The Hill United Presbyterian Church

Today we worshiped at The Hill United Presbyterian Church, 501 Second Street, Butler, PA 16001, 724.287.5427, www.hillup.org, Rev. Clark T. Sawyer, Pastor.


Bob’s thoughts:

We have gotten used to the smaller country churches in Beaver-Butler Presbytery, so I was not expecting a larger Sanctuary. We were warmly greeted coming in but had to ask where the restrooms were as there is no signage.

The pastor greeted us cordially before the service and on our way out.

Some notable things about the Sanctuary: the wooden cross on the rear Chancel wall matched the woodwork and was both integral and independent. This was the only time I have ever felt the effect of a ceiling fan in a high-ceiling church. Seemed like a superior ventilation system or air conditioning when the fans were turned off later. We were seated for a while before the beautiful one of us called my attention to the beautiful stained glass window.

Probably the most exceptional part of the service for me was a really outstanding anthem, and the best part was the smiles of the choir while worshiping God in music. The solos were great and it was an excellent rendition of the song. The smile of one young woman in front was so profound I almost missed some of the others.

The sermon, “The Claim and Promise of Jesus,” centered on Jesus is where Heaven touches Earth. Through our faith we take part in the crucifixion of Christ and share in the priesthood. God predestined a place of us in His Kingdom and Christ, our friend in God, brings us to fulfill that purpose.


Jan’s thoughts:

It was like pulling teeth this morning to decide where to go, but with a decision made I printed directions and we hopped into the truck. Since we’re unfamiliar with Butler, we took the GPS also, and didn’t notice till we were on the road that the directions displayed by the GPS were different from the ones I printed! However, the GPS only simplified the route, so those were the directions we used.

Before we entered the building we were greeted warmly by a woman at the door. Once inside we came to realize that there are numerous doors into the building and Sanctuary, and they had them all covered, enabling everyone entering to be greeted. No small feat!

The bulletin is extremely well done with lots of inserts but the Order of Worship on one outer sheet so the miscellaneous sheets could be contained inside the folded outer sheet. It worked perfectly.

Some folks were quite friendly and welcoming, some were content to walk past us saying nothing – this is typical for a church with two services.

One thing we’ve recently come to realize is the difference it makes when the pastor greets visitors and even, if possible, takes time to talk. Realizing that pastors do not always have time for conversation with visitors – especially on Sunday mornings – we’ve experimented by simply making an attempt to stick around and be available to chat in case the pastor was not otherwise occupied. In my humble opinion, a visitors’ sense of feeling welcomed at a church is proportionate to the number of people who take the time to greet them. In other words, the more members who greet a visitor, the more welcome that visitor feels. If the pastor takes time to greet visitors, with or without chat-time, the visitor will likely feel even more sincerely welcome. We do not force the meet-and-greet issue in our visits because we are not seeking a church to join. I’m making these observations so that others who do not visit churches regularly might gain an understanding of what visitors may be thinking and feeling.

One of the inserts listed the many ushers and greeters who serve the church and they received recognition during the service.

There were two points during the service that called for silent prayer. Unfortunately, the length of the silence given for this was about five seconds. Maybe it’s just me, but it takes me that long to focus my heart; I always feel interrupted when I’m still praying and they jump in so quickly.

The anthem, entitled “Fill-a Me Up,” was splendid and presented with smiling faces by a wonderfully harmonious choir. The music had an African sound to it that brought back fond memories of my visits to Malawi.

The sermon was based on Psalm 23 and John 10:22-30 and was entitled “The Claim and Promise of Jesus.” He began by recounting a story from “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid” by Bill Bryson. The story revolved around Bryson’s encounter with a baseball great who treated him kindly. Bryson then wrote that the player seemed to him to be “the nicest person (he) ever met. It was like being friends with God.” The point, of course, being that Jesus is indeed the nicest person any of us will ever meet, and knowing Him is not only LIKE being friends with God, it IS being friends with Him. It was an encouraging sermonic reminder of God’s protection and provision.