On All the Gathered

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

Find upcoming events and announcements here.

SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, May 28, 2023

Dear Friends in Christ –   
  
As of  Monday we will have entered ‘Ordinary Time’ – meaning that it is neither festival nor penance, but ‘ordered’, numbered, the in-between time within which most of our life is lived.

I usually comment that all time spent in service to and under the call of Jesus is extra-ordinary. This year is no exception.

Our scripture tells of the Spirit of God, the promised Spirit,  the same spirit that hovered above the deep, above Mary, lighted upon Jesus at his baptism – the rushing of the Spirit sounding like a fierce wind to bring the Word, the blessing of God to those outside the Jesus movement then and now!

This occurs as disciples are gathered. Let’s gather Sunday and experience what happens as the Spirit blows the hall! It won’t be ordinary –

In anticipation –

 


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

Source: sermons

Sunday Bulletin - May 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 - 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

Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged?  We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.

Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.

 
 

Watch Second Presbyterian videos on YouTube, like Second on Facebook, and stay connected by signing up for our emails which offer a snapshot of upcoming church and missions events and announcements.

Jesus Prays for the Disciples (and for us too)

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

Find upcoming events and announcements here.

SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, May 21, 2023

Dear Friends in Christ –   
  
Pastor David Lose points out there are a number of phrases in the book of John that jump out as favorites: “In the beginning was the Word…,” “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” “For God so loved the world…,” “In my house are many mansions…,” and more. He then points to the first verse of John 17 as his favorite where Jesus is speaking to God the Father. He petitions "that he be glorified even as God is glorified." What does this mean in context of our times? Of his?

Sunday we will put this holy scripture in the context of Jesus’ last conversation with his disciples before the ultimate moment of ‘glory’- the cross. What does it mean that the eternal God of redemption prayed/prays for even us? Everything! How else shall we manage these days in obedience, in service to God and others, in integrity?

Through the strength and the mystery of our tether our strength – God’s unfailing love revealed in his prayer for you and me.

See you Sunday – invite someone. Share the gift.

 

P.S. Let’s remember Chief Luther Reynolds, brave man of God, servant of our community, friend of this church, who has entered hospice.


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

Source: sermons

Sunday Bulletin - May 14

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 - 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

Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged?  We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.

Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.

 
 

Watch Second Presbyterian videos on YouTube, like Second on Facebook, and stay connected by signing up for our emails which offer a snapshot of upcoming church and missions events and announcements.

Jesus said WHAT?

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

Find upcoming events and announcements here.

SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, May 14, 2023

Dear Friends in Christ –   
  
Sometimes it feels like we’re in a particle accelerator. Easter is past, finals are here, the end of the year program for the Kindergarten, Tea Room, Spoleto, Memorial Day. Next thing you know it’s the 4th of July and days are getting shorter!

Not true, but it feels like it!

That’s why it’s so important to stay centered, ‘above your boots,’ I like to say. Stay present and close to the community of the Christ.

This Sunday, Mother’s Day, we engage one of Jesus’ most difficult texts. He’s just sparred with the Pharisees, he’s sat down to lunch and this woman, this Canaanite woman, starts yelling. She won’t be placated until he listens, really listens. And when he listens he hears, he  understands, he is moved, he heals… he is changed. You think?

Come this Sunday. Invite your friends. Invite perhaps someone whom you haven’t seen in a while. We’re doin’ church in the park!

In years past we’ve brought out the Seersucker and Fancy Hats. Your choice! We’ll have chairs set up, but you can bring your own (they may be more comfortable:)

Take a moment, take a breath, breathe in and exhale the breath of the Holy in the company of the saints (little ‘s’) as we welcome into membership Clay and Lauren Olson and baptize Eleanor Grace and Charlotte Louise.

Engage scripture and witness strength, humility, perseverance – the love of a mother.

In great anticipation –

 


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

Source: sermons

Sunday Bulletin - May 7

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 - 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

Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged?  We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.

Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.

 
 

Watch Second Presbyterian videos on YouTube, like Second on Facebook, and stay connected by signing up for our emails which offer a snapshot of upcoming church and missions events and announcements.

Where You Been?

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

Find upcoming events and announcements here.

SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, May 7, 2023

Dear Friends in Christ –      

The first line in the text of our Gospel this Sunday reveals Jesus seeking to comfort his friends even as in the next breath he reminds them he is leaving. What follows is a few men asking hard questions. Not mean, not accusatory, but sincere and heartfelt.

We get to see Jesus, the rabbi, lover of their souls pass the baton. Really? Who else to continue the reclamation of the cosmos? Who else has seen up close the day to day, the sunshine and the rain?

An exasperated Jesus tells Philip, who has just asked him to show him the Father, “If you can’t believe that I am in my Father and my Father is in me, then believe what you see – these works!”

Folks, we have read of the works. We have seen modern miracles. We watch now as Christ’s love and Godly truth are the only agents that can penetrate the clouds of our day. It’s up to us to lean into God’s word. Do we have questions? Sure- and all are welcome.

 


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

Source: sermons

Sunday Bulletin - April 30

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 - 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

Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged?  We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.

Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.

 
 

Watch Second Presbyterian videos on YouTube, like Second on Facebook, and stay connected by signing up for our emails which offer a snapshot of upcoming church and missions events and announcements.

“…or would you rather be sheep?” (spoiler alert – YES!)

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

Find upcoming events and announcements here.

SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, April 30, 2023

Dear Friends in Christ –      

We received this from our longtime church administrator this week:

Dear Second Presbyterian Session Members,
Please accept my resignation from Second Presbyterian Church effective Wednesday, May 10, 2023. I was offered a position which suits my needs better at this time.
It has been a pleasure working with everyone and I certainly wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Suzann 

Our treasurer, Patterson Smith, has worked very carefully with Suzann and expresses sentiments shared by us all:

“Overall, I am reminded of the Serenity Prayer. And I know Suzann made the choice to consider other employment and has found a position that will bless her and be beneficial to her and her new employer. The reasons why she is making the transition are her own and I will not second guess her. 
I agree that she has been a great friend to us all and has been dedicated to the success of the ministry at Second Church. 
Meanwhile, we have a task before us... to secure a new Church Administrator. Suzann is working hard to help by providing written guidance to her successor. This is another reason to be thankful for her careful and caring work at Second Church. 
We walk with God and trust in His help. I know He will bless the Church with the person needed to continue in His successful ministry.”

*****

This Sunday is known throughout the church as Good Shepherd Sunday. The title is “... or would you rather be sheep?” As Christians, I think we all share the answer, yes! Not as some stereotype, but as Jesus teaches in John 10, a lesson known as The Good Shepherd and His Sheep. And he tries a different tack when it’s apparent, he’s not getting through.

Let’s gather. We’ll sing, pray and savor our ‘flock ‘status in the love of Jesus.

 


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

Source: sermons

Sunday Bulletin - April 23

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 - 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

Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged?  We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.

Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.

 
 

Watch Second Presbyterian videos on YouTube, like Second on Facebook, and stay connected by signing up for our emails which offer a snapshot of upcoming church and missions events and announcements.

Three Words on the Road

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m.

Find upcoming events and announcements here.

SERMON SNAPSHOT: Sunday, April 23, 2023

Dear Friends in Christ –      

What curious times we live in.

Our text this Sunday has the elements of a great tragedy. Plot and character are the two most important elements of a good narrative according to Aristotle. What could be more compelling than a small town carpenter’s seemingly illegitimate son claiming divinity, wrenching ‘disciples’ from their homes and family obligations, offering redemption healing and restoration to an oppressed and cowered people. Then surrendering to arrest, torture, humiliation and execution…only to rise! He then encounters, incognito, two soul-crushed devotees trudging home in utter defeat reporting despairingly the sad tale, “…but we had hoped.” (Luke 24:13-35)

Remember dear friends, we’ve read the end of the book. But for those who could not, or who have not read the Bible, can we locate hope in this scripture and inspiration for these days?

Answer: Yes!

Let’s gather this Sunday at 10:30. We’ll discover together Jesus God’s message for this day, for these days of crazy assault and confusing rhetoric. We’ll be reminded that the God who lives is our paraclete, our advocate, our inspiration and companion on the way, in God’s way.

With great anticipation in these challenging days –

 

When I heard of these shootings in New York state and in Missouri, they made me think that our predicament now is deeper than we sometimes realize. We don’t just have a gun crisis, although we do. We don’t just have a polarization problem, or a disinformation problem, or a right-wing extremism problem, although we have all of these problems, and they are severe.

We’ve entered into a state in which anonymous trust is cracking, where nothing and no one can be trusted, and everyone in the world from beyond your moat is a suspect.

We can find hope and take heart in our text, Luke 24:13-35.


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

Source: sermons

Sunday Bulletin - April 16

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 - 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

Are you looking for a church home where you can make a difference for the God we serve? Where you belong and where you will be known, nurtured, challenged?  We welcome you and invite you to spend some time with us.

Interested in joining Second? Find more about becoming a member here. Have a prayer request? Please let us know here.

 
 

Watch Second Presbyterian videos on YouTube, like Second on Facebook, and stay connected by signing up for our emails which offer a snapshot of upcoming church and missions events and announcements.