At 10:30 Morning Worship this Sunday, Aug. 13, Tyrone Presbyterians will celebrate The Lord’s Supper by exhibiting their original Communion table, refurbished and donated to the church by long-term member, Mrs. Sue Yarnell Barr, by singing three modern Communion hymns, and by welcoming Tyrone tenor soloist Mr. Matthew Lehner.
A 1993 graduate of Tyrone Area High School and the son of Samuel Lehner and Karen Sarge of Tyrone, Matt studied voice with Richard Kennedy at the University Park campus of Penn State University.
While at Tyrone High, Matt attended All Eastern Chorus in Massachusetts, played the trumpet and won the John Philip Sousa Award for instrumental musical excellence. During his career, Mr. Lehner has sung with the Allegheny Chorale and performed in the Summer Organ and Voice Recital at The Lutheran Church.
At the present time, Matt works as a sales associate at Southern Blair Hardware on Logan Avenue. Previously, Mr. Lehner has managed Long John Silvers as well as Burger King Restaurant. A member of Bald Eagle Christian and Missionary Alliance Church, Matt enjoys listening to as well as performing spirituals and classic rock selections.
For mid-summer Communion Worship at Tyrone Presbyterian Church, Matt will perform the famous inspirational song entitled, Bridge Over Troubled Water.
To prepare themselves spiritually for mid-summer Communion, the audience will sing three modern Communion Hymns from the 20th century. The congregation will open worship with the beloved Communion spiritual, Let Us Break Bread Together On Our Knees. This spiritual became popular in the Presbyterian denomination in 1955, with the publication of The Fourth Presbyterian Hymnbook. However, it originated during the Civil War days. Slaves in Virginia used this Communion spiritual to open secret worship services, before their days of back-breaking field labor.
While Tyrone Presbyterian Church Elders prepare the Communion table for The Lord’s Supper, the audience will sing that 1950 Gospel Hymn by Methodist minister Richard Blanchard entitled, Fill My Cup Lord, I Lift It Up Lord.
In that 1950 hymn, Blanchard implored Jesus, the Bread of Heaven, to fill his cup of need.
After The Lord’s Supper, Presbyterians will close with the enthusiastic 1975 Jamaican Folk Song, entitled, Let Us Talents And Tongues Employ by Fred Kaan and Doreen Potter. This modern Communion hymn reminds believers that Jesus Calls Us In, Sends Us Out/Bearing Fruit In A World of Doubt/Gives Us Love To Tell, Bread To Share/God- Emmanuel- Everywhere.
Those who attend Presbyterian Worship this Sunday, Aug. 13, also will have the chance to view the Communion table used by pioneer Presbyterians in their first $3,500 log cabin church, erected in 1857, at the corner of Logan Avenue and 13th Street.
In January 1998, long-time church member, Mrs. Sue Yarnell Barr had the original Communion table refinished and donated it to The History Room of Tyrone Presbyterian Church.
For many years, the family of Mrs. Barr’s late husband (William Barr) kept the original Altar/Communion table in trust for the church. In those long ago days, the Barr family lived across Logan Avenue from Tyrone Presbyterian Church.
Presbyterian Pastor Robert Dunkelberger encourages everyone to join Tyrone Presbyterians for mid-summer Communion at 10:30 a.m. this Sunday, Aug. 13, as they welcome Tyrone tenor soloist Matthew Lehner, sing three contrasting Communion hymns from the 20th century, and remember with grateful humility how the Presbyterian tradition of The Lord’s Supper began 149 years ago in Tyrone in a log cabin church around a humble Communion table now newly restored.
Why not restore yourself spiritually this Sunday at Tyrone Presbyterian Church?
