Saxonburg Memorial Presbyterian Church

Today we worshiped at Saxonburg Memorial Presbyterian Church, 100 W. Main Street, (mailing address: PO Box 466), Saxonburg, PA 16056, 724.352.2888, www.saxonburg.org, Rev. Douglas M. Dorsey, Senior Pastor.

 

Scripture – Acts 2:1-13 NIV

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.

Now there were staying in Jerusalem God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, “What does this mean?”

Some, however, made fun of them and said, “They have had too much wine.”

 

Bob’s thoughts:

I was looking forward to seeing the pastor but with all the restrictions on churches, I wasn’t sure what to expect otherwise. You would think by now I would be better at recognizing God’s leading; He doesn’t drag me to church, just gently nudges.

The sanctuary has a giant cross over a round window with flowers and butterflies at the base, making a perfect focal point.

We got to greet the pastor before the service. They did have three services but are down to one service with about 50 worshipers.

The small praise band sounded terrific leading the congregation; I think maybe the masks muffled the church’s singing.

The children stayed in their seats for their message, which was well done. She asked in the course of her message what synonym would reflect for your thought of being redeemed by Christ. My strong sense was rescued from my life of sin. The message about Fanny Crosby, who had written some 9,000 poems/hymns, a line from her song: “I sing because I cannot be silent.” With all her accomplishments while being blind, what mattered to her was that when she got to heaven, Christ’s face would be the first one she saw.

The message was divinely directed for the pastor, for the church, and for us. The first Pentecost was the giving of the Spirit dwelling in us. With all that has changed in the church, this is the very message we all need right now. Invite the Holy Spirit in and you won’t recognize this church; this is the perfect time for the fire to return. Surviving is not enough – God is calling you now!

 

Jan’s thoughts:

We searched for a church with an indoor, in-person service and landed at Saxonburg.

In the 10 years since our last visit, they have secured a new pastor whom we knew previously, so we were especially glad to be visiting here.

The building is lovely, tastefully decorated, and with plenty of space. Social distancing was observed, which unfortunately made it difficult to talk with people.

The music was led by a praise team that sounded wonderful together. And I appreciated the timing of the words projected on the screens: there was no lag that left me wondering what came next.

The children’s message was marvelous: Molly spoke about Fanny Crosby, how she wrote 9,000 hymns and eventually used a pen name so people would not think she wrote the entire hymnal. Remarkably, she was blind from the age of 6 weeks and accomplished a great deal in her life in addition to writing hymns. She also gave several synonyms for the word “redeemed” and asked everyone to silently identify the one that spoke to them. Mine was “rescued” because that’s what He did for me.

In the sermon, “The Holy Spirit-Here-Now”, the pastor focused on the first Pentecost after Christ’s resurrection and how the giving of the Holy Spirit both proved God’s power and fulfilled His promises. God sent the Holy Spirit to give His people His power and strength and so we would never be left without His presence. As believers, He is with us in every single battle we face, and His strength is at our disposal. The question was: what could God accomplish through us if we took God at His word, asked for help from the Holy Spirit, and stepped out in faith, willing to be stretched and live boldly.

I was grateful God led us here…I needed an uplifting, encouraging, challenging word today.

 

Our prayer for this church:

Gracious God, we pray the Spirit’s fire comes upon Your Church now. Awaken us all to more than we ever thought we could be and remind us what it means to be Your Church. Amen.