The Music Ministry of the First Presbyterian Church of Edgewood is proud to host the annual Women's Choral Festival for the 3rd consecutive year.  This event brings together female vocal ensembles from the Pittsburgh and surrounding areas in an afternoon full of music.  The concert is free and open to the public.

This year's festival will take place on Sunday, November 13 at 3:00PM in the FPCE Sanctuary.  Choirs participating for 2016 include:

University of Pittsburgh Women's Choral Ensemble
Duquesne University Pappert Women's Chorale
Belle Voci Community Women's Choir
Fox Chapel Area High School Vulpes Cantantes ("Singing Foxes")
Mt. Lebanong High School Triple Trio

Doors open at 2:30.  Parking is limited.

AN ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20
THE MINISTRY OF FPCE ENTERS ITS 125TH YEAR

​We are planning a big celebration and would like you to be part of it!  On Sunday, November 20, we will honor the 125th Anniversary of this church of Jesus Christ. 

In 1891, Benjamin Harrison was in the second year of his first and only term as President of the United States, trouble was brewing between Carnegie Steel and the Amalgamated Iron and Steel Workers Union in Homestead, PA, the spelling of Pittsburgh was changed to Pittsburg, the legendary Connie Mack was behind the plate for the Pirates; the borough of Edgewood was three years old, and the First Presbyterian Church of Edgewood held its first worship service on Sunday, December 20 in a frame structure on Edgewood Avenue between Elm and Maple Streets.

Much has changed since 1891.  Years of happiness and sorrow, tragedy and celebration, good times and bad unfolded beneath the gaze of an Almighty and Merciful God.  Yet through it all, Jesus Christ, the Alpha and Omega, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, held his church in his heart.  That heart continues to pound with love for the Edgewood community, this congregation, and the church universal.  In that love is our hope. 

On Sunday November 20, we will give thanks and praise to God for the 125th Anniversary Celebration of the ministry and mission of the First Presbyterian Church of Edgewood.  The worship service will be filled with lovely music, at least one pastor who served FPCE in the past, and a Celebration of Holy Communion.  During the catered luncheon, we will hear from other previous pastors, listen to some of the fascinating stories from our past (Rhonda Apessos has become the church historian), and have an opportunity to take a couple of tours of the church building. 

We very much hope that you will be able to join us for worship and the luncheon to follow.  PLEASE RSVP BY CALLING THE CHURCH OFFICE AT 412-241-4613.
 

My fifteen year old son Desmond is not impressed; in fact he is sadly cynical about the political process in the United States of America, the nation his adoptive parents brought him to from his native nation, South Africa, back in 2002.  I believe that frustration and cynicism oppress a lot of Americans.

The other morning I asked myself, when I was fifteen years old, what was the political tenor of our country?  I thought about it for a moment and mumbled, “Oh my goodness!”  I entered my fifteenth year on June 9, 1968.  As in 1968!  America was teetering on the edge of chaos.  Sixty-six days before I blew out my birthday candles, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated by James Earl Ray in Memphis, Tennessee.  Four days prior to my birthday, a 24 year old Palestinian/Jordanian immigrant named Sirhan Sirhan gunned down the charismatic US Senator and candidate for President Robert “Bobbie” Kennedy.  Rioting rocked over 150 cities across America.  The Democratic Convention teetered on the edge of collapse.  Wow. 

Our contemporary political climate is poisonous.  Anger and stress seethe.  Things are not as violent as they were in 1968, but it is a scary time.  I recommend a three-point plan for the month of November:
PRAY. VOTE. PRAY.

PRAY WITH US on the evening of November 7 at 7:00 p.m. in the lounge.  That is the night before the election.  I will lead a service of worship, song, and prayer for our country on Election Day and beyond.  This will be a non-partisan service.  When it comes to my political predilections as a pastor, I follow in the footsteps of one of my mentors who served my hometown church in the ‘70’s.  When asked for whom he would vote, Dr. George Parkinson smiled mischievously and said, “I am voting for the best candidate….and I’m sure you are, too.” 
​
CAST YOUR VOTE on Tuesday, November 8.  I believe that the disciples of Jesus are called to take part in the political process by voting, at the very least.  True, Jesus did not aspire to political office.  He ran away when people wanted to make him king (John 6:15: Perceiving that (the crowds) were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.)  Jesus had no desire for political leadership.  My kingship is not of this world. He said to Pontus Pilate before he was condemned to crucifixion.   John 18:36.)
Yet, Jesus did say to his enemies and disciples (Matthew 22:21: Render therefore the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.   

The Apostle Paul urged the early church to Let every person be subject to the governing authorities….they are instituted by God…respect to whom respect is due, and honor to whom honor is due.  (from Romans 13.)  By the way, the sanctuary will be open on election day from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm, for prayer and meditation. 

LEFT UP PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING.  On the evening before Thanksgiving, Wednesday evening at 7:00 p.m. in the Gathering Place, we will have an of giving thanks.  Again, it will be a casual, not-very-long service of scripture reading, prayer, and music.  The election will be over, the nation will begin to hesitantly move forward, but I expect the anxiety of the election process to linger.  We will remember the urgings of the Apostle Paul: Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication – WITH THANKSGIVING – let your requests be known to God.  (Philippians 4:4).
I believe there is one thing we can all agree on.  These are unsettling and unsettled days.  Lean on that most lovely of all Psalms (Psalm 23): let the Lord be our Shepherd and we will not want.  We will be made to lie down in green pastures and led beside still waters.  Our souls will be restored.       

May the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.
Pastor Michael