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 1st. 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 2nd, 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 11th– 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.
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