SSPC Happenings - February 3, 2022

February 3, 2022

How are you doing? I know there are a lot of mixed emotions right now: sadness, surprise, uncertainty, anger, ambivalence, fear, disappointment, hope… For those who may not have heard, this past Sunday I announced that I have felt God’s call to serve a new congregation. You can read my note to the congregation by clicking here. Truthfully, the main thing I am feeling is heaviness. My heart is heavy because my family and I love St. Simons Presbyterian so incredibly much. But at the same time we are excited about this new call and trust fully that God has good things in store for us and for you here at SSPC.

To that end, I want you to know that the session (i.e., the governing body of our church) is already hard at work setting plans for a smooth transition of leadership. Later today, you will receive an email from Dr. Leslie McCracken who serves as Clerk of Session detailing some of the initial work and planning that is being undertaken. It also includes some practical things we can all be doing together in this time. I encourage you to read that note when you see it in your inbox. By their very nature transitions and change – whether in our families, our work, or in our church – present both challenge and opportunity. It is our prayer that the practical steps currently being taken will serve to strengthen the church to face both in the coming season.

Most of all today though, I simply want you to know how much I love our church. As I wrote in my letter on Sunday it has truly been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as a pastor in your midst these past 8.5 years. You have shown me and my family the love of the risen Christ and in the process have helped to form me into the pastor and person I am. And so ultimately the emotion that weighs heaviest on my heart is gratitude. I am so grateful for each of you. And I am grateful too for the fact that we still have four weeks together to serve and fellowship and pray and worship our God together. My door is always open - please reach out anytime.

See you at church. Invite a friend. Casual is fine.

Peace,

Rev. Alan Dyer

Pastor

Happenings & Events

Presbyterian Women

Sunday Worship

January 30, 2021

Christian Education

Musical Notes

The first live concert for Island Concert Association in two years was Tuesday evening. The quality programming for which the series is known did not disappoint. The collaboration between Hassan Anderson, oboe and Lydia Brown, piano was nothing short of spectacular. Their combined talents soared through the new sanctuary surfaces and thrilled audience members and online attendees alike. The next concert will feature our renovated organ. Chelsea Chen has been here before and will undoubtedly have a whole new experience at our venue. Her last concert was completely from memory and she played an exciting encore – a medley of Star Wars themes! In person or online, you don’t want to miss this one. 7:00 pm – concerts usually last 60 to 70 minutes with or without a short break (intermission). The concert has no charge, but you may donate at the door or online. If you wish to join, either go to the website (islandconcertassociation.org) or pick up a brochure. There are stacks of brochures at most of the entrances to the church.

Thanks to all who participated in presenting Glenn Pride’s arrangement of “The Love of Jesus” at last Sunday’s service. It was a moving and meaningful piece for all. This week, the Chancel Choir will sing Tom Trenney’s arrangement of “For Everyone Born.” The work of composer Shirley Erena Murray (b.1931 in Aotearoa / New Zealand) appears in hymn books all over the world. The themes of her hymns range from social justice, peace, human rights, and the voice of women, to the sacraments, the Church year, and eco-theology. This hymn is about the radical inclusiveness of the church and, identifying some of the divides in both church and society, affirms that all have ‘a place at the table’. Hymns are 1 Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty! and 69 Here I Am, Lord.

Love & Gratitude,

Rhonda

Potter's Wheel

The pottery studio is a two-story mountain home with cobbled stone walls. It has a wrap-around porch and the air smells like Crayola mixed with rhododendron. The cool Montreat air and friendly faces greet you. You are given a worn apron with layers of caked clay and a wad of wet, brown goop.

This is hands-on spirituality if there ever was. “Centering” the clay starts when you place your pile of clay on the turning wheel. Seated beside the wheel, you use your foot to control a pedal that makes the wheel spin, a (fairly fast!) whirling force, and you brace your elbows into your knees and recruit your legs to ground your arms into stillness and steadiness. You put both hands on the clay, providing a steady scaffold to the spinning clay until it feels like…nothing. Throughout, you add water to keep the clay malleable and supple.

The scene of God sculpting and breathing into clay to form us in Genesis marries beautifully with this vision of God as potter in Isaiah. God is committed to holding us in the messy. And even creating through it. God patiently, but firmly, shapes us despite and (even because of) the whirring force that is essential to creation.

Our hearts are sore from the news of our Alan leaving. We feel angst at the unknown, an ache of deep love, a nostalgia for the “life” moments we shared with the Dyers as Alan and Erin welcomed the boys into their lives and into ours. And yet, our hearts also hold joy and gratitude for the clarity that they feel in this next chapter of their journey.

Change is kinda like the gooey and steady work of centering a pot on a potter’s wheel. As St. Simons Presbyterian enters this moment of newness, I want to encourage you to imagine our God’s hands scaffolding the clay pot that is our church. Holding us steadily and shaping us; and dousing us with baptismal waters every now and again to keep us ready to accept our new shape. God has done beautiful things during the Dyers’ ministry here, God is doing beautiful things in the heavy, sad, and unmoored feeling time of transition, and God will do abundantly more than we can ask or imagine in the days, weeks, and months to come. God is doing all the necessary messy work so that we can be a functional, serving vessel for others.

With Warmth,

Rev. Kate Buckley

Parish Pastor

Island Concert Association

Chelsea Chen

Organist & Composer

Tuesday, February 8, 2022

7:00 PM` | Sanctuary

The Los Angeles Times has praised her “rare musicality” and “lovely lyrical grandeur,”

and a compositional style that is “charming” and “irresistible.”

Artist Website: www.chelseachen.com

Kirsten Scott

Laetitia Ruccolo

Mezzo Soprano / Piano

Tuesday, February 16, 2022

7:00 PM` | Sanctuary

“A winning cast delivered a thoroughly enjoyable Barbiere, with vocal honors going to mezzo Kirsten Scott’s vibrant, vivacious Rosina. Scott sailed through the coloratura with creamy tone and charm to burn.” — Opera News, 2014

Artist Website: www.kirstenelisabethscott.com