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HomeEventsFirst Presbyterian Church to hold Bicentennial Celebration on Sunday, May 22nd

First Presbyterian Church to hold Bicentennial Celebration on Sunday, May 22nd

First Presbyterian ChurchClarksville, TN – First Presbyterian Church will host a public program of music and celebration commemorating its bicentennial on Sunday, May 22nd, at 2:00pm.  The church, the first of any denomination to be organized in Clarksville, was founded on May 25th, 1822.

The public is invited to arrive up to an hour early in the Downtown Commons for a performance of traditional Scottish music by the Nashville Pipes and Drums.  Following the bagpipe performance, the church bell will peal, and the pipes will lead the gathered dignitaries and entire assembly into the church sanctuary to the sounds of the Irish ballad, “Be Thou My Vision.”

The afternoon program will include prayers and hymns of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God for the establishment of this church in the heart of Historic Downtown Clarksville.  Honored guests will be recognized, and congratulatory messages received from religious and governmental leaders.  Guest musicians will perform.
 
The highlight of the afternoon will be the premier performance of “Windows of the Sky,” a piece of music for choir and organ commissioned by the church especially for the occasion and composed by Austin Peay State University music professor Dr. Jeffrey Wood.
 
The celebration will conclude with a charge from Dr. James C. Goodloe IV, a child of the congregation, who was examined and approved for ordination in the sanctuary of the church.  Dr. Goodloe, a graduate of Davidson College, received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (Theology) in 1987 and served as the Executive Director of the Foundation for Reformed Theology in Richmond, Virginia.
 
Dr. Goodloe’s great-great-grandfather, U.S. Senator James Edmund Bailey (1822-1885) of Tennessee, was one of the earliest members of the congregation.  Dr. Goodloe has served as a pastor in Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia.  His sermon at the funeral of Justice Lewis Powell on August 31st, 1998 is still available on C-SPAN and justly praised as a model for such sermons.  Dr. Goodloe will preach at the 10:00am service of worship.
 
First Presbyterian Church was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 1976.
 
First Presbyterian Church is located at 213 Main Street in Clarksville, Tennessee. The Downtown Commons is located at 215 Legion Street.
 
RSVP for the Bicentennial Celebration at Eventbrite.  www.eventbrite.com/e/bicentennial-celebration-tickets-333100922827

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