Thursday Bible Study Group

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Sign up here to join the group email.

The Thursday evening mixed adult Bible study group will meet again on Thursday, March 11th at 7:30 p.m. to begin a new nine-week study.

Into the Light, Finding Hope Through Prayers of Lament presents a Biblically based approach to facing troubling times.

Please sign up for emails or contact Sarah Mitchell for more information.

“In this nine-lesson study, Lynn Miller revives lament as a proper theological response to the difficult situations of our world. One of the foundational points of the study is that, in scripture, lament usually leads to hope. After crying out to God, the one who laments remembers God. And while that doesn’t fix things in the moment—the injustice, the loss still exists—the lamenter is strengthened to face the world and to hope. And for us as Christians, hope is not just an emotional response or an attitude of pie in the sky. Hope implies movement: both God’s inherent movement toward justice and our movement toward God. Recovering lament may be one of the church’s most timely gifts to the world.”

Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/s/81439601260?pwd=S2krUGlaV1lTZlptc2YxTjkzaGFpUT09

Meeting ID: 814 3960 1260

Passcode: 181914

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Previous study:

Theocademy study Expanding the Narrative: Women & the Reformation

Volunteer Opportunities - March 2021

CLICK ON VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION

Lenten Devotional: Treasured Things

Treasured Things

One of my favorite lines in scripture appears twice in the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke. The first time it appears, is after the shepherds have come to visit the baby Messiah, Mary and Joseph and tell of the wonderful things they had heard of the child. After this, the text reads “But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19) The next time Scripture states of Mary treasuring things in her heart is after she could not find the young boy Jesus, when he was in the temple (Luke 2:46-51). I can only imagine Mary’s absolute terror at not knowing where her beloved son is. The text tells us that after they discover him and reveal how worried they were, Jesus “was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.” 

I love that this line is used not once, but twice in the same chapter and it points to the utter love, hope, and concern Mary has for Jesus. I look at Mary and see a human many of us can relate to—proud and relieved, treasuring big and seemingly small things in our hearts and carrying them with us as sustenance for the journey of life.  I wonder if these are moments that helped sustain Mary when she eventually stood as a grief-stricken mother at the foot of the cross, heartbroken, scared, and hurting for her beloved son. 

I believe we are invited to pay attention to the big, in your face holy moments, and to the seemingly small but ever so sacred moments that this life has to offer. We should savor them and treasure them in our hearts, so that we remember Love is everlasting and God is ever present. Let us take some time this week to open ourselves up to the sacred happening all around us and treasure it in our hearts.

—Margaret Fleming

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

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

Honoring Black voices and perspectives throughout the year

Black History Month is over but we can continue to honor Black voices and perspectives. We can put practice to something learned in February, share stories, and continue to lift up Black authors, thinkers, and movement makers and intentionally diversify our bookshelves, lives, and communities throughout the year.

Here are resources to enjoy and learn from, to help encourage discussions and greater understanding. And be encouraged to seek out different perspectives within realms that already interest you. History, art, music, interior design, architecture, etc. … find Black voices working in those spaces to read, follow, enjoy and learn from. Find more resources compiled last year by our Presbytery here.

Local and Online Resources:

The Avery Center, Lowcountry Digital History Initiative, Black Liturgist, Cocoa Gospels

Podcasts: 

1619, Seeing White, Everything Happens episode with Bishop Michael Curry, Unlocking Us episodes with Ibram X. Kendi and Austin Channing Brown, Floodlines, Intersectionality Matters, Throughline, and She Speaks Too

Documentaries: 

The Black Church, 13th, I Am Not Your Negro, Whose Streets, LA92, Teach Us All, Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise

Books:

The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby 

I'm Still Here by Austin Channing Brown 

How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

Jackie Robinson: A Spiritual Biography by Michael Long

Denmark Vesey’s Garden by Ethan J. Kyle and Blain Roberts

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

Gospel of Freedom ( Letter from Birmingham Jail) by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

The Power of Love: Sermons, Reflections, and Wisdom to Uplift and Inspire by Bishop Michael Curry

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates 

Sister Outsider Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

Recommended Books for Tweens and Teens 

Children’s books:

Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña

Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi

The Day You Begin by Jacqueline Woodson

Bulletin- February 28

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 in person today even if you are a member. If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.

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.

Jesus Straightens Up

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, February 28, 2021

Dear Friends in Christ —

‘Meek and mild shows up mad!’  

It’s Monday. Just a day after entering Jerusalem to the cheers of the people, Jesus of Nazareth continues to astound. The population has swelled. The city is fortified by the Roman garrison. Security is tight. He heads to the Temple and tears it up, sealing his fate. It was bad enough when this backwater itinerant embarrassed the scholars, when he and his group flouted the dietary, purity and Sabbath laws. Now he has attacked the seat of stability, secured by complicit Temple authorities. He teaches with impunity and the people love him. How quickly this will change.

Jesus cleansing the Temple is related in all four gospels. Details may differ, but the result is the same. He’s no longer just an irritant. Jesus is a threat.

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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.

Easter Lilies

Easter lilies are now available for order. If you would like to make a donation this Easter season to honor a loved one or to the glory of God, please complete the order form below and submit your total donation online, place in the offering plate on Sunday, or deliver it to the church office.

Forms must be submitted by Thursday, April 1, 2021 in order for memorials to be published.

ORDERS HAVE NOW BEEN CLOSED. THANK YOU.

Easter Lilies Order Form

Mary Phyllis

Honoring the significant contribution of Black men and women to the Protestant faith.

Pictured above is a baptismal font from the early 16th century at St. Matthew's Church in Ipswich, Suffolk, England.

Black men and women have shaped and impacted Christianity around the world for centuries. Mary Phyllis is among the first named Protestants of color in Europe. Though many details are lost to time, we do know about some details of her life and her faith.

She was born around 1577 in Africa to African parents. When she was a child she and at least her father relocated to London. There, she worked alongside a seamstress, presumably learning the trade, and she expressed her desire to learn about Christianity to her employer. She goes on, supported in some way, to learn about the faith and after some time the seamstress’ pastor interviews Mary ahead of her baptism. He notes that her answers are quite adequate and she has a good comprehension of Christianity. By all accounts, Mary Phyllis was baptized of her own volition and goes on to be a "lively member of the congregation," clearly active in her church.

The Thursday night bible study was introduced to Mary Phyllis during their Expanding the Narrative series, shifting the historical conversation about the Reformation to highlight stories of African Protestants of color in England as well as prominent women leaders in Spain, Germany, France, and Hungary. Find out more here.

This Black History month we are honoring the significant contribution of Black people in our community.

Lenten Devotional: Known, Accepted, Loved

Known, Accepted, Loved

Recently, my husband, Will and I were able to safely catch up with good friends of ours. After spending quality time with our friends, I noticed that my heart felt peaceful and so full of love and joy. These friends of ours, they are the type of friends we can go months without speaking regularly with and we know and trust that as soon as we are able to reconnect it will be as if no time at all has passed. They are the type of people who know us fully; they know our shiny, successful bits and they know our messy, not quite as successful bits and they accept us and love us fully.

As I marveled at how lucky we are to have people in our lives who know us, accept and love us so fully—I cannot help but be in awe of how completely known, accepted and loved we all are by God. God sees our shiny bits and our not so shiny bits and still pursues us and loves us. When we mess up, God “offers us a path back into right relationship” as Rev. Darwin reminds us each week in worship as we prepare to confess.

This Lenten season, we are taking time to be still, to breathe deeply into our lives, and to listen to our hearts—to pay attention to what fills them up and to what drains them. May you take time this week to intentionally seek out (safe) connection with others, yourself, and our God. May you trust that you are fully known, accepted, and loved.

—Margaret Fleming

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

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

Bulletin- February 21

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 in person today even if you are a member. If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.

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.

From Jericho to Jerusalem

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, February 21, 2021

Dear Friends in Christ —

I’ve been grappling this week with the thrust for Lenten sermons. In the past I haven’t been shy expressing my belief that to know, to really experience the excitement, the pure joy of the Resurrection, one must have walked with Jesus through the days before. The entry to Jerusalem on the colt, the cleansing of the temple, teaching from the Mount of Olives, planning for one last supper, one last chance to lay out the mission.

One needs to imagine the gut-punch of betrayal, whether it was foreknown or not. The plea in the garden, “if there’s another way…” And the face turned, resolute to the Legion come to arrest him. His cheek offered to be kissed. 

It will come to this. And during these days ahead we will follow a rough chronology and seek out the man Jesus as he leaves nothing to chance, using each moment to teach, to model, to show strength, resolve, love. Let’s approach the Final Week together. 

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.

Bulletin- Ash Wednesday Renewal of Baptism Service

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 in person today even if you are a member. If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.

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.

Lenten Devotional: Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is one of my favorite services. It seems a bit odd, because it is often a somber service, a service where we are reminded of our mortality. I have stood in different churches and chapels over the past few years, heard those familiar words, “you are dust, and to dust you shall return” and received ashes upon my forehead in the shape of the cross. I have cried every time I receive the ashes and hear those words because my favorite part about this somber service is that it is laced with a pure, loving hope. Hope that although this earthly body will not live forever, there is something much more. 

A few years ago, I was serving as a seminary intern at a PCUSA church. I provided pastoral care with one of our congregants during her final few weeks at a hospice house. I had the honor of praying with this wonderful, faithful woman and her family every day for two weeks. When she died, I was a wreck. I was new into this whole ministry thing and while I had experienced some death in my life—I had never experienced it from the standpoint of a pastoral caregiver. I was faced with the question, “What is it that you believe about death and God in the midst of death?”

As I spiritually grappled with her death and what I believe about death and after death, a pastor shared with me words that I will never forget, “God looks death straight in the eye and laughs, because it is not the end.” With Christ, we have everlasting life—this is the underlying hope that accompanies us throughout our life journey and it is the hope that roots Ash Wednesday. That same pastor in that same conversation said something else that has remained with me, “in death our baptism is made complete.” Because in life and in death, we belong to God.  

May this be the hope that we cling to now and always. Let us lean into today and the rest of the Lenten season, knowing that God is ever present, ever loving, and everlasting. 

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

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

Rosetta Simmons

Honoring the significant contribution of Charleston's Rosetta Simmons.

Rosetta Simmons, pictured between Coretta Scott King and Juanita Abernathy, went on from Burke High School to work as a Licensed Practical Nurse at the Medical College Hospital, then the Charleston Memorial Hospital in 1966. She became frustrated with the unequal treatment African American workers faced at the hospital, and began meeting with local activists and union leaders to organize the hospital workers in striking for better pay and fair treatment.

“Dignity and respect.” Rosetta Simmons said these were her main concerns as an organizer of the Charleston Hospital Workers’ Strike. In her 2009 oral history she explained, “That was my main goal, dignity and respect… Management needed to know that we are human beings, and we ought to be treated with dignity and respect.”

As an organizer, Simmons felt it was important to grab the city’s attention by always having strikers on the picket line. Simmons worked with SCLC to organize shifts for the strikers, keeping the line filled at all hours of the day.

When the strike ended, Simmons worked closely with the movement’s leadership to play a valuable role in the rehiring of her associates. The strike ended in the summer of 1969, but Simmons was not rehired until November. During these months of negotiating to get her job back, Simmons remained involved in civil rights in Charleston by helping register over 800 African American to vote. She also became the vice president of the local union, 1199B, and remained an active member of the union until her retirement in 1996 after 29 years of service.

Listen to more of Rosetta Simmon’s oral history through the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative. And read more about the Charleston Hospital Workers Movement here.

This Black History month we are honoring the significant contribution of Black people in our community.

Lenten Devotional Introduction

Prepare our hearts for resurrection

Lent has always been the liturgical season that intimidates me. Growing up, I heard about people giving up chocolate for Lent and never quite understood why. Even now, after three years of seminary education, I had to look up what this season of Lent means and how Presbyterians practice it. 

In my preparation research for this series, I learned why some people feel called to give up things, like chocolate or social media, for Lent. It is not about the thing you are giving up so much as it is about the intention behind the giving up. Lent is an invitation to go against how society tells us to live and what society tells us is important in order to “prepare our hearts for resurrection” (“The give-and-take of Lent,” Presbyterians Today located on presbyterianmission.org). The things we give up, or the practices we might add on are intended to help draw us closer to God. The article I referenced above states “we give things up or take on practices because we need to learn again and again that we live and move and breathe and have our being in God.” 

As I opened my heart and prayed for this devotion, I kept hearing these words being whispered over and over: “stillness,” “silence,” “listen,” and “heart.” This Lenten season, let us answer the call to slow down, dwell in stillness, breathe deeply in the silence so we might listen and hear what God is whispering into our hearts. As Ash Wednesday draws near, I invite you to think of something you might want to give up or a practice you might want to take on setting the intention of drawing nearer to the One who created you, calls you by name, sustains you, and loves you with an everlasting love.  

About the author

Margaret Fleming has been a member of Second Presbyterian Church since 2017. A native of Mt. Pleasant, she found herself back home after graduating from Columbia Theological Seminary in May 2020. She resides in Mt. Pleasant with her husband Will, a fourth-year medical student at MUSC. She is a candidate for ordination in the PCUSA and is currently serving as a Chaplain Resident at Roper Hospital.

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