The Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church announces its schedule of summer services: Every Sunday
Everyone is welcome.
June 30 through September 1
11:00 am
1454 County Route 351 (Main St), Rensselaerville, NY
Each year, clergy from different faith traditions are invited to deliver sermons on a common theme. This year’s theme is “Finding Joy.”
June 30: “Finding Joy”
Rev. Stewart Pattison, HR, Moderator
Rensselaerville Presbyterian Church, Rensselaerville, NY
July 7: “The Joy of Healing in Community”
Rev. Dr. Amaury Tañón-Santos, Synod Networker,
Synod of the Northeast, East Syracuse, NY
(Communion)
July 14: “Make a Joyful Noise”
Rabbi Deborah Gordon
Congregation Berith Sholom, Troy, NY
July 21: “Good Pleasure”
Ruling Elder Barbara Wheeler, Former President
Auburn Theological Seminary, New York, NY
July 28: “What Does Jesus Know About Joy?”
Rev. Dr. Rick Spalding, Retired Chaplain
Williams College, Williamstown, MA
(Communion)
August 4: “Discovering Joy in a Root-Shocked World”
Rev. Peter Cook, Executive Director
New York State Council of Churches, Albany, NY
August 11: “Approaching the World”
Rev. Kate Forer, Senior Pastor
Presbyterian-New England Congregational Church, Saratoga Springs, NY
August 18: “You Give Them Something to Eat”
Rev. Dr. Roxanne Jones Booth, Co-Pastor
Riverview Missionary Baptist Church, Coeymans, NY
August 12: “Joy is Different Than Happiness”
Rev. Dr. Donna Schaper, Senior Pastor
Judson Memorial Church, New York, NY
September 1: “Joy, A Firm and Quiet Strength”
Sister Joan Scanlon, O.P., Coordinator of Dominican Ministeries
Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, CT
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.
