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Dear Friends in Jesus –
We are a community living into a future enabled by a multi-dimensional presence – the God of creation, redemption and advocacy.
This Sunday we engage a conceptual reality – our God still creating, redeeming and providing.
Another chance to gather in obedience, anticipation and joy!
With great joy in being your pastor –
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Jesus”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged? We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.
Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.
Pentecost is so much more than the beginnings of the Christian church. It was also the day that our commission began.
How do we look at our commission?
Are we a "covert" Christian, or do we let our fire burn brightly for all to see?
See you Sunday! Wear red for Pentecost, to signify the presence of the Holy Spirit in our community and our unity in Christ.
– Ken Carrington
Ken Carrington is a K5 teacher at Second Presbyterian Kindergarten and is Director of Children and Youth for Second Presbyterian. His greatest joy is teaching the Children’s sermon. Ken is currently a candidate for Commissioned Pastor in the Presbyterian Church.
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Jesus”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged? We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.
Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.
Dear Friends in Jesus –
This Sunday we acknowledge Ascension Day. 'What?' you may ask. Good question. This day commemorates a moment post-resurrection when Jesus, who has called the disciples to gather on the mountain, takes his leave.
Scripture says he raised his hands to bless them, then, rose - "being carried into heaven".
The language of two thousand years ago offers challenges, but the Gospel writer Luke offers us purpose.
We are to continue the work of the realm inspired by, led by, accompanied by the Holy Spirit of God in and with the power of God’s love.
What we get to do! See you this Communion Sunday!
In anticipation,
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Jesus”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged? We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.
Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.
Dear Friends in Jesus –
In many communities, grateful citizens will pause to remember the mostly young men and women who gave their lives in service of our country, of freedom and democracy.
I ran across these thoughts by Tom Erich, Episcopal priest and commentator:
“We live in an era driven by fear and bigotry and exploited by greed. So deep are the dark currents that we could lose our fundamental inheritance if we fail to carry its weight.
"Memorial Day is a sobering reminder that each generation must set aside self-interest, look beyond wealth and comfort, develop an attitude of tolerance, and stand tall for the freedom and mutual respect that enables this experiment to proceed.”
We are among those who would do the above, but with an overriding mandate in service to Jesus.
Come this Sunday for Gospel singing and Gospel proclamation in the name of the one who offers peace –
In anticipation,
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Jesus”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged? We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.
Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.
Dear Friends in Jesus –
There is a group of men that meet on the first Wednesday of the month at St. Philips. The “First Wednesday Men’s Luncheons” was organized by a group from St Michael's, St. Philip's, the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul… and Second Presbyterian Church.
I was talking with Ric, one of the fellows, and, as people do, we brought up personal interests and people whom we thought we might know in common. One fellow’s name came up and Ric said, “Yeah he’s a Kingdom guy.” What?
“He’s a Kingdom guy. He loves his church and the people there, but his heart is beyond the walls. He’s not a company guy, he’s Kingdom.”
This got me thinking: am I a company guy … or a Kingdom guy? Am I more concerned about the number of people in the pews?More concerned about the size of the offering than the size of someone’s heart commitment for Jesus?
Is Second Church Company or Kingdom? Our scripture this Sunday is clear. Jesus says, “go and make disciples of all the nations, baptize them, teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you…”
Let’s gather Sunday as a Kingdom Church that seeks to follow Jesus’ mandates in his love for all people.
In anticipation –
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Jesus”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged? We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.
Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.
How many times do we encounter something, a sound, a song or a memory, and you know immediately what that something is? This week we are celebrating many occasions in the life of our family – Cress and Rebecca are rejoicing with their daughter, Lily, as she graduates from the University of Miami; we continue rejoicing in the season of Easter resurrection; and we are celebrating the lives of mothers, those living and those now in eternal peace. In times of celebration and times of anguish, the embrace of one familiar or even the sound of their voice can express more than a thousand words.
As we prepare for worship this Sunday, the Lectionary has us revisiting Jesus addressing his detractors with these words, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.” That’s a bold proclamation in God’s temple knowing many were seeking to kill him.
It is a proclamation I think most of us need reminding from time to time. Jesus knows us; he hears our voices, and we hear Jesus. The question we ask this week is what will we do in return? Ignore? Reject? Follow?
Hope to hear your voice this Sunday. Second Church embraces you!
– Steven
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Jesus”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged? We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.
Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.
Dear Friends in Jesus –
Jesus spent a lot of time on the road. From Egypt to Bethlehem to the temple at Jerusalem. Then he left Nazareth to find his cousin to be baptized, then to the wilds and back. He was on the move.
So it shouldn’t be a surprise that he encounters two fellows with dashed hopes and heavy hearts, trudging home dispirited and defeated. “We had hoped…” for what? for whom? Certainly not the One who lived briefly, died violently, and rose unexpectedly rejoining on the road to Emmaus two of the clueless who stood at the foot of the cross.
Come to church. Hear of the work, be strengthened for the work and be inspired to do the work of the God who cozies up beside us, who won’t leave us in despair.
See you Sunday!
In great anticipation,
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Jesus”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged? We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.
Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.
Dear Friends in Jesus –
The Sunday after Easter is widely called "low Sunday" – predicting low attendance after the excitement and swell of Easter. But it’s also referred to as "Doubting Thomas Sunday".
I checked all three lectionary years; yep – Thomas! Usually referring to his unbelief in the resurrection of Jesus without having seen Jesus himself in the flesh. But a couple of things:
Is that unreasonable?
Is he asking for any more than what others have experienced?
Is that a discipleship disqualifier for a follower?
I’ve grappled with this text many times and have found the reason for its ubiquity: we all want proof. We all want assurance. We all want to know that it's real. We all long for the certainty of a savior.
Come this Sunday to hear the Charleston Gospel Choir and to hear again that you are loved forever.
In love and anticipation –