity and the kindness is just so evident, the moment you drive into town, but then, the moment I walked into the doors here at the church, I mean, it just doesn't stop."
His parents may have a similar opinion. "I remember my folks came in to watch me be installed as the church's pastor here, and they asked me, 'Do you suppose they're always this nice, or do you just think it's because they know we're the parents of the pastor?' What I've learned is that, yes, they're always this nice. They're always this welcoming. They're always this loving," he said.
He also commented on the road that brought him and his bride together. "She grew up on the south side of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I grew up on the western side of Illinois, but we met in high school. We went to a boarding school together, and so we went through high school and college ... I was at seminary, and then we started dating."
His wife's background is in teaching, and she is currently working for Shirer Family Dentistry, as a receptionist. As for their interests, the man of the house noted, "Jamie and I like live music and I like golf (feelings not mutual), watching football and working in my yard."
Unusual events on Peace's horizon, he said, include one set for Nov. 20 — "a Thanksgiving dinner where the church is going to provide turkeys," he said, with members providing a dish to pass. The church will also participate in the annual downtown "Night of 1,000 Lights," providing a living Nativity scene and a welcome for passers-by who might have an interest in coming inside for hot cocoa, snacks, games and crafts.
"We're really looking forward to just kind of having the doors open, making sure Aiken knows that they're always welcome to stop on in and check us out," the pastor said.
A central idea is to "make it really accessible for any guest that can show up and feel really comfortable in our worship environment right away."
The new pastor's predecessor at Peace was "Pastor Jonathan" — the Rev. Jonathan Bourman. He now leads a Lutheran congregation in the south-central Minnesota city of Mankato.
Peace's first few steps took place about a block away, in Aiken Municipal Center. Crass noted, "You would set up church, you would do church, and then you would take down the chairs, take down the altar and all that stuff and then, after a few years of doing that, the Lord blessed us that we could get an old garage, an old guitar shop, and now it's a church that's really meeting our needs well, actually."
