By Ann Petersen, SBA Columnist | 8/7/25
(SBA) - On March 11, 2019, the Community United Methodist Church of Sergeant Bluff received a letter from Diane (Holdcroft) Kressin of Appleton, Wisconsin. Enclosed with the letter was a single-spaced typed copy of the “Baccalaureate Sermon” for the Sergeant Bluff graduating class of 1926, held at the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Sergeant Bluff whose minister at the time was A.J. Barkley. The eight-page, typed, single-spaced sermon was delivered on May 16,1926. The writer of the accompanying letter, Diane (Holdcroft) Kressin believes that the sermon was either given by her grandfather, James (Sally Nora Belle) Holdcroft or her great grandfather, Henry Clyde Holdcroft or her great, great grandfather Andrew James Holdcroft, although since the sermon does not include the author, Ms. Kressin does not know who actually wrote (and or) delivered the sermon. She iindicated that all three families lived in the Sioux City area for many years and, although none of the men were ministers, they were all avid Bible readers and active members of the Methodist church. No one knows who gave the sermon, but I can attest, after reading the sermon, that the author was both well-versed in the Gospel and quite long-winded. The delivery would have taken over an hour, which on a warm day, in a non-air-conditioned church, must have been a trial for at least some of the listeners.
The title of the Baccalaureate Sermon is “The Law of the Universe,” with an indication that the impetus for the sermon was Luke 6: 28-36. The sermon begins “Order is heaven’s first law,” which he ascribes to “an old proverb.” Holdcroft then writes “God has been very orderly in His work, both by precept and through nature. He demanded that those who would subdue and have dominion over nature should be orderly and systematic. Thus, order and system should be stamped indelibly upon the minds of all who would succeed in life… there must be something behind order; there must be a heaven and an earth… there must be a power and ability; God must be first. He made out of the physical system an order and he set several Laws. THE LAW OF THE UNIVERSE (the title of his sermon) must be discovered in His doings and His teachings.” (p. 1)
As a long-time English instructor, I can deduce what the writer must have established as his thesis statement (albeit lengthy) that we must follow God’s laws. The following paragraph says that God created Adam and Eve to follow order, but “THEY FAILED GOD.” Their world became wrong and still is wrong today (1926) if the listeners give their minds to “silliness, selfishness or sin.” The writer continues “God is the great giver and man who is created in the image of God cannot be like Him unless he also gives.” He then quotes Luke 6:28 “GIVE AND IT SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO YOU GOOD MEASURE, PRESSED DOWN, SHAKEN TOGETHER, RUNNING OVER. SHALL THEY GIVE INTO YOUR BOSOM. FOR WITH WHAT MEASURE YE METE IT, SHALL BE MEASURED TO YOU AGAIN.”
This is the point at which the write deviates from his thesis that all must follow God’s laws and begins to talk only about one law--the importance of giving. I sat through many sermons preached on the topic of the importance of giving to the church, usually at the time of year when the leaders of the congregation are worried about how much the congregants will give (or tithe) for the upcoming fiscal year. One church to which I belonged sent church leaders out to individual homes on a Sunday afternoon to collect written pledges from each congregant family. I was new to the community and unsure about how much I could afford to give to the church each month, so I managed to be away from home when the church leader called. I was very surprised, however, a few minutes later to find that church leader standing in my office door, pledge card in hand.
Dale told about a similar situation when the pastor of the church he was attending came to his home and asked Dale for a check for $10,000 to help pay for a new church roof. When Dale told the pastor that he did not have $10,000, the pastor told him to “go borrow it from the bank.” Dale didn’t have that kind of credit and, surprisingly still attended that church, although he could not meet the pastor’s demand. Fortunately, most churches today don’t practice such draconian methods of collecting needed funds for their church, but there is always the assumption that the more money someone earns, the more they are expected to give to their church.
The rest of the sermon by one of the writers of the Holdcroft family emphasizes that those who give, can expect a harvest. As most of the listeners to the sermon that day were assumed to be farmers as adults, such a metaphor would have resonated with them. They may also have worried that if they did not give enough, their crops would fail. What a powerful threat these few words contained. The next few pages of the sermon are full of stories about what happens when a person does not give freely. Each story is more pointed than the previous one. Holdcroft ends his sermon with “MEMBERS OF THE CLASS: Your country and your God are calling upon you, as well as your fellow man to give your best to God and to humanity. In giving smiles, good-cheer, loving thoughts, time, home-comforts, and acts of service for others, you will be making yourselves nobler, sweeter and more beautiful in face and heart and life.” This exhortation ends with the singing of the hymn, “Take my life and let it be. Consecrated Lord for Thee” As the soon-to-be high school graduates filed out of the church, I think there might have been some trepidation that they will be able to answer God’s call for donations.
