From the Pastor – Feb. 2024

On January 7th, I was unable to lead worship due to Covid.  Rev. Bill Handy was willing to preach with short notice and did a  fabulous job.  We needed an
ordained person to preach because communion was expected that Sunday.  As you know, to officiate the Sacraments an ordained person is required.  We did have Bill to officiate, but I  neglected to ask someone else to prepare the elements of communion (the bread and juice).  Which is a problem.  Nancy noticed the empty table, worship time rapidly approaching and went into action.  She found the confirmation class, who had recently been trained on how to prepare communion elements.  She handed them bread, juice, plates and the little cups.  Then, she stood back and watched your young people be the church.  They cut little cubes of bread and poured tiny cups of juice like pros!  The sacrament was ready, done correctly and on time.
Complements of your confirmation class youth and a very smart adult.

What I like best about this story, besides that it is true, is that Nancy empowered your young people to do the work rather than doing it herself.  It is an important job, to prepare the elements of worship that remind us of Christ’s work, wholeness , holiness and forgiveness.  And, by welcoming the confirmation class to do it, this great mark of the church has been taken up by another generation.  This is yet another milestone in our journey together.

The annual meeting has now come and gone. It is easy to appreciate the way UPCC does the meeting in general; We gather for worship, we eat a meal together, sharing conversation and then get to work.

In our meeting we are reminded that we have a lot of Things to be proud of as a church.  We have Sunday School for all ages   That is pretty special in a country where the preacher (at 52) would be considered a young guy in most churches.  We do traditional worship well.  We work hard to make our community a better place.  All things that make us proud.

We also have some concerns. Mainline denominations throughout our country continue to decline and close.  This can be scary.  Right sizing our ministry to the size of the help is a continual
challenge.  And, when we remember ministry of yesteryear where people would come in droves, we can get demoralized.

So, how do we chart a course into the future?  Well, that is more than one person can say. And, it’ll take more words than we are allowed in a newsletter, but the fundamentals are these; we worship Christ as the tie that unifies our life together.  We strive for the best quality of care for congregants we have.  Continuing to bring the Gospel to the next generation.

Grace and peace,

James F. Deters