6 January 2021
Greetings to you 2021 style!
Isn’t it great to know that 2020 is now behind us, and we are in 2021! It just felt great to say “see ya later” to a year that was probably one of the most challenging ones for all of us. And now, we can look forward to the New Year, which will probably look, well, maybe, sort of the same for a while yet. I don’t know about you, but it seems that each glimmer of hope also comes with some level of additional setback. Not sure if it 3 steps forward, 2 steps back, or 2 steps forward and 3 steps back. For 9 or 10 months, it seemed we were hopeful that a vaccine would solve our dilemma, cure our ills, and eradicate the “virus.” But now, we have a vaccine, and guess what, the glimmer of hope is again clouded with doubts of efficacy, rollout capability, and the challenge of new strains. My “go-to” response to all of this in the news media cycle has become a consistent, “Really?”
Well, we want to start off the New Year on a positive foot, so my intent of the opening paragraph is certainly not doom and gloom. It is to set a simple tone that we cannot count on humanity to provide us with good news and we certainly can’t trust what we see or hear represented by a media that is more about sensationalism than simply reporting the news. When I was growing up, I heard somewhere in school that a reporter’s job was to simply report what had happened, or to inform of what was going to happen. News was just that, news and there were specific forms of media that one could purchase that presented opinion and sensational story lines that were known to present partial truths spun to gain a response, which could most often be found in the grocery store checkout aisles – I think we called them “rags.” But what used to be used for entertainment is now what we term mainstream, and when reading or hearing such information, the greatest challenge is in discerning what is true and what is false.
Maybe there is a silver lining in all of this. In a world where truth is difficult to understand, and so much is, well, at least a challenge to believe, we know that the Bible is a place that only Truth can be found. We know from John 1:1 that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (New International Version). We know that the Word is truth. We may also speculate the words of the apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy where he is teaching him the importance of sound teaching or the work of an evangelist. He warns Timothy;
3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers tosay what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. -2 Timothy 4:3-4
So, in the midst of the world in which we, as Yorkshire Church find ourselves, one of the great things we can do is to continue to focus on the Word of God through our worship, our studies, our prayers, and our witness to all of those we come in contact with. When times are difficult, the church needs to be a beacon of hope for those who do not yet know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Regardless of the limitations that are in place for our ministries, we need to see them as hurdles and not barriers. There is still an objective to be sought and a race to be won. (Check out 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Galatians 5:7, Philippians 2:16; 3:14, Hebrews 12:1, and 2 Timothy 4:7)
Ok, so now for some information. We are currently working to understand how to best handle prayer requests during our times of worship. In the past, we might pray for our neighbor, “John Smith,” and never think anything about it. Praying for a neighbor is a good thing. But, now that we live stream our worship, when we pray for “John Smith” and note a condition that we are praying for, we may be violating his/her rights. Since we now have an infinite and unknown audience, we need to be careful what we “publish.” You may request prayer for “John Smith,” but only hear the name “John.” You may list a prayer for a “Covid” diagnosis, yet hear a prayer for “a health situation.” This is not to undermine any request and please know that as a staff, we will pray for the specific requests that are received by name and specific condition request. This is simply to protect those that we are praying for as there are very specific laws about the divulgence of personal information without a person’s consent.
On an exciting note, we WILL begin a new 6 week Sunday School series THIS Sunday during the 10AM hour, “Goliath Must Fall.” This will be live streamed, as well!
In Goliath Must Fall, Pastor Louie Giglio examines the story of David and Goliath to reveal how we must slay the giants of fear, rejection, complacency, anxiety, anger, and addiction in our lives. In this six-session video study, he shows how the key to living free from our giants is not better slingshot accuracy, but keeping our eyes on the one and only giant-slayer: Jesus. Put your hope in him, and watch Goliath fall.
And last but not least, I want to thank everyone who has made our Children’s Church time during the 9AM worship so special for our young ones! Special thanks to Lexy Morrow, Kristin Berman, and Julie Mann for your dedication to this special time. It is exciting on Sunday mornings to see the enthusiasm of the children as they head to Children’s Church! I also want to take this time to ask the church to pray about the need for a volunteer to lead this time with the children on the 4th Sunday of each month. We are one person short to meet our ministry goals in this area- but of course two or three would be welcome, as well. Please pray about this to discern if this is an area that you are being called to serve those within our fellowship!
I again thank each and every one of you for your role in the fellowship of Yorkshire Church. I am honored to serve and participate in this fellowship as God is using us “for a time such as this.”
Peace and Blessings!
– pastor dave.
dkominsky@susumc.org
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