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

2 September 2021 Greetings and Happy September!
It has been a few weeks since our last What’s Brewing and there is a great deal to catch up on! It is certainly a

busy time at Yorkshire Church.

It is great to see our choir together again! They had their first practice last Thursday evening in the Sanctuary and a great time of fellowship was enjoyed by all. Jackie Linsey and Beth Gross are filling both the directing and accompanying role to get things going as we continue to look for the right folks to fill our music department positions. The choir will practice every Thursday night from 6:30-7:30 with their first performance to be on Sunday, September 19th at the second service. If you would like to sing in the choir, all are welcome. As a note, the choir will be practicing in the sanctuary and performances will be done from the floor of the sanctuary to eliminate any need to navigate steps in order to participate. Robes will not be worn so there will be no need to go down stairs to prepare for Sunday worship. We just want to be sure that all that would like to share in this ministry and fellowship time are able to do so! This is exciting news!

I am also looking forward to Rally Day which will be held next Sunday, September 12th. We will have one service at 10AM which will follow the first service format as both organists will be enjoying some time off. Then the Rally Day festivities begin at 11:00AM which will include an official opening of our new Preschool playground that was completed as an Eagle Scout project. Our local Representative Keith Gillespie will be on hand to help us cut the ribbon! Steven Courtney and his band will be bringing great family entertainment with performances at 11:15 and 1PM. Bring your appetites as there will be food trucks on site with plenty of food and desserts! And, if that is not enough, you can also enjoy activities such as a bounce house, games, and even a dunk tank. I am so thankful and appreciative for the work and effort that Rick Focht and his team have put into the planning for this event to celebrate the kickoff of our new Sunday School programs and provide a wonderful community event to our church fellowship and our community neighbors! See you there!

A few weeks ago, we needed some additional support from the church to help empty the office next to Alison’s office so that it could be converted into an office for the preschool which now has a staff of five. A call was put out to the church for volunteers and what a great turnout we had! Over 20 folks showed up at 8AM on a Saturday morning which allowed us to complete the project in under an hour! Thanks to the team shown below for this incredible effort. I might even suggest that a great time was had by all!

(Suzanne Robertson is hiding behind Tiffany Ivie!)

In other news, our recent weather has provided us with some significant challenges in our facility. As of yesterday, our fellowship hall has now flooded three times since the writing of the last What’s Brewing (Aug 12th). The first one was a relatively small event with small puddles in front of the stage and left front wall. But the next event brought wall-to-wall water and the element of mud into the room and Pastor Megan’s office. Due to the extent of the damage, we filed a claim with our insurance company and a restoration company was hired to dry out the rooms, which included the removal of a significant amount of water from not only the rooms, but under the stage. Part of the walls were removed as they were damaged and a significant amount of black mold was discovered. As of this writing, the entire floor will need to be replaced because outside ground water comes with various bacterial elements, causing much of the floor to delaminate. It is apparent that flooding in the fellowship hall is not a new occurrence. But this has rendered our fellowship hall out of commission until the work is completed.

Steve Spangler and Josh Strange have been working hard to identify root causes for our flooding issues. Window wells have been evaluated, drains cleared and cleaned out, and contractors have been brought in to assess and quote on reparations. But this week brought a visit from Ida. And we flooded again. Although rods and staffs were raised and arms were spread, we could not stop nor part the waters around the church. But we were able to witness first hand the avenues of approach that the water was using to come into our facility. It gave us first hand validation that we have some significant issues with water drainage from the outside of our facility. Just as new doors have eliminated the entry of our long-tailed furry friends, we will do what it takes to eliminate the entry of unwanted water into our facility.

Through this process, we have discovered that our rain gutters need attention and replacing, our outside drainage is not working properly and our open-deep seated window wells are a concern. We have also identified that our window well drains are constantly being blocked by Oak leaves. Why do we have so many leaves falling in summer? Well, inspection of this issue has revealed that all of our large Oak Trees on the Edgewood Road side of our building are either dead or dying. This is further validated by continuously falling branches, some requiring two people to remove due to their weight. There is a great deal more that I could report on with these events, but I think you get the gist of what is happening here. There will be a great deal of work going on to address all of these issues and eliminate the water problems in our fellowship hall as best as we can. The good news is that we have insurance to address a part of these expenses but that only covers the damage created by the flooding, not the repairs to correct the issues. I will report the expenses as we receive quotations on the necessary work and I am confident in the leadership that we have leading the efforts- Steve Spangler and Josh Strange who will be working closely with our Finance Team leadership Doug Berman and Justin Mann.

Let’s close with some exciting news. Before I write my next What’s Brewing, the Joyful Noise Christian Preschool children will again be filling our halls with joyful noise! About 30 children will benefit from the ministry that our JNCP teachers and staff provide. Each and every day, Christ will be proclaimed in an uplifting and nurturing way to the children of our community. Your prayers and support have made this possibility a reality.

Next week I look forward to sharing some great things that are happening in our ministries, Sunday School programs, and our missional outreach! I am thankful to be a part of the fellowship of Yorkshire Church! Peace and blessings to each of you this day!

-pastor dave.

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