Rev.9/16/06     CO-PASTORS' INSTALLATION AND HOMECOMING PICINC SEPTEMBER 2006 Two celebrations for the price of one! Not only was the second Sunday of September time for our annual Homecoming Picnic, it was also the date set by Albany Presbytery to install our new co-pastors. Glenn Leupold and Miriam Lawrence Leupold lead the choir in prayer before the service, as Elder Dwight Smith concludes his examination of their candidacy. Following prayers, sermon and charges by distinguished visitors from Ohio and Illinois, installation involved the laying on of hands by current and past elders. It got a little crow/ded on the Chancel as one by one, clergy and elders joined in. "Once an elder, always an elder" is the rule in the Presbyterian Church, which also ordains deacons for life. The number of elders in attendance spoke volumes of the degree of involvement of the congregation in the life of First Presbyterian. It's not a spectator sport. Rev. Cass Shaw, General Presbyter of Albany (left) joined the Leupolds in the pew, as Rev. Amy Snedeker of Chicago delivered a captivating and personal sermon. Rev. Viki Brooks-McDonald, Interfaith Chaplain at Union College (Schenectady) knows the Leupolds from their time together in Dayton, Ohio Glenn and Miriam appear proudly poised to commence the Communion Service. The liturgical color red was dominant that day - for it was no ordinary time! Among the participants in the installation (left to right): the Rev. Paul Randall (Albany Presbytery) Rev. Denise Wright Ingram, pastor of Honey Creek Presbyterian Church, New Carlisle, OH; (the Leupolds of course) and the Rev. Amy J. Snedeker, Director of Clinical Pastoral Education at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital, Downers Grove, IL; Following the service there was a reception and picnic in Washington Park across from the church. What started out as a cool and gray day turned bright and cheerful. That's the Willett Street rock below - recently relocated to what we like to think of as our front lawn.