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

3 March 2022 Greetings Yorkshire Churchians!

Lent. Can’t believe we are entering the season of Lent already. But, since we gathered together last evening in fellowship to worship God as part of an Ash Wednesday acknowledgement, I suppose that we have to accept that this year is moving very quickly, and yes, it is actually March.

I have enjoyed our study of Isaiah over the past several weeks. It has served as a great reminder to me that our world has been in seeming chaos forever. As we study of the history of the Israelites, we can see that not only were they constantly turning their backs on God and finding other things to focus their lives on, we also see that world powers were also constantly vying for power. In the history of the Bible, we see constant upheaval in the world, even outside of the Biblical framework of focus. All around the Promised Land vicinity, we see the Persians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Romans consistently at odds with one another – all of which affected God’s people in various ways. But regardless of the happenings around them, it was typically when they took their focus off of God, that they were able to be separated, exiled, and persecuted. This doesn’t mean that their lives weren’t affected by the disruptions around them, but, their most significant difficulties emerged when they took their focus off of God and their love for one another waned.

We live in a world that has many disruptions occurring in it. From pandemics to wars, you can’t deny that we live in a world of chaos. We try to make sense of it, but it is often difficult to discern the difference of what is really happening and what is being portrayed as happening from various news sources. On top of the chaos, we are faced with many factions that want to provide information to us to gain a specific response from us, which simply adds to the confusion in the world. I don’t look to the prophetic passages in scripture to predict what will happen tomorrow or next year, but I have learned from historical repetition of how humanity responds to worldly distractions. As the church, we can benefit from the lessons that God has provided us in the Scriptures. And we can simplify it for discussions like “What’s Brewing.” It is my discernment that during these times, it is important for us to focus on God. It is during these times that our prayers should be for wisdom and discernment. It is during these times that we pray for the marginalized, and those that have no voice, no say in the predicament that they face. Although we may not agree with what we perceive to be happening, we also need to look to God’s sovereignty in recognizing that regardless of what is

happening in the world, He is still in charge.

During the Easter season, we will study and hear scriptures that tell us of
what our Lord Jesus went through during His time here on earth. It wasn’t
pretty. In the end, after He is arrested, a dialog occurs between Pilate and
Jesus which is good to reflect on during times where we question why
leaders are allowed to be where they are today. God’s purposes are not
always clear to us in the present and I am sure Jesus’s followers questioned His comments at the time that He spoke them. (Emphasis in following text mine).

10 “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” (John 19:10-11, NIV).

As I reflect back on Isaiah’s writings to the Israelites in Jerusalem and Judah during a time of great Assyrian oppression – I see that his focus for the people was to repent and turn back to God. Last evening, our service focused on repentance as a means for us to rid ourselves of the things that bog us down and put themselves in the place of God in our hearts. This may be represented in various sins, little or big, or maybe it is simply allowing the noise in the world, the ilk of the media, and the chaos of the world to distract us from our relationship with God. Whatever our primary focus is on, is what we will also reflect to those around us. Our question is, how do we ensure that our reflection is always one that glorifies God?

Now, on to some church happenings! Since my last What’s Brewing, we have hired a Music Director and a Praise and Worship Leader! Steve Fieldhouse has joined our team as the Music Director which includes Choir Director. Steve serves as part of our Praise and Worship team at 9AM worship playing the bass guitar and the saxophone and at 11:15 leading our incredible choir. Through the week you may see Steve in the Joyful Noise Christian Preschool teaching our children different musical lessons, or on Thursday nights directing the choir. Jazzé Palmer has joined our team as our Praise and Worship leader for the 9AM Worship Service and provides his gifts from the piano keyboard and vocals. Jazzé works with our Praise Team on Thursday nights. Thursday nights in the Yorkshire Sanctuary may not be worship in the perspective of a church service, but from the time the choir starts at 6:30 till the praise team concludes at 8:30, there is Joy in that space! Welcome Steve and Jazzé!

Another area of focus for us is in filling the position of Director/Pastor of Youth and Family Ministries. This position is focused on our Youth Ministries as Pastor Megan transitions into her new ministry calling with her husband David in Lititz. The Staff Parish Team has rewritten the job description to include a focus on family and children’s ministry here in the church. This will include working with all of our current youth and children’s ministry volunteers.

We continue to receive quotes on rebuilding our fellowship hall including accessibility improvements. We are finding that pricing for this type of work is experiencing significant increases- even since we began this process last fall. After our first round of proposals, the Trustee leadership decided to seek additional proposals which will give us a solid base of options to ensure that the best decisions are made for our fellowship; weighing the benefits of the investments that will be required. Although we want to do everything that we feel would be best long-term, we want to ensure that we do it in such a way as to not cause financial stress on our fellowship. Step out in faith, yes, but also ensure that we are being wise stewards of all of God’s blessings. But there is work that needs to be done- so our Trustee team will be facing some forthcoming effort to make some key decisions to propose to our church and leadership. Stay tuned!

I am looking forward to celebrating Girl Scout Sunday this week which will be during our 9AM Worship! This is a great group of scouts and leaders and I know that their presence with us in worship will be a blessing!

Blessings to you this day! -pastor dave. dkominsky@susumc.org

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