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September 23, October 21, November 11, and December 9, 2022
5:30-8:00 p.m. | RSVP below
Adults meet at the church and walk together for dinner.
Children & youth meet in the fellowship hall for dinner and activities. Nursery is available for little ones.
Members, visitors, and friends welcome!
Serve on a committee! Make a difference in the life of the church by joining with others.
Christian Education, Jessica Brock & Ken Carrington
Property, Rob McCready
Missions, Sarah Mitchell
Music & Worship, Wendy Jewell & Sarah Mitchell
Connections Committee, Brittany Jones
Finance, Patterson Smith
Personnel, David Savard
Presbyterian Women, Lucie Medbery
Pride Committee, Aled Pritchard
Congregational Care, Debbie Smith
Hospitality, Carol Howe
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
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.
Dear Friends in Christ –
I’ve started this note to you a number of times.
This is the first time we will have gathered post-pandemic for Homecoming, mask-free and hug hopeful.
The sermon is Surely the Presence of the Lord is in this Place.
Jacob, second son of Isaac and Rebecca, is hightailing out of town. His shenanigans have caught up with him. On his way to his safe house with his uncle, Jacob camps and finds a stone to lay his head and he dreams. Yahweh reveals plans for Israel. Jacob awakes and declares, “What an awesome place this is. It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven.”
Next week we’ll “rally” and start our programmatic year – small groups, Sunday School, stewardship. This Sunday we savor the moment to reunite, to bask in God’s love and share Sunday lunch.
Come on! Invite a friend. You know, it’s not always who you see, but who sees you!
In great anticipation,
We all are familiar with the Apostles Creed, but did you know that the Presbyterian Church actually has eleven confessional statements? As written in The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Book of Confessions, the church declares to its members and to the world who and what it is, what it believes, and what it resolves to do. These statements identify the church as a community of people known by its convictions as well as by its actions. They guide the church in its study and interpretation of the Scriptures; they summarize the essence of the Reformed Christian tradition; they direct the church in maintaining sound doctrines; they equip the church for its work and proclamation.
This fall we will incorporate portions of these statements of faith into our worship service. As we move through the various creeds, confessions, and catechisms you'll notice that each comes out of a particular time, place, and circumstance in history; beginning with the Nicene Creed in A.D. 381 after Emperor Constantine won a battle and attributed his victory to Jesus Christ. It then carries us through the reformation in Scotland, Germany, and Switzerland, then onto WWII's resistance of the German Christian accommodation to National Socialism, followed by the racial discrimination of the 1960s and most recently apartheid. These creeds, confessions and catechisms are both historic and contemporary. None have been altered to conform to today's theological, ethical or linguistic norms. They represent the living word – a snapshot of a particular moment. We hope this deepens our understanding of Presbyterian Reformed traditions, prompts questions and discussions and enriches our faith journey. Join us, will you?!
Respectfully Submitted,
Wendy Jewell
Co-chair of Music and Worship Committee
Come for a time of Bible study and fellowship where women of all ages are invited to get together from 6:00-7:30 p.m. at Robbie Staubes’ house in Mount Pleasant.
September through May we will get together to consider Sabbath
as a celebration, not a day of dreary formality
as God’s intent for all of creation and that includes busy women too
as one day of the week, perhaps a Sunday
as a time to surrender unhealthy striving and frantic busyness, and instead trust God will provide
as a reminder that life is precious and working too much is against God’s plans for our precious lives
as a day devoted to community and justice and not exclusively to self-care
Ultimately, Sabbath reminds us to honor God who
honors us by giving us a day each week to reset our pace, our priorities, and our lives. Friends and visitors are welcome.
Extra copies of the lesson are made available in the narthex ahead of each meeting.
*meeting at the church upstairs in the conference room
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
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.
Dear Friends in Christ –
‘You talkin to me?’ This phrase from a vintage Robert De Niro film kept sweeping through my mind as I thought about our text this week – the call of Jeremiah. An encounter with God, an objection to what is asked, an assurance from God. The set up and the process is familiar in Old Testament narratives:
Moses at the burning bush
Isaiah had a vision of God and lamented
Amos when corruption was rampant
Prophets are called when the nights are long and the air is sour. God called Jeremiah as those who were captive have returned to Jerusalem to find it in ruins. They have suffered. They’re subject to despair and Jeremiah has more bad news as the days pass. He didn’t want the job. Especially the more he knew about it.
How often are we brought to a place we wouldn’t choose for a purpose yet to be known?
Jesus God creates, claims, calls and commissions those who are his. We see each day the evidence of his love. Let’s come together for some face time, some heart time, a good time in worship.
We have joyous work to do –
The last few years a group of men have gathered before work on Friday mornings to discuss books like Faith Unraveled by Rachel Held Evans, The Reason for God by Tim Keller, and Love Wins by Rob Bell. If you would be interested in being part of a group meeting on Fridays (time up for consideration) please reach out to Pastor Cress.
Contact: Rev. Cress Darwin
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
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.
Dear Friends in Christ –
Yahweh has had enough. The people are worshiping idols. Jerusalem has become a city defiled. She is conquered, the Israelites taken captive and exiled to Babylon.
"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion ... They carried us away in captivity requiring of us a song ... Now how shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land."
Haunting words sung by a despairing people.
Our text is after their return. Jerusalem is in ruin. Do they roll their sleeves up? Yes, but life is harsh. There's economic depression and people defaulting to pagan habits and imagining shallow rituals are sufficient to their righteous God who, through the prophet Isaiah, sets them straight with a message as important and direct today as it was 2500 years ago.
Folks, we are emerging from the pandemic exile and things are different. Over the next few weeks, we’ll seek a new normal of community that may happen many ways but none sweeter than arm in arm, and face to face.
Stop by. Begin establishing our future together, in service to/with Jesus. Our calling. Our joy.
In great anticipation –
“Meeting people at their point of need, Inviting all into a dynamic relationship with Christ”
LET US KNOW YOU WORSHIPED WITH US TODAY - If you’re a visitor, online or in person, and would like more information please feel free to fill out a card or email Pastor Cress.
Have a prayer request? Please let us know here. Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here.
We look forward to welcoming elder Nathan Walker as our final summer guest preacher this week.
Nathaniel R. Walker is a serving elder from Little Rock, Arkansas and Tennessee. He and Sally have two children and a dog Archie. He is a Professor of Architectural History at College of Charleston. Nathan specializes in the history of public spaces such as squares and streets, and the ways in which architecture has been drafted into the social and political power systems that alternatively divide or unite people across the jagged, intersecting lines of race, gender, religion, class, etc.
The Nominating Team is requesting nominations from the congregation for two officers: a Deacon for the Class of 2023, and an Elder for the Class of 2024.
Recommendation forms can be submitted below. Paper forms are available in the sanctuary or can be downloaded here.
Please submit recommendations by September 18, 2022.
THIS FORM IS CONFIDENTIAL
(Please complete in full)
2022-2023 Nominating Team: Sydney Derrick, Domonique German, Brittany Jones, Lucie Medbery, Sarah Mitchell, Aled Pritchard, Debbie Smith, Cress Darwin (ex-officio)
SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Expectations and Responsibilities of Officers:
Pray for the congregation, clergy, staff, session and diaconate of Second Presbyterian Church
Attend Sunday worship services, Sunday School and regular church functions
Tithe or be committed to working toward a tithe during the period of service
Attend Church meetings as called
Participate with your presence at special functions of the church
Participate on at least one committee of the respective body of the Church
Church Officer should exhibit these characteristics:
Be above reproach in their dealings with those both in the church and the community at large
Demonstrate self-control
Be a respected church member and citizen
Be hospitable
Be able to communicate the basic truths of our faith
Be temperate in their habits and lifestyle
Be gentle - not quarrelsome
Should not be greedy or put financial gain above living a principled life
Should have a family life that sets an example for others
Should not be a recent convert - should demonstrate spiritual maturity
Reflect the diversity of the congregation