Worship Services

ALL WORSHIP SERVICES ONLINE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

JULY 2020 UPDATE
With the retirement of Pastor Michael on June 30, guest preachers have been lined up for the next 6 weeks while the pastor nominating committee continues its work. Sunny, Shaun, and John will continue to meet on Friday afternoons to record the Sunday service with the guest preacher for that week.

The Worship Committee extends the invitation each week for anyone who feels comfortable to join us in the back of the sanctuary on Fridays at 1:00PM when we record the Sunday service. You are asked to use the Swissvale Avenue entrance, to sit socially distanced in the back pews, to wear a mask. You're invited to join in the spoken responses, but not to sing the hymns. If you feel sick or don't feel safe to be out and in person, you are encouraged to stay home and watch the service Sunday morning.

Preaching schedule is as follows:
July 5 - The Rev. Kellie Weekley-Mills
July 12 - The Rev. Kellie Weekley-Mills
July 19 - The Rev. Carol Divens Roth
July 29 - The Rev. Kellie Weekley-Mills

August 2 - The Rev. Kellie Weekley-Mills
August 9 - The Rev. Brian Wallace (communion)
August 16 - The Rev. Carol Divens Roth
August 23 - The Rev. Carol Divens Roth
August 30 - The Rev. Carol Divens Roth

September 6 - The Rev. Dr. Daniel Merry (communion)
September 13 - The Rev. Dr. Daniel Merry
September 20 - The Rev. Kellie Weekley-Mills
September 27 - The Rev. Kellie Weekley-Mills

The church staff is committed to continuing our worship life and services outside of the physical building while federal, state, and local authorities mandate social distancing and stay-at-home orders during the COVID-19 pandemic. Worship will be presented as recorded audio on our SoundCloud channel, with special music on our YouTube channel. Once posted, it will be shared via email, social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), and posted on this site on the main landing page as well as in a post under NEWS.

Beginning with the May 3, 2020 worship service, we have begun video versions of our worship service. Pastor Michael, Sunny, Shaun, and Elder John Foster meet on Fridays to record the service while maintaining social distance. Shaun then edits it to add in the text to responses and hymns on the screen and it is posted along with the SoundCloud audio and a PDF bulletin file.

Additionally, Pastor Michael will continue sharing inspirational messages through the email list, which Shaun will repost on social media and on the "Pastor's Point of View" blog under the NEWS tab of this site.

"Come Share the Lord"

by Shaun Cloonan, Minister of Music
May 2019

“Come break the bread, come drink the wine, come, share the Lord.” Those words to a favorite communion anthem come to mind as I share this story.

About 3 or 4 summers ago, while strolling through the booths at the Three Rivers Arts festival downtown, I noticed a beautiful handmade chalice by one of the pottery vendors. It was a sort of washed/worn reddish-pink color, and I immediately thought it would look good in our sanctuary with the deep red carpet and curtains along the chancel area. One problem, there was no matching plate.

I asked the potter if getting a matching plate was an option. He told me he didn’t have any plans to make plates, but gave me his card and told me to send him an email so that he could let me know the next time he was planning to make them so we could order one. I did that, and then life took over and I sort of forgot about it.

A few weeks ago, Lorraine and I were talking while changing the banners and paraments (did you know that’s what the colored pulpit scarf and communion tablecloth are called?) with the change from Lent to Easter, and I asked what ever happened to that chalice? She pulled it out from a top shelf in the Lounge kitchenette and we decided to put it out on the table, both commenting that it would be nice if there was a matching plate.

Well, if you know either Lorraine or me well, when we get an idea in our heads, good luck getting it out of there! Mandy and I went to lunch after the service and continued talking about how to find a match, and I was feverishly searching on Amazon and Google and anywhere I could think of to find a pottery-style plate that might match that specific shade of reddish-pink. No luck…deep reds, red and black, red and purple, nothing close.

Then I came across an artist on the website Etsy, a site where artisans sell their own creations. Monica
Sommerville works out of New York (but originally Allentown, PA). I sent a message via Etsy to this random person whose plates I liked, attaching a photo of the chalice and asking if there was any way she might be able to make something comparable. Within a half hour, she replied that it’s very difficult to match another potter’s glaze exactly, but she thought she had a mix of red and cream that she could overlap to get close. “I am glad to make a plate and send a photo. If you think it matches, we can take care of payment and shipping then. If not, no obligation.” I responded anything she could do that would be close would be better than what I was finding. Then on to life for the rest of the week…

About a week or so later, I got a message saying she was going to throw some plates that weekend, and a day or so later, got a photo that looked to me to be almost an exact match. I replied that it was perfect and we’d love to have it at FPCE for our communion services. I replied with my address and asked about the price. The response was “Please accept it as a gift. You can repay it by passing on some kindness to someone in your community this week!”

So, thanks to this lovely woman’s talents and generous spirit, we have a beautiful matching set for communion that was made just for us! The next time you’re in the sanctuary and walking past the communion table, take a look at the chalice and plate. If you didn’t know any better, you’d swear they were made as a set and not by 2 different potters! And if you’re looking for someone to do some custom pottery for you, go to www.Etsy.com to find Sommerville Pottery or visit www.sommervillepottery.com.

Worship at Edgewood

Sunday Morning Worship is held:
11:00AM September-May, Sanctuary
10:00AM June-August, Gathering Place

Worship services at First Presbyterian Church of Edgewood vary in style from Sunday to Sunday. Most weeks, worshipers will experience what we call "Classic" worship -- a traditional Presbyterian Reformed order of worship with piano accompaniment and choir music leadership. Once per month, "Emerging" worship takes place. This service, while still focusing on the 5 tenents of Presbyterian worship -- gathering around, proclaiming, responding to, sealing upon our hearts, and bearing into the world God's Word -- is presented in a relaxed atmosphere. A screen is placed in the front of the sanctuary, a worship ensemble of mixed instruments accompanies song leaders, and God's Word is presented in a multitude of ways. Worshipers in this service will experience a wide variety of presentations, from reader's theater to VBS kids singing, choral presentations to standard sermons.

To see video of some previous Emerging Worship services, visit
http://fpceworshipservice.blogspot.com.