PassWord
September 15, 2017
Dear PassWord People,
Looks to be a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Miss Olivia, my neighbor, Skip Clave’s beautiful calico cat was just sitting in one of Skip’s upstairs windows and she heartily agrees. 58 degrees in my backyard this morning. Is this fall? For real?
Despite the beautiful day, I am grumpy. My home computer crashed on Monday. One moment it is working and the next it is not. I take it to a store to hopefully be revived and of course, they plug it in and it works like it is brand new. I bring it home and it works for maybe 5 minutes and it goes down again. And despite numerous attempts, I have been unable to revive it for more than a few minutes at a time. In truth, I knew this was coming – my computer has been slowing down, doing awkward things, not totally himself for awhile. And while part of me thinks, “Does this have to happen now?”, there really is no good day for your computer to crash and I suppose Monday was as good of day as any other.
The saving grace in all this is that most of my documents were backed up. The bad thing is that I didn’t back up my mail, because I have an inordinate amount of mail. My email is like the journal of my life – and so I keep literally thousands of emails on my computers. It is true that I really don’t need to keep track of what sales A.C. Moore was offering in 2010 (which is how old my home computer was) but I have never developed a system to separate the junk from the good stuff.
Tuesday, I ordered a new computer and they said it would be there on Wednesday. But Wednesday they didn’t call and so Thursday I called them and they told me my order was in New Mexico. I threw a hissy fit over the phone and they set to work finding that computer at another store. That was supposed to be in yesterday afternoon – but it wasn’t. All the grace that I preach simply drains out of me in the face of incompetency. There is no excuse for this and I won’t even try to defend it – my grumpiness is as much about my own sinfulness as it is about the lack of a home computer.
What the young man at the store did tell me though, was that if my new computer ever gets here that they can take all my old stuff off the old computer and put it on the new. I don’t know about this. I don’t know if I want all that old stuff to clog up my brand new computer. I want the old stuff – need the old stuff – like my doctoral dissertation, but I am not sure if it is a good idea to burden the new computer with 50,000 emails. Especially those from A.C. Moore, Panera Bread, and Karns.
I am sitting here wondering how people did life 40 years ago before email and the internet, when the sole means of communication, at least for a church, was a weekly church bulletin or the monthly newsletter. Telephones! People used telephones. And maybe they went outside and actually talked to their neighbors, met people at the mailbox. And maybe people wrote letters, real letters made of paper and ink, that lasted forever, unlike hard drives. Perhaps they even knocked on each other’s doors and sat and had a cup of coffee together. Shaking my head here. Because for all the communication I do – and I do a lot – sometimes it feels like 21st century life is very isolated. And I don’t like it. It feels somedays like I am sending things at you – but not sitting down with you. And there is a big difference.
Sunday we talk about doing life together, about how we neither live nor die to ourselves, but are to take into consideration others who may be different from us and have different ideas from us. And of course, you can’t do any of that without talking to people, being with people, and getting to know each other. Come Sunday as we explore, “We Do Not Live To Ourselves”.
Announcements:
Our community meal for September will be on the 25th. The menu will be Roast Turkey, Filling, Whipped Potatoes, Veg and Desserts. This is usually a well attended meal, so we will need plenty of your delicious desserts. Help is needed to serve and clean up. Normal time for serving to begin is 4:30 PM. To help serve contact Sandy Robbins.
Coming Sunday, October 22 at 9:15. This Changed Everything. “2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. On October 31, 1517, an obscure German monk named Martin Luther published 95 theses for debate in Wittenberg, Germany. Little did he know that this act would ignite a revolution that would reshape the Christian church and change Western civilization forever.” Meeting for 14 weeks, this class will provide opportunity for discussion of both history and faith.
Volunteers help is needed for the Interfaith Thrift Store in downtown Middletown:
Volunteers are needed for the weeks of Sept 18, Nov. 13 and Jan. 2, (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday). The hours are 10:A.M. – 12:30 P.M. and/or 12:30 P.M. – 3P.M. Volunteer duties include bagging the merchandise and possibly helping to tidy-up the racks of clothing.
Sign-up sheets will be in the Narthex or contact Phyllis Sauerwine at 717-944-6989 or Jennifer Dimeler at 717-433-8045.
Calendar:
Sunday, September 17. Worship at 8:00 and 10:30. Romans 14:1-12 “We Do Not Live to Ourselves” Sunday School classes have resumed. They meet at 9:15.
Frog Pond today for all elementary students during the 10:30 service. Come to worship and you will be dismissed to Frog Pond early in the service.
Wednesday, September 20. WNL 5:30 A new season has begun! All welcome! See announcement above.
Thursday, September 21. 6:00 pm Pasta & Prayer.
Thursday, September 21. 6:00-8:00 Sunshiners. For people with special needs, the Sunshiners provide spiritual nourishment in fellowship with others.
Thursday, September 21. 11:30. Welcome to a new season of Senior's Alive.
Monday, September 25. 4:30. Monthly Dinner. Turkey is on the menu this month. See announcement above.
Saturday, October 7. 8:00. Men's Breakfast
Monday/Tuesday, October 16, 17. 3DM Conference. Tickets available for half price. More information on forming missional communities is coming. See Pastor Kim if interested.
Prayer Requests:
Jerry Marx, Penn State Rehab
Victims of hurricanes and those whose lives have been disrupted.
Enough. Maybe the best thing to do this weekend is to try to get to know our neighbors. Go borrow a cup of sugar, pet their dog, pull their weeds, invite them over for a cup of tea. We can’t understand them till we know them – and they us.
Blessings,
Pastor Kim
Dear PassWord People,
Looks to be a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Miss Olivia, my neighbor, Skip Clave’s beautiful calico cat was just sitting in one of Skip’s upstairs windows and she heartily agrees. 58 degrees in my backyard this morning. Is this fall? For real?
Despite the beautiful day, I am grumpy. My home computer crashed on Monday. One moment it is working and the next it is not. I take it to a store to hopefully be revived and of course, they plug it in and it works like it is brand new. I bring it home and it works for maybe 5 minutes and it goes down again. And despite numerous attempts, I have been unable to revive it for more than a few minutes at a time. In truth, I knew this was coming – my computer has been slowing down, doing awkward things, not totally himself for awhile. And while part of me thinks, “Does this have to happen now?”, there really is no good day for your computer to crash and I suppose Monday was as good of day as any other.
The saving grace in all this is that most of my documents were backed up. The bad thing is that I didn’t back up my mail, because I have an inordinate amount of mail. My email is like the journal of my life – and so I keep literally thousands of emails on my computers. It is true that I really don’t need to keep track of what sales A.C. Moore was offering in 2010 (which is how old my home computer was) but I have never developed a system to separate the junk from the good stuff.
Tuesday, I ordered a new computer and they said it would be there on Wednesday. But Wednesday they didn’t call and so Thursday I called them and they told me my order was in New Mexico. I threw a hissy fit over the phone and they set to work finding that computer at another store. That was supposed to be in yesterday afternoon – but it wasn’t. All the grace that I preach simply drains out of me in the face of incompetency. There is no excuse for this and I won’t even try to defend it – my grumpiness is as much about my own sinfulness as it is about the lack of a home computer.
What the young man at the store did tell me though, was that if my new computer ever gets here that they can take all my old stuff off the old computer and put it on the new. I don’t know about this. I don’t know if I want all that old stuff to clog up my brand new computer. I want the old stuff – need the old stuff – like my doctoral dissertation, but I am not sure if it is a good idea to burden the new computer with 50,000 emails. Especially those from A.C. Moore, Panera Bread, and Karns.
I am sitting here wondering how people did life 40 years ago before email and the internet, when the sole means of communication, at least for a church, was a weekly church bulletin or the monthly newsletter. Telephones! People used telephones. And maybe they went outside and actually talked to their neighbors, met people at the mailbox. And maybe people wrote letters, real letters made of paper and ink, that lasted forever, unlike hard drives. Perhaps they even knocked on each other’s doors and sat and had a cup of coffee together. Shaking my head here. Because for all the communication I do – and I do a lot – sometimes it feels like 21st century life is very isolated. And I don’t like it. It feels somedays like I am sending things at you – but not sitting down with you. And there is a big difference.
Sunday we talk about doing life together, about how we neither live nor die to ourselves, but are to take into consideration others who may be different from us and have different ideas from us. And of course, you can’t do any of that without talking to people, being with people, and getting to know each other. Come Sunday as we explore, “We Do Not Live To Ourselves”.
Announcements:
Our community meal for September will be on the 25th. The menu will be Roast Turkey, Filling, Whipped Potatoes, Veg and Desserts. This is usually a well attended meal, so we will need plenty of your delicious desserts. Help is needed to serve and clean up. Normal time for serving to begin is 4:30 PM. To help serve contact Sandy Robbins.
Coming Sunday, October 22 at 9:15. This Changed Everything. “2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. On October 31, 1517, an obscure German monk named Martin Luther published 95 theses for debate in Wittenberg, Germany. Little did he know that this act would ignite a revolution that would reshape the Christian church and change Western civilization forever.” Meeting for 14 weeks, this class will provide opportunity for discussion of both history and faith.
Volunteers help is needed for the Interfaith Thrift Store in downtown Middletown:
Volunteers are needed for the weeks of Sept 18, Nov. 13 and Jan. 2, (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday). The hours are 10:A.M. – 12:30 P.M. and/or 12:30 P.M. – 3P.M. Volunteer duties include bagging the merchandise and possibly helping to tidy-up the racks of clothing.
Sign-up sheets will be in the Narthex or contact Phyllis Sauerwine at 717-944-6989 or Jennifer Dimeler at 717-433-8045.
Calendar:
Sunday, September 17. Worship at 8:00 and 10:30. Romans 14:1-12 “We Do Not Live to Ourselves” Sunday School classes have resumed. They meet at 9:15.
Frog Pond today for all elementary students during the 10:30 service. Come to worship and you will be dismissed to Frog Pond early in the service.
Wednesday, September 20. WNL 5:30 A new season has begun! All welcome! See announcement above.
Thursday, September 21. 6:00 pm Pasta & Prayer.
Thursday, September 21. 6:00-8:00 Sunshiners. For people with special needs, the Sunshiners provide spiritual nourishment in fellowship with others.
Thursday, September 21. 11:30. Welcome to a new season of Senior's Alive.
Monday, September 25. 4:30. Monthly Dinner. Turkey is on the menu this month. See announcement above.
Saturday, October 7. 8:00. Men's Breakfast
Monday/Tuesday, October 16, 17. 3DM Conference. Tickets available for half price. More information on forming missional communities is coming. See Pastor Kim if interested.
Prayer Requests:
Jerry Marx, Penn State Rehab
Victims of hurricanes and those whose lives have been disrupted.
Enough. Maybe the best thing to do this weekend is to try to get to know our neighbors. Go borrow a cup of sugar, pet their dog, pull their weeds, invite them over for a cup of tea. We can’t understand them till we know them – and they us.
Blessings,
Pastor Kim