Rev. Mark Winters preached his first sermon Sunday as the newly settled pastor of the Federated Church of Martha's Vineyard. The sermon, titled Seeing Jesus Differently, reflected on the story of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount.
The Rev. Dr. Leo Christian had found a welcoming community in his new position as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Vineyard Haven and the Gay Head Community Baptist Church in Aquinnah.
On Sunday, Sept. 9 the preacher and celebrant at the closing service for the summer season at Trinity Episcopal Church will be the Rev. Richard L. Fenn.
The service will complete the celebration of the church’s 125th year of service to the Oak Bluffs community. As usual, the service will begin at 9 a.m. The church is in Oak Bluffs across the street from the Steamship Authority wharf.
The Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock strode acress the altar of the 333-year-old First Congregational Church of West Tisbury and surveyed the weathered, expectant faces of its Yankee parishioners. Mr. Warnock hails from Atlanta, Ga., where he leads the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, the spiritual birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr.
“Let the church say Amen!” he announced. The congregation, though unpracticed, made a solid reply; still it was no doubt fainter than the amens Rev. Warnock usually elicits.
Union Chapel is pleased to welcome the popular preacher Dr. Charles G. Adams Sr. this Sunday. He is pastor of Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit, Mich. He brings with him the Hartford Male Chorus as a guest choir.
Trinity Episcopal Church in Oak Bluffs is pleased to welcome back the Rev. Canon Edward W. Rodman as celebrant on the next two Sundays, August 29 and Sept. 5. Rev. Canon Rodman is the John Seely Stone professor of pastoral theology and urban ministry at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. He is also the denominational counselor for Episcopal students at Harvard Divinity School. Over the course of a 40-year career, he has served as assistant minister at St.
Trinity Episcopal Church in Oak Bluffs will have the Very Rev. John P. (Jep) Streit as celebrant on the next two Sundays, August 15 and August 22. This is his 19th year at Trinity. Rev. Streit is dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston, where he is well-known for his outreach and inclusiveness among Boston’s diverse ethnic and religious communities. Prior to the Cathedral post, he served for 11 years as Episcopal Chaplain at Boston University and has been a parish priest.
At Union Chapel this Sunday, August 15 the guest speaker is the Rev. Susan Sparks. She is America’s only female comedian with a pulpit. Currently senior pastor of the historic Madison Avenue Baptist church in New York city (and the first woman in its 160 year history), Rev. Sparks has been featured in the New York Times, on many networks, including as a regular guest with country music star Naomi Judd on the Hallmark Channel, and in numerous comedy clubs in New York city.
Rev. Raphael Warnock returns to the pulpit at the First Congregational Church in West Tisbury as guest minister on Sunday, August 15. He has served as the senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Ga., since 2005. Rev. Warnock graduated from Morehouse College cum laude in 1991, and holds a master of divinity degree, a master of philosophy degree, and a doctor of philosophy degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York city.
