24 March 2021

Good day Yorkshire!

It’s the week before Holy Week and the church has been abuzz in preparation and planning. As I commented during worship last week, it’s hard to get anything done around here!

I was reflecting on these things a bit this morning. My initial thought was, I’m glad this isn’t every week that we have all of these services and events. I mean, after all, next week we will have Women’s Bible Study on Monday night, Men’s Bible Study Wednesday morning and Wednesday evening, Maundy Thursday Fellowship Celebration on Thursday night, Good Friday Tenebrae Service on Friday Night, and then 3 services on Sunday with the first one happening at 6:40AM. (who’s idea was that?!!).

I’ll bet if y’all are honest, you would be acknowledging that this is certainly a lot of services for the church. My human weakness feels the same way (yes, this is a confession). I, in my cynical way, reasoned that these thoughts come as a result of the fact that all of these services will preclude me from doing something else that I might want to do. Instead of walking the dog each evening, I will be here at the church. Instead of sitting around a fire with some of my friends, I will be at the church. Instead of sleeping in a bit on Wednesday and Sunday morning, I’ll be, you’ve got it, at the church. And my initial thought is, wow, it will be great when the week is over.

But, if we really think about it, what better place is there to be than in the company of our Christian brothers and sisters, offering our praise to God through our fellowship, sharing Communion, and studying God’s Word? Isn’t it interesting that a week of additional times together can even be considered competition to some of the menial things we would do otherwise? Where am I going with these thoughts? Nowhere. But I find it interesting that my mind has an initial, not so positive, response to spending time in fellowship worshipping God 3 to 5 times per week- yet I know I will love very minute of it!

Now, many of you will not be at all of the services that Megan and I will be this week, and that is certainly fine. But what I will challenge you to do is to spend some time in the Bible Study/Devotional that was sent to you for this specific week we call Holy Week. Each day will take a lot less time than packing up and coming to church, but I believe you will find your time in devotions very valuable. The Devotional begins on Palm Sunday and ends on Easter Sunday. If you choose to do both the Bible Study and come to all of the services next week, that would be an extra bonus and you may even earn a Gold Star!

In other news from the ‘shire this week, we held our first Administrative Council 2021 meeting on Monday evening. Each department (team) was represented and our focus was on some new ways that we will be meeting and organizing ourselves to add efficiency to our efforts and improve our

productivity on behalf of you, the church. We emphasized that our role in leadership is to serve the church and that we represent all of the voices who are a part of our fellowship. We also focused on the importance of teamwork. So often, churches see the roles included on the Ad Council as year-to-year commitments with the responsibility to attend monthly meetings as needed. But I see a different role for those who have answered the call to church leadership. And that role is to lead. Each person on the Ad Council has a responsibility to the body of the church, from Trustees to Education, Finance to Staff Parish, and Missions to Worship. I have often felt that how the leadership team of an entity works together, is how that entity will work together. If a church wants to flourish in its fellowship and love of one another, then the leadership of that church must do the same thing. I have a strong conviction that the health of a church will be directly proportional to the health of the leadership of that church. And the church’s ability to serve those in its community will also be directly related to the leadership’s demonstration of service to the church. This is a summary of a good part of what our discussions represented on Monday night. As we met on Monday, I felt very confident that Yorkshire’s leadership team will meet these criteria. We have an incredible team of folks on our Council and I am so blessed to be a part of it! So, you can look for great things ahead- and remember, please communicate with us!

I often have discussions with folks where we talk about our desire for the church to grow. “We need to get young families in here,” “we need to have more youth…,” “we need to have more musicians,” “more teachers,” etc., etc., etc. I agree with all of these thoughts. I have had these same discussions in each church that I have served. There was a sister church of my first appointment that was bursting at the seams with young families and many, many children. The facility was tiny. There were no bands, no grandiose youth rooms- just an old white structure sitting in the small community of Springvale- and lots of families. In a discussion with the late Tom Osenbach (pastor), I asked him how he was able to have that church grow in the way that it was growing. I wanted the secret (I was even willing to pay for it!)

His answer was simple. They were floundering in attendance. One new family began to attend- just stopped in one Sunday. They had four children. They invited their friends to church. One of those friend’s families invited some of their friends, and within a few months, they went from one family/four children to over fourteen families and about forty children. There were no campaigns, no mailings, banners, yard signs or any change in their worship patterns, music or structure. But there was fellowship. The motivation for those that came was the fellowship of the body, the interaction with friends and family-joining together to bring collective and corporate praise to God. Even the size and age of the facility did not keep them from attending. I would not have believed this if it were not true.

So, if you know of someone who may be looking for a place to worship during Holy Week next week, let them know that our doors are open and that they are welcome at Yorkshire. Maybe share the Bible Study with them for a way to connect with God in a new way. But, without a doubt, the best way to share our Yorkshire fellowship and worship with others, is to invite them.

Be blessed and have a great day! -pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org

18 March 2021

Peace and Blessings!

Good day to each of you.  I am hopeful that everyone survived the “daylight savings” modification to our schedules.  As difficult as it is, I love the fact that I can now enjoy longer evening walks with my wife and my dog.  I even feel more motivated to tackle home projects after dinner- because it is still light out.  This increases my opportunity for productivity significantly which helps me to knock things off of my home to-do lists.  And this is a good thing!

Our to-do list at Yorkshire is growing as we close in on the Spring season.  Our ministry team is working on the worship services for Holy Week and Easter Sunday.  Pastor Megan is finalizing the details on the Maundy Thursday service which will happen on none other than, “Maundy Thursday,” April 1^st.  This is going to be an absolutely beautiful time of fellowship where we will celebrate Communion in a very special way.  Matt is working on some special music where many voices of Yorkshire will again bless our time of worship.  

On April 2^nd, we will commemorate Good Friday and the events of the cross in a Tenebrae worship format.  A deep, meaningful look and reflection that will also feature some special music with our own Beth Gross and guest Cellist, Emma Klimowicz who blessed us with her gifts of music on Christmas Eve.  Following this reflective time of worship, we will then usher in our Easter Sunday celebrations.

This Easter, we will hold a Sunrise Service at 6:40AM.  Yes, not the traditional time to start a worship service, but it will allow for us to be in a posture of singing when the actual sunrise occurs at 6:46AM.  This service will be held outside in the Northeast quadrant of our parking lot which is in the area of our utility sheds.  The Trustees are all prepared to have seating arranged in this area and the service will be complete with music from our Praise and Worship team.  We will be hoping for some warm weather, but, with the level of celebration and worship energy that will be occurring, will the temperatures really matter?  And, if that is not enough, we will be providing a time of fellowship in the Lobby/Narthex of the church between the services that will include coffee, juice, and breakfast snacks.  We will also use the 10:00 Sunday School hour as a time of fellowship, as well.  There will be no Sunday School programming on Easter, but it will return on April 11^th– title to be announced.

Other happenings this week at Yorkshire included a meeting with our Missions Chair, Susan Workinger.  Jim Valentine, Susan a I met to discuss what the future of an intentional missions’ program will look like at our church.  This church has a rich heritage of supporting those outside of our church walls.  We want to continue this heritage as we believe it is an important part of our calling as a church.  The way we are going to approach this will be in a three-prong missional approach using the scriptures of Acts 1:8 as our premise.  

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” -Jesus.

We will have a Jerusalem focus which is our internal support to the body.  This will include any outreach that we do to serve our fellowship, from the individual level to the corporate level.  If one of our members is in need and the church is called to help them, this will be a function of the Jerusalem element of our outreach.  On Easter Sunday, when we have a breakfast fellowship to serve the fellowship with the gift of community, that will be part of our Jerusalem prong of missions.

We will also have Judea element to our missions focus which is arm of missions that serves our community.  This may include everything from our casserole ministry support to efforts in our community such as Servants, Inc. Home Helps Ministry, Lifepath Christian Ministry outreach, and any other effort that we as a church are called to serve.  We may even look to group outreaches such as Scouting, Alcoholics Anonymous, or any other community-based group that may benefit from the use of our facilities.

And lastly, we will have a Samaria focus which will include “the ends of the earth,” where will begin to support ministries and programs outside of our community or state.  This will include missionaries where we are planning on developing very intentional strategies to support those called to serve throughout the world through our prayers and financial support.  We want to consider any past efforts that may still be in place or that you feel need to be considered as I recognize that there has been past support for Compassion children.  

One big difference that I would like to strive for is that our entire missions’ program is something that is focused on church-wide and led from the Missions Team perspective.  I know this has been done in the past largely by individual groups and Sunday School classes, which is great, but I am hoping that we can extend our reach by now focusing on it on a church-wide basis.  I will be recommending to the Missions and Finance team that we emphasize a specific offering where gifts can be given specifically for the use of missions on a regular basis.  I look forward to the day where our praise and worship is complimented by the voices of those around the world that we can extend our outreach to!  I am thankful that Susan has a passion to lead this team and this effort on behalf of Yorkshire Church.  This will not happen overnight, but with your prayers and support, Yorkshire Missions will grow to whatever God has in store for us!

As always, I invite your input and feedback.  Our leadership and I serve you, the church; this is our calling.  Your voice is important to me; your ideas, suggestions, and input is critical.  It is with great thanks for you that I write this communication. It is an honor to be a part of this great fellowship!

Have a great and blessed day.

-pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org