I Love Music

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing.” Psalm 100:1

“Be filled with the Spirit as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts.” Ephesians 5:19

            OK, I am going to admit it: I love music. I love almost all kinds of music. I love to listen to music. I love to sing music. Music, more than just about anything, moves me—especially when music is combined with words.  And in the Bible there is this assumed connection between music, even singing, and worshiping God. The idea that you could be in relationship with the Lord without a song in your heart seems to be as foreign to the people of the Bible as is the idea that you going for a swim wearing blue jeans.

            Of course, here at Central, we are blessed with incredible music—a fantastic organ, abundant pianos, incredibly talented musicians who can play and sing, a congregation that likes to sing along. And on July 30, we’ll have the chance to spend our worship time singing the songs of the Church—favorite hymns set in the context of the Church year, which begins in November with the first Sunday of Advent, and concludes with the season of Pentecost—“ordinary” time, stretching from the day of Pentecost in the late spring through Thanksgiving.

            I hope that you will sing with us that Sunday. I hope that you will take this opportunity to tell us about some of the things you really like to sing. And I hope, as you go about your life this summer and beyond, that there is music in it—a song that makes your heart sing.

--Pastor Don Steele

United Community

I think many of us remember the Father's Day sermon that Pastor Don gave a few years ago after the shooting in a Charleston AME church- telling us that it was going to take a whole lot of fathers and mothers to change the world into a place where children of all backgrounds can be united together in friendship and common purpose.

Our Vacation Bible School was born out of that call and that purpose- a way for children from diverse churches to come together to experience God's love- learning to live into that diversity as the church. Some have called Sunday morning the most segregated hour of the week- we have worked with our partners from around Summit to make sure that VBS is one of the most inclusive. 

We are excited about our upcoming VBS- working with churches from all over Summit to teach our kids not only about the truths of the Bible in stories. We will be teaching children that they are created in God's Image to love and serve the Lord, God built them for a purpose, it is our Christian vocation to love God and to love others. We are also showing children that we are all made in the image of God. Because we are joining with historically black and Spanish language communities, as well as more evangelical traditions, children are coming from diverse backgrounds and ethnic groups- different traditions- but all united by our love of God. 

We are so pleased to be including Spanish language as part of our week- we will have our posters and rooms in two languages, some of our prayers and songs in Spanish and many of our leaders in kids adding a new voice and language to our VBS tradition. 

In a world where diversity is a growing value- where we recognize the need for diverse voices in business, academics and leadership, where we know that colleges and employees value diversity in every candidate they consider, we are so excited to also work together to build a church community where diversity is honored.  At Central Church we know that when we come together as a diverse people that we better represent God's image- all created in the image of God- it makes me think of how beautiful God must be. 

This year promises to be a great one in Vacation Bible School. We have fantastic music and stories, snacks, games, crafts and gizmos. We have decorations and Bible stories and little reminders of God's love that children will be able to carry with them throughout the year- but beyond all of that, at VBS this year we have a community- a community of churches from different backgrounds and groups- different traditions- all coming together as one to love our children and to teach them about God. 

Children from Kindergarten-5th grade are invited to register as participants, while youth and adults in 6th grade and up are invited to register as leaders. https://vbspro.events/p/events/1475c5

We cannot wait for VBS!

Pastor Deborah

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood! For those of us who grew up with Mr. Rodgers, we recognize the iconic ring of these words and appreciate, the warmth, optimism and assurance offered by Mr. Rodgers during our childhood. This summer we got a chance to travel to Mr. Rodger's neighborhood- to serve where he served, to worship and sing where he worshiped and sang and to meet the people he counted as neighbors in Pittsburgh. Learning to be a neighbor was the focus of our week's reflection and was the focus of our service and everything that we did in Pittsburgh. It was an amazing privilege to get to see how the work of the Pittsburgh Project has steadily worked to serve their neighborhood for the last 30 years. This Sunday at all three of our services we will be hearing from our youth about their experiences in Pittsburgh. 

-Pastor Deborah Huggins