At 10:30 a.m. morning worship this Sunday, July 31, Tyrone Presbyterians will welcome Agnes Jackson Wilson from Erie, congratulate the Tyrone Area Historical Society Board for its vital community church work, feature a rich heritage of fine organ and choral music, and extend a hand of hospitality with food and fellowship after their mid-summer homecoming service.
At the start of worship on this final Sunday of July, Agnes Jackson Wilson will speak briefly and present church people with a complimentary copy of a book she wrote about her Presbyterian pastor and father, Dr. James Renwick Jackson.
From 1939 to 1944, James Renwick Jackson served as Pastor of Tyrone Presbyterian Church. With amazing evangelistic energy, Dr. Jackson encouraged 543 people to join Tyrone Presbyterian Church during The Dark Days of World War II, and thereby expanded Presbyterian Church membership to over 1,400 people.
In addition to recalling the miraculous accomplishments of Reverend Jackson, Tyrone Presbyterians also will congratulate the Tyrone Area Historical Society Board Members for their enthusiastic work to promote the rich heritage of Christian Faith embodied in Tyrone’s churches.
During the past two years, the Tyrone Area Historical Society has encouraged numerous churches of this community to tell the story of their faith in word and pictures through exhibits at the Historical Society Museum, open on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons. Miraculously, it was Historical Society President Nancy Smith who alerted Presbyterians in Tyrone about the publication of Agnes Jackson Wilson’s biographical book about former Presbyterian Pastor Dr. James Renwick Jackson.
For morning worship on this homecoming Sunday, church organist Richard Merryman will present two keyboard voluntaries. At the prelude, he will play Marta Keen’s exquisite ballad Homeward Bound. At the offering, he will perform Percy Fletcher’s Festival Toccata, a dramatic selection popular during the Era of Tyrone’s Wilson and El Patio Theatre organs. Guest soloist Mary Ann Kurtz, from Tyrone’s Wesley Methodist Church, will sing an anthem which summarizes well the life of Dr. Jackson, Teach Me, Lord to Do Your Will, To Trust and to Obey.
At the close of worship on this final Sunday in July, Presbyterians hope that their members, guests and visitors will join them for a brief moment of food and fellowship in the Christian Education Building. The young people’s breakfast and Bible class, under the direction of Kim Sessamen Wilson, will extend the hand of Christian hospitality with delicious pastries that quite possibly will inspire some people to share stories about their heritage of faith.
For his morning message, Presbyterian Pastor Robert Dunkelberger will borrow the text and title of a sermon Dr. Jackson preached on December 7, 1941 called The Vision of God. As Pastor Bob preaches, hopefully those present will remember the life of Dr. James Renwick Jackson and renew their commitment to a A Life of Service with these hymn words, Here I Am Lord, It Is I Lord/ I Have Heard You Calling In the Night/ I Will Go Lord, Where You Lead Me/ I Will Hold Your People In My Heart.
