10 September 2021 Good Day Yorkshire!
I am looking forward to this Sunday (12 Sep) and our Rally Day celebration. A reminder to everyone is that we only have one worship service at 10AM. This allows both services to combine and enjoy fellowship with one another. Following the service will be our outdoor Rally Day festivities. This will include the “official” ribbon cutting of our new preschool playground. The Joyful Noise children had opportunities this past week to check it out and we received rave reviews from them! I asked one little girl in the 4-year-old class how she liked the new playground. Her answer was, “I really liked it. There was a see-saw in there and I see-sawed, and see-sawed, and there was another see-saw in there, too. But I just see-sawed and see-sawed on the same one.” And then she jumped up in the air. I took that as a positive!
There will be games, a bounce house, a dunk tank, as well as great music performed by Steven Courtney at 11:15 and then Steven Courtney and His Band of Friends at 1PM. And, of course food trucks! Our preschool families, scouting groups and community have all been invited so we will have a great opportunity for fellowship with many who have a connection to Yorkshire Church!
The fellowship resulting from the festivities of Rally Day provide an important aspect of the church. In the Old Testament, festivals were held for all sorts of things, but were always done to commemorate the start or the completion of an event or time period (i.e.: the harvest). For Yorkshire, Rally Day is a kick-off and celebration of our new season of learning. It is a time where we prepare to begin and commit to Christian Education, or what we call Sunday School. The education team has been working to layout a new schedule and system of learning where instead of simply having Sunday School groups, we have a curriculum-based education program that allows our folks to find classes and content that meets their particular needs and interests for where they are on their faith journey. In theory, as our programs mature, we will have an education path for those who are new to their faith or interested in the basics of the Bible. We will also have a path for those that would like to dig deeper into the Word. We will have classes that involve open discussion forums as well as classes that will be lecture type learning opportunities. Beginning on Sunday, the 19th, we will be offering four adult Sunday School offerings, a Youth class, and two children’s classes. You can see a description of each class in the announcements. It is our hope that as the content of the class changes, that you will try different classes and different teachers which will also help us get to know a wider variety of our fellowship through the learning process.
In addition to Sunday School programming, the Women’s and Men’s fellowship groups will be starting new studies. The women’s group will be studying Scarlet Hiltibidal’s study entitled “Anxious”. To say that we live in anxious times might be a huge understatement. I am excited to see how this study not only provides great content, but more importantly an opportunity for our women to fellowship together with one another. The women’s group meets Monday nights at 6:30 beginning this Monday, September 13th.
The men’s fellowship will be studying David Platt’s “Something Needs to Change,” which is a challenge to us as to how we might make a difference, and why we should. The study is done in a video format using amazing cinematography of a trip through the Himalayas. As Christians, we are called to action. This study won’t tell
us what we should do, but will strive to open our hearts and bring us together as we begin to understand how God may use us to make a difference in the world. This group meets Wednesdays on the sixes- 6AM and 6PM, beginning on September 22nd. This is also a great opportunity for the fellowship of our men. We grow stronger together.
Now is a time for the church to grow stronger. I don’t need to get into just how weird the world is getting. I am not going to do a sermon series on end times or the prospect of them being today, tomorrow or even in a thousand years- that is God’s call. But we are certainly seeing a divisive energy permeating just about all aspects of our life. We are experiencing limitations and restrictions on our activities unlike anything that we have seen in our lifetime before. My focus and word to the church is not about which element of what you are hearing may actually be based on truth. What troubles me is the apparent lack of objective truth in what we are hearing. I am not going to tell anyone what they should or should not believe as to what comes across our media and news cycles. What I may have believed a few weeks ago is now different than what was presented yesterday and will probably be different again tomorrow. The only consistent in our world today is inconsistency. It is, quite frankly, difficult to know what to trust.
We, as Christians, are called upon in times like this to represent what we know as absolute truth, and that is the Truth of Gospel of Jesus Christ. As we have studied the lives of many of those in the early church, John, Peter, Stephen, Philip, and Paul, we don’t see them out speaking about the issues of the day or the differences that they had with the government. I am sure in their own circles, they vented out frustrations with one another, but when it came time to witness, their emphasis was on Jesus and the Kingdom of God. They knew the scriptures and they shared what they knew. They understood who they were talking to, were creative in their approach, and were persistent to those who showed an interest. They lived with a faith in God, and not faith in the world.
If we want to have faith in the Word, we need to be in the Word. It may not be in memorizing scripture passages in in being able to recite the books of the Bible, but simply in gaining an understanding of the Biblical story of Jesus Christ. This is why I feel the element of Christian Education in the church is of critical importance.
In regards to our time in fellowship, we will continue to leave the choice of wearing masks up to each person and respecting one another for their decision. Some feel more comfortable wearing masks and some would prefer not to. In each case, we honor each other through our love for one another. We are all in this together. As far as Pastor Megan and I, we appreciate each of you that enjoys a good handshake or a hug and these are the things that make our relationship special. But, because we interact with over 100 people on Sunday mornings alone, we feel that it is best if our affections are shared from a moderate distance. Please do not view this as our disinterest in this type of interaction. Its just a simple way for us to honor and respect each person that we interact with and support their concerns as we navigate these times. Yes, we want to share and speak with everyone and we will. We just ask you to understand that the fact that we are not reaching out to shake hands or hug is not a lack of our desire to do so! We can’t wait to return to a day where such gestures are the norm! These are challenging times in which we live. “When you surrender your life to God, fear’s grip over you begins to fade.” -Denzel Washington.
When the world is living in the darkness of fear, it is an opportunity for God’s Church to shine His light.
Peace and blessings, -pastor dave.
dkominsky@susumc.org
125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org
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