The Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church announces its schedule of summer services:
Every Sunday
July 1 through September 2
11:00 a.m.
1454 County Route 351 (Main St), Rensselaerville, NY
Everyone is welcome.
Each year, clergy from different faith traditions are invited to deliver sermons on a common theme. The 2018 theme is “And Still We Rise”, after the poem “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. The theme honors the 50th anniversary of the death of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and recognizes the plight of immigrants, refugees, the oppressed and the poor.
July 1: “Rising to New Life in Prison”
Father Dennis Tamburello, O.F.M., Professor of Religious Studies, Siena College, Loudonville, NY
July 8: “The God Who Sees”
Rev. Kate Forer, Senior Pastor, Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church, Saratoga Springs, NY
July 15: “Finding a Voice”
Rev. Dr. Richard Spalding, Recently Retired Chaplain, Williams College, Williamstown, MA
July 22: “#Me, Too”
Rev. Karen S. Pollen, Pastor, Delmar Presbyterian Church, Delmar, NY
July 29: “Feeding a Revolution”
Rev. Will Critzman, Minister of Discipleship, First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, NY
August 5: “Descent for the Sake of Ascent”
Rabbi Rachel Barenblat, Congregation Beth Israel, North Adams, MA
August 12: “Reclaiming Truth”
Rev. Alison Miller, Senior Minister, Morristown Unitarian Fellowship, Morristown, NJ
August 19: “Just Keep On Singing”
Rev. Dr. Amaury Tañón-Santos, Synod Networker, Synod of the Northeast, East Syracuse, NY
August 26: “For Such a Time as This”
Rev. Alexandra Lusak, Moderator, Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church, Rensselaerville, NY
September 2: “After the Fall”
Ruling Elder Barbara G. Wheeler, former President, Auburn Theological Seminary, New York, 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.
The Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church is a nationally recognized example of Greek Revival architecture dating from the 1840s and is listed on both the National and State Registers of Historic Places.
More information about each week’s guest preacher and the church may be found on its website: www.rvillepres.org. Comments and questions may be sent to rvillepreschurch@gmail.com.
Come to our services and participate in the conversation.
