First Sunday of Advent: A Quiet Thing

Online Church is posted on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Watch here.

Find upcoming events and announcements here.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, November 29, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

“Advent asks us not to treat this time differently, but to live in time differently altogether.” - Karoline Lewis 

Here’s the question as we begin this annual journey together: Is any amount of time long enough?

Is there any behavior that we can change or strengthen that is sufficient to prepare us for God’s intrusion into and disruption of our lives and Jesus' mission to reclaim us? 

Then again, aren’t our lives disrupted enough? If it’s the divine purpose to rattle us out of complacency, hasn’t that already been achieved through COVID, political rancor, and climate change? Maybe not. I get so annoyed at myself when I think that Jesus had any other purpose than to love us and reveal to us the right life. Yep, there is a right life, the one described last week that allows us to live – truly live. This has nothing to do with portfolios and little to do with achievement. 

It isn’t contingent on our schedules nor dependent on vaccines. We commemorate the most important and significant event in the whole course of human history. God came once and will come again with “the same silence and the same devastating humility into any human heart ready to receive him.”

Friends, may we use this time with holy purpose to look beyond the prose and the poetry. May the first visit of our God be known and God’s constant return welcomed. 

Amen –

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

Listen to sermon podcasts here. Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos. Find upcoming events and announcements here.

Thanksgiving 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

By this time we would have gathered to sing, pray, and worship in thanksgiving for all we’ve been given, for each other, and for the hope we have in our Christ. But, as I preface far too many things, “in this time of COVID,” we keep our distance, wear our masks, wash our hands and pray that the rancor, the vilification, the blaming and the impasse stop. 

Know that we here at the Second Church mourn the loss of the lives lost due to the scourge, the loss of a rhythm to life that we had come to accept as normal, and the peace we knew to face the challenges before us. But we, my friends, and the people we serve, are a resilient lot.

It is my prayer that we pray for and with each other. That we support each other in these exciting and tumultuous times and that we position ourselves for grace, with our gaze fixed on Jesus.   

Happy Thanksgiving –

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

Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos. Announcements and opportunities (like new small groups starting this Sunday!) can be found here.

2020 Poinsettias

View the list of commemorations for this year’s poinsettias here →

Order your poinsettias in honor or memory of someone or to the Glory of God. Fill out the form below and give $15/poinsettia online, in the offering plate or mail to the church.



Poinsettia Order Form

Poinsettia orders are no longer being received. Thank you.

Advent 2020

Celebrate the Advent season with us at Second Presbyterian Church

Celebrating Advent involves spending time in spiritual preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas. This is a season of prayer and anticipation leading up to the celebration of hope and joy found in Jesus. You are invited to get involved with us throughout the season with Advent devotionals, crafts, special musical offerings, and services as together we prepare our hearts and minds for focus on the hope and joy found in Jesus Christ.

There are two Advent devotional small group opportunities for adults to choose from, as well as one for children & families and one for youth. Join one of the Zoom Advent devotional groups and order white poinsettias in honor of someone and luminaries so that you can foster the community of Second Presbyterian even from home. Click on the buttons below for more information.

Please contact Jordyn if you need any help signing up.

Please text the number 81010 with the message '@2pcchurch' to sign up for church text message announcements to receive a day of text reminder.

Christ the King Sunday Bulletin

THIS IS GOD'S HOUSE - ALL ARE WELCOME

 “Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ”

LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - Please fill out a contact card to assist with COVID-19 contact tracing and to let us know you worshiped with us today even if you are a member.

“I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.”   Psalm 122, vs 1

Prelude Music                                                   

  Sonata in A major
G.P. Telemann
Largo – Allegro – Sarabande - Allegro
Micah Gangwer, violinist

 Processional Hymn    

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!  Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee.
Holy, Holy, Holy!  Merciful and mighty!  God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

GATHERING AROUND THE WORD

Call to Worship

Leader:    Come, let us celebrate the wondrous gifts that God has given us.

People:    Throughout all our lives, God has blessed us with love and hope.

Leader:    Praise be to God who provides for us.

People:     May our hearts be truly grateful, and may we show our gratitude by the ways in which we live and care for others.

Leader:    Hallelujah!

People:     Amen.

–posted on Ministry Matters

Hymn                                                                 

Now Thank We All Our God

Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices,

who wondrous things hath done, in whom this world rejoices;

who, from our mothers' arms, hath blessed us on our way

with countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,

with ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us;

and keep us in God's grace, and guide us when perplexed,

and free us from all ills in this world and the next. (cont.)

All praise and thanks to God, who reigns in highest heaven,

to Father and to Son and Spirit now be given:

the one eternal God, whom heaven and earth adore,

the God who was, and is, and shall be evermore.

Invocation and Lord's Prayer (Unison)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen. 

CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Call to Confession (Unison)

Gracious Creator, you have given us so much, but too often we take those gifts for granted, or as something to which we are entitled. You call us to live in caring community, but too often we place our wants and needs first, with those of others a distant second. You call us to share Your gifts with the world around us, but we are worried that there may not be enough, and our worrying gets in the way of our sharing. For all the times when we mistreat and misuse Your gifts, for all the times we assume that we get what we have by ourselves, forgive us and lead us back to the path of wisdom.

— written by Rev Gord, posted on Worship Offerings

Silent Confession and Assurance of Pardon     

Response:   Thanks be to God!

 Gloria Patri



 Affirmation of Faith, Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell*; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic** Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  Amen.

  * ”hell” refers to the Hebrew word “Sheol,” a place of the dead, rather than the Hell of the final judgment.
** “catholic” is Latin for “universal,” implying the Christian unity that exists beyond all denominations.

Anthem

“For the Fruit of All Creation”

For the fruit of all creation, thanks be to God. For the gifts to every nation, thanks be to God.

For the plowing, sowing, reaping, silent growth while we are sleeping,

future needs in earth’s safekeeping, thanks be to God.

In the just reward of labor, God’s will be done. In the help we give our neighbor,

God’s will be done. In our worldwide task of caring for the hungry and despairing,

in the harvests we are sharing, God’s will be done.

For the harvests of the Spirit, thanks be to God. For the good we all inherit, thanks be to God.

For the wonders that astound us, for the truths that still confound us,

most of all that love has found us, thanks be to God.

                                                                                         music: Welsh melody
text: Fred Pratt Green, 1970, alt.

Pastoral Prayer of the People

Scripture Reading

Matthew 25:31-46

Sermon

“To Love Is To Live”

Rev. Cress Darwin

Closing Hymn                                  

Crown Him With Many Crowns

Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne;

hark, how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own!

Awake, my soul, and sing of him who died for thee,

and hail him as thy matchless King through all eternity. (cont.)

Crown him the Lord of love; behold his hands and side,

rich wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified:

no angel in the sky can fully bear that sight,

but downward bends his burning eye at mysteries so bright.

Crown him the Lord of years, the potentate of time;

creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.

All hail, Redeemer, hail! For thou hast died for me;

thy praise shall never, never fail throughout eternity.

Diademata

Benediction and Choral Response                      

Amen
Dresden

Postlude                                                                

 “Sleepers, Wake”
J.S. Bach

2nd Presbyterian CCLI Lic. #2046860

INFORMATION & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Second Presbyterian is a church community where you will be known and nurtured. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here. Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here.

And get connected! Join a small group here. While we may be practicing social distancing these days, there are still ways to be involved and to offer your time, talents, and resources in service to others. Please reach out to our Director of Community and Communications Jordyn Pritchard to get connected.

Our guest musician today, Micah Gangwer, is the Assistant Concertmaster of the Charleston Symphony and Concertmaster of the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. He attended Miami University for his undergraduate, and the University of Oklahoma and University of South Carolina for graduate school. Micah lives in West Ashley with his wife Rachel, who is the librarian for and plays viola with the Charleston Symphony.

To Love is to Live

Online Church is posted on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Watch here.

Find upcoming events and announcements here.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, November 22, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

I know many if not most of us are ready to flip the calendar. 2020 has been a challenge I don’t need to articulate. Well, this Sunday is the last Sunday of the year – the ecclesial year at least! We are completing a long season known as "ordinary" (not!) and moving into a festival time. Moving from green to purple, from ordinary to extraordinary – to advent, the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event – celebrating the enfleshment of God. Sounds weird, huh? It’s not weird, its breathtaking, it's truly awesome (you know I hardly use that word). That God – yes, that God, the God, set aside divinity and came alongside God’s creatures and creation. Pandemics, elections, fires and floods beware! Jesus came and comes, enlisting us in the campaign to reclaim that which is his. Is it a "kingdom"? I prefer the archaic term, "realm" of God. Yet we finish the liturgical year on a high note – Christ the King Sunday, established by the Pope in 1925 to counter the rise of secularism in Europe. Well, I say thank you to Pope Pius XI. I’m grateful for any chance to point to Jesus and if the entire western Church is willing to come along, all the better.  

This Sunday we say goodbye to our primary engagement with the gospel of Matthew for a couple of years, Matthew, whose gospel teems with the themes of judgment, righteousness, accountability. It’s been a good run. So, what a fitting text we get to engage: Matthew 25:31-46.  

Jesus returns in the clouds with "blazing beauty, angels surrounding him and sits on the throne of judgment." Are we ready? Let’s talk. 

In anticipation—

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

Listen to sermon podcasts here. Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos. Find upcoming events and announcements here.

Luminaries Fundraiser

Be a Light to the World

Join with your church family to Light up the Night together on the weekend of December 20, 2020 by setting out your luminaries to line your sidewalk, driveway, or porch.

Let’s make this a successful fundraiser for our church and a highly visible testimony to the light of Christ in the world. Each kit includes 10 flame-resistant bags and tea lights for $12.

Get your kit and set your luminaries out the weekend before Christmas. Please send a short video or photo to Jordyn by Monday, December 21st at 5pm to be shared with the church.

Luminary Kit Order Form

Orders are now closed.

You can still participate in the “Light Up the Night” with your own luminaries, candles, or a bright way by which you demonstrate the light of the world the weekend before Christmas even if you didn’t purchase a kit.

Please send a short video or photo to Jordyn by Monday, December 21st at 5pm to be shared with the church.

Join an Advent Small Group

Sign up for an Advent Small Group! 

Slow down and enjoy the build up to the fullness of the Christmas season together by getting into community. Join a weekly Advent devotional small group for the four weeks leading up to Christmas. Each week is stand-alone, so while it will be nice to attend all four devotionals, please join as many weeks as you can. Journey into Advent this year with friends new and old.

There are two Advent devotional small group opportunities for adults to choose from, as well as one for children & families, and one for youth. Click on the buttons below for the Zoom link so you can join the meeting at the designated time. Text or email Jordyn if you have any questions or need help joining your meeting.

This is one of two multi-generational adult Advent small group opportunities.

Join the Sunday morning Advent small group at 9:30 a.m. with Robbie Staubes and Jordyn Pritchard. Everyone is welcome! Journey into Advent this year with friends new and old.

The call will start at 9:30 a.m. with music so that everyone has time to join and gets a chance to slow down and be present before the group devotional, discussion, and candle lighting. Have your Advent candles ready if you’d like to follow along and light your candles at home.

Join Zoom Meeting Sunday mornings at 9:30 a.m.: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88347807241?pwd=QTdCUXlaNy90UjlpUi9ySDhLMi9ldz09

Meeting ID: 883 4780 7241
Passcode: 002497

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This is one of two multi-generational adult Advent small group opportunities.

Join the Monday evening Advent small group at 7pm with Robbie Staubes and Jordyn Pritchard. Everyone is welcome! Journey into Advent this year with friends new and old.

The call will start at 7:00 p.m. with music so that everyone has time to join and gets a chance to slow down and be present before the group devotional, discussion, and candle lighting. Have your Advent candles ready if you’d like to follow along and light your candles at home.

Join Zoom Meeting Monday evenings at 7:00 p.m.: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85954852497?pwd=Q2VZL2doSXVFRkdDbUhxNENUQ3JKUT09

Meeting ID: 859 5485 2497
Passcode: 490778

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Children and families meet the four Sunday mornings of Advent at 9:00 a.m. for half an hour of fellowship, devotionals, and advent crafts. The group is working through the In Light & Darkness devotional packet and coloring and assembling the advent wreath coloring sheets. Bring your coffee and sit down as a family to catch up with and get to know other families at church.

Join Zoom Meeting Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m.: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/78903910479?pwd=ZGVMZXNTekpIRm5pbkYzNnM3cTdQZz09

Meeting ID: 789 0391 0479
Passcode: hYP77N

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Youth are invited to come together for an advent small group Sundays at 7pm with Domonique German. The group is working through the In Light & Darkness devotional packet.

Join Zoom Meeting Sunday evenings at 7:00 p.m.: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82646544452?pwd=NDRZMDlwZjB1NFVlQXpkWThPZmpnQT09

Meeting ID: 826 4654 4452
Passcode: 063951

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Click the Zoom link button that you’d like to join. The blue ‘Join Zoom Meeting’ link will prompt you directly to the call, where you will wait momentarily to be let in from the waiting room. These will be the same sign-in links for all four weeks of Advent.

Advent Small Group Form

Please contact Jordyn if you need any help signing up.

Please text the number 81010 with the message '@2pcchurch' to sign up for church text message announcements to receive a day of text reminder.

Sunday Bulletin

THIS IS GOD'S HOUSE - ALL ARE WELCOME

 “Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ”

LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - Please fill out a contact card to assist with COVID-19 contact tracing and to let us know you worshiped with us today even if you are a member.

“I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.”   Psalm 122, vs 1

Prelude Music                                                   

  St. George’s Windsor
Gerhard Krapf

 Processional Hymn    

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!  Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee.
Holy, Holy, Holy!  Merciful and mighty!  God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

GATHERING AROUND THE WORD

Call to Worship

Leader:    People of God, open your eyes!  Look around!

People:    The presence of our Lord Jesus Christ is here- among us and within us.

Leader:     God’s salvation is close at hand- nearer than you know.

People:     So open your hearts and minds to the Spirit, and let us worship God together!

Hymn                                                                 

Invocation and Lord's Prayer (Unison)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen. 

CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Call to Confession (Unison)

Reconciling God, we would rather gossip about those who sin against us, than speak to them privately; we would rather parade our wounds for all to see, than quietly work toward forgiveness and reconciliation. Help us choose the harder road, the road that opens possibilities for real healing, real forgiveness, and real growth in your Spirit. Help us place the best interests of our community of faith above our own need for public vindication. Amen.

— B.J. Beu, posted on Ministry Matters website.

Silent Confession and Assurance of Pardon     

Response:   Thanks be to God!

 Gloria Patri



 Affirmation of Faith, Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell*; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic** Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  Amen.

  * ”hell” refers to the Hebrew word “Sheol,” a place of the dead, rather than the Hell of the final judgment.
** “catholic” is Latin for “universal,” implying the Christian unity that exists beyond all denominations.

Anthem

“For All Thy Saints”

For all thy saints, O Lord, who strove in thee to live, 
who followed thee, obeyed, adored, our grateful hymn receive.

For all thy saints, O Lord, accept our thankful cry,
who counted thee their great reward, and strove in thee to die.

They all in life and death, with thee, their Lord, in view
learned from the Holy Spirit’s breath to suffer and to do.

For this thy name we bless, and humbly beg that we
may follow them in holiness and live and die in thee.

With them the Father, Son and Holy Ghost to praise,
as in the ancient time was done and shall through endless days. Amen.

                                                                                         text: Richard Mant (19th c.)
music: Alan Bullard (2001)

Pastoral Prayer of the People

Scripture Reading

Matthew 18:15-20

Sermon

“Workin’ It Out”

Rev. Cress Darwin

Closing Hymn                                  

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come!

Come, ye thankful people, come; raise the song of harvest home.
All is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God, our Maker, doth provide for our wants to be supplied.
Come to God's own temple, come; raise the song of harvest home. 

All the world is God's own field, fruit in thankful praise to yield,
wheat and tares together sown, unto joy or sorrow grown.
First the blade, and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear.
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be. 

Even so, Lord, quickly come, to thy final harvest home.
Gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
there forever purified, in thy presence to abide:
come, with all thine angels, come; raise the glorious harvest home!

St. George’s Windsor

Benediction and Choral Response                      

Amen
Dresden

Postlude                                                                

 Come, Creator Spirit
Nicolas de Grigny

2nd Presbyterian CCLI Lic. #2046860

INFORMATION & ANNOUNCEMENTS

Second Presbyterian is a church community where you will be known and nurtured. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here. Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here.

And get connected! Join a small group here. While we may be practicing social distancing these days, there are still ways to be involved and to offer your time, talents, and resources in service to others. Please reach out to our Director of Community and Communications Jordyn Pritchard to get connected.

Workin' On It

Online Church is posted on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Watch here.

Find upcoming events and announcements here.

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, November 15, 2020

Everything seems to be couched with ‘In this time of Covid…’ I realize that we all yearn for what we had – whatever the challenges. We yearn for the familiar. This time ain’t normal. If it is, I don’t accept it. I find that the continuing rancor that dominates the 24/7 information stream is exhausting and ultimately debilitating for the soul.

When people look to outlets for continuing frustration and disappointments it’s easy to fall into carping, blaming, resignation. These aren’t options for Jesus followers. But because all of us are human and have built in forgetters- apart we’re vulnerable, but together we’re resilient.

The writer to the Hebrews writes: "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another." — Hebrews 10:24-25

So we seek ways to be church. We call, we Zoom, we text, we meet when we can. I used to say there’s no quality time if there’s no face time. I’m forced to reconsider. So we come together as we may, as we can, and Jesus has promised to be with us. 

Join us Sunday here in The House or at your house or at a friend's house. Where two or three are gathered in Jesus’ name, it’s God’s house. 

This Sunday, November 15th, is Commitment Sunday. While many of us may not physically be back in church, it is still Commitment Sunday, the time when we make our pledge to the work, the mission, and the maintenance of Second Church so that we can formulate our plans and budgets for 2021.

Step up! Step up to the plate!
It’s been hard to get together, but it’s important that we stick together and that we stick with the church. How do we do that? How may we honor the primacy of Jesus in our lives and for the hope of mankind? It starts with the heart.

• Honor the covenant you made as you joined, whether this year, last, or a decade or more ago.

• Make a commitment, a pledge that reflects your love for Jesus and will enable the work we get to do in God’s name through Second Church.

• Be disciplined. The needs of the church don’t stop for Covid or for summer. You may give cash, or by check, money order, online or automatic bank draft, but please, if possible, make a pledge. A pledge is not a contract and may be amended if need be.

Our God is scandalously generous. It’s our time to step up and give back! Find out more here. And make your pledge online here.

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

Listen to sermon podcasts here. Click here to view all Second Presbyterian Church videos. Find upcoming events and announcements here.

Thornwell Offering

November is when we at Second Presbyterian remember and support Thornwell. In 1875, Presbyterian minister William Plumer Jacobs opened Thornwell orphanage to ten children. Now, although children who need a loving home are still welcome there in Clinton, Thornwell is known throughout South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida as a source for training foster parents and working with and helping to heal troubled families.

Our offering for Thornwell will be given in the service on November 22nd, and your gifts are welcome online now and through the end of the month.

Find out more about how Thornwell helps children and families here.

Commitment Sunday

This Sunday, November 15th, is Commitment Sunday. While many of us may not physically be back in church, it is still Commitment Sunday, the time when we make our pledge to the work, the mission, and the maintenance of Second Church so that we can formulate our plans and budgets for 2021.

So we’re posting and we’re mailing this simple statement, request, appeal, reminder -- Step up! Step up to the plate! More than a clever concept from our Stewardship Committee leaders, David Savard and Rebecca Darwin, it’s a call to action, an invitation to each of you to commit by making a pledge to God’s kingdom work through Second Church.   

It’s been hard to get together, but it’s important that we stick together and that we stick with the church. How do we do that? How may we honor the primacy of Jesus in our lives and for the hope of mankind? It starts with the heart.

• Honor the covenant you made as you joined, whether this year, last, or a decade or more ago.

• Make a commitment, a pledge that reflects your love for Jesus and will enable the work we get to do in God’s name through Second Church. 

• Be disciplined. The needs of the church don’t stop for Covid or for summer. You may give cash, or by check, money order, online or automatic bank draft, but please, if possible, make a pledge. A pledge is not a contract and may be amended if need be.

God’s work will be done. May it be done through Second Presbyterian. It takes you, me, our teaching and painting and recording and posting, and prayers and our money. It’s a practical issue. It’s a relationship issue. This is a spiritual issue. Our God loves us, so we must love God and God’s creation. Our God forgives us so we must forgive. Our God is scandalously generous. It’s our time to step up and give back!

In anticipation, confidence and in joy -

Sunday Bulletin

THIS IS GOD'S HOUSE - ALL ARE WELCOME

 “Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ”

LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - Please fill out a contact card to assist with COVID-19 contact tracing and to let us know you worshiped with us today even if you are a member.

“I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.”   Psalm 122, vs 1

Prelude Music                                                   

Praise Ye the Lord

Walther, Manz

 Processional Hymn    

Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty!  Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee.

Holy, Holy, Holy!  Merciful and mighty!  God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

WELCOME AND ANNOUNCEMENTS

GATHERING AROUND THE WORD

Call to Worship

Psalm 19

Leader:     God has gathered us to this place,

People:     where we hear those stories which show us what the kingdom of God is like.

Leader:     God summons us to this place,

People:     where we can learn how to serve our God without reservation or hesitation

Leader:     God will send us from this place,

People:     to tell others of God's hopes and dreams, so they, too, can choose to follow God. 

-Thom Shuman, posted on his Lectionary Liturgies website.



Hymn                                                                 

Praise Ye the Lord, the Almighty

Praise ye the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

O my soul, praise him, for he is thy health and salvation!

All ye who hear, now to his temple draw near; join me in glad adoration!

Praise ye the Lord, who o'er all things so wondrously reigneth,

Shelters thee under his wings, yea, so gently sustaineth! Hast thou not seen

how thy desires e'er have been granted in what he ordaineth?

Praise ye the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!

All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before him!

Let the amen sound from his people again; gladly for aye we adore him!

Lobe den Herren

Invocation and Lord's Prayer (Unison)

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.  Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.  Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen. 

CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON

Call to Confession (Unison)

When the busyness of our lives erodes the intentions of our hearts, merciful God, forgive us. When our personal agendas take precedence over reaching out to others, merciful God, forgive us. When we keep putting off being more active “doers of the word”, merciful God, forgive us. When we resist change, knowing that our acting and thinking are limited by our prejudice and ignorance, merciful God, forgive us. When we only half-listen to those who cry out to be fully heard, merciful God, forgive us.

Gracious and merciful God, forgive us for past faults and help us in the present and future to make ourselves more available to the hurting world that surrounds us— the world that begins on our doorsteps. Equip us to be patient and compassionate listeners, proclaiming the gospel not in overbearing ways but sensitively and lovingly. Strengthen us with the Holy Spirit to be fruitful and active witnesses to Jesus in all we do and say.

~ Moira Laidlaw, posted on Liturgies Online.

Silent Confession and Assurance of Pardon     

Response:   Thanks be to God!

 Gloria Patri

Affirmation of Faith, Apostles' Creed

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; he descended into hell*; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic** Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.  Amen.

* ”hell” refers to the Hebrew word “Sheol,” a place of the dead, rather than the Hell of the final judgment.  

** “catholic” is Latin for “universal,” implying the Christian unity that exists beyond all denominations.

Anthem

"I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light"

I want to walk as a child of the light, I want to follow Jesus. God set the stars to give light to the world.

The star of my life is Jesus. In Him there is no darkness at all. The night and the day are both alike.

The Lamb is the light of the city of God. Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

I want to see the brightness of God. I want to look at Jesus.

Clear sun of righteousness, shine on my path, and show me the way to the Father. In Him…

I'm looking for the coming of Christ. I want to be with Jesus.

When we have run with patience the race, we shall know the joy of Jesus. In Him…

Houston, Kathleen Thomerson (1970)

Pastoral Prayer of the People

Scripture Reading

James 1:17-27

Sermon

“Word”

Rev. Cress Darwin

Closing Hymn                                  

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heaven, to earth come down,

fix in us thy humble dwelling; all thy faithful mercies crown.

Jesus, thou art all compassion; pure, unbounded love thou art;

visit us with thy salvation; enter every trembling heart.

Breathe, O breathe thy loving Spirit into every troubled breast;

let us all in thee inherit; let us find the promised rest.

Take away the love of sinning; Alpha and Omega be;

end of faith, as its beginning, set our hearts at liberty.

Finish then thy new creation; pure and spotless let us be;

let us see thy great salvation perfectly restored in thee:

changed from glory into glory, till in heaven we take our place,

till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Hyfrydol

Benediction and Choral Response                      

Amen, Danish

Postlude                                                                   

Voluntary on ‘Hyfrydol’

Henry Coleman

2nd Presbyterian CCLI Lic. #2046860

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Word

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SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, November 8, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ –

A few years ago I was talking with Colin Kerr who at the time was our DCE, though now he’s the pastor of a new church plant up the road. We were finishing up a meeting. I asked him something and he looked straight at me and replied “word” and turned and left. 

I thought, he must think that was sufficient. Then I thought it must be something positive, a concurrence, an ascent. I wasn’t sure so I did what every responsible seeker of truth should do in such a circumstance – I went to the Urban Dictionary. There it was: WORD. The definition? Well said, in agreement. I’ve used the word – "Word" a couple of times since with my daughters just to see their eyes roll. 

I’ve heard and I’ve always felt it to be true that the church has to be attentive to styles and language and music to be understood, to be effective. It's not that we pander to every new wave, but we respect that different folks respond in different ways to language and music. The history of the church bears witness. So how we worship, what we study and say and sing has an effect, a consequence. If we are to be the conduits of God’s love and justice, if we are to reach those who don’t yet know Jesus, we have to recognize that what we do and what we don’t is noticed. what we say and how we say it matters.

There has been a lot stated the last few weeks as truth. But is it? Or is it truthy? As I write this, the presidential election is still not decided. But more than this, our nation’s character is laid bare. It is as important as ever in our lifetimes to be discerning, to be brave, to be bold in service to God’s truth, God’s word.    

See you Sunday! (wash your hands!)

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Ephesians 6:18—“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.”

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