Easter Season

This is Easter Friday already.  I should have written about Easter Sunday earlier, but like the first disciples, I think I walked away from worship a little stunned.  It was an absolutely glorious Easter Day at PCMK (hey that rhymes!).  From the brass prelude, to the liturgical dance with voice, violin and harpsichord; to the hymns and the grand finale, "Hallelujah"--the music was appropriately joyful and worshipful.  The kids loved the hen that laid the Easter eggs and the Scripture lessons from Isaiah and the gospel of John were inspiring.  There is new life because of Easter and we are experiencing it here at PCMK. 
It was my first as pastor of this very alive church, and it was everything I hoped it would be, and more.  I felt perhaps more than at any other time that I was truly worshiping and not worrying about what came next in the service.
Now we take this new life into the 50 day season of Easter and beyond.
See you in church,
Pastor Dale

Children's worship choir - (Photo Credit: Herb Reinke)

Jenna - Liturgical Dance

Marcello - Timpani

Terence with his basket of Easter eggs!

Holy Week is Here

To say this has been a busy month would be an understatement.  But it has all been good.  There have been so many good things happening at PCMK it is hard to take it all in.  Some of the highlights of the month have been:

• Confirmation meetings early Sunday mornings.
• Family fun night playing 'sardines' in the sanctuary.
• Guest preacher, Rick Ufford-Chase (Wow!  If you missed Rick's sermon you can listen to it on our website at pcmk.org, or watch it on our youtube channel: pcmkny)
• Life's Tough Decisions Workshops with professional speakers.
• Beginning of Youth mission shares sales.
• Palm Sunday with children's procession.
• The arrival of spring?!

It is a busy time of year, but Holy Week is the most important part of the church year.  We celebrate with palms, but we also remember the pain of betrayal and crucifixion.  Then we come together to remember that death does not have the last word.  Christ lives!
I hope you are able to join us for Maundy Thursday service and then for Easter.  Sunday, March 31st is going to be a climactic finale for a spiritually full and rewarding month.
See you in church,
Pastor Dale

Getting to Know Each Other

Sunday evening the Youth Mission Team held our first planning meeting.  We met in the home of Jeff and Suzette Kraus (Juliet is coming on the trip).  Their hospitality was wonderful as we had the use of a warm family room and we had great food including sushi! (But what would a youth group meeting be without pizza, so we had some pizza bites). 

A main purpose of the evening was to get ready for the start of our Mission Shares Sales which begin this Sunday, the 17^th.  I know the congregation will get behind these wonderful young people and “invest” in this project.

After the business part of the meeting we played some games to get to know each other better (after all we are going to be living and working together for a week this summer!).  Sarah pulled from her bag of tricks some games that made us cooperate to achieve a goal.  We had some measure of success, and there were lots of laughs along the way.

This is a great group of young people that I am looking forward to getting to know better.  A Mission trip can be a time to grow closer to God as we serve others.  It can also be a time to grow closer to one another, and to that end we are off to a great start!

See you in church,

Pastor Dale

Lent on the Homestretch

We are past the halfway point through Lent, and that is a good feeling.  There is much that I enjoy about Lent—I try to enjoy the spiritual journey.  But the destination is what it is all about.  The Lenten journey takes us to Easter, and boy am I ready for Easter this year.  Part of it may be that I am ready for spring, as I am sure you are.  Even skiers would admit we are due for spring (spring skiing can be some of the best).  As I write this we are enjoying another blast of winter with almost a foot of snow.  I returned home from a meeting last evening and for the fourth time this winter I could not get up the driveway to the manse.  I had to park the car and walk through the church building.  But that was a nice detour because I saw Terry and Lisa Flanagan wrapping things up in the sanctuary after choir practice.  I always enjoy seeing these good friends and colleagues in ministry.  They always are pleasant with a ready smile.  And we always have something to talk about--Terry and I have our ministry in common, and Lisa always keeps me up to date on the hockey scores (go Penguins).

So just some random thoughts as I wrap up another week of Lent on the journey towards Easter.

See you in church,

Pastor Dale

Spring Training at PCMK

Spring training has opened for baseball, which is always an encouraging sign that spring is coming.  Over the weekend we held spring (or late winter) training camp for our newly elected church leaders.  In January the congregation elected new elders, deacons and trustees, and on Saturday morning we met to review some of the history, theology and organization of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the uniqueness of PCMK.  I was impressed with this group that represented long term members, new members and even two youth deacons (who got up early on a Saturday!).  I was also impressed once again with our church mission statement.  We reviewed it together and I think it describes who we are very well.  I'll share it here.  Read it over slowly and think about each line.
"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."
I had nothing to do with the writing of this statement, in fact it was part of what attracted us to PCMK.  The credit goes to the team that worked on this a few years ago, two of whom were at Saturday's meeting--Ron Pence and Ken Murakami.
After Saturday's training we held our ordination/installation and commissioning service in worship on Sunday.  It is always impressive when all the other ordained elders and deacons come forward to lay on hands as we pray for those being ordained for the first time.  It was quite a crowd.  As Charles Barton noted, "A sign of a healthy church."
But we could always get healthier, so let's all go to spring training together.  No, I don't mean Florida, I mean  let's focus on the remaining weeks of Lent.  After all, the work "lent" really means "spring."
See you in church (spring training camp).
Pastor Dale

One Year Ago...

One year ago the 16^th of February we came to town for our first interview with the PNC (Pastor Nominating Committee).  Wow.  In some ways it feels like a lot longer ago, and in other ways it feels like the time has flown by.

Elisabeth and I feel very at home with all of you and have a strong sense that God called us to be here.  We think back to that first meeting in what is now my office, dinner at a restaurant that is now closed, and then a tour of the area with Don Hopper who is now my friend.  We drove from here up to Vermont to retrieve a car and then drove home. We chatted the whole way about the possibilities.  Within a few weeks the PNC had made its decision and the rest is history.  We had a very nice "neutral pulpit" weekend in March and a great "candidate weekend" in April.  Then you fixed up the manse for us to move into and we arrived with our 80-foot truck in June.  The rummage sale was in full swing that week and then our first Sunday was 'Worship in the Park,' where I shared a story-time sermon.  We were off to a good start, and it has gotten better each week since, with the pinnacle probably being Christmas Eve services with over 400 worshipers in the two services.

Thanks again for your confidence in me (and Elisabeth—we are a team).  You have supported my leadership, had patience with the transition and invited us into your lives and homes.

I’m looking forward to Lent, Easter, and Pentecost to complete the church-year cycle with you. Then we can look forward to our second annual Rummage Sale, Worship in the Park, Fall Family Festival, Christmas Pageant and...

So many ways to "see you in church."

Pastor Dale

Hunkered Down

I am home on a Friday afternoon because Nemo the blizzard is dumping several inches of snow on Mt. Kisco.  If the weather people are right, this could be an impressive storm--rivaling the lake-effect snow storms we got in Erie, PA.  As long as everyone stays safe it is kind of fun.  A fire in the fireplace, my books and my computer, well, it's a mini-sabbatical.

Unfortunately we had to cancel Family Fun Night, but the weather should clear by Sunday.  Sunday will be a special day at PCMK.  It is Transfiguration Sunday, the gospel story where Jesus took the disciples to a mountaintop where they saw him with Elijah and Moses.  In the sermon we will reflect on the mountaintop experiences of life.  We all have them and sometimes we wish we could stay there, but we can't, can we?

In the evening we will have a concert with the Baroque Soloists, an excellent chamber music ensemble that includes our own Terry Flanagan.  I heard them rehearse on Wednesday and these people are good!  You won't want to miss this beautiful music, and bring a friend.  The concert is at 7:30 with a reception afterwards in the Great Hall.