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Easter lilies are now available for order for $20 each. If you would like to make a donation this Easter season to honor a loved one or to the glory of God, please complete the order form below and submit your total donation online, place in the offering plate on Sunday, or deliver it to the church office.
Forms must be submitted by Thursday, March 28, 2024 in order for memorials to be published.
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Loving God, in a world that sometimes doesn’t make sense to us, open our hearts to receive your care and your joy. Amen.
Easter lilies are now available for order for $15 each. If you would like to make a donation this Easter season to honor a loved one or to the glory of God, please complete the order form below and submit your total donation online, place in the offering plate on Sunday, or deliver it to the church office.
Forms must be submitted by Thursday, April 6, 2023 in order for memorials to be published.
Find all Holy Week services here.
Easter Sunday, April 17, 2022 livestream for 10:30 a.m. worship at Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston. Enjoy the festive service with trumpet and guest tenor soloist Dr. Robert Taylor singing Five Mystical Songs (#1,2,5) by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Prelude: Trumpet Tune (Jeremy Bankson) and Trumpet Tune (Scott Hyslop), trumpet: Grant Cordé
Choral Introit: “Easter” (Ralph Vaughan Williams), soloist: Dr. Robert Taylor
Hymn: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today! #232
Offertory Anthem: “I Got Me Flowers” (R. Vaughan Williams), soloist: Dr. Robert Taylor
Scripture: Mark 16:1-8
Sermon: "Step Up, Sign On, Sign In," Rev. Cress Darwin
Closing Hymn: Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna! #248
Choral Response/Postlude: “Antiphon” (R. Vaughan Williams)
WE WELCOME OUR GUEST MUSICIANS:
Dr. Robert Taylor, tenor soloist, is Director of Choral Activities at the College of Charleston, Founding Artistic Director and President of the Taylor Festival Choir (TFC) and Taylor Music Group (TMG), and the Director of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Chamber Singers.
Grant Cordé, trumpet, is a high school freshman and studies trumpet with Sue Messersmith.
Will Royall, tenor, graduated from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, SC. He sings with the Charleston Men’s Chorus, Opera Charleston and Taylor Festival Choir. He is store manager for Royall Ace Hardware in Mt. Pleasant.
by Dr. Julia Harlow
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), one of the most important English composers of the 20th century, wrote symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music and film scores. He was also an avid collector of English folk music and composed or arranged many congregational hymn tunes (including 22 in our present hymnal, Glory to God). Vaughan Williams composed the Five Mystical Songs between 1906 and 1911 and conducted the première in September of 1911. They are settings of poems by George Herbert, from his 1633 collection The Temple: Sacred Poems. All five of the Mystical Songs will be presented by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on April 28th and 29th at the Gaillard Auditorium.
George Herbert (1593-1633) was a Welsh-born English poet. He was born into a wealthy, aristocratic family; his father was Earl of Pembroke. George was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and later served in Parliament. Having become disillusioned with a career in politics, in his late thirties he became a priest in the Church of England, and was rector of a small church near Salisbury. However, this quiet existence was short-lived as he died of tuberculosis only four years later. In 1633 Herbert finished a collection of poems entitled The Temple, which imitates the architectural style of churches through both the meaning of the words and their visual layout. The themes of God and Love are treated by Herbert as much as psychological forces as metaphysical phenomena. On his deathbed Herbert reportedly gave the manuscript of The Temple to a friend, telling him to “publish the poems if he thought they might ‘turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul’, or otherwise, to burn them.” Fortunately, he did not burn them and they were published later that year.
There are many metaphors for Christ that have appeared throughout history, such as The Great Physician. In Easter, Herbert also presents the image of Christ as Master Musician. He draws a parallel of the lute’s strings (made of gut) and wood, to the “stretched sinews” of Christ’s body and the wood of the cross. The imperfect, struggling music of Herbert’s lute contrasts with the perfect resonance of Christ’s music in his sacrifice. In the last stanza, “all musick is but three parts vied and multiplied” refers to the triad as the foundational sonority for music (at least in Herbert’s time it was), and is also a Trinitarian reference. Herbert’s reference to “heart and lute” is also a personal one, as he was a fine lutenist and singer.
I Got Me Flowers is actually the second part of the poem Easter, above. The imagery of the first stanza makes reference to the strewing of flowers and palm branches before Christ on Palm Sunday, then the arrival of the women at the tomb with sweet ointments. In the second stanza the Sun and the East, the origin of those sweet perfumes, provide no contest with the miracle of the Resurrection. In the third stanza, though “we count three hundred” (365) days in a year, we miss the mark. There is only one day that matters, Easter Day, and that forever. In this lyrical song the choir only hums accompaniment to the soloist for the last part, then loudly joins in proclaiming the text of the final line.
Antiphon is often performed alone as a choral anthem and its exuberant joy is the climax of today’s Easter celebration. The accompaniment uses scales and parallel fourths in joyous cascade, evoking bells and change ringing. The text, “Let All the World in Every Corner Sing” was set to a new hymn composed in 1964 by American composer Erik Routley and is in our hymnal, Glory to God, #636. One example of Vaughan-Williams’ musical illustration of the text can be heard at the end of the second stanza, when the tempo slows and the notes prolong “But above all, the heart must bear the longest part.” An ‘antiphon’ is a recurring musical theme, a section of melody, which, by means of several reappearances, serves to bind the diverse sections of a piece into a cohesive whole. The “antiphon” in this piece is the music that accompanies “Let all the world in every corner sing, My God and King!” Please sit and enjoy this, today’s postlude.
Find all Holy Week services here.
Prelude: “And Can It Be” (Dan Forrest, 2014), guest musician: Elise Pickford
Hymn: When I Survey the Wondrous Cross #223
Reading 1: Luke 23:24
Anthem: “Wondrous Love” arr. Christiansen, soloist: Clarissa Rider
Reading 2: Luke 23:43
Anthem: "Jesus, Remember Me" (Taizé chant)
Reading 3: Mark 19:26
Anthem: "Jesu, Word of God Incarnate” (Mozart)
Reading 4: Mark 15:34
Hymn: O Sacred Head, Now Wounded #221
Reading 5: John 19:28
Anthem: “Christ, We Do All Adore Thee” (Th. Dubois)
Reading 6: John 19:30
Anthem: “God So Loved the World” John Stainer
Reading 7: Luke 23:46
Hymn: Were You There?
Find all Holy Week services here.
Area churches and choirs come together for a community communion Maundy Thursday service at Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston. Rev. Dr. Sidney Davis of Zion-Olivet Presbyterian will preach and the New Tabernacle Fourth Baptist and Second Presbyterian choirs will sing. Rev. Dwight Hudson (New Tabernacle Fourth Baptist) and Rev. David Washington (Old Bethel United Methodist) will participate in the service and Rev. Darwin will officiate at communion.
Hymn of Praise: I Love the Lord, Who Heard My Cry #799, soloist: Joel Dettweiler
Invocation: Rev. Hudson
Offertory Anthem: "Wondrous Love” arr. Christiansen, soloist: Clarissa Rider
Scripture: Matthew 26:6-13
Sermon: “She Showed Him Compassion”, Rev. Sidney Davis
Communion Hymn: An Upper Room #202
Circle of Atonement
Benediction: Rev. Darwin
Their mission is to transform lives through Jesus Christ by compassionately providing resources for people experiencing hardships. Each year, donors and volunteers help the mission serve hundreds of men facing homelessness as well as several hundred lowcountry families needing assistance with utilities, food, and other urgent household needs. Give here.
Find all Holy Week services here.
Worship Service from Palm Sunday, April 10 at 10:30 a.m.
Easter Egg Hunt in the park in front of Second Presbyterian Church in partnership with Greater St. Luke AME Saturday, April 16th at 9:30 a.m. Enjoy games, refreshments, and fellowship ahead of the egg hunt, which will begin promptly at 10:00 a.m. and include a scavenger hunt for older children.
Small prize and peanut-free individually wrapped candy donations to fill the eggs will be accepted through April 13. Thank you!
Invite your friends, family and neighbors! Everyone is welcome!
Parking available at the corner of John and Elizabeth Streets.
Easter lilies are now available for order for $15 each. If you would like to make a donation this Easter season to honor a loved one or to the glory of God, please complete the order form below and submit your total donation online, place in the offering plate on Sunday, or deliver it to the church office.
Forms must be submitted by Wednesday, April 13, 2022 in order for memorials to be published.
Find all Holy Week services here.
Palm Sunday sermon: “The Beginning of the End”
Our usual Holy Week services will be offered in the sanctuary masked and socially distanced and also livestreamed. Join us as we journey to the cross together for services on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday.
This year, Easter egg hunt bags will be put together for preschool and elementary aged children for an at-home egg hunt March 27. We are in need of candy (peanut-free) & small prize donations, which can be dropped off in the education building by March 21. Please contact Jordyn if you are able to help stuff eggs or deliver bags the week of March 22.
Easter lilies are now available for order. If you would like to make a donation this Easter season to honor a loved one or to the glory of God, please complete the order form below and submit your total donation online, place in the offering plate on Sunday, or deliver it to the church office.
Forms must be submitted by Thursday, April 1, 2021 in order for memorials to be published.
ORDERS HAVE NOW BEEN CLOSED. THANK YOU.
Stripped of traditions and rituals, this Easter service may remind us that the promise at the heart of the gospel is that God is both with us and for us at all times and through all conditions. In sorrow or joy triumph of tragedy, in gain our loss, in peace or fear, in scarcity or plenty, in sickness or in health. God is present. And because of Christ’s love, all harsh realities of this life do not have the last word. God’s light is more powerful than darkness. God’s love is stronger than hate. God prevails over all things- even death. So this day, even this day, we may rejoice because Christ is risen!
He is risen!
He is risen indeed!
Pastor Cress Darwin delivers a message for Easter Sunday 2020.
Sarah Craven delivers a children’s message for Easter Sunday 2020.
Dr. Bill Brown of Columbia Seminary sent a lovely commentary on these times – “The Life-giving Emptiness of Easter.” The truth is that the narrative we celebrate today, and on which we hang our very lives, “began with an ‘empty tomb’ and three fearful women – a tomb emptied of death.”
Brown reminds us that we’ve shuttered our sacred spaces “not in despair, but in testimony that lives are being saved in doing so.”
We are not abandoning the gospel, but bearing witness to the fact that Christ is not constricted nor contained within the walls, but lives in the hearts of believers. And Christ calls us to join him in meeting folks where they are.
In Christ -
For over 70 years, One Great Hour of Sharing has provided Presbyterians a way to share God’s love with our neighbors in need around the world. The three programs supported by One Great Hour of Sharing - Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, and Self-Development of People - all work in different ways to serve individuals and communities in need. From initial disaster response to ongoing community development, their work fits together to provide people with safety, sustenance, and hope.
Our session has approved the time for our congregation's giving to this offering to be during Holy Week. You can mail to the church a check marked 'OGHS' or you can go online and click on 'Give' and choose "One Great Hour".
Dear Friends in Christ –
George Burns and Gracie Allen were entertainment royalty. They started in vaudeville, transitioned to radio, and then to TV. Burns played the straight man with the gravelly voice (10 to 15 El Producto cigars a day will do it!) to Gracie’s winsome comedy. His parents were Orthodox Jews and she was a staunch Irish Catholic girl.
Gracie would die decades before George. The story goes that after her death, George went to sort through her papers and on top of everything in her desk he found an envelope addressed to him.
He opened it, and found this, "George, never place a period where God places a comma.” Perhaps you’ve heard this before.
George Burns died at 100 attributing his longevity to the El Productos. But that phrase "never place a period where God places a comma" has lived on with new resonance. I think this is something to keep in mind as we celebrate Jesus’ rising this Sunday.
There were some who prayed, those who feared, most who assumed the story was done – just another would-be-prophet, wanna-be-Messiah shown to be delusional and dead. But this time was different. What some thought to be a period was actually a comma as certain women found an empty tomb and a messenger delivering the obvious. "He’s gone. He told you where to find him." You see, Jesus obviously had things to do!
Men and women, so do we. This Sunday let’s embrace the reality that death is deposed! New life beckons in Jesus Christ! We’ll worship together in the Sanctuary. Remember, invite your friends, your neighbors, those who you long to see and even those you’d rather not. Let’s come together to worship the risen Christ!
In great anticipation -
