Get a Grip

The Online Church service is posted below. This is a communion service, so please prepare bread- or bagels or muffins- and juice or wine so that you are ready to take part in communion. 

Click here to listen to the sermon as a podcast. Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos.

Have questions? You are encouraged to ask questions for a mid-week sermon discussion post. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, August 2, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

This week we turn to the Letter to the Hebrews which is written to a particular congregation because they saw a threat. Not from Roman occupiers or invading hordes, but the people to whom this was written were in the most extreme danger – the danger of giving up. The danger of apostasy, abandoning or even recanting their faith in Jesus the Christ. They were tired, weary. Their lives were hard. Don’t forget, it wasn’t easy being a Christian.

Sometimes we think life is hard, and sometimes it is, but when they professed Jesus as Lord they were shunned. They lost family ties, community identification, protection, property, opportunities for business and for marriage. Some were wondering, 'is this worth it?' And so, in Hebrews, they are given encouragement.

Remember God wants the best for us, but also the best from us. This week we engage the text, pertaining to the problems of everyday Christian life and living.

The one who wrote to the struggling congregation writes to us today, in our day-to-day, as well. Let us stand, shoulders back, chin up and face this time before us with confidence. Be encouraged in the one who conditions us through love and offers us life and strengthens us in communion at the table he has prepared.

---

Interested in becoming a member of Second Presbyterian? Email Cress for more information.

Volunteer opportunities can be found here →

The City has reached out asking for volunteer drivers to help care for our neighbors without housing right now. A volunteer driver is needed for each day of the week for both available options. Please consider volunteering. Contact Christopher Jardin at jardinc@charleston-sc.gov or 843.607.8570 for more information.

FIND OUT MORE HERE →

---

For the last three months, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity for us to look more deeply at the future of international medical missions. And as Yogi would say – that future looks much different today than it ever has before.

Medical Missions Live continues its all-star lineup in July with more highly respected missions leaders that you won’t want to miss.

FIND OUT MORE about the MBF Live Webcasts here.

VISIT Medical Benevolence Foundation here.

---

Life is different and can often be described as “upside-down.” My heart goes out to everyone because I know that few have ever experienced shortages, confinement, and a feeling of not being in control. After having spent decades in some of the most impoverished countries where everything is in short supply – especially medicines and good health – I know that life is challenging. We can, however, come through this; hopefully, stronger in faith and more aware of our global neighbors.

I stay in touch with my South Sudanese worshipping community, friends, colleagues and neighbors. They have had much concern for all of us here and are following the news very closely. More importantly, they are praying for everyone. Let us continue to pray for each other and those beyond our borders.

Read full update here →

---

Special Offering this Sunday for Hands of Christ

Thank you for your continued support of our effort as a Church to support the incredible Hands of Christ ministry in the Charleston community. This year may be even more important than ever. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are modifying our distribution to safeguard both our members and the children we serve.

Find out more about how children will be served and how you can volunteer this year.

You can still donate to the Special Offering for Hands of Christ online by designating 'Hands of Christ'.

---

MUSC's Psychiatry Unit has reached out offering ways to help pregnant women and new moms right here in Charleston. They are collecting donations for the women in our community to help with mental health care, child care and provide support for young child education.

Find out specific ways to help here. →

---

One80 Place is in need of volunteers! If you are healthy and able, please sign up and help serve those who need us most right now!
Sign up here: one80place.volunteerhub.com/
Or donate to meet their "need of the week".
Wish list: one80place.org/wish-list/
Find it on Amazon: bit.ly/Wish-List-One80
Find it at Walmart: bit.ly/2NSDx7O

---

Get to know our new members!

---

---

CHURCH-WIDE TAG SALE

We have decided to delay our tag sale (yard, garage sale), till the end of September or October because of the virus. I now go around my house picking up nicknacks, and saying "bye- bye" I am decluttering. I look in closets and drawers and say to my clothes, "I haven't worn you in a year, so I guess I don't need you "bye-bye". Now I have a few piles and bags for the tag sale. So go around your house, garage, basement, and attic before time goes by and it's too late. I will need volunteers at the beginning of September to help me organize and price things. I will also need volunteers to spread the word, make posters/flyers to post at the college, stores, and churches and to put an ad in the paper. Please call and let me know if you can help out.

Thanks so much,
Dawn McCready
293-921-7819

---

---

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is in contact with partners in Guatemala and El Salvador offering assistance after Tropical Storm Amanda. Please join us in praying for the affected communities.

To support PDA’s response, designate gifts to DR000139. bit.ly/DR000139

---

SUPPORT YOUR CHURCH WHILE YOU PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING! Many of us are ordering online right now and you can support Second Pres any time you shop on Amazon! Choose to support “Second Presbyterian Church” at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will automatically donate to Second Presbyterian with each purchase you make. Remember to check out and place your final order via smile.amazon.com (and not the app) each time you shop to activate the donations.

---

The bell tower was struck by lightning the afternoon of Sunday, April 19, 2020. The Steeple Fund campaign for the current renovation continues and, considering the damage from the fire, the need to raise money is now even greater.

Help us bring the Second Church tower back to its former glory, so it can continue to be a beacon for Charleston. Donate today to the Steeple Fund.

Bell tower progress updates (and lots of photos) can be found here.

---

Please text the number 81010 with the message '@2pcchurch' to sign up for church text messages so that you are made aware of pertinent announcements and church-related news. If you didn't receive a text this week regarding the fire, then you aren't yet signed up! Please take a moment to sign up right now so that you're connected in the future. Please contact Jordyn if you need help signing up.

Welcome to Our New Members!

The Session met, approved, and welcomed new members virtually this month.

We welcome into our fellowship these 14 new members and their children and commit to share the joys and trials as well as the responsibilities and rewards of Christian discipleship with them. We pledge our support and love, that we may all increase in the knowledge and love of God and grow toward the stature of Jesus Christ.*

Get to know our new members here.

Interested in becoming a member of Second Presbyterian? Email Cress for more information.

Build on the Rock

UPDATE: ONLINE CHURCH IS POSTED BELOW

Due to technical difficulties this week’s church service is not yet available. Watch the hopeful message "This Day" from the March 2020 sermon in the meantime. The Sunday service will be posted below as soon as possible. If you’d like to receive an email when the sermon is posted please sign up here.

Click here to listen to sermon as a podcast. Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos.

Pastor Cress Darwin of Second Presbyterian Church in Charleston SC, delivers a message for Sunday July 26, 2020.

Have questions? You are encouraged to ask questions for a mid-week sermon discussion post. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

---

SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, July 26, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

This week will be our last engagement with the Gospel of Matthew for a while. So it’s fitting that the text is the closing of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has just finished a flurry of illustrations/parables where he has described “the kingdom, the realm of God is like…”

• He points out that the highway to hell is easy, while the righteous life is found through a small gate at the end of a narrow road.

• False teachers abound like wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

• A tree is known by its fruit. And,  

• not everyone who calls on God and leans into religion, is fit for the realm.  

The proof is in obedience. Matthew has just spent chapters detailing what it is we are to do, how it is we are to live. 

We are to hear and we are to do. It’s really that simple. You base your behavior, you give your heart, you build your life in Jesus and when the storm comes – and it will – you will stand. 

Folks, we got some storms. Let’s pay attention. 

Invite your friends. Share with your neighbors.  Share the answer –

---

Interested in becoming a member of Second Presbyterian? Email Cress for more information.

Volunteer opportunities can be found here →

---

For the last three months, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity for us to look more deeply at the future of international medical missions. And as Yogi would say – that future looks much different today than it ever has before.

Medical Missions Live continues its all-star lineup in July with more highly respected missions leaders that you won’t want to miss.

FIND OUT MORE about the MBF Live Webcasts here.

VISIT Medical Benevolence Foundation here.

---

Life is different and can often be described as “upside-down.” My heart goes out to everyone because I know that few have ever experienced shortages, confinement, and a feeling of not being in control. After having spent decades in some of the most impoverished countries where everything is in short supply – especially medicines and good health – I know that life is challenging. We can, however, come through this; hopefully, stronger in faith and more aware of our global neighbors.

I stay in touch with my South Sudanese worshipping community, friends, colleagues and neighbors. They have had much concern for all of us here and are following the news very closely. More importantly, they are praying for everyone. Let us continue to pray for each other and those beyond our borders.

Read full update here →

---

Special Offering this Sunday for Hands of Christ

Thank you for your continued support of our effort as a Church to support the incredible Hands of Christ ministry in the Charleston community. This year may be even more important than ever. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are modifying our distribution to safeguard both our members and the children we serve.

Find out more about how children will be served and how you can volunteer this year.

You can still donate to the Special Offering for Hands of Christ online by designating 'Hands of Christ'.

---

MUSC's Psychiatry Unit has reached out offering ways to help pregnant women and new moms right here in Charleston. They are collecting donations for the women in our community to help with mental health care, child care and provide support for young child education.

Find out specific ways to help here. →

---

One80 Place is in need of volunteers! If you are healthy and able, please sign up and help serve those who need us most right now!
Sign up here: one80place.volunteerhub.com/
Or donate to meet their "need of the week".
Wish list: one80place.org/wish-list/
Find it on Amazon: bit.ly/Wish-List-One80
Find it at Walmart: bit.ly/2NSDx7O

---

---

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is in contact with partners in Guatemala and El Salvador offering assistance after Tropical Storm Amanda. Please join us in praying for the affected communities.

To support PDA’s response, designate gifts to DR000139. bit.ly/DR000139

The City has reached out asking for volunteer drivers to help care for our neighbors without housing right now. A volunteer driver is needed for each day of the week for both available options. Please consider volunteering. Contact Christopher Jardin at jardinc@charleston-sc.gov or 843.607.8570 for more information.

FIND OUT MORE HERE →

---

The Tywanza Sanders Legacy Foundation launches a new T-shirt design as a fundraiser each year to help support Camp Wanza, an entrepreneurship camp for ages 10-18, and fund scholarships. This year's design is special as it is an original by Tywanza himself.
Order your shirts today!

---

Lee Pringle, founder of the Charleston Gospel Choir that makes its home here at Second Presbyterian and sings twice yearly in our services, is also the founder of the Colour of Music Festival. Based in Charleston and organized in 2013, the Colour of Music Festival has brought international, national, and regional classically trained black musicians of African descent to share their musical talents, knowledge, and inspiration to concert and performance halls across the U.S.
The Festival has decided to re-release the yellow 2017 poster as it has become a symbol of national solidarity and togetherness.
Resistance, solidarity, and togetherness is the context for the artist’s use of a five-string violin and a fist, a symbol of black resistance, that commemorated the Festival’s fifth anniversary.
Posters and new t-shirts are available in the shop at colourofmusic.org, where you can also view their George Floyd Memorial montage video.
Find more information about the poster and artists here →

---

CHURCH-WIDE TAG SALE

We have decided to delay our tag sale (yard, garage sale), till the end of September or October because of the virus. I now go around my house picking up nicknacks, and saying "bye- bye" I am decluttering. I look in closets and drawers and say to my clothes, "I haven't worn you in a year, so I guess I don't need you "bye-bye". Now I have a few piles and bags for the tag sale. So go around your house, garage, basement, and attic before time goes by and it's too late. I will need volunteers at the beginning of September to help me organize and price things. I will also need volunteers to spread the word, make posters/flyers to post at the college, stores, and churches and to put an ad in the paper. Please call and let me know if you can help out.

Thanks so much,
Dawn McCready
293-921-7819

---

---

SUPPORT YOUR CHURCH WHILE YOU PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING! Many of us are ordering online right now and you can support Second Pres any time you shop on Amazon! Choose to support “Second Presbyterian Church” at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will automatically donate to Second Presbyterian with each purchase you make. Remember to check out and place your final order via smile.amazon.com (and not the app) each time you shop to activate the donations.

---

The bell tower was struck by lightning the afternoon of Sunday, April 19, 2020. The Steeple Fund campaign for the current renovation continues and, considering the damage from the fire, the need to raise money is now even greater.

Help us bring the Second Church tower back to its former glory, so it can continue to be a beacon for Charleston. Donate today to the Steeple Fund.

Bell tower progress updates (and lots of photos) can be found here.

---

Please text the number 81010 with the message '@2pcchurch' to sign up for church text messages so that you are made aware of pertinent announcements and church-related news. If you didn't receive a text this week regarding the fire, then you aren't yet signed up! Please take a moment to sign up right now so that you're connected in the future. Please contact Jordyn or Sarah if you need help signing up.

Deformed, Transformed, Restored

The Sunday service is posted below. Scroll to the bottom for sermon notes.

Click here to listen to sermon as a podcast. Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos.

Have questions? You are encouraged to ask questions for a mid-week sermon discussion post. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

---

SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, July 19, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

Our text this week is about a journey from deformity to transformation to restoration – the Gerasene Demoniac. The story occurs in three of the Gospels, but the narrative is most richly told as Luke writes it to the gentiles.  He weaves the story of a man tragically possessed by demons, as it was thought at the time. The name of the demon is Legion, a Roman army unit of about six thousand soldiers. For the people of the day, it would symbolize “occupying forces whose power was overwhelming and whose presence meant the loss of control over every dimension of their lives.” That was the effect of the Roman soldiers over the Jewish populace and the effect of the demons over the man. Does this sound like a pandemic? Not too much of a reach as we strive to cope with an unpredictable, insidious and viral enemy. Not too much of a reach as we come to a reckoning of generations of systemic racism and denial. 

Jesus has crossed the sea, has entered enemy territory, has rebuked the natural elements, has flummoxed his recently conscripted disciples. No place he won’t go, no one beyond his reach. This is a 2000 year old tale of chaos calmed and conquest for a man’s soul through compassion that gives us hope for today. 

Turn on and tune in – dial your spirits into the Gospel truth. Invite your friends. Chat about it. Find yourself in the story. Though we are distanced, let us still be engaged. 

In anticipation –

---

Interested in becoming a member of Second Presbyterian? Email Cress for more information.

Volunteer opportunities can be found here →

Join MBF's Webinar on Tuesday, July 21st, for a discussion with Dr. Paul Osteen about the future of medical mission. For the past 11 years, as Associate Pastor he has provided oversight to all pastoral ministries at Lakewood Church and is one of the teaching pastors. Paul has always had a heart for missions and followed God’s call to the mission field, where he is able to enjoy two of his greatest passions: ministry and medicine. As part of his commitment, he spends 4-5 months each year in remote mission hospitals caring for people who have little or no access to healthcare.

When: Tuesday, July 21st, 2020-7 PM Central Time (U.S. and Canada)
Topic: The Future of Medical Mission with Dr. Paul Osteen
Please click the link to join the webinar Tuesday night:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81867822185

---

For the last three months, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity for us to look more deeply at the future of international medical missions. And as Yogi would say – that future looks much different today than it ever has before.

Medical Missions Live continues its all-star lineup in July with more highly respected missions leaders that you won’t want to miss.

FIND OUT MORE about the MBF Live Webcasts here.

VISIT Medical Benevolence Foundation here.

---

Life is different and can often be described as “upside-down.” My heart goes out to everyone because I know that few have ever experienced shortages, confinement, and a feeling of not being in control. After having spent decades in some of the most impoverished countries where everything is in short supply – especially medicines and good health – I know that life is challenging. We can, however, come through this; hopefully, stronger in faith and more aware of our global neighbors.

I stay in touch with my South Sudanese worshipping community, friends, colleagues and neighbors. They have had much concern for all of us here and are following the news very closely. More importantly, they are praying for everyone. Let us continue to pray for each other and those beyond our borders.

Read full update here →

---

Special Offering this Sunday for Hands of Christ

Thank you for your continued support of our effort as a Church to support the incredible Hands of Christ ministry in the Charleston community. This year may be even more important than ever. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are modifying our distribution to safeguard both our members and the children we serve.

Find out more about how children will be served and how you can volunteer this year.

You can still donate to the Special Offering for Hands of Christ online by designating 'Hands of Christ'.

---

MUSC's Psychiatry Unit has reached out offering ways to help pregnant women and new moms right here in Charleston. They are collecting donations for the women in our community to help with mental health care, child care and provide support for young child education.

Find out specific ways to help here. →

---

One80 Place is in need of volunteers! If you are healthy and able, please sign up and help serve those who need us most right now!
Sign up here: one80place.volunteerhub.com/
Or donate to meet their "need of the week".
Wish list: one80place.org/wish-list/
Find it on Amazon: bit.ly/Wish-List-One80
Find it at Walmart: bit.ly/2NSDx7O

---

---

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is in contact with partners in Guatemala and El Salvador offering assistance after Tropical Storm Amanda. Please join us in praying for the affected communities.

To support PDA’s response, designate gifts to DR000139. bit.ly/DR000139

The City has reached out asking for volunteer drivers to help care for our neighbors without housing right now. A volunteer driver is needed for each day of the week for both available options. Please consider volunteering. Contact Christopher Jardin at jardinc@charleston-sc.gov or 843.607.8570 for more information.

FIND OUT MORE HERE →

---

---

The Tywanza Sanders Legacy Foundation launches a new T-shirt design as a fundraiser each year to help support Camp Wanza, an entrepreneurship camp for ages 10-18, and fund scholarships. This year's design is special as it is an original by Tywanza himself.
Order your shirts today!

---

Lee Pringle, founder of the Charleston Gospel Choir that makes its home here at Second Presbyterian and sings twice yearly in our services, is also the founder of the Colour of Music Festival. Based in Charleston and organized in 2013, the Colour of Music Festival has brought international, national, and regional classically trained black musicians of African descent to share their musical talents, knowledge, and inspiration to concert and performance halls across the U.S.
The Festival has decided to re-release the yellow 2017 poster as it has become a symbol of national solidarity and togetherness.
Resistance, solidarity, and togetherness is the context for the artist’s use of a five-string violin and a fist, a symbol of black resistance, that commemorated the Festival’s fifth anniversary.
Posters and new t-shirts are available in the shop at colourofmusic.org, where you can also view their George Floyd Memorial montage video.
Find more information about the poster and artists here →

---

CHURCH-WIDE TAG SALE

We have decided to delay our tag sale (yard, garage sale), till the end of September or October because of the virus. I now go around my house picking up nicknacks, and saying "bye- bye" I am decluttering. I look in closets and drawers and say to my clothes, "I haven't worn you in a year, so I guess I don't need you "bye-bye". Now I have a few piles and bags for the tag sale. So go around your house, garage, basement, and attic before time goes by and it's too late. I will need volunteers at the beginning of September to help me organize and price things. I will also need volunteers to spread the word, make posters/flyers to post at the college, stores, and churches and to put an ad in the paper. Please call and let me know if you can help out.

Thanks so much,
Dawn McCready
293-921-7819

---

---

SUPPORT YOUR CHURCH WHILE YOU PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING! Many of us are ordering online right now and you can support Second Pres any time you shop on Amazon! Choose to support “Second Presbyterian Church” at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will automatically donate to Second Presbyterian with each purchase you make. Remember to check out and place your final order via smile.amazon.com (and not the app) each time you shop to activate the donations.

---

The bell tower was struck by lightning the afternoon of Sunday, April 19, 2020. The Steeple Fund campaign for the current renovation continues and, considering the damage from the fire, the need to raise money is now even greater.

Help us bring the Second Church tower back to its former glory, so it can continue to be a beacon for Charleston. Donate today to the Steeple Fund.

Bell tower progress updates (and lots of photos) can be found here.

---

Please text the number 81010 with the message '@2pcchurch' to sign up for church text messages so that you are made aware of pertinent announcements and church-related news. If you didn't receive a text this week regarding the fire, then you aren't yet signed up! Please take a moment to sign up right now so that you're connected in the future. Please contact Jordyn or Sarah if you need help signing up.

Tangled

The Sunday service is posted below. Scroll to the bottom for sermon notes.

Click here to listen to sermon as a podcast. Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos.

Have questions? You are encouraged to ask questions for a mid-week sermon discussion post. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

---

SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, July 12, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

A few years ago I preached a sermon entitled “The Right Time to Hope". I began by describing, a spot in which I often found myself – just off the fairway, right off the green, beyond the groomed and manicured façade I too often attempt to maintain. I spoke of finding myself in the rough, in the weeds.  A place I couldn’t see my way out of – a place that I most often had to work really hard to reach! But today’s parable doesn’t start or culminate in the weeds – no, the setting of today’s lesson isn’t where you might wake up and seem to have plopped and you ask yourself, “How’d I get in this mess?” 

No, this morning, in the 13th chapter of the Gospel according to Matthew, Jesus isn’t talking about a circumstance, he’s talking about the world – our world, where we live side by side, co-mingled, intimate and tangled. 

This is one of the most practical parables that Jesus taught. Practical for ancient Palestine, rural and agrarian – and practical for Charleston, just again rated the top destination in the world! 

What will we take with us into the heat of a July day as insects strum their song of summer? The soaring banks of clouds remind us that our schedules are not our own and that the rain falls when it will and where it will on the just and the unjust together.

The right time to hope is now! 

In anticipation and in hope –

---

Interested in becoming a member of Second Presbyterian? Email Cress for more information.

Volunteer opportunities can be found here →

Life is different and can often be described as “upside-down.” My heart goes out to everyone because I know that few have ever experienced shortages, confinement, and a feeling of not being in control. After having spent decades in some of the most impoverished countries where everything is in short supply – especially medicines and good health – I know that life is challenging. We can, however, come through this; hopefully, stronger in faith and more aware of our global neighbors.

I stay in touch with my South Sudanese worshipping community, friends, colleagues and neighbors. They have had much concern for all of us here and are following the news very closely. More importantly, they are praying for everyone. Let us continue to pray for each other and those beyond our borders.

Read full update here →

---

For the last three months, the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity for us to look more deeply at the future of international medical missions. And as Yogi would say – that future looks much different today than it ever has before.

Medical Missions Live continues its all-star lineup in July with more highly respected missions leaders that you won’t want to miss.

FIND OUT MORE about upcoming Live Webcasts here.

VISIT Medical Benevolence Foundation here.

---

The City has reached out asking for volunteer drivers to help care for our neighbors without housing right now. A volunteer driver is needed for each day of the week for both available options. Please consider volunteering. Contact Christopher Jardin at jardinc@charleston-sc.gov or 843.607.8570 for more information.

FIND OUT MORE HERE →

---

Special Offering this Sunday for Hands of Christ

Thank you for your continued support of our effort as a Church to support the incredible Hands of Christ ministry in the Charleston community. This year may be even more important than ever. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are modifying our distribution to safeguard both our members and the children we serve.

Find out more about how children will be served and how you can volunteer this year.

You can still donate to the Special Offering for Hands of Christ online by designating 'Hands of Christ'.

---

MUSC's Psychiatry Unit has reached out offering ways to help pregnant women and new moms right here in Charleston. They are collecting donations for the women in our community to help with mental health care, child care and provide support for young child education.

Find out specific ways to help here. →

---

One80 Place is in need of volunteers! If you are healthy and able, please sign up and help serve those who need us most right now!
Sign up here: one80place.volunteerhub.com/
Or donate to meet their "need of the week".
Wish list: one80place.org/wish-list/
Find it on Amazon: bit.ly/Wish-List-One80
Find it at Walmart: bit.ly/2NSDx7O

---

---

Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is in contact with partners in Guatemala and El Salvador offering assistance after Tropical Storm Amanda. Please join us in praying for the affected communities.

To support PDA’s response, designate gifts to DR000139. bit.ly/DR000139

---

The Tywanza Sanders Legacy Foundation launches a new T-shirt design as a fundraiser each year to help support Camp Wanza, an entrepreneurship camp for ages 10-18, and fund scholarships. This year's design is special as it is an original by Tywanza himself.
Order your shirts today!

---

Lee Pringle, founder of the Charleston Gospel Choir that makes its home here at Second Presbyterian and sings twice yearly in our services, is also the founder of the Colour of Music Festival. Based in Charleston and organized in 2013, the Colour of Music Festival has brought international, national, and regional classically trained black musicians of African descent to share their musical talents, knowledge, and inspiration to concert and performance halls across the U.S.
The Festival has decided to re-release the yellow 2017 poster as it has become a symbol of national solidarity and togetherness.
Resistance, solidarity, and togetherness is the context for the artist’s use of a five-string violin and a fist, a symbol of black resistance, that commemorated the Festival’s fifth anniversary.
Posters and new t-shirts are available in the shop at colourofmusic.org, where you can also view their George Floyd Memorial montage video.
Find more information about the poster and artists here →

---

CHURCH-WIDE TAG SALE

We have decided to delay our tag sale (yard, garage sale), till the end of September or October because of the virus. I now go around my house picking up nicknacks, and saying "bye- bye" I am decluttering. I look in closets and drawers and say to my clothes, "I haven't worn you in a year, so I guess I don't need you "bye-bye". Now I have a few piles and bags for the tag sale. So go around your house, garage, basement, and attic before time goes by and it's too late. I will need volunteers at the beginning of September to help me organize and price things. I will also need volunteers to spread the word, make posters/flyers to post at the college, stores, and churches and to put an ad in the paper. Please call and let me know if you can help out.

Thanks so much,
Dawn McCready
293-921-7819

---

---

SUPPORT YOUR CHURCH WHILE YOU PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING! Many of us are ordering online right now and you can support Second Pres any time you shop on Amazon! Choose to support “Second Presbyterian Church” at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will automatically donate to Second Presbyterian with each purchase you make. Remember to check out and place your final order via smile.amazon.com (and not the app) each time you shop to activate the donations.

---

The bell tower was struck by lightning the afternoon of Sunday, April 19, 2020. The Steeple Fund campaign for the current renovation continues and, considering the damage from the fire, the need to raise money is now even greater.

Help us bring the Second Church tower back to its former glory, so it can continue to be a beacon for Charleston. Donate today to the Steeple Fund.

Bell tower progress updates (and lots of photos) can be found here.

---

Please text the number 81010 with the message '@2pcchurch' to sign up for church text messages so that you are made aware of pertinent announcements and church-related news. If you didn't receive a text this week regarding the fire, then you aren't yet signed up! Please take a moment to sign up right now so that you're connected in the future. Please contact Jordyn or Sarah if you need help signing up.

Jesus Offers Rest

This Sunday we will celebrate communion at home, so please prepare bread- or bagels or muffins- and juice or wine so that you are ready to take part in communion. Scroll to the bottom for sermon notes.

Click here to listen to sermon as a podcast. Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos.

Click here to listen to Sara Groves’ song “Why It Matters” that Cress refers to in the sermon.

A sermon discussion will be posted on Tuesday and we would love for you to join the conversation. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, July 5, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

It's been said that this moment of cultural and civil disruption is a pivot, a moment where what was is no longer acceptable or viable. It’s been said that it is no longer about reconciliation, but about economics and justice. I remembered another moment as I retreated from the headlines from which we all recoil.

There is a song by Sarah Groves, a Christian singer/songwriter. She is an activist as well with International Justice Mission. IJM fights to eradicate slavery– there are more people enslaved today than at any other time in history. Second Presbyterian has presented and been part of a consortium that has presented Sarah three times over the last 15 years. She wrote a song- "Why it Matters". It was sparked in a dark time for her when she heard of a fellow during the Bosnian War who played his cello in the middle of a recently bombed out area. Many say that his playing, the attention that he drew, the protest of beauty in the middle of all the chaos, drew attention to the region and really hastened the end of the war. But for her, it called her to an integrated life. She wrote, “If it matters, it matters at every level and everywhere I go and in every part of myself.” She wanted her music to reflect that. I hope that you’ll listen to it.

Men and women, on this day, on this weekend, as we celebrate the audacity of the American experiment, may we join hands and hearts. May we be bold and unafraid as we proclaim what we believe: that God is in the midst of our lives. And in God’s service we will find rest– rest for our souls. Amen.  

In Christ -

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Interested in becoming a member of Second Presbyterian? Email Cress for more information.

The City has reached out asking for volunteer drivers to help care for our neighbors without housing right now. A volunteer driver is needed for each day of the week for both available options. Please consider volunteering. Contact Christopher Jardin at jardinc@charleston-sc.gov or 843.607.8570 for more information.

FIND OUT MORE HERE →

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Send in your questions by Monday!

A sermon discussion will be posted each week and we would love for you to join the conversation. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

Did you know that the word "sermon" comes from a Latin word "sermo," which means "discourse" and "conversation"? You can ask questions here anonymously by Monday at 6pm and they will be answered in a sermon discussion post. Please send in any questions you have after you watch the sermon this week. Check out last week's response here →

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Special Offering this Sunday for Hands of Christ

Thank you for your continued support of our effort as a Church to support the incredible Hands of Christ ministry in the Charleston community. This year may be even more important than ever. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are modifying our distribution to safeguard both our members and the children we serve.

Find out more about how children will be served and how you can volunteer this year.

You can still donate to the Special Offering for Hands of Christ online by designating 'Hands of Christ'.

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MUSC's Psychiatry Unit has reached out offering ways to help pregnant women and new moms right here in Charleston. They are collecting donations for the women in our community to help with mental health care, child care and provide support for young child education.

Find out specific ways to help here. →

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One80 Place is in need of volunteers! If you are healthy and able, please sign up and help serve those who need us most right now!
Sign up here: one80place.volunteerhub.com/
Or donate to meet their "need of the week".
Wish list: one80place.org/wish-list/
Find it on Amazon: bit.ly/Wish-List-One80
Find it at Walmart: bit.ly/2NSDx7O

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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is in contact with partners in Guatemala and El Salvador offering assistance after Tropical Storm Amanda. Please join us in praying for the affected communities.

To support PDA’s response, designate gifts to DR000139. bit.ly/DR000139

The Tywanza Sanders Legacy Foundation launches a new T-shirt design as a fundraiser each year to help support Camp Wanza, an entrepreneurship camp for ages 10-18, and fund scholarships. This year's design is special as it is an original by Tywanza himself.
The goal right now is to fund a $2000 scholarship. Order your shirts today!

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PC(USA) General Assembly, June 19-27th, 2020, is virtual this year. Find out more here →

Watch Rev. Dr. J Herbert Nelson, Stated Clerk PCUSA opened the General Assembly on Friday with words of encouragement in this time of pandemic and unrest. Watch here →

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Lee Pringle, founder of the Charleston Gospel Choir that makes its home here at Second Presbyterian and sings twice yearly in our services, is also the founder of the Colour of Music Festival. Based in Charleston and organized in 2013, the Colour of Music Festival has brought international, national, and regional classically trained black musicians of African descent to share their musical talents, knowledge, and inspiration to concert and performance halls across the U.S.
The Festival has decided to re-release the yellow 2017 poster as it has become a symbol of national solidarity and togetherness.
Resistance, solidarity, and togetherness is the context for the artist’s use of a five-string violin and a fist, a symbol of black resistance, that commemorated the Festival’s fifth anniversary.
Posters and new t-shirts are available in the shop at colourofmusic.org, where you can also view their George Floyd Memorial montage video.
Find more information about the poster and artists here →

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CHURCH-WIDE TAG SALE

We have decided to delay our tag sale (yard, garage sale), till the end of September or October because of the virus. I now go around my house picking up nicknacks, and saying "bye- bye" I am decluttering. I look in closets and drawers and say to my clothes, "I haven't worn you in a year, so I guess I don't need you "bye-bye". Now I have a few piles and bags for the tag sale. So go around your house, garage, basement, and attic before time goes by and it's too late. I will need volunteers at the beginning of September to help me organize and price things. I will also need volunteers to spread the word, make posters/flyers to post at the college, stores, and churches and to put an ad in the paper. Please call and let me know if you can help out.

Thanks so much,
Dawn McCready
293-921-7819

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Please text the number 81010 with the message '@2pcchurch' to sign up for church text messages so that you are made aware of pertinent announcements and church-related news. If you didn't receive a text this week regarding the fire, then you aren't yet signed up! Please take a moment to sign up right now so that you're connected in the future. Please contact Jordyn or Sarah if you need help signing up.

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SUPPORT YOUR CHURCH WHILE YOU PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING! Many of us are ordering online right now and you can support Second Pres any time you shop on Amazon! Choose to support “Second Presbyterian Church” at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will automatically donate to Second Presbyterian with each purchase you make. Remember to check out and place your final order via smile.amazon.com (and not the app) each time you shop to activate the donations.

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The bell tower was struck by lightning the afternoon of Sunday, April 19, 2020. The Steeple Fund campaign for the current renovation continues and, considering the damage from the fire, the need to raise money is now even greater.

Help us bring the Second Church tower back to its former glory, so it can continue to be a beacon for Charleston. Donate today to the Steeple Fund.

Bell tower progress updates (and lots of photos) can be found here.

Volunteer Opportunities - July 2020

CLICK ON VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION

We Aren't Told Her Name

The Sunday service is posted below. Scroll to the bottom for sermon notes.

Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

A sermon discussion will be posted on Tuesday and we would love for you to join the conversation. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, June 28, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

This past week! Need I say more? Calhoun comes down, COVID-19 goes up. Mandated mask wearing begins July 1 and uncertainty becomes the only normal. 

I pored over the lectionary offerings from the story of Abraham and Isaac to the weeping prophet Jeremiah, Paul exhorting us to “not let sin exercise dominion in (y)our mortal bodies” to Matthew reminding us of the ‘grace notes’ of life – remembering to offer “even a cup of cold water”. 

Yet none of these spoke to me in a way that seemed to address this Kairos moment. 

But I was moved by the implicit power, the realm enhancing gesture of kindness of offering – a cup of cold water. (A number of years ago some in a New York Church fought a water station in the heat during a Pride parade. Some things have changed.) 

One story in particular came to mind that I think speaks to this moment. Jesus keeps an appointment with a woman at a well in the heat of the day in a land of strangers. 

I took a fresh look at John 4:1-42. I realized there are many things I and others have assumed that are hurtful – unintentionally so. 

We aren’t given her name, but Jesus saw her and she him. A story of recognition and identity clarified shows us a path through these times.  

In Christ -

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Interested in becoming a member of Second Presbyterian? Email Cress for more information.

The City has reached out asking for volunteer drivers to help care for our neighbors without housing right now. A volunteer driver is needed for each day of the week for both available options. Please consider volunteering. Contact Christopher Jardin at jardinc@charleston-sc.gov or 843.607.8570 for more information.

FIND OUT MORE HERE →

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Send in your questions by Monday!

A sermon discussion will be posted each week and we would love for you to join the conversation. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

Did you know that the word "sermon" comes from a Latin word "sermo," which means "discourse" and "conversation"? You can ask questions here anonymously by Monday at 6pm and they will be answered in a sermon discussion post. Please send in any questions you have after you watch the sermon this week. Check out last week's response here →

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Special Offering this Sunday for Hands of Christ

Thank you for your continued support of our effort as a Church to support the incredible Hands of Christ ministry in the Charleston community. This year may be even more important than ever. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are modifying our distribution to safeguard both our members and the children we serve.

Find out more about how children will be served and how you can volunteer this year.

Thank you for your support of the special offering this Sunday, June 28th. You may send a check to the church or use the online donation tool and designate 'Hands of Christ'.

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MUSC's Psychiatry Unit has reached out offering ways to help pregnant women and new moms right here in Charleston. They are collecting donations for the women in our community to help with mental health care, child care and provide support for young child education.

Find out specific ways to help here. →

---

One80 Place is in need of volunteers! If you are healthy and able, please sign up and help serve those who need us most right now!
Sign up here: one80place.volunteerhub.com/
Or donate to meet their "need of the week".
Wish list: one80place.org/wish-list/
Find it on Amazon: bit.ly/Wish-List-One80
Find it at Walmart: bit.ly/2NSDx7O

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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is in contact with partners in Guatemala and El Salvador offering assistance after Tropical Storm Amanda. Please join us in praying for the affected communities.

To support PDA’s response, designate gifts to DR000139. bit.ly/DR000139

The Tywanza Sanders Legacy Foundation launches a new T-shirt design as a fundraiser each year to help support Camp Wanza, an entrepreneurship camp for ages 10-18, and fund scholarships. This year's design is special as it is an original by Tywanza himself.
The goal right now is to fund a $2000 scholarship. Order your shirts today!

---

PC(USA) General Assembly, June 19-27th, 2020, is virtual this year. Find out more here →

Watch Rev. Dr. J Herbert Nelson, Stated Clerk PCUSA opened the General Assembly on Friday with words of encouragement in this time of pandemic and unrest. Watch here →

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Lee Pringle, founder of the Charleston Gospel Choir that makes its home here at Second Presbyterian and sings twice yearly in our services, is also the founder of the Colour of Music Festival. Based in Charleston and organized in 2013, the Colour of Music Festival has brought international, national, and regional classically trained black musicians of African descent to share their musical talents, knowledge, and inspiration to concert and performance halls across the U.S.
The Festival has decided to re-release the yellow 2017 poster as it has become a symbol of national solidarity and togetherness.
Resistance, solidarity, and togetherness is the context for the artist’s use of a five-string violin and a fist, a symbol of black resistance, that commemorated the Festival’s fifth anniversary.
Posters and new t-shirts are available in the shop at colourofmusic.org, where you can also view their George Floyd Memorial montage video.
Find more information about the poster and artists here →

---

CHURCH-WIDE TAG SALE

The church is going to have a tag sale in mid-August, so now is a good time- you might even say a great time- to purge, clean out, get rid of, or to just empty out some of the things around your house and yard. If you have a storage unit you haven’t visited in a while, now might be the time to clean it out too. You can start getting your stuff together and we'll let you know when collection begins. Clean out those closets, basements, attics, and garages. We will need lots of volunteers when the time comes but more info will be coming soon. Any questions please contact Dawn McCready by email or at 203-921-7819.

---

Please text the number 81010 with the message '@2pcchurch' to sign up for church text messages so that you are made aware of pertinent announcements and church-related news. If you didn't receive a text this week regarding the fire, then you aren't yet signed up! Please take a moment to sign up right now so that you're connected in the future. Please contact Jordyn or Sarah if you need help signing up.

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SUPPORT YOUR CHURCH WHILE YOU PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING! Many of us are ordering online right now and you can support Second Pres any time you shop on Amazon! Choose to support “Second Presbyterian Church” at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will automatically donate to Second Presbyterian with each purchase you make. Remember to check out and place your final order via smile.amazon.com (and not the app) each time you shop to activate the donations.

---

The bell tower was struck by lightning the afternoon of Sunday, April 19, 2020. The Steeple Fund campaign for the current renovation continues and, considering the damage from the fire, the need to raise money is now even greater.

Help us bring the Second Church tower back to its former glory, so it can continue to be a beacon for Charleston. Donate today to the Steeple Fund.

Bell tower progress updates (and lots of photos) can be found here.

Meal Delivery Volunteer Opportunity

We need volunteers to help care for our neighbors struggling with homelessness right now. A volunteer driver is needed for each day of the week to pick up and deliver meals for both options described below. Please consider volunteering. You can contact (Cathy) or to Meredith for more information.

1.    The City is partnering with DHEC to support COVID positive individuals who are homeless to isolate in hotel while they convalesce. MUSC is partnering to provide meals for individuals in isolation but volunteer drivers are needed to deliver those meals. Currently 3 meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) are all picked up from the 'horseshoe' driveway in front of MUSC's main entrance around 8am. The meals are then delivered to a hotel in North Charleston on North Rivers Avenue. Volunteers will not directly interact with participants but will simply knock and leave the food at the door for the participant to retrieve. 

2.    The City is also partnering with a hotel downtown Charleston to shelter individuals who are homeless and have tested negative for COVID-19, in an effort to provide additional protections from community exposure. Individuals are provided with regular case management support to help them transition to permanent housing. One80 Place is partnering to provide meals for these individuals but volunteer drivers are needed to deliver the meals. Currently 3 meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) are all picked up from the One80 Place around 10:30am. The meals are then delivered to the various participant's rooms at the downtown hotel. 

The City contact is Christopher Jardin at jardinc@charleston-sc.gov or call 843.607.8570 for more information.

Find out more about the specifics of serving in this way here.

Hands of Christ 2020

Special Offering this Sunday for Hands of Christ

Thank you for your continued support of our effort as a Church to support the incredible Hands of Christ ministry in the Charleston community. This year may be even more important than ever. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we are modifying our distribution to safeguard both our members and the children we serve. Rather than hosting the event at Second, we will be asked to deliver bags of pre-staged clothing to the downtown schools. Those schools will be submitting orders directly to Hands of Christ, which the team will stage at Westminster Church. We will need volunteers to pick up the clothing bags and deliver them to schools--and most importantly, we need the continued support of your donations during our special offering to allow us to serve as many children as we can during these difficult times.

You can donate toward the Special Offering for Hands of Christ today. You may send a check to the church or use the online donation tool and designate 'Hands of Christ'.

A GA Like No Other

The 224th General Assembly will continue virtually through this Saturday, June 27th. Find out more about the 2020 General Assembly and the schedule below.

Rev. Dr. J Herbert Nelson, Stated Clerk PCUSA opened the General Assembly on Friday with words of encouragement in this time of pandemic and unrest.

Here's what happened on opening night of GA on Friday: Debates over what's critical business and what the assembly will consider this year. Read an overview here →

Co-Moderators Elona Street-Stewart & Gregory Bentley were elected and installed last weekend. 

You can follow the "Spirit of GA" Facebook page for General Assembly updates. 

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“Meeting people at their point of need and inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ.”

Tywanza Legacy T-Shirts

The Tywanza Sanders Legacy Foundation launches a new T-shirt design as a fundraiser each year to help support Camp Wanza, an entrepreneurship camp for ages 10-18, and fund scholarships. This year's design is special as it is an original by Tywanza himself. 
The goal right now is to fund a $2000 scholarship. Order your shirts today!

As Disciples

The Sunday service is posted below. Scroll to the bottom for sermon notes.

Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos

Pastor Cress delivers a message for the week of June 21st.

A sermon discussion will be posted on Tuesday and we would love for you to join the conversation. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, June 21, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

Today is the 19th of June, just two days after the 5th anniversary of what was intended to be the beginning of a race war, instigated by a young man who was welcomed into a bible study and as the people closed their eyes to pray, began killing mercilessly, randomly, demonically.

How do we describe or comprehend such hate, such evil? Families decimated, dreams lost, trust ruptured, yet, his purpose to start a race war foiled.

A dialogue began to address …what? Systemic racism? Leaky gun laws? Human depravity? 
And yet, laws remain in place. Efforts to change relationships and culture have stalled. Dialogue has dissipated. 

It has been said that violence against men and women of color has intensified – the reality is it’s just now it’s being filmed. 

The issues are complex as we look at 400 years of denied access to education, property, credit, safety, respect, dignity, justice. And now we see the eyes of racism gaze on brown skin, Asian eyes, and native reservations.

Today is Juneteenth – the day that news of the Emancipation hit the shores of Texas and we are still in the morass.  
 
Last Sunday I prayed that Jesus would ‘Kum ba yah’- Jesus, come by here. 

This Sunday Matthew describes Jesus sending his ‘people’ out, without weapons, without credit cards, without Siri, to touch and to heal, to forgive and to proclaim. And we are sent, too! We are to move through our disappointment, our distaste and our denial to be Jesus’s agents to show that we are his by our love that is radical, and universal, and unconditional and fearless, as is God’s. We won’t, we dare not refuse to love, but we will stand and act in the righteousness of our radical Savior. 

We will be shown the way by God’s Spirit. We will stand on God’s promises. We will be repairers of the breach. 

Second Church is positioned to do this. We are called to accept this assignment. God’s Spirit will be our strength, our protection and our guide. 

In Christ -

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Interested in becoming a member of Second Presbyterian? Email Cress for more information.

The Second Pres COVID-19 Task force met via Zoom this week.

While COVID-19 deaths are not increasing in our area, hospitalizations are increasing and confirmed cases have tripled in the past three weeks. Requirements by the Insurance Board state that in order to move to stage one, cases must be in a downward trend for 14 consecutive days. Therefore, we cannot move forward with reopening for worship services at this time and data indicates 4-6 week minimum before we could consider returning to church, but church services will continue online at www.2ndpc.org.

Thank you to all who participated in the survey. While there is much to be considered and determinations are yet to be presented to session, the survey helps to assess the needs of the congregation.

Read the Full Task Force update including survey results here →

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Send in your questions!

A sermon discussion will be posted each Tuesday and we would love for you to join the conversation. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

Did you know that the word "sermon" comes from a Latin word "sermo," which means "discourse" and "conversation"? You can ask questions here anonymously and they will be answered during the Tuesday sermon discussion post. Please send in any questions you have after you watch the sermon this week. Check out last week's response here →

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The Young Adults Zoom get-together on Friday night was a lot of fun! Thanks for all those who showed up and I hope we see you next time if we missed you.

Is your church group continuing to meet in creative and safe ways right now? Please let Jordyn know so that we can get the word out!

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MUSC's Psychiatry Unit has reached out offering ways to help pregnant women and new moms right here in Charleston. They are collecting donations for the women in our community to help with mental health care, child care and provide support for young child education.

Find out specific ways to help here. →

---

One80 Place is in need of volunteers! If you are healthy and able, please sign up and help serve those who need us most right now!
Sign up here: one80place.volunteerhub.com/
Or donate to meet their "need of the week".
Wish list: one80place.org/wish-list/
Find it on Amazon: bit.ly/Wish-List-One80
Find it at Walmart: bit.ly/2NSDx7O

---

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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is in contact with partners in Guatemala and El Salvador offering assistance after Tropical Storm Amanda. Please join us in praying for the affected communities.

To support PDA’s response, designate gifts to DR000139. bit.ly/DR000139

Lee Pringle, founder of the Charleston Gospel Choir that makes its home here at Second Presbyterian and sings twice yearly in our services, is also the founder of the Colour of Music Festival. Based in Charleston and organized in 2013, the Colour of Music Festival has brought international, national, and regional classically trained black musicians of African descent to share their musical talents, knowledge, and inspiration to concert and performance halls across the U.S.
The Festival has decided to re-release the yellow 2017 poster as it has become a symbol of national solidarity and togetherness.
Resistance, solidarity, and togetherness is the context for the artist’s use of a five-string violin and a fist, a symbol of black resistance, that commemorated the Festival’s fifth anniversary.
Posters and new t-shirts are available in the shop at colourofmusic.org, where you can also view their George Floyd Memorial montage video.
Find more information about the poster and artists here →

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Concert for Equality

What: Call and Response: A Concert for Equality
When: 7:30 p.m. on June 19
Where: Live stream. Visit www.CharlestonSymphony.org to watch

The Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) will present a special program, “Call and Response: A Concert for Equality,” to leverage the power of music and the spoken word to promote unity, love and understanding.
Find out more here →

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CHURCH-WIDE TAG SALE

The church is going to have a tag sale in mid-August, so now is a good time- you might even say a great time- to purge, clean out, get rid of, or to just empty out some of the things around your house and yard. If you have a storage unit you haven’t visited in a while, now might be the time to clean it out too. You can start getting your stuff together and we'll let you know when collection begins. Clean out those closets, basements, attics, and garages. We will need lots of volunteers when the time comes but more info will be coming soon. Any questions please contact Dawn McCready by email or at 203-921-7819.

---

Please text the number 81010 with the message '@2pcchurch' to sign up for church text messages so that you are made aware of pertinent announcements and church-related news. If you didn't receive a text this week regarding the fire, then you aren't yet signed up! Please take a moment to sign up right now so that you're connected in the future. Please contact Jordyn or Sarah if you need help signing up.

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SUPPORT YOUR CHURCH WHILE YOU PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING! Many of us are ordering online right now and you can support Second Pres any time you shop on Amazon! Choose to support “Second Presbyterian Church” at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will automatically donate to Second Presbyterian with each purchase you make. Remember to check out and place your final order via smile.amazon.com (and not the app) each time you shop to activate the donations.

---

The bell tower was struck by lightning the afternoon of Sunday, April 19, 2020. The Steeple Fund campaign for the current renovation continues and, considering the damage from the fire, the need to raise money is now even greater.

Help us bring the Second Church tower back to its former glory, so it can continue to be a beacon for Charleston. Donate today to the Steeple Fund.

Bell tower progress updates (and lots of photos) can be found here.

COVID-19 Task Force Post-Survey Update

View fullsize

View fullsize

The Second Pres COVID-19 Task Force met via Zoom this week. 

While COVID-19 deaths are not increasing in our area, hospitalizations are increasing and confirmed cases have tripled in the past three weeks. Requirements by the Insurance Board state that in order to move to stage one of reopening, cases must be in a downward trend for 14 consecutive days. Therefore, we cannot move forward with reopening for worship services at this time. Church services will continue online at www.2ndpc.org. Small groups may be able to meet in the Fellowship Hall sooner, but official determinations and stipulations have not yet been determined. The sanctuary may be opened for weddings and funerals, provided the number of attendees remains very small. 

Thank you to all who participated in the survey and special thanks and acknowledgement to David Savard for conducting the survey. While there is much to be considered and determinations are yet to be presented to session, the survey helps to assess the needs of the congregation. 

Survey Results:

Survey findings of note:

· Roughly 2/3 of participants are over age of 50

· About 80% of participants expect mask requirements

· About 60% will return when coronavirus cases are very small

· About 60% would like to continue meeting online, even if there are no government restrictions

· Roughly half of participants are in an at-risk group or share a household with a member who is at-risk

Full results can be downloaded here. →

Conclusions: There is broad support among the participants for waiting to return to in-person worship and an expectation that once we do, procedures such as masks and social distancing will be put in place to protect congregants. A majority of participants are middle-aged and older. A significant percentage are at-risk or share a household with someone who is at-risk. There is an expectation that the recommendations of health professionals be our guiding force, and not politicians or government officials.

We will continue to keep the congregation updated on our findings and considerations as we figure out a path forward in these uncertain times. Please join us for church online and do not hesitate to contact Cress, a deacon, or other church leader if you find yourself in need of prayer or care. 

COVID-19 Task Force,

Katie Mai (chair), Dr. Sallie Schuh, Julia Harlow, Gary Jaffe, Felicia Sanders and Dan Tenpas

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The Task Force is referencing and considering resources provided by CAP, PCUSA, and IB as well as information from SCDHEC and the CDC. The images above outline the plan being followed and links to further resources are available below. Anyone is encouraged to contact the Task Force with questions or further consideration- any and all help available is welcome.

SCDHEC

CDC

INSURANCE BOARD

DOWNLOAD TASK FORCE RESOURCES

The Kumbaya Christ

The sermon and children’s sermon are posted here. Scroll to the bottom for sermon notes.

THE KUMBAYA CHRIST - Pastor Cress delivers a message for the week of June 14th

Stay home, stay healthy and let’s flatten the curve! Sermon videos will be posted online for 10:30 a.m. on Sundays as we worship together from home.

A sermon discussion will be posted on Tuesday and we would love for you to join the conversation. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, June 14, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

You know I am one of the guilty ones. Guilty of what you ask?  Or what now? Well, I have been guilty of denigrating a camp song that I think I understand now. It doesn’t mean that I’ll find it any easier to sing, but I’ll forever be more charitable. It's a song for these times, a song for this time. 

The song is "Kum ba Yah". It has been ridiculed, held up and laughed at in corn chip commercials. But I think that I, among many, have missed the point of the song. 

Most research points to its origin from the beginning of the last century.  And some believe that may have originated in Africa or off the coast of South Carolina, as it was known to be sung in the Gullah culture, but what is important is what it says. And it seems to come from a deep need, a longing, a yearning for deliverance, for relief or release. “Lord, come by here”, it says – and why?  Because there is someone in distress, someone cryin’, someone dyin’, someone moanin’, maybe someone singin’ but it grew from the recognition that we weren’t, that we aren’t sufficient, we aren’t enough for right now. And so we pray, “Jesus – come by here, come now, come, Jesus come."

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Interested in becoming a member of Second Presbyterian? Email Cress for more information.

Please read the letter on the website from the Nominating Team regarding this year's meeting and election of officers here →

View the 2020 Annual Report here →

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A COVID-19 Task Force has been formed to explore and coordinate reopening our church to in-person worship. We understand that these are stressful and fearful times and we wish to come together in Jesus’ Spirit, to care for one another, especially those of our flock who are most vulnerable. It is our charge as Christians to love and care for one another and for our community. We do not plan to restart in-person worship services in the sanctuary in the immediate future. We do, however, want to begin the process of evaluating the best possible time for that to occur.

Please fill out the survey, adapted from LifeWay Research, to help identify risk and to explore how we can best move forward with reopening our church. We appreciate your participation.

COVID-19 Task Force,
Katie Mai (chair), Dr. Sallie Schuh, Julia Harlow, Gary Jaffe, Felicia Sanders and Dan Tenpas

Read the full letter from the Task Force here →

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Send in your questions!

A sermon discussion will be posted each Tuesday and we would love for you to join the conversation. Yes, we really want you to ask questions!

Did you know that the word "sermon" comes from a Latin word "sermo," which means "discourse" and "conversation"? You can ask your questions here anonymously and they will be answered during the Tuesday sermon discussion post. Please send in any questions you have after you watch the sermon this week. Check out last week's response here →

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MUSC's Psychiatry Unit has reached out offering ways to help pregnant women and new moms right here in Charleston. They are collecting donations for the women in our community to help with mental health care, child care and provide support for young child education.

Find out specific ways to help here. →

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One80 Place is in need of volunteers! If you are healthy and able, please sign up and help serve those who need us most right now!
Sign up here: one80place.volunteerhub.com/
Or donate to meet their "need of the week".
Wish list: one80place.org/wish-list/
Find it on Amazon: bit.ly/Wish-List-One80
Find it at Walmart: bit.ly/2NSDx7O

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Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is in contact with partners in Guatemala and El Salvador offering assistance after Tropical Storm Amanda. Please join us in praying for the affected communities.

To support PDA’s response, designate gifts to DR000139. bit.ly/DR000139

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CHURCH-WIDE TAG SALE

The church is going to have a tag sale in mid-August, so now is a good time- you might even say a great time- to purge, clean out, get rid of, or to just empty out some of the things around your house and yard. If you have a storage unit you haven’t visited in a while, now might be the time to clean it out too. You can start getting your stuff together and we'll let you know when collection begins. Clean out those closets, basements, attics, and garages. We will need lots of volunteers when the time comes but more info will be coming soon. Any questions please contact Dawn McCready by email or at 203-921-7819.

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Please text the number 81010 with the message '@2pcchurch' to sign up for church text messages so that you are made aware of pertinent announcements and church-related news. If you didn't receive a text this week regarding the fire, then you aren't yet signed up! Please take a moment to sign up right now so that you're connected in the future. Please contact Jordyn or Sarah if you need help signing up.

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SUPPORT YOUR CHURCH WHILE YOU PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING! Many of us are ordering online right now and you can support Second Pres any time you shop on Amazon! Choose to support “Second Presbyterian Church” at smile.amazon.com and Amazon will automatically donate to Second Presbyterian with each purchase you make. Remember to check out and place your final order via smile.amazon.com (and not the app) each time you shop to activate the donations.

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The bell tower was struck by lightning the afternoon of Sunday, April 19, 2020. The Steeple Fund campaign for the current renovation continues and, considering the damage from the fire, the need to raise money is now even greater.

Help us bring the Second Church tower back to its former glory, so it can continue to be a beacon for Charleston. Donate today to the Steeple Fund.

Bell tower progress updates (and lots of photos) can be found here.