Welcome to Shepherd of the Hill Church in Chaska, Minnesota

Home of First Tuesday Dialogues  -  A Place for the Mind and Heart

145 Engler Boulevard in Chaska, Minnesota. Phone: 952-448-3882

MAP

Sermon Let Your Servant Depart in Peace

Read MPR Commentary on Memory as we begin 2012.

Listen to MPR Commentary on Mary and Occupy on All Things Considered (Dec. 23, 2011)

Tuesday Dialogues series focuses on the Voter

Sermon "Mary's Song: Connecting the Dots" (Dec. 23, 2011)

Commentary in Star Tribune 07/29/2011

A Presbyterian Church in Chaska "A place for the mind and heart"  A Place for You? Only you can say. But we can tell you that many of us found our way to Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska, home of the First Tuesday Dialogues, because we had heard of a place that would welcome us without conditions andwould honor our yearning for a place for the mind and the heart. The Reviews page gives you a taste of what some recent inquirers have found. The Beliefs page describes what drew them to Shepherd of the Hill. Maybe someone told you about First Tuesday Dialogues, or you were driving home from work listening to "All Things Considered" and heard an MPR commentary (91.1 FM) by Pastor Gordon Stewart.  Maybe you've wondered why there's a huge rocking chair on the front lawn. Maybe you saw the television News Coverage of Shepherd of the Hill's worship following 9/11/10 or read the Southwest Metro Magazine feature on Momoh Freeman, our Liberian-born jazz-gospel pianist. Looking for a thoughtful church? Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church is a congregation the Presbyterian Church  (USA) and The Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, a place for the mind as well as the heart. We view questions as the friends of faith, not its enemies. Open Beliefs or our pastor's commentaries Literalism and Literacy or How a Single Voice Threatened to Spark a Forest Fire for a sense of how we see faith and life at Shepherd of the Hill Church in Chaska. In worship, the sermons of Pastor Gordon Stewart and the inspiring music of Momoh Freeman lift our hearts and challenge our minds Sunday mornings. Join Pastor Gordon at the Chaska Community Center for "Cup o' Java - Sip o' Wisdom" the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Worship - 9:30 a.m. "A Place for the mind and heart" Shepherd of the Hill Pastor Gordon Stewart, whose MPR commentary pieces air frequently on "All Things Considered" (KNOW 91.1 FM), preaches this Sunday on "Apathy, Pathos,and Hope" in our time. Shepherd of the  Hill jazz-gospel pianist Momoh Freeman leads the music. The music of Momoh Freeman and the preaching of Pastor Gordon Stewart make for a signature style of worship - well-prepared and open for the unexpected. There is only one Momoh Freeman. Born in Liberia, Momoh walked 18 miles to his piano lesson, and, when it was finished, he walked home. He had no piano and had little else but a loving family and his love of Christ and his love of music. A refugee from civil war, Momoh came to Minnesota and joined the staff of Shepherd of the Hill in 2005. In his sermon "Easter people in a Good Friday world" Pastor Gordon Stewart likened Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska to author Anne Lamott's church in Marin, California, a small Presbyterian Church of unpretentious people who loved her back into life. Like Annie and her church, in the larger scheme of things we're just one small vloice, but we're listening for the still small Voice in a noisy world. And we hear it all the time in the form of gentle whispers and nudges. At Shepherd of Hill Presbyterian Church in Chaska we invite you to a thoughtful and joyful place where worship, education, and First Tuesday Dialogues put a face on what we mean by  "a place for the mind and the heart. Someone will welcome you when you enter and someone will know your name before you leave. But nobody will bite!

A Place for the Mind and Heart Looking for a church that engages the world? We believe that the church exists for the world, not the world for the church. We are steeped in a tradition that views the world itself as "the theater of God's glory." Our traditon is thoughtful,. It sees Jesus' life, death, and resurrection as the recurring pattern of common life today, calling us to participate actively in the healing of creation and the incarnation of social justce and love. A focus on public life is central to our identity as a faith community. Frst Tuesday Dialogues continues that tradition. We also participate in meeting direct human need tin partnership with the CAP Agency, the Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area, Love INC of Eastern Carver County, and the Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches. But "mission" is not just direct service or about others; it's also about the our culture and society, and it's about us - the continuing transformation of our hearts and minds in the real world God loves.  It's about challenging the structures that place people in need. Looking for something better than diatribes? You've come to the right place.  We're tired of harangues and shouting. First Tuesday Dialogues gather the wider community to examine critical public issues. Read "The Bull and the Wisdom of Solomon" in The Chaska Herald and its shorter verson on the editorial page of the Star Tribune. Jacob's rocker, the oversized rocking chair on our lawn reminds passers-by to slow down and reflect more deeply than the sound bytes that push aside the important questions. The idea of the chair originated with Pastor Gordon Stewart's MPR Commentary on "All Things Consididered" following the Amish school house massacre several years ago.  The Society and Mission pages of our website tell you more about how we view the intersection of faith and culture, politics, and society.

First Tuesday Dialogues "The Good Society: Beyond Shutdowns" continues the first Tuesday of March, March 6 with a panel of leaders from different religious traditions looking at the question of the nature of the Good Society. The 2011 Fall Series of First Tuesday Dialogues, "The Good Society: Beyond Shutdowns" examines representative democracy in light of last summer's Minnesota state government shutdown and the debt-ceiling crisis in Washington, D.C. Shepherd of the Hill Presbyterian Church & St. Francis Regional Medical Center  co-sponsor First Tuesday Dialogues' 2011-2012 series "The Good Society: Beyond Shutdowns" with partners The City of Chaska and the Beacon Council.