PILGRIM'S CHRISTMAS EVE LUMINARIES:
The Origin Story
For 53 years, the neighborhoods surrounding Pilgrim Church have glowed with candlelight on Christmas Eve. It's a beautiful tradition started by two young boys: Robert and Kelley, sons of Donna and Bill Beasley.
The Beasley's brought the Christmas luminary tradition from Billings, where they had previously lived. During their time in Billings, a friend of the Beasley boys, Bobby Switzer, was killed one week before Christmas. He was hit by a car while riding his bike home from basketball practice.
The Beasley boys decided to place luminaries in the driveway and in front of their new Bozeman home, in memory of their friend. The Beasley's also set up luminaries at Pilgrim Congregational Church on Christmas Eve to light the way for the Christ Child to find their home and their church. The custom delighted their neighbors, and soon the entire neighborhood took up the tradition of putting candles into bags and placing them in front of their homes.
Christmas Eve luminaries is now a solid tradition that has spread throughout the Westridge neighborhood during these past 53 years. Many people from other parts of the city enjoy driving through our neighborhood during the evening hours to view the luminaries and decorations.
A program titled "Season of Light" offered by the Taylor Planetarium at the Museum of the Rockies explains the importance of light and the tradition of lighting candles during this time of the year. The show is narrated by the late Charles Kuralt and includes an explanation of the luminary tradition. Click here to see the Planetarium's schedule.
Thanks to Donna, Bill, Robert, and Kelley Beasley, Christmas Eve is always brighter in southeast Bozeman.
The Story of Pilgrim
The original congregational church on South Black Ave; the old church was torn down and built over with new houses.
The United Church of Christ, of which Pilgrim is a part, began in 1957 when the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Church merged into one. As a people, we find our spiritual beginnings much earlier with the Pilgrims of Plymouth Plantation in 1620, the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629, and the congregations founded by German settlers in Pennsylvania beginning in 1725. Ours is a tradition descended from courageous reformers who sought freedom from state-sponsored religion, believing that nothing should come between God and the congregation.
In 1959, six families met to discuss the beginnings of a new church to serve the Gallatin Valley and Montana State University. Two years later on February 19, 1961, 61 people signed the covenant which created The Pilgrim Congregational Church of Bozeman and its affiliation with the United Church of Christ. Today that number exceeds 200 families and individuals, but the spirit of newness, vitality, and possibility that inspired our founders is still present. In keeping with the Congregational way, we govern ourselves democratically, deciding as a congregation how to structure our church and seeking to include all who wish to worship with us. Pilgrim is an active member of the Montana Northern Wyoming Partnership Ministries.