On the (Crop Walk) Journey Together

On Sunday members of PCMK gathered with dozens of other Christians from churches in our part of the county.  At least two other Presbyterian Churches were represented.  As you can see from the pictures, we had a great group of young and not so young members (who's the bald guy in the picture?) from PCMK.
It was the annual CROP walk where we raise sponsorship and walk to support hunger relief around the world through Church World Service.  Lami Adebayo says we raised over $1000 from our PCMK family. Once again you make me proud to be your pastor.
The walk was in the beautiful Pound Ridge Reservation on a glorious late fall afternoon.  The sun was shining and the temperature was moderate until the sun hid behind a cloud.  We walked roughly a mile until we reached a creek, took pictures and started back.  The event was over before you knew it and I found myself wanting to keep on walking.
What made the time (and miles) go by so quickly was the company on the journey.  For a while I talked to a pastor from another church, and then we both realized we wanted to join our people.  Then I talked to several members of our church family and even sang along with the kids who were fresh from children's choir rehearsal at church.  They sang, "Praise, praise, praise the Lord; praise God's holy name hallelujah!" in both English and French).
The afternoon was the perfect example of our Stewardship Theme for 2014, On the Journey Together.  We were literally on a little journey together, but more important was the common goal and the bond in Christ that we shared.
Over the next few Sundays we will look at some of the great journeys of Scripture and see how they can inspire us for our journey together into the future God has for us at PCMK.
See you in Church.

Pumpkins and hot dogs

Sunday evening was the perfect Autumn event.  It was our annual? youth group bonfire at the Lucas' family farm.  Over 20 youth showed up to carve pumpkins, roast hot dogs and veggies and make smores (of course).  The end of the evening is always the fun of hide and seek in the dark.  And it is certainly getting darker earlier these days.

Sarah Lucas is doing such a fine job with our young people.  From Sunday morning youth group, to bonfires, to mission trips; she is there building relationships with and among our kids.  It is so great to see them having so much fun together.  As a pastor, I enjoy the opportunity to let my hair down (what hair?) and carve pumpkins and make smores.  We are blessed to have so many youth in our church and we are blessed to have Sarah.  Many thanks to the parents who help make youth group happen at PCMK.

Raising Good Kids is what youth group is about and it is what we have been talking about in our parenting series on Sunday mornings.  On this past Sunday we focused on the unique challenges of raising teenagers.  This coming Sunday we will learn how to have a toolbox of effective parenting techniques.  Not all methods work for all families in all situations, so we need to have options.

No matter whether you have kids or not, we encourage everyone to attend this last class after church and join in our shared task of "Raising Good Kids."

See you in church,
Pastor Dale

Raising Good Kids - Session 2

What are Sundays For?

The picture with this blog should tell you what Sundays are for.  They are for worship (which we covered in the sermon on Sunday) and Sundays are for relaxation, friends and family.  On Sunday after worship the Southorns and the Flanagans and Maxine Gaddis got together for lunch and a walk.  We headed to the bridge over the Croton Reservoir which is beautiful any time of year, but with all the fall colors the scenery was breathtaking.

Little Terence is growing up quickly.  Growing is also what Sundays are for.  As Christians we should all be growing in our faith.  That growth can take on different forms.  For some it means getting more involved in social justice and mission outreach.  For others it means more time in the classic practices of Bible study and prayer.  For others it is contributing to the life of our church through serving on committees, or teaching Sunday School, or singing (or ringing) in a choir.  There are so many ways to grow in our faith here at PCMK.  For me, one of the things that’s keeping me growing and excited about my faith is all the children in our church.  Like Terence they will all grow so fast, it’s up to us to “raise good kids” together.  Speaking of which, there is a class on just that topic this Sunday after church.

So see you in church, or out on the trail.  Either way we are on the journey together.

Pastor Dale

Raising Good Kids

Sunday was the first of our three-week series on parenting.  Our guest speaker was Edna Venterola (love that name!), and she was engaging, informative and facilitated a lively discussion.  Kathy Anderson shared some insights on how to take Christian education into the home.

We all realized that 'raising good kids' is a team effort.  We all agreed that a faith community has an important role in imparting values into a child's life.  Where else can a child have dozens of adults who take a vow to pray and care for them as they grow through high school and beyond?

One simple truth we came away with was how important it is to come to church.  If parents make regular church attendance a priority then several good things will happen.  The child will be in church!  The child will see that faith is important (even more important that sports or sleeping in!).  The child will be less inclined to resist going to church when that issue starts to come up for many other families with teenagers.

Speaking of teenagers, our second speaker on October 20th will focus on "This Too Shall Pass" (surviving the teenage years).

This class is not just for parents.  The entire church family is welcome as there is something we can all learn about raising good kids here at PCMK.

Bell Towers: Chicago and Mount Kisco

I just returned from a class at McCormick Seminary in Chicago.  The class focused on pastoral leadership and I learned a lot.  One of the assignments was to write a personal mission statement for my vocation as a pastor.  All I could think of was our wonderful PCMK mission statement.  With a little fine tuning to make it personal, it is my mission statement as well.  During the month of October I plan to preach four sermons on the themes and core values addressed in our mission statement.

We print it on the front of our bulletin, but in case you haven't read it lately, here it is.

Seeking Light for the Journey, we come together to
worship God, nurture faith, pursue social justice and
share love in the name of Jesus Christ.

While in Chicago we got to visit our daughter Debbie who lives on North Lincoln Ave in the Lincoln Park area.  At the end of her block is this beautiful church.  I took this picture of the impressive steeple and bell tower.  But when I got home I found Fred and Terry working on our own bell tower.  It is not as tall, but when those bells ring out I feel blessed to be your pastor.  That's two blessings a day (noon and 6pm) and three times on Sunday!

See you in church (the bell rings at 10:00 AM!).

Pastor Dale