Here’s what’s happening in worship this week.
Worship Services
Journey Worship | Sunday, at 8:45 am
An interactive, energetic service for those seeking a fresh encounter with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our theme this month is Chosen. Mark Blank, our student intern from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, will preach.
Sanctuary Worship | Sunday, at 11 am
Our largest service, with music from the Chancel Choir and an organ prelude prior to the service. This week, Pastor Randy will preach. His sermon will be titled “Breaking the Silence.”
Taizé | Wednesday, at 7 pm
An hour-long service including sung prayers; simple, beautiful music; a time of silence; spoken and silent prayers; and an opportunity for individual prayer and anointing. The Rev. Mary Lynn Callahan will lead worship. Stay afterward for Contemplative Prayer.
Christian Education Classes
We offer Christian Education classes for persons of all ages, from infancy through adulthood, on Sundays from 9:45–10:45 am. Click the links for adult class descriptions and children and youth offerings.
Contemporaries | Second Floor Parlor
Professor Stone has learned in his retirement that the reading of good sermons provides the best guide, other than worship at ELPC, for the development of his Christian life. On November 8, 15, and 29 he will share three sermons of Reinhold Niebuhr, America’s greatest theologian of the 20th Century, with the Contemporaries. One sermon will be from a recording, and two from manuscripts. Professor Stone served as his assistant from 1966 until his final retirement in 1969 and continued as a friend until his death. Dr. Stone preached his memorial sermon at Riverside Church in 1971. His most recent book on Dr. Niebuhr is Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich at Union Seminary in New York (Mercer University Press, 2012. Available at Amazon.Com or the Church bookstore).
This week, our lesson will be “Reinhold Niebuhr as Preacher: Humor and Faith,” based on Psalm 2:4.
Journey With Scripture | Second Floor Library
Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your God my God—Ruth 1:16. The lectionary cycle of readings ends with stories of marginalized women—a foreigner, a poor widow, a childless wife. They love steadfastly and become pivotal figures for our faith, our history, and the Advent of our Lord. Come join us.
This week, the Rev. Mary Lynn Callahan will serve as facilitator. Our readings are: 1 Samuel 1:4–20; 1 Samuel 2:1–10; Hebrews 10:11–25; and Mark 13:1–8.
Seekers | Room 234
How did Jesus Become God? New Debates in the History of Early Christianity
Was Jesus human, divine, or both (and how did that work)? How did the early Christians understand the nature of Jesus? Rebecca I. Denova, Ph. D., will help us examine these questions. Dr. Denova teaches Early History of Christianity in the Department of Religious Studies at Pitt.
This week, our lesson is “The Sayings of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels.” Did Jesus himself claim to be God? We will explore the context of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and examine if and how the writers inferred or directly claimed divinity for Jesus.
Soul Food | Third Floor Music Room
This week, we will conclude our discussion of chapter four of An Altar in the World, by Barbara Brown Taylor.
Young Adults | Pastor’s Conference Room
Finding Jesus in the Margins
Come seek Jesus on the margins in light of a common reading experience, The Cross in the Closet.