Overbrook
Presbyterian
Church

Overbrook Presbyterian Church

The Church at the Crossroads
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MLK Day of Service Activities

While the pandemic has limited the scope of Martin Luther King Day large group service opportunities, we are still planning to hold our annual memorial to lives lost to gun violence. This year there are over 400 T-shirts that have been prepared by volunteers at home.
Memorial to Gun Violence Dedication
Monday, January 18, 2021
3:00 PM on Zoom
Join us for a brief service to bless the Memorial to 2020 Gun Violence Victims. The Zoom link has been sent out by email. If you'd like to be added to our mailing list, please email Carol. For more information on the memorial, click here.
Activites for Children, Youth & Families
Click here for activities and resources for children, youth and families, including a Zoom storytelling at 3:30 PM on Monday, January 18, 2021.

Online Worship

Online Worship
Sundays at 10:30 AM
Until we can worship together in church again, we are hosting online worship.
Zoom links for worship and all online events will be shared on email, our Realm calendar and our Community Facebook page. If you'd like to be added to our mailing list, please email Carol.
Click here for more information on how to use Zoom.
Past Online Worship Services
Watch our past online services here on YouTube.

Weekly Online Gatherings

Zoom links for all online events will be shared on email, our Realm calendar and our Community Facebook page. If you'd like to be added to our mailing list, please email Carol.
Women’s Prayer & Support Group
Tuesdays at 7:30 AM
The women of Overbrook come together on Zoom for some prayer, connection, and support.
Bible Study
Wednesdays at 10:30 AM
Adam leads an online Bible Study on Zoom.
Men’s Group
Saturdays at 9:00 AM
Join the OPC Men's Group every Saturday morning on Zoom for conversation and fellowship.
Children's Activities
For more information on weekly online activities for children and youth, contact Anthony.
Connect on Facebook
Keep connected with our community on our private Facebook Community page.
Using Zoom
If you have any questions about how to use Zoom, please read this info page or contact Carol Rozmiarek.

Vigils for Racial Justice

  • Christ Confronts Us
  • The Spirit Empowers Us
  • Response
  • What Will Happen?
  • Logistics in the Time of COVID-19
  • What Should You Bring?
  • Ideas? Comments? Questions?
  • To Sign Up
  • Antiracism and Social Justice Lending Library
Christ Confronts Us
We are witnessing and experiencing anguish over a long history of racial injustice and disparity, a history that continues in horrific episodes of violence fed by white supremacy. Christians often speak of how God meets us in our suffering. This is true. But God does more than comfort us. As the prophets of Israel repeated again and again, God is a God of justice with special concern for the “widow and the orphan,” for the enslaved and the oppressed. John the Baptist and Jesus also spoke of God’s justice, and we learn from Jesus’ teaching that Christ confronts us when we encounter others’ suffering and need (Matt. 25). Today, Christ confronts us when we encounter unjust systems. Even as Christ stands with all who suffer and are oppressed--many of whom are members of this congregation--Christ also confronts the church in the cries of those who seek breath and freedom. This confrontation is a call to act. Our action is an expression of the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.
The Spirit Empowers Us
Whenever God calls us to ministry, God’s Spirit empowers us for that ministry--and how abundantly has the Spirit blessed OPC! One gift we bear is our cultural, racial, economic, and generational diversity, which allows us to learn from one another and demonstrate the joy of a diverse community. Another gift is our physical property, which sits on a busy corner, allowing us to communicate to a larger public the good news of God’s loving concern for the vulnerable and oppressed. What is the Spirit empowering us to do with these gifts in this time?
Response
The Session of Overbrook Presbyterian Church has committed to holding a weekly public prayer vigil of faithful resistance and solidarity with all those who cry for racial justice. Each Thursday, from 2:00 PM to dusk, 15 people from the OPC community will take thirty-minute to one-hour shifts to stand on the corner of City and Lancaster to signal our commitment to--and God’s concern for--racial justice. They will sign up online in advance to participate. At the crossroads, we will pray, hold signs, educate ourselves, and communicate our conviction that Christ stands with the oppressed. This is an intergenerational event; children are welcome.
We believe this is a faithful response in this time when Christ confronts us and the Spirit sends us. It can also be a powerful response. The power of this vigil will come not from the first impression, but from the second, the third and the fifteenth. The apostle Paul wrote of a faith that endures, a commitment to the long journey together in which we are emboldened, equipped, and refreshed by the Spirit. For the sake of the oppressed and the broken--that is to say, for all those who are like Christ--we will create an enduring practice of witness to God’s concern for justice. While the church is called to witness to God’s love for justice in general, we will focus our message at this vigil on racial prejudice and justice.
What Will Happen?
A large posted sign will read, “Vigil for Racial Justice.” At the opening of the vigil each week, one of our leaders will read a portion of scripture and lead a prayer. The remainder of the time, participants will stand with signs to pray for justice, pray for the people in cars driving by, or talk with one another at a safe distance. At 6:30 PM, we will close in prayer. As time goes by, we may add other elements, but for now we’re keeping it simple.
Logistics in the Time of COVID-19
This ongoing vigil is meant to be accessible to all who wish to participate, which means we must care for one another’s health as we do it. The following protocols will be observed until the Session determines it is safe to change them:
  • Sign Up in Advance: To ensure a safe number of people are gathered, please sign up in advance, listing each person who will come. We are limiting the group size for now to 15 people at a time.
  • Masks: Please wear a mask to protect others.
  • Social Distancing: Please maintain at least six feet of distance from others and refrain from touching or hugging (as much as we want to!).
  • Arriving and Leaving: Park in the parking lot. Walk to City Avenue so that you can approach the corner from the City Avenue entrance. When your shift ends, depart by walking toward the Lancaster Avenue entrance and returning to your car.
  • Bathrooms are Available: The door to the church is typically locked but a member of the vigil team will have a key to let people in. Please wipe down surfaces after you are finished and continue to practice social distancing and safe PPE.
What Should You Bring?
  • Water bottle filled with water for each person in your group. We will provide a few extra water bottles.
  • Chair/Umbrella (optional): If standing is a struggle for your body, feel free to bring a chair. If the weather looks rainy, bring an umbrella.
  • Signs (optional): A large sign will be on display, naming the Vigil for Racial Justice. You may also make your own sign. Please make these signs sensitive to the moment and specific to the vigil’s focus on racial justice. These might include the names of people of color whose lives and unjust deaths we must remember, or “Black Lives Matter.” In addition, Bible verses concerning justice are encouraged, as a way to demonstrate the centrality of this mission to the work of the church. These include:
    • “Let justice roll down like water…” (Amos 5:24)
    • “Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, and plead the widow's cause.” (Isaiah 1:17)
    • “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8)
    • “The Lord is a God of justice.” (Isaiah 30:18)
    • “When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous.” (Proverbs 21:15)
    • “Blessed are they who observe justice!” (Psalm 106:3)
    • “To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” (Proverbs 21:3)
    • “Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute….Defend the rights of the poor and needy.” (Proverbs 31:8-9)
    • [Jesus said], “[God] has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4)
    • “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted” (Psalm 34:18)
Ideas? Comments? Questions?
The Vigil Leadership team is glad to hear your questions, ideas, and concerns. Please contact Adam Hearlson at adam@overbookpresb.org to get in touch with the Leadership team.
To Sign Up
To sign up, go here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090A4AACAE2DA2FE3-thursday

Tunes of Overbrook Dedications

Where to Get Help

Pastoral Care
If you have pastoral care needs, please contact Adam.
If You Need Help
If you are in need of any help or support, please reach out to our Deacons or office (the office is closed, but we will be checking email and voicemail).
Click here or more information on our Emergency Fund, Errands Ministry, Prayer & Care Bags, and Deacons ministry.

How to Make a Difference

Donate to Pathways PA
Over the past several years, we have supported Pathways PA through the Adopt A Family Christmas gift donation program. This shelter is the only one in the region that is designed to keep families and children together. This year we cannot provide gifts, due to Covid restrictions. We can provide them with the funds to purchase the things they need and create a safe Christmas for these families. Please consider donating to Pathways to support their programs.
Vigils for Racial Justice
Thursdays
2:00 PM to Dusk
These vigils will be held outside each Thursday. For more information and to sign up to attend, click here.
Antiracism and Social Justice Lending Library
For more information our our Antiracism and Social Justice Lending Library, click here.
Emergency Fund & Other Ministries
We have created an emergency fund to help people meet basic needs of food, shelter, and access. If you need help, please contact emergencyfund@overbrookpresb.org).
Click here or more information on our Emergency Fund, Errands Ministry, Prayer & Care Bags, and Deacons ministry.
If you'd like to donate to our Emergency Fund, you can use one of our giving options described here. Be sure to indicate that your donation is for the Emergency Fund. 100% of donations will go toward helping.
Donate to Sustain the Church and its Ministries
Our church relies on donations to continue our ministries, maintain our building, and pay our staff. In these uncertain times, we rely more than ever on those who are able to donate. We offer many online giving options and pick up mail regularly if you'd prefer to mail in a check. Click here for all our giving options.

Order of Worship

January 10, 2021

Newsletters

December 2020
Retired Person's Ministry Newsletter - Sept 2020

Overbrook Presbyterian Church
The Church at the Crossroads

P: 215-877-2744
E: office@overbrookpresb.org

6376 City Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19151

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