Last year, our church doors had to be replaced. They were 40 plus years old and quite weathered. The old doors were damaged and put aside to be discarded so I asked for permission to take one of them. After an approval process, I was given the door. I’m sentimental and nostalgic. 
Those doors represented so much to me. In my childhood and through adulthood, they were quite literally and technically the portals to my spirituality in the physical sense. We entered through those doors to attend church and other fellowship activities. However, more importantly, those doors were a significant part of our church’s consecration in 1982. A consecration is a church’s “sanctification and dedication” and it entails quite a process. The preparation for this event was a long time in the making.
One of the ceremonious things with the church doors at our 1982 consecration involved our clergy hierarchs who were in attendance. In addition to priests in attendance, our Bishop Kallistos and Archbishop Iakovos also attended and officiated. At the start of our ceremonious weekend, our parish excitedly went out to the Tulsa International Airport to greet the Archbishop. I remember each organization of our church having 1-2 representatives to greet the Archbishop on behalf of their organization or ministry. My cousin and I rehearsed our greeting many times together in Greek. We greeted the Archbishop on behalf of the immigrant contingency from his mother island (and ours), Imvros. I remember the Archbishop nodding approvingly at our welcome greeting.
The pomp and ceremony of parading through the airport to the Press Room to do these introductions was something unprecedented in my church experience. I have never been in the Press Room since. As a 14 year old with my 12 year old cousin, this was a big deal for us and for the others that day.
Leading up to the consecration weekend, a fundraising campaign was created where people could become an honorary “Godparent” to the newly consecrated church. The participants’ names were entered and the name drawn by the hierarch became the “Godparent” of the church. Pensively, we waited to hear the name….it was my Grandfather’s name! He started bawling. Standing next to my mother, I watched tears stream down her face and another parishioner hugged her. (My mother and this parishioner both died from cancer years later so that memory is very poignant for me.) My grandfather was given “the keys to the church” on that day and I have those in my iconostasion at home. This is a photo from that 1982 consecration.
The Archbishop tapped on the church doors with his scepter during this consecration service. It was all so meaningful and full of traditions. The rituals and activities of the day were new to us. Although the church was erected in 1968, it wasn’t consecrated until 1982. It was a big day. I think back to that day, that weekend….and I’m fascinated that we met Archbishop Iakovos and that he was here in our little parish in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I think of him as my “one degree of separation” from Martin Luther King, Jr. because of his support and involvement in the civil rights movement and the fact that he marched with MLK, Jr.
I really wanted to save that damaged church door and repurpose it into something that I could pass down to my children. I consulted my cousin; the same one who I greeted the Archbishop with that day in the press room back in 1982. My cousin had recently taken up a new hobby of woodworking during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. I had the vision for the church door table and he had the skills. He built a base for the table and I had it stained by a professional. Ironically, the lady who stained the table grew up in my neighborhood and was nostalgic about her childhood memories here among my neighbors. She came over several days in a row to work on the table staining process.
My other cousin, the brother of my woodworking cousin, helped transport the table to our house. We called it our “Lenten project”. I envisioned all the gatherings that could take place around the church door table with our next generation. Word got around of our project and the other door was also repurposed by my cousin and used as an auction item for a fundraiser at our church.
I am still considering the proper place for this table as it could have outdoor uses as well. It transferred from my cousin’s garage to ours. It may end up in one of our son’s homes one day. It’s a piece of history that represents so many things to me. The best part was that I could share this restoration project with my cousins.
A side note: This is a video about Archbishop Iakovos and his thoughts on marching with MLK, JR..