November 2020 - Yorkshire Church

Happy Thanksgiving to each of you!

It is a good and joyous thing to be thankful. Without looking up what being thankful means in some type of online definition, I have spent some time over the past few hours contemplating what thankful means to me. Is it an emotion? Is it a state of being? Is it a response to an action that is taken? Probably all of them, but as I said, I’m not looking up the real definition. But I have come to the ideal that thankful is a state of internal joy as a result of something received. Sometimes this may be a material object- certainly if someone gifted me a Porsche, I would feel thankful. Of course that would only be a temporary thankfulness until I needed to do some maintenance on it.

Recently, our family has experienced some difficult situations. But even in each of them, I found the ability to be thankful. Thankful for times shared, thankful for family bonding, thankful for recovery, and especially, thankful that we had a God to lean on for comfort and support. As I reflected more on this sense of “thankful” that I had, I came to the conclusion that this thankful sense that I was experiencing was much larger than the situations of our lives, and was also larger than the sum total of the things that I recognized as good that came as a result of them. A very familiar verse came to mind,

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. Philippians 4:6-7 (New International Version)
With all that is going on around us and often even in the midst of the outward frustration that I feel in much of it, thankfulness for so much still resonates in my being. There is no way to explain this rationally- as I sometimes would really like to vent irrationally. But thankful wins the day every time.

So, my conclusion to my mental ramblings is that this is the peace of God. That even in the midst of difficulty and challenge, this peace that God provides, is bigger than anything that we are dealing with. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that we won’t deal with our human emotions as we navigate the circumstances in which we find ourselves. So, I am thankful, because I have a relationship with my Father in heaven made possible by his Son, Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the gift of peace that I received from Him when I accepted Him as my Lord and Savior. I am thankful for this protection on my heart and mind, because God knows, that such protection is greatly needed…Thanks!

I am looking forward to the events of this upcoming Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent. It is my hope that our worship traditions of lighting the first candle of Advent and the Hanging of the Greens will add to the inner peace of thanksgiving that you are experiencing. Maybe our combined Sunday School study, The Christmas Experience, may stimulate feelings of joy and thanksgiving as we experience the lives of those that God used in the revealing of his Son Jesus in the small town of Bethlehem. Whether you join us for in-person fellowship, worship with your small group in one of three classrooms, the fellowship hall where the services are being live streamed on large screen televisions, or simply join us on-line, the idea that we are in worship together will be something that we can all be thankful for. Even though the situations aren’t ideal, or what we would like, it will be through this thanksgiving that we can enjoy the peace of God.

This week will be a busy one. We will have our contemporary worship at 9AM, The Christmas Experience Sunday School Study (live streamed as well) at 10AM, traditional worship at 11AM and then a time of fellowship as we “Hang the Greens” with a Pizza lunch available. We will have featured sets of music led by Matt Monticchio, our Worship Leader for the 9AM service and a special guest throughout our time of decorating. If you can’t make it, but would like to enjoy the music from home, we will live stream three various sets of music between 12:30PM and 2PM!

At 2PM, we will hold our annual Church Charge Conference with our District Superintendent, Rev. Catherine Boileau (Cathy) which should last about a half an hour. All great stuff!

Yorkshire Church will remain open for in-person fellowship for those that seek this form of worship, including children’s Sunday School for all age groups. As stated last week and inferred above, we will also have three classrooms open (202, 204, 206) as well as the fellowship hall where services and adult Sunday School will be live streamed to allow our folks to spread out as much as possible so that the imposed guidelines may be satisfied to allow us to continue to meet in-person. Through the order of the governor as well as a mandate by the Susquehanna Conference leadership, the guidance is that masks must now be worn at all times when inside the church facility. Exceptions will be allowed for speakers, worship leaders, and at times when a mask cannot be worn such as eating. Anyone with a health condition that does not allow for continued wear of a respiratory limiting face covering will also be exempt.

Yes, I find it difficult to find joy in many of these mandated guidelines that are being imposed on us, but, I do have great thankfulness in my heart that we still have the opportunity to gather as God’s Church, called to fellowship with one another, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Yes, I am very thankful for that and for everyone that makes Yorkshire Church the Church that it is for a time such as this!
Have a great and blessed day and weekend!

pastor dave. dkominsky@susumc.org
125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org

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Sermon, November 22, 2020 11:00AM – Yorkshire Church

Sunday, 22 November 2020 by Debra

“Believing vs. Understanding” Sermon Series: “Believers or Disciples?”

Scripture Reference: John 20: 1-18

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Sermon, November 22, 2020, 9:00AM – Yorkshire Church

Sunday, 22 November 2020 by Debra

“Believing vs. Understanding” Sermon Series: “Believers or Disciples?”

Bible Reference: John 20: 1-18

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Announcements, November 22, 2020

Saturday, 21 November 2020 by Debra

November 22, 2020 Announcements
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What’s Brewing, 11.19.20

Saturday, 21 November 2020 by Debra

19 November 2020

Good day to each of you!

It is my prayer that this day finds you well. Yesterday, during a recent Zoom meeting with pastors from across the Susquehanna Conference, Tom Salsgiver, the Assistant to the Bishop asked us to answer the following question: “How is it with your soul?” Normally, my response is, “it is well (great) with my soul,” an answer that comes very easily. But, yesterday, I struggled to answer honestly. What is challenging me to the core of my being is the once again increasing mandates making it very difficult to navigate how we are allowed to conduct in-person worship. What are the rules of this week? Are they guidelines or orders? Are we exempt as a house of worship, or are we not and what practices that have been effective for 6 months are now no longer effective and have to be modified. What is in place today is different than last week and there is a possibility that it will be different again next week. The only consistency in the planning process for what lies ahead for us for Advent is inconsistency.

Upon discussion with our leadership team last evening and upon considering the varying viewpoints, all of which are recognized as valid, we have decided to continue to do what we have been doing, which have proven to be effective for our fellowship. In addition, we will be opening several classrooms where a live feed of our service will be presented on large-screen televisions and we are encouraging some of our small group fellowships and Sunday School classes to meet in those locations for both worship and The Christmas Experience Sunday School presentation. This will provide additional space in the sanctuary for others to continue to experience live worship at Yorkshire Church.

As in all decisions that we are faced with during these challenging times, there are two sides. Outside of the church, these two sides often clash in contentious disagreement. It is imperative that we do not allow this to happen within our fellowship. Our leadership is listening to all sides and we are making decisions based on what we believe represents the largest consensus opinion that allows us to move forward in a manner that meets the rules for gathering that are being imposed on the church- while also observing the legal liberties afforded to us as a religious institution.

But, this also means that there are those who’s opinion and concerns are on the other side. In this case, we are doing everything possible to provide a live stream worship experience that allows everyone an opportunity to share in our collective worship of God. This is, after all, the reason that we are a church. I continue to listen to your voices and seek the counsel of our leadership team as we move forward through challenging waters. page1image5794368

As I have stated, we will continue to follow our existing guidelines, but I would invite each of you to review the latest order from our governor which can be found at https://www.governor.pa.gov/

With all of this said, I strongly suggest that if you are displaying any symptoms of a cold or even allergy symptoms, that you choose to enjoy worship from the live stream posture until you are feeling better. This is cold and flu season, so there are a lot of sniffles, coughs and sneezes that are going on that are actually quite normal for this time of year. But we need to err on the side of caution, which will also help everyone in our facilities be there without concern of some level of infection.

We are the Church, and we must remain the Church, even in these difficult times. There is a very important element to in-person worship and fellowship and I want to ensure that we continue to do all that we can to protect our rights to be able to provide it.

Thank you.

As a reminder, we are modifying our service schedule this week to accommodate a new Sunday School emphasis. Our new service times will be:

9:00AM First Service in the Contemporary Style
10:00AM Sunday School (See weekly announcements for description) page2image11695808

*** 11:00AM***Second Service in the Traditional Style ***

Our Sermon Series will follow and compliment the Sunday School lessons. We have also received permission from City On A Hill Studios to Livestream the lessons–including our Sunday School discussions!

So, these are the things that are on my mind this day. Unsettled in my soul, yes. Distraught, no. If you have any questions or would like to discuss anything, please feel free to reach out to me!

Have a great and blessed day and weekend!

– dave. dkominsky@susumc.org

125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org