Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon

Today we worshiped at Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon, 7501 Church Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15202, www.cpcba.com, Rev. Dr. Page L.D. Creach.


Bob’s thoughts:

This is a great church to visit: it has some of the best woodwork and stained glass, an unusual large central cross, and the choir faces the congregation. We enjoyed a junior choir with trumpet accompaniment that was super and an amazing performance from the bell choir. The offering is taken in response to the Word. There is good signage.

This church will be empty the morning of Sunday, June 7, when the congregation will be performing service projects in the community and meeting later for worship and a meal. The program is called “Don’t go to church, BE the Church,” which represents impressively radical thinking in a Presbyterian church.

We were noticed/welcomed by only one person before the service.

The sermon was very well done, the point being that our conversion is ongoing. Our salvation is instant but our sanctification is a process that we fight our way through. We fall away, and blessedly Christ lifts us up and gets us get back on track.

A particular highlight of worship was the choir’s rendition of “Shout to the Lord.” I would not have thought it possible to present that with a choir, but it was done with enthusiasm and passion, and even some joy came through.

Jan’s thoughts:

We’ve attended Malawi Partnership events at Ben Avon in the past, but never a Sunday worship service. This is a stately, well-kept church with a seemingly traditional atmosphere, but there are indications that current thinking is of the “outside the box” variety. A major push is being made for the Faith in Action program entitled “BE the Church.” Both worship services have been cancelled and instead members (and friends) are urged to serve the community through various planned service projects, after which everyone will come together for worship and a meal.

Even with some memory of the layout of the building, I was glad to see signage; however had we been complete strangers to the church we probably would still have found it necessary to ask directions to the restrooms as they’re tucked back in a hallway with only small signs visible from the narthex.

We wandered around the large narthex area among the choir for about 10 minutes before anyone said anything to us, but following worship some friendly folks sitting nearby introduced themselves and greeted us.

The Sanctuary is beautiful, with matching dark wood pews, ceiling, and Chancel decoration. The pew seats are padded in medium-dark green, and the dark wood cross in front is accented in a similar shade. It’s quite lovely.

The Order of Worship is contained on a single legal-sized sheet (of, I’m guessing here, 24 lb. stock – nice heavy paper) folded in half so we could remove the ½ page insert and tri-folded 8 ½ x 11” letter and just put them aside. It’s an informative bulletin, attractively laid out and easy to follow.

There were several treats during the service: the Junior Choir sang “Hand Me Down My Silver Trumpet” accompanied by David Anderson’s trumpet, the handbell choir made a superb presentation, but the biggest surprise to me was the Offertory Anthem. The choir sang a medley of the contemporary praise song “Shout to the Lord” and “All Creatures of Our God and King.” I never would’ve expected such a musical endeavor to be so inspiring!

The Rev. Dr. Jerome Creach filled in for his wife this morning, and offered a thought provoking sermon entitled “Even the Gentiles.” Toward the end he spoke of a repentance similar to birth, one that leads to a permanent change and a continuous – even daily – conversion. I couldn’t help but think of the similarities between the birth pains involved in childbirth and those involved in repentance, and the different “new creations” following both. The sermon led me to think of conversion and repentance in some concrete ways I had not before.