Homecoming Sunday: Someone to Love

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, September 13, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

Everyone Needs Someone to Love (and a place to belong!)

Alexander Chalmers, along with G.K. Chesterton and others, credited with articulating a phrase that has been the inspiration for sermons, sermon series, graduation cards and graduation addresses. He is said to have written "The three grand essentials of happiness are: Something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for."

Whatever the catalyst was for this statement, the world can be grateful. But more to the point, the church can be grateful. With this phrase, yearnings are expressed that are common to most people, but, yes, essential to us who would follow Jesus.  

There are a plethora of books and articles that speak to the importance of purposeful work, community and affection, and this Sunday we are engaging one of Jesus’ best known and often preached parables that speaks to yearnings, but more importantly to non-transactional love, forgiveness and costly, sweet reconciliation.

Homecoming Sunday – invite your homies, check on those you haven’t seen for a while, recruit the ones you want to know better and who you want to know you better as a follower of Jesus – our and the world’s – only hope! Come worship and share a meal.

In anticipation –

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Something to Do!

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, September 6, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

The British theologian G. K. Chesterton writes about the joy of God's unending act of creation in his great book Orthodoxy. He muses that God says to the rising sun every morning, "do it again!" And so when our work may involve seemingly endless routine, we need to find the joy that lurks beneath even the most menial tasks.

He suggested, “if an ode can be written for a Grecian urn, then perhaps every widget is a wonder. Just because miracles happen every day doesn't mean they are no longer miracles.” And “angels are able to fly because they take themselves lightly." :)

He is also one of a couple of authors to whom the title of this series is ascribed...

“Grand Essentials of Happiness – Everyone Needs Something to Do, Something to Hope For, Someone to Love."

Monday is Labor Day... this Sunday, let’s look at what we get to do!

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A Blueprint for Expansion

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, August 30, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

There is a theme offered the last couple of weeks here at Second Church – one of inclusion, but more than just allowing and accepting those who may have been thought unwelcome or unworthy elsewhere, we’ve looked at expanding the table – providing a place for everyone and pulling up more chairs! .

How is that possible? Well the Apostle Paul doesn’t leave the people to whom he writes without direction. Our lection begins – “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. …Be tenderly affectionate one to another.”

How’s that for a start? Nonambiguous. Then Paul continues with clear, succinct exhortation. If there is confusion, it is ours.

How wonderful! Can anyone measure up? (shhh - We’ll talk about Dolly.)

In anticipation,

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Adding More Chairs

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, August 23, 2026

In our house when I was growing up, my parents had an old dining room table they purchased when married that still functioned as our formal table for the holidays. When I was very young, I remember being astonished that the table seemed to “magically” grow at Thanksgiving and Christmas. How did that little table with four people around it expand to seat eight or ten? As you know, it was not magic, but leaves that can be inserted into the middle to make room for more people.
 
Last week we heard an encouraging word from Cress about the need according to God’s grace to keep expanding the “Welcome Table.” There should always be room for family and guests alike. However, most churches with declining membership, and apathy among those who do attend, find little problem with space limitations as rows of pews remain vacant on Sundays. But having chairs ready to welcome and meet the needs of God’s beloved is another story entirely!
 
You see, chairs require people - people with needs, people maybe not familiar with our church lexicon and traditions, but people who are indeed gifted by God’s spirit, people ready to serve, people who are seen as family not simply guests intruding on the dinner.
 
This Sunday we will be in conversation about not only expanding the table, but adding “working” chairs as well. Hope you will come and take your seat ready to eat.
 
See you Sunday,
Steven

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Rev. Steven Baines is a Charleston native who currently serves as our church administer after 25 years in our nation’s capital. He served as executive minister at National City Christian Church, the “national cathedral” of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He has also held senior leadership positions at national civil rights organizations including Americans United for Separation of Church and State and People for the American Way.

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Expanding the Table

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, August 16, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

In our text this Sunday Jesus has left the familiar environs in which much of his story has taken place and travels to the region of Tyre and Sidon, lands that were populated mainly by non-Israelites.

The road is dusty, they’re tired, they stop for lunch. They had no longer sat down when a foreign woman spies them and runs up to Jesus shouting ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David – my daughter is tormented by a demon.’

Jesus ignores her! The disciples gather, ‘Send her away. She keeps shouting after us!’

This develops into an unsettling episode that touches on the Jewish laws of exclusion and what appears to be a narrow understanding by our Lord of the scope of his mission.

The woman won’t be denied. She kneels. She cajoles. She endures insult to access the only power that could save her daughter.

We gather in worship to access the only power that will save us and God’s world created good gone awry. Come as we position ourselves for grace.

In great anticipation –

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Hand Towel Theology

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, August 9, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

The last three weeks you’ve experienced wonderful preaching by three very different pulpiteers. Ken, Steven and Becky each have special voices through which they brought God’s word on humility, engagement, and God’s abundance.

This Sunday I’m recounting a familiar episode I’ve offered to you when Rebecca and I first arrived that I believe has particular and timely resonance for these days.

We were looking for a gift for Rev. Lana Russell who actually delivered a message at my ordination. She’d just accepted a call and had moved to Michigan. We wanted to send a housewarming gift.

Lana and I are both from Texas and may exhibit a frontier sense of humor, a Lone Star look at theology. We stopped by this Christian gift shop and there in the midst of pottery, vases, linens and cards was a rack of dishtowels – you know the kind that you might hang near the cabinet – but that you may or may not ever use. This one towel had three phrases, brief declarations, three brief statements that I want to hold before you –

• Hell is hot,

• time is short, and

• stakes are high.

As our planet bakes and our lives race by, we are struck with the urgency of our witness to the only power that can repair the breach of this moment – the love of Jesus.

See you in worship. Invite a friend (or someone who you wish were :)

Glad to be back!

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The Abundance of Scarcity

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, August 2, 2026

Our guest preacher this Sunday, Rev. Becky Albright, is on staff at Charleston Atlantic Presbytery serving as General Presbyter and Pastor to Pastors. Previously, Becky was an Associate Pastor at First Presbyterian Church, Beaufort, SC. She received a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree from Winthrop University and a Master of Divinity (MDiv) from Union Presbyterian Seminary in Charlotte, NC.

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From Ordinary to the Extraordinary

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, July 26, 2026

One of our families’ favorite things to do during these summer months is to head to one of our coastal beaches and search the shoreline for beautiful shells, fossilized shark teeth, and lost trinkets hidden in the sand. When my dad was living, he even brought along his handy dandy metal detector in hopes of discovering some historic artifact or precious jewelry left behind from a tourist.
 
In a moment of frivolity not long before my dad got sick, we played a wonderful, but horrible trick on my mother. We hid my sister-in law’s beautiful diamond ring in the sand ahead and gave the treasure-finding wand to my mom. In about fifty feet, the screech of that metal detector began blaring, and mom was so excited. What had she found she wondered – maybe a bottle cap, a nickel, or maybe something really valuable. As she dug with her shovel, she screamed to highest heaven… “Look, look what I found!” My dad was the one who broke the news that the ring was actually my sister-in-law’s. (I am sure they didn’t talk the entire way home.)
 
This Sunday we will discover the priceless joy of the Kingdom of Heaven as Jesus describes in Matthew 13. But this time it won’t be a cruel practical joke. It will be the real deal – treasure beyond our greatest imagination.
 
Hope to see you Sunday… and you can leave the metal detector at home! :)

- Steven

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Rev. Steven Baines is a Charleston native who currently serves as our church administer after 25 years in our nation’s capital. He served as executive minister at National City Christian Church, the “national cathedral” of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). He has also held senior leadership positions at national civil rights organizations including Americans United for Separation of Church and State and People for the American Way.

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The Last Shall Be First

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, July 19, 2026

What if the path to true greatness is the exact opposite of what the world teaches? The Bible reveals that those who humble themselves before God are the ones God ultimately lifts up.

Join us on Sunday as we examine a place for humility in our modern world.

-Ken Carrington

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Believing In, Believing, Trusting

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, July 12, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –
 

"And God took Abram outside and said, 'Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.' Then God said to him, 'So shall your offspring be.' Abram believed the Lord, and God credited it to him as righteousness"
(Genesis 15:5-6 NRSV)

The King James version reads, “Abram believed in the Lord…”

Over millennia this phrase has shaped three major faiths. Some have come to group them together into the Abrahamic faiths – Jewish, Christian and Muslim – contending that they all witness to the same God. But do they? Perhaps to the novel notion of a monotheistic God, but they exhibit a different way of expressing the relationship. As followers of Jesus, we look to the words of Paul who in Romans suggested “a more excellent way” – the way of love revealed in the teaching and the life of Jesus.

This Sunday we look at this Genesis text from 3000 years ago as a catalyst to live into our own faith in God’s promises – promises that we must believe, that we must live into, if we are to be authentic followers of Jesus the Christ.

Invite you friends. Stop by. Tune in. Let’s be the church navigating these new waters for and with Jesus.

In anticipation –

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The Pursuit of Happiness?

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, July 5, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

As I was growing up in Texas, I knew one thing- I wanted to be a cowboy. For me, of course, that meant riding a handsome horse, strumming three chord guitar tunes, and wearing boots with ‘dogger’ heels – not the work of herding and branding cattle.  

Roy Rogers and Gene Autry were the most popular singing cowboys, but it was the crooner, Bing Crosby who first recorded what came to be known as the Anthem of the West – "Home on the Range" (which was said to be President Franklin Roosevelt’s favorite song).

My favorite lyrics were, “Where never is heard a discouraging word and the sky is not cloudy all day.”

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? But even the mythic range the song speaks to is riven these days with conflict over water, grazing rights and market forces. Perhaps there is no place we are safe from discouraging words, so it’s all the more wonderful to find encouragement as we do at the end of our text this Sunday:   ‘...rejoice that your names are written in heaven!’ (Luke 10:20).

I know many folks are out of town or looking to enjoy the long weekend with no distractions (meaning real clothes and church), but don’t deny yourself the joy we know in gathering, singing, positioned for God’s grace. Invite whomever is left – we are all to be evangelists!

See you in worship!

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Forgiving – Forgiven – Forgiveness

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, June 28, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

This Sunday we look at forgiving. Or is it forgiveness? Or forgiven-ness? Perhaps one of the most difficult concepts that we as people of faith are called to deal with. We are supposed to forgive… and forgive… and forgive. But what if something has happened that is unforgivable. Is there such a thing for us?

There is so much to consider surrounding forgiving and forgiveness and forgiven-ness!

First of all community without forgiveness is impossible. As believers, we are called “to settle our disputes with each other” (2 Cor. 5:18). We need to consistently forgive others and receive forgiveness from others or we’ll “give up in despair" (2 Cor. 2:7).

Whenever we are hurt by someone, we have a choice: will we focus on retaliation or resolution? The Bible minces no words about settling the score: “Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always tries to be kind to each other – and everyone else” (I Thess. 5:15). But in God’s economy that isn’t enough. We have to press into the very heart of the matter – “forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

(Invite someone you need to forgive or from whom you need forgiveness!)
 
See you in worship!

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Supporting Each Other

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, June 21, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

This week we take seriously the requirement discussed last week that We Support Each Other! The way we communicate to and with each other – the words we use, and the way in which we convey them, must demonstrate to each other (and, therefore, will demonstrate to the world) our intention to support each other.   

As we seek the ways we can support one another, it might be helpful to remember that the word support literally means, “to lend strength to.” 

We find strength in places that are supportive, places where it’s safe to be ourselves.  

So – come to worship Jesus!

In great anticipation, 

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Accepting Each Other

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, June 14, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

A few years ago we invited Stan Ott, a church consultant, to join us for a weekend. One of the takeaways from that time was this: We must be the people of God before we attempt to do the work of the people of God.

One can stand at a distance and chuckle – of course! But I think many of us fall into a trap, a no win situation. We see what’s happening in the broader church where statistics don’t paint a positive picture. We are aware of the shifting loyalties, patterns of behavior, what appears to be waning commitment to the ‘church’ as we have known.

And while we don’t shield our eyes from what’s right before us, we need to - with eyes wide open - look deeper and beneath the surface. If we look with compassion at people’s lives today we see health issues, soccer weekends, family caregivers, multiple jobs. We see that lives are different and that yesterday’s norm is not today’s.

Dear friends, we have an opportunity to be a part of and live into Jesus’ new creation. We will spend the coming Sundays exploring what it means to be the people of God. We will accept each other, build each other up, come to know what it means to forgive, and allow ourselves to be forgiven with humility modeled by our Christ.

What is in the way of your marriage, your friends, your work, your aspirations? By becoming the people of God we will be set free to partner in God’s work which is our destiny (and our joy!). 

In great anticipation –

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I Desire Mercy

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, June 7, 2026

Dear Friends in Christ –

Cleo La Rue was my professor of homiletics at seminary. He was the first Black tenured professor in the department. He was from south Texas, played stride piano and was unflinching in his criticism and lavish in his praise – in other words – perfect.

He writes in his commentary on this section of Matthew, “Jesus typically calls busy folks. He was not known for recruiting lollygaggers.” In these short verses we have:

• a vocational-180 – detested tax collector to disciple,

• a restoration – an ‘unclean woman’ restored to wholeness,

• a resurrection – a dead child brought back to life. 

What do these episodes tell us about Jesus? Various people shown mercy  - all sick or perceived as sinful, healed by Jesus, restored to new possibilities for living in wholeness and purpose.

We are in ‘ordinary time’ – a long stretch to engage the life and work of our Lord that starts this Sunday at the table – our Lord’s.

Here's your chance for perfect attendance post Memorial Day!

In anticipation –

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