10 March 2022
Good Day Yorkshire!
It is a great day to be a part of the Yorkshire Fellowship! There are many exciting things in the works for our church!
I am looking forward to our Easter Egg hunt scheduled for April 9th from 10AM to 1PM. Thank you to everyone who is involved in the planning and design of this event. You will be seeing more information on this event in the announcements and in the church, but I want to share how I see the benefits of such an event. First, it is fun for our children. It is fun for the children in our community. It is a positive event for families to participate in. It is an enjoyable time to fellowship with our church family and meet those in our community who venture onto our grounds. Second, it is an opportunity for us to share who we are with those in our community. To many, we are a formal-looking, red-brick, colonial church with a tall steeple. For some, this is attractive, for others, it represents a religious formality that doesn’t effectively represent the times. It might represent a viable alternative for those that want to hold on to the religious traditions they grew up with; for others it might be an escape from sitting in a large auditorium with a thousand or more people. Some may drive by and think we all wear dark suits, long dresses and top hats like some Puritan religious faction and sit quietly in the pews while some preacher-man drones on in two-hour lectionary sermons.
But the truth is, that regardless of perceptions driven by the red bricks and tall spire above, Yorkshire is an awesome group of wonderful folks that represent all walks of life and have fun when we gather for worship. (No comments about the preacher droning on…). We don’t fit any one specific church stereotype, but represent the people in our community very well. When our church gathers for events such as the Easter Egg Hunt (Rally Day, Trunk or Treat, etc.) we provide a clear vision of what it means to be a church. And we have heard this from those in our community that attended any of our functions. Jesus said that we are to “Love one another.
As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35). When we read that in the scriptures, it comes across as a very formal command, but the reality of it is that when we, as a church, gather together in view of our community, it is something that they can witness in a very informal way. It can very quickly change the formal view of “Christianity” that many in the worldtoday hold. We want folks to know that this is a very comfortable, and welcome
place to seek God and develop a relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a place where people can be themselves, feel open to share, and find the value of special interpersonal relationships (See Acts 2:42-47).
We came into an impromptu opportunity for this Sunday, March 13th to share with our community as we host the York County Junior Honors Choir for their first post-Covid concert appearance. The pandemic has made it very difficult on groups such as this and the YCJHC is no exception. This group of 7th to 9th graders have worked very hard to put together an incredible musical program. At 3PM, they will debut their 2022 performance at Yorkshire Church and our entire fellowship is invited to attend! This is a no-charge event, although it is customary for a free-will offering to be taken during their events – which goes to the benefit of the Honors Choir programming. This is an event that I am very excited about as our own Thomas Wakeland is a member- although now singing in the Senior Honors Choir, and it was a program that brought great benefits to our daughter Grace during her High School years. The Junior Honors Choir is comprised of 29 members this year, so it will be a blessing to honor them and their families for their performance – hope to see you there!
Stay tuned for the scheduling of a Yorkshire Church Townhall meeting in the very near future. As I have mentioned in previous correspondence, we are finalizing our repair and restoration plans for the Fellowship Hall which may include accessibility improvements. As we make our final decisions, we want to hear your voice and thoughts on the options available to us. There will be opportunities for significant investments in our facility, but we want to ensure that our final decision represents the will of the church, and that is you. The timing of these investments is coming at a time where all of us are being faced with higher costs in our cost-of- living expenses, so prayerful consideration for all that we do is imperative.
As I close this week’s What’s Brewing dialog, I just want to respond to many inquiries and questions that I receive regarding how we are praying and participating in the events that are occurring in the Ukraine. The events in that nation are of great concern; one that is close to home for our church as we currently have two Ukrainian students in our Joyful Noise Christian Preschool. Absolutely wonderful children. Our response as Christians is to pray for the overall situation and seek any means that we can to bring aid to those in need. We must also pray for the revelation of God’s sovereignty to those who are in the midst of difficulty; that His peace be made known so that even in their tribulation, they may have Hope in His salvation and His restoration.
We must also remember that there are many other parts of the world where these very same types of persecution are being suffered by God’s people, often in the midst of conflict that is not only the result of corrupt governmental power, but directly targeted to individuals because of their faith in God, and acceptance of Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. With so much turmoil in the world, both historically and currently, we can be reminded of why Christ gave us the Great Commission to make disciples, to share His Word, to proclaim the Peace only available through a relationship with Him. In John 16:33 He says this, “ “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
What we can be thankful for is the Joy that we have in Christ and the opportunity we have to be in relationship with the Sovereign God of all of Creation. We can be thankful for the church family and community that He has blessed each of us with at Yorkshire Church. And lastly, we can share these blessings with those around us who may not know that God, through his Son Jesus, wants to have a relationship with them!
Peace and Blessings! -pastor dave. dkominsky@susumc.org
125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 • www.yorkshirechurch.org
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