On Baltimore’s near West Side, there is a winding hilly way which may have been a deer trail long before the Europeans settled in this land. Along that road stands a fine grey stone fortress, with a steeple stretching to the stars. In 1875, the members of First English Lutheran Church, who had been burned out of their church home on Park Avenue, built that fortress.

I was near there a few weeks ago, returning from a visit with one of our members who worshiped in that church as a girl.

From a stop light, I saw the old church off to my right, just two blocks away. At one time this had been a highly fashionable and comfortable place to live. Many of those homes once had polished wooden stairways at both the front and the back doors. The neighborhood is run down now. It is sad to see. Trash …