this old beloved church
Building Restoration Projects Begin
From Pastor Allison:
I still remember the first time I saw Second Pres.
It was February 22, 2016. I had already had 2 Skype interviews with the pastoral nominating committee and was feeling hopeful about our first in-person conversation.
It was my first time in Portsmouth, and when I pulled up to the stoplight at the corner of Waller and 9th Street, I looked up at this big, beautiful, sprawling building, and my mouth dropped open. Then I took a picture since the light was still red – a picture I still have on my phone.
Later, when I walked into the sanctuary, I felt like I was coming home. It was similar to churches I had known before and yet it was different. The space was larger, the stained glass more stunning, and the soft organ music from the chancel more beautiful than any I had heard before.
I knew that this was a special place. That I was standing on holy ground.
This old beloved church has stood tall through fires and floods.
It has watched the city of Portsmouth grow and struggle, and it continues to watch as Portsmouth tries to rebuild itself again.
It has provided shelter and gathering space for thousands of members and friends who have passed through its doors for worship services and Sunday School classes and Bible studies and Women's Circles and weddings and funerals and celebrations and board/committee meetings and dance rehearsals and Election Day Lunches and cake walks and dessert auctions and book studies and prayer meetings and Lessons & Carols services and seminars and support group meetings. It has fed countless numbers of our neighbors for over forty years through God’s Pantry. It has seen its doors close during a global pandemic only to open them again to face a new world where nothing is as it was before.
While the landscape around it has changed dramatically in recent years, this building remains the same, just as Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow (Hebrews 13:8).
And on Friday, August 26, scaffolding started to go up around the 8th Street entrance as we embark on a major building project to restore "this old beloved church" so that it will continue to be the home base for our mission and ministry for another 100 years.
The 8th Street entrance, the Waller St entrance, and the bell tower will all receive much-needed attention. There is more work to be done after this, but these are the places where the Durable Restoration Company suggested to the Board of Trustees that work should begin.
You'll notice the final picture in that scrolling gallery is of the pieces of the building that I've been collecting on my desk in the past 8 months – pieces of the building that keep falling, often bouncing off of and breaking roof tiles which then allows water to creep into the building.
This phase of the project is intended to shore up the mortar that is failing way up high and to prevent more pieces of the building from breaking away.
I am grateful for this opportunity to preserve our beautiful old beloved church; there’s not many other buildings like this one left.
If you would like to contribute financially to this project, please use our online giving service or mail a check to the church (Second Presbyterian Church 801 Waller St Portsmouth, OH 45662 with "building restoration" in the memo line.)
"Good and Beautiful and Kind" book study
Does this poem resonate with you? "Tired" by Langston Hughes
I am so tired of waiting,
Aren't you,
For the world to become good
And beautiful and kind?
Let us take a knife
And cut the world in two -
And see what worms are eating
At the rind.
Are you tired of waiting? Tired of wondering what is causing all the fractures in our world? Do you want to figure out how to make a way forward and feel whole again? If so, have we got a book discussion group for you!
Mondays at 7:00 p.m. in-person at the church
Thursdays at 7:00 p.m. Zoom group
The books have arrived - contact the office, and we'll put your name on one! (We're asking for a $10 donation toward the cost of the books.)
Vaccine Clinic
God's Pantry at Second Pres is pleased to partner again with the Scioto County Health Department to provide a flu and new COVID-19 booster vaccines on Weds, Oct 12 from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. in the dining room.
Both church and community members are invited to attend this clinic.
COVID vaccines will be available for anyone ages 12 and over. To get the new booster, it needs to be at least 2 months since your last vaccine. Flu shots will be available for ages 6 months and over.
See flyer for more details. If you have questions, please contact the Scioto County Health Department at 740-355-8358, and ask for Tracey Henderson.
Choir Rehearsal Begins!
It's choir season again, so join us at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evenings for rehearsal and on Sunday mornings at 8:45 a.m. before the 9:30 a.m. service!
Women's Association Rummage Sale
The Women's Association has begun preparations for a RUMMAGE SALE on Sat, Oct 22 from 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Donations can be dropped off at the church during normal office hours (Monday - Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.)
If you have questions, please contact the church at 740-353-4159.
Short Stories in Sunday School (following 9:30 a.m. worship)
"The Gift of Belonging: Finding the Back Roads Home" by Bradley Jon Gustafson.
Gustafson writes that these stories are born out of the "unremarkable gift" of a small black and white photograph that launched him down the back roads home again -- “for human hearts in search of connection there are no small nor insignificant moments.” (Pastor Allison loved it so much, she read the whole book in one day!)
The stories are so short we’ll read them out loud together and then think about what it says about home and belonging, two things that the world is hungry for these days. (One of the book reviewers says, “I’ve stopped reading with four stories to go; I don’t want the book to end.”)
Sometimes the holiest moments arrive in the most unremarkable ways.
OPEN OFFICE HOURS
Every MONDAY at 10:00a.m., a group of folks from Second Pres and friends from other churches and the community gather at Coffee at the Lofts to "spiritually loiter" at one of the crossroads of our community.
Everyone is welcome to drop in and say hi or to to linger for a while. (When the weather's nice, we like to meet under the "cabana" next to the coffeeshop!)
Location: Lofts Coffee Company & Roastery (842 Gallia St, Portsmouth, OH 45662)
CURRENT WORSHIP SERIES
Four Prayers That Don't Work
What is prayer? What kinds of prayers work? And what prayers DON'T work? And what does it mean to say a prayer "works?"
Join us as we ask (and maybe answer!) these questions (and more!) on
Sun, Oct 2 (World Communion Sunday when we will celebrate the sacrament of communion),
Sun, Oct 9,
Sun, Oct 16, and
Sun, Oct 23.
If you don’t have a church you call home, we invite you to join us wherever you find yourself on a Sunday morning! We unite our hearts and minds in worship at 9:30a.m. Some gather in the sanctuary; some worship from home; and others even tune in while they’re at work!
Besides live worship in the building, the service is broadcasted simultaneously on WIOI (106.7FM 1010AM) and livestreamed on our YouTube channel: Second Presbyterian Church Portsmouth, OH.
god's pantry
A CHOICE-BASED FOOD PANTRY
We are grateful to all of our God's Pantry volunteers and donors for all their support during the COVID-19 pandemic!
God's Pantry is open on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Wednesdays of the month from 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Look for the sign near the entrance.
We follow the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services income guidelines, and "points" to spend on food, household, and cleaning items are determined by household size.
The Pantry is also accessible from the ramp entrance (facing the PHS track) with a chairlift from the first floor to the basement. Contact the church office to use this alternate entrance.
Emergency food is also available by contacting the office (740-353-4159) when the Pantry is not open. Other community resources are available here.
FRANCKATHON: A dream come true!
On the final night of our Franckathon concert series celebrating the 200th birth anniversary of composer Cesar Franck, Dr. Stan Workman (our Director of Music) shared that a concert like this had been a dream of his for 40 years. And now, in his 30th year of being our Master of All Things Musical at Second Pres, we helped to make his dream come true.
We are incredibly grateful to the three other talented organists with Portsmouth ties who helped to make this dream come true by sharing their musical gifts with us: Dr. Douglas Leightenheimer; Dr. Jeremiah Martin; and Mr. Matt Bickett. We are also deeply grateful for the $1800+ that was donated over the course of these concerts to support our magnificent 1935 Kilgen organ through our Organ Preservation Fund.
Here are the links to the concerts:
Fri, July 29 Concert I https://youtu.be/KDhxU4Nsy80
Sat, July 30 Concert II https://youtu.be/PqnQDX4gD1M
Sun, July 31 Concert III https://youtu.be/5-jituNa-ig
covid-19 update (02.20.22)
A letter from Pastor Allison
Dear Members & Friends of Second Pres,
I am so grateful that while our building was closed from March until June 2020, the ministry and mission of Second Presbyterian Church never stopped! We have found new ways to love God and our neighbors even during the COVID-19 pandemic - it's exactly what I think Jesus would want us to do.
Each month, our board of elders (called the "Session") re-evaluates our COVID-protocols. At their February meeting, they decided to move from mandating masks to strongly encouraging them throughout the building and resuming small coffee hours following Sunday worship. As always, these changes are subject to review and revision depending on what's happening in our life together.
We continue to provide Worship on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. in multiple ways:
- In-person at 9:30 a.m. (Prelude begins at 9:25 a.m.-ish)
- Live radio broadcast simultaneously on WIOI (106.7FM 1010AM)
- Livestream on the church's YouTube channel.
In addition, bulletins can be mailed or emailed to any who would like to have a copy in their hands. (We normally drop them off at the post office by noon on Thursday.) Please call (740-353-4159) or email (secondpres@yahoo.com) to be added to our list!
Be of good courage & know that you are loved,
Pastor Allison
#wearamask #washyourhands #sayyourprayers