The Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church announces its schedule of summer services:
Every Sunday
June 25 through September 3
11:00 a.m.
1454 County Route 351 (Main St), Rensselaerville, NY
Everyone is welcome.
Each year, guest preachers from different faith traditions are invited to deliver sermons on a common theme. The Summer 2017 theme is: “Finding A Way Forward: Is There A Path To Healing?” This year, we’re very excited to have familiar preachers return and new ones, Imam Djafer Sebkhaoui of Al-Hidaya Center and Rev. Sam Trumbore of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany, panelists at our “Questions for God” event this winter, as well as our Rensselaerville friend Joanna Bull, a Buddhist, join us.
June 25 “When Healing Seems Impossible”
Rev. Shaun Whitehead, Associate Chaplain, St. Lawrence University, Canton. NY
July 2 “Who Is My Disciple”
Rev. Holly Cameron, Pastor, New Scotland Presbyterian Church
July 9 “A Buddhist Healing: Destination and Path As One”
Joanna Bull, MA, MFCT, Student of Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, Rensselaerville, NY
July 16 “Maybe the Point is Not to be Healed”
Rev. Dr. Jon Walton, Sr. Pastor, First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, NY
July 23 “Prayer Service and Lesson”
Imam Djafer Sebkhaoui, Al-Hidaya Center, Latham, NY
July 30 “Faithful Nonconformity”
Rev. Alexandra Lusak, Moderator, Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church
August 6 “Healing of Body, Healing of Spirit: Finding Wholeness in Challenging Times”
Rabbi Rena Kieval, Congregation Ohav Shalom, Albany, NY
August 13 “Change the Story: Narratives that Define Us”
Rev. Sam Trumbore, Minister, First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany
August 20 “Resistance as a Spiritual Discipline”
Rev. Dr. Glenn Leupold, Co-Pastor, First Presbyterian Church of Albany
August 27 “Communities of Character”
Rev. James Calvin Davis, Professor of Religion, Middlebury College, VT
September 3 “The Way, The Truth, and The Life”
Ruling Elder Barbara Wheeler, former President, Auburn Theological Seminary, NY, NY
The tradition of summer-only services at the Presbyterian Church in Rensselaerville goes back more than 100 years. For a short period in the second half of the 19th century, the village was a lively industrial town as the first site of the Huyck Woolen Mills. When founder and Presbyterian Church member F. C. Huyck Sr. moved his mill to Albany, he did not sever ties with the village or the church. But as jobs left with the mill so did many of the village residents, leaving the church without enough members to maintain a year-round pastor. However, the Huyck family returned each year to vacation and provided for a pastor during their stay. It was F. C. Huyck Sr.’s granddaughter, Katharine Huyck Elmore, who in the middle of the 20th century expanded the vision of the summer services to other faith traditions and invited ministers, rabbis, priests and nuns to fill the pulpit.
Our preachers have been asked to address the theme, “Finding A Way Forward: Is There A Path To Healing?”, which we hope will provide the opportunity to reflect on and discuss current societal divisions and dissention within the context of our interfaith tradition.
Come to our services and participate in the conversation.
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