Category: Joy Notes

Posts that intend to inspire

Journal Joy Notes

One small drainage project

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date October 17, 2013

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Lots of projects

One of the facts about our new parsonage home is that there were lots of small or not so small projects to be done. The house had been continuously occupied but … Fortunately, I enjoy DIY (do it yourself) projects and so I have been tackling them. That’s the main reason why I haven’t been writing much on my blog lately. I probably shouldn’t take time to write today, but I decided to anyway.

Brush had to be cleared first

One of the projects involved the drainage at the east end of the house. When we arrived, this end was completely enshrouded with brush so tall that it cascaded onto the roof of the single story rear addition to our cape house. The Northeast corner had sumac, ash, raspberry, forsythia and poison ivy mixed together to a height of sixteen or twenty feet (see picture one). The Southeast corner was simply a thicket of forsythia. You can see in picture one which shows the area of north east corner that the house is barely visible. Under all this is a rock wall partway up the wall of the rear addition. It appears to be without mortar. The top of this wall is visible in picture two. Inside the house, there was a small bit of mold on the inside bottom of the east wall that I was trying to eliminate.

The first step was to remove the brush. Using a saw, mattock and electric hedge trimmers borrowed from my son-in-law, I went after it. I have to pace myself on such physical projects but after several partial days of hard work over a period of a couple weeks, the path that you see in picture two emerged, along with a huge brush pile in my north lawn. (This was my second north lawn brush pile actually as the first one had been created when I cleared brush from the north wall and improved drainage there.) These projects are probably partly the cause of a good increase in my physical conditioning too.

Improving the drainage

Once the path was open, I could see that some of the water running down the slope above our house on the East side was going into the rock wall instead of around it. So I began to dig the trench that you see partially completed in picture two. I also added rock to the wall to help keep the dirt and water away from the house. While picture two looks south and shows the trench partially done, picture three shows the finished new trench and is taken looking north.

Every little bit helps

As with many little DIY projects the effect is cumulative. When we arrived, during hard rains, water cascaded into the basement from two sides and dribbled in other places. The roofers eliminated the first basement waterfalls by adding a new eave trough and new downspouts by the dining room windows on the south. I corrected the second worst one by rerouting the water on the north side. Now after this third drainage project I went into the basement one day and was very gratified with the difference we had achieved. It was so much dryer than it had been all summer! One small project at a time makes a big difference.

Tags drainage, parsonage, projects

Journal Joy Notes News Commentary

A piece of good news

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date September 26, 2013

See you at the pole is a national day of prayer for students. I was happy to see it made at least one internet news page. Our nation needs courageous young people who believe in prayer and in the freedom to pray in public. May God increase their numbers.

http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/a-rather-remarkable-day-2.html

Tags freedom of religion, prayer, youth

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Features I am enjoying about living in Connecticut

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date September 15, 2013

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If you ask me the proverbial question, “Is the glass half empty or half-full?” I’m the kind of guy who always answers, “Half-full of course!” Count your blessings. So, while I could talk about things we miss from New York, my mind tends to focus instead on what I am finding delightful about living in Connecticut. Here’s a partial list.

Number one is spending so much more time with our daughter, son-in-law and wonderful little grandson Sam. He loves holding my hand and walking around the house at this stage. I better enjoy it while it lasts. He is so huggable. Now I see him about three times per week on the average. JoAnne watches him two days per week and loves it. She is a great Grandma, and a very creative care-giver for Sam.
The church God has given us to serve in our semi-retirement, Copper Hill UMC, is a joy. I love country churches with history. This one was organized in 1816 and we have already met many delightful new friends who are receiving our ministry with joy too.
I wear jeans and T shirts a lot more. While I was working full-time, I only wore such relaxed apparel for an occasional gardening stint or when on vacation in the Adirondacks. Now I get to wear it multiple times per week. It feels good.
There is more sunshine. After all, Syracuse is tied with Portland, OR for most number of cloudy days so I should have expected it. But this year, even the folks from CT are saying the weather has been great so I think it has been unusually nice. We are loving it.
I am walking more. The parsonage is about 15 minutes’ walk from a forest preserve with a great uphill trail that has been providing good exercise. So far I’ve only lost about 5 pounds but I’m in much better shape. We have lots of good conversations with people we meet along the way too.
Since I am a history buff, I’m loving living where the timeline of local history commonly stretches back another 100 years to 150 years compared to Western NY. This area of Connecticut began to be settled in the late 1600’s. For a history buff, it’s like adding one-third more stuff to the pages. Instead of 2 centuries of local history, there are three.
The area of CT where our parsonage is located is very rocky. Our lawn has rock ledges and walls. Our cellar is a rock foundation. Walking in the forest preserve, we see huge rock outcroppings. It reminds us some of the Adirondacks where we often vacationed when we lived in Syracuse. I had a rock collection as a kid too.
God has blessed us with a parsonage that fits us very well. JoAnne and I both have separate roomy offices in it, something we probably could not have afforded if we had purchased a home. It has lawn and garden spots, a garage, and bedroom space for guests too. It has also provided more than enough DIY projects to keep me happy.

Tags blessings, Connecticut, forest preserve, our move, Quiet spots, walks

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

A Personal Testimony

While I usually file my sermons in the sermon section, I decided to include this one here for two reasons. First, because it is my first sermon at Copper Hill UMC. Second, because it is very informative about me personally and will be a great addition to the Who Am I section of my blog.

First sermon at Copper Hill UMC

Intro

As I thought about how to begin this morning, I decided that there was not a better way than to introduce myself by giving my testimony—the story of my own Christian journey.

Telling the story of God’s action in our lives is a Biblically recommended practice anyway, isn’t it. In the passage Judy read, the servant of Abraham tells of God’s activity in helping him to be successful in finding a wife for Isaac. In a sense, much of Holy Scripture is the inspired testimony of God’s action among his people, recorded for us to read and profit from later. In the book of Revelation, in the verses that I read, John tells us that one of the weapons of the Christian church – one of the means that it can use to overcome the enemy of our souls is testimony – reciting to one another the work of God in our lives. Testimony has several benefits. Telling others what God has done has a way of confirming it for us too. Testimony encourages and inspires others as well. When one person testifies, it helps us to understand how God works and what he can do in our own lives too.

My prayer is that this abbreviated story of my Christian journey will not only help you get to know me but also inspire and encourage your own Christian walk.

A Christian beginning

Object: a family farm needlework or picture of my extended family

A Christian home

My journey began in on a family farm in rural Western NY. I had the privilege of being born into a Christian family. On Sundays, not only both my parents, but all four of my grandparents would be at our church. I was told that I first accepted Jesus into my heart at age 6 kneeling in the living room next to my mom.

Hospitality to God’s Word at six

Key verse: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” Jn. 1:11-12 ESV

It was an important beginning of giving hospitality to God’s word, God’s work and God’s Spirit in my life. The Bible teaches us that each of us has an opportunity to do that. The bible is using a hospitality metaphor. As when someone comes to the door of our home, we can either let them in our shut the door, so it is with God’s teaching in our lives. The Bible teaches that God I as one standing at the door of our hearts and knocking. If we will give Him entrance he will come in (Rev. 3:20).

Growing in faith in a small church like this one

Object: Haskinville plate

Childhood Sunday school

The church I grew up in was a lot like this one.

Tags blessings, following Jesus, Haskinville, ministry, our move, retirement, sanctification, testimony

Journal Joy Notes

Naughty bear

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date July 6, 2013

Our new home is in the country and we love it that way, except for the poison ivy, of course. There is a trout stream across the road from the parsonage. Yesterday we had a great illustration of our country status. I had forgotten the garbage day so the garbage can outside the garage was getting a little ripe. In the middle of the afternoon we had a visitor. The picture tells the story. Probably a yearling bear, he (or she) was only as tall as the garbage can when standing as you can see. But still the bear probably outweighed me. He was skittish and moved quickly when he sensed movement inside the house. But returned he later and that is when we got this picture. He tipped over the can but Keely tapped on the window and he was gone. We moved the garbage inside the garage lest we create a nuisance bear that goes for garbage. Our Adirondack camping experiences had trained us well. Mark held Sam up to see him. Sam dubbed him the “naughty bear” for getting in the garbage. I agreed since I had to clean it up.

Tags animals, nature, naughty

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Moving Day part two

Monday July 1 was long anticipated. We arrived at our new parsonage at 7:50 am to await the moving truck’s arrival. We had been told they would come between 8 and 10 am. That was the same window we were given when they packed us out and they had arrived about 9:30 am. But this time, we had no sooner gotten out of our car than the big orange cab of the Allied truck crept slowly into view. We were just in time.

Organizing helps

JoAnne’s organization proved extremely helpful. She had made sure all packers labeled every box with a big letter and a number. The letter designated the room of the new parsonage where the movers could deposit it. The number was used to keep track of contents which were also written in brief on the box and on a list. The rooms all had big letters posted to identify them. This organization greatly speeded up the unloading process. It has also enabled us to find things we needed without unpacking everything. JoAnne also tried color-coding the boxes with markers but that proved not so useful. JoAnne and I mostly served as traffic directors to guide the larger pieces to their intended spots. We had made drawings ahead so we each knew what the plan was and we also had it posted on the wall.

Humor and hospitality

Humor helps so much when packing and unpacking household goods. We joked with both crews all day. They are hard pressed to get things done this time of year and it is very hard and physical work. We bought subs at Subway for the crew that unpacked us. It took them until about 6 pm. By then the rooms were piled with boxes and the garage door would hardly close.

We have felt blessed by God

We have felt very blessed in this move. God provided financially to help us move through gifts from both churches and the CNY Wesleyan district. Very little was damaged in the move. We have enjoyed the hospitality of our daughter and son-in-law for two weeks in the middle and played with our grandson everyday too. Personally, God has impressed me with more than one special verse in the process of the move. All this has helped us combat the emotional grief of leaving Kirkville after a 22 year stay. Thank you all for your prayers.

Tags blessings, our move

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Moving Day

Race to get it done

JoAnne and I have been so busy preparing for this moving day that I have not been able to chronicle it as I wanted. Now it has come and gone so I have a little more time while we are between homes to think about it. We have been driving ourselves for weeks to thin out our material possessions and pack up the remaining ones. While we hired Fox Hollow Movers, the Syracuse affiliate of Allied Van Lines, to do the actual moving, we were to pack all the small stuff. But when you have lived at one location for 22 years, you accumulate a lot. Things come in a little at a time and very little goes out. We scrambled to empty attics—we had things stored in the church attic and in the garage loft—and systematically attempted to reduce our hoard of books by at least one-third. We gave away things privately, had a yard sale, donated to the Salvation Army, consigned things to antique dealers, and trashed and recycled mounds. The closer moving day was, the easier it was to part with things. The move helped bring the relative value of things into proper perspective.

Thank you to our friends

We could not have completed the task without much help from friends. Kim O’s neighbors, Steve and Sandy, adopted our cat. Ben Mackey brought us lots of boxes. John and Josiah Durfee came twice to help dig daylilies among other tasks. Jerry, Brad, John and Josiah helped me pack the garage on the day before the truck came. Shaun and Mark hauled junk away. And JoAnne had many helpers too, but especially Cindy, Donna, Kathy and Kim O. Eva sent food and Cindy sent food. Kim gave us a place to sleep and a great breakfast the last night. I’m sure I have forgotten someone, but my point is; we had so much great help and we are very thankful. We felt loved by the family of God through all the help that came.

God’s sustaining promises

It has been difficult to leave. It brought tears when I closed the door of the house for the last time, a symbol of the deeper stresses of the move. One day as I was running one of the many errands, I stopped at Sacred Melody (Parable) bookstore for something and as I looked up at the display above and in back of the counter, there was a plaque with this verse. “You will go out with joy and be led forth with peace (Isa. 55:12 NASB). I knew the message was meant for me and it was an elevator for my spirit that day. Indeed it has proven very true in so many ways. Even the peace lily in the kitchen bloomed on the last day we were there.

Moving Day long but successful

The truck and burly crew of four pulled in about 9:30 AM. They set to work on the garage and then the office. The leader cataloged everything and helped lift only when he was needed as he was busy writing and directing. The other three packed the truck steadily. JoAnne and I joked with them and prayed for them as the day progressed. JoAnne was on the phone with Joyce as the crew was having trouble getting the piano out. JoAnne and Joyce prayed and JoAnne let the crew know they had done so; just then the piano cleared the obstacle. We ordered pizza for lunch and had grace with the crew before eating all together. For supper, Cindy brought hot beef stew and I picked up subs so we said grace again and had supper together also. The office told the crew to finish it all in one day even though it was estimated at a day and one half work for a crew. One extra man came to help in mid-afternoon. The whole job didn’t wrap up until nearly 9 PM. It was an exhausting day, but all our goods were on that truck. The house looked so different. We had planned and worked to make it happen and now the first big step had been taken.

Off to CT

The next morning, after a great breakfast at Kim’s, it was back to the house to pack the two cars. The moving company could not take my daylilies on the truck because of NYS rules, so I had to make other plans. I chopped them into smaller sections and took a sample of most of them in the trunk of the Buick to plant later. Then I planted three more at Kim’s house and gave lots of samples away too. The plan worked but it took up much of the Buick trunk space. This meant I had to really be a good packer with the remaining space. But everything fit in. Kim helped me label all the keys. After prayer with Kim and greetings to Sue next door, we were off, JoAnne followed me in her new-to-us 2010 Honda Civic while I led the way in my Buick road-eater, as I call it. All went very smooth except for one scary merge into the halfway point rest stop outside Albany. JoAnne had a hard time getting across traffic but she made it. The rest of the way went well. Nearing West Hartford, I found the short-cut to Mark and Keely’s that I had been looking for too, cutting off 5 minutes more from the expected Grandma commute. Thank you for your prayers for the journey. Mark and Keely and Sam welcomed us with hugs and kisses and JoAnne checked in with Kim. We were soon tucked in bed in Connecticut. One half of the move was complete.

Tags helping hands, our move

Church Leadership Forward Look Journal Joy Notes

Liturgy of pastoral transition

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date June 16, 2013

A blessed day at church

What a wonderful pair of worship services this morning. Attendance was high (211) and excitement was higher as we sang from hearts that needed the reminder; I Walk by Faith and worshipped our heavenly Father on Father’s Day with choruses and hymns. I played trombone with the worship team so it was not a quiet morning. I apologized to all the fathers for choosing Father’s day as my last Sunday. And we did take time to honor the fathers present too. One of the awesome moments was when the children and teens prayed for me. What an absolute joy to see them advancing in discipleship too and to be blessed by their prayers. At the end of second service, knowing that I am a fan of his organ playing, Richard Filmer played a special for us on the organ. It was excellent. At the end of both services, Larry Nemitz, Vice Chairman of the LBA, and Pastor Eric who is succeeding me, and I read a liturgy of transition. It is very rare in churches to see this happen. Most of the time there is a span of time between the leaving of the old pastor and the coming of the new. It was a highpoint as well. I have always prayed that God would grant a good transition at the end of my tenure here. I believe that prayer is definitely being answered. I am including the liturgy we used here.

Liturgy for 2013 pastoral transition

Larry Nemitz: This is a special moment in the history of our church. We are profoundly thankful for what God has done through the ministry of Pastor Kelvin and JoAnne. Pastor has led many to give testimony to their faith through Christian baptism as the Scripture instructs us. He has encouraged our collective worship through regular administration of the sacrament of communion. He has faithfully taught us from God’s Holy Word to love God, love others and make disciples. And he has mentored us by personal example, small group instruction and public exhortation. He has presided over moments of joy in our lives such as marriages and the naming of children and he has stood with us in times of trial and sorrow too.

Congregation: We are deeply grateful to God for sending us Pastor Kelvin and JoAnne to be faithful stewards of their gifts in this place and to exercise well the role of congregational leadership among us.

Pastor Kelvin: It has been my privilege and my joy to serve as your pastor, with God’s help, for these last 22 years. You have been a blessing to us too.

Larry Nemitz: While we are happy for you upon your retirement, we admit that it causes us grief to let you go away because we have learned to love you both. Yet in the providence of God we know that for everything, there is a season. By his grace, God has planned another chapter both for you and for us, which we are ready to enter into. Yesterday at district conference Rev. Dr. Eric Paashaus was officially stationed as our pastor for the coming year.

Pastor Kelvin: It has been my privilege to be a mentor to Pastor Eric and today it is a great joy to see him stepping into the role of leading pastor here at Community Wesleyan Church. Eric, as symbols of the transfer of stewardship of Community Wesleyan Church, I offer three ordinary gifts. One is a key to the front door of the church. It is a multi-faceted symbol. It reminds me that often the pastor’s contact with people is the front door to the family of God. It reminds me also that the pastor is the one who is ultimately responsible to God for the welfare of the church. Then second, I hand to you a Bible. It is a reminder to you and to the congregation gathered here that at your ordination service a Bible was handed to you by the denomination’s leaders and you were commissioned to take authority to preach the word of God. God is now giving you a great opportunity to fulfill that entrusting. Finally, I give you a towel. It is a symbol of the Biblical truth that Jesus taught us all that we are not here to be served but to serve. This is one of the great secrets of a successful pastorate.

Pastor Eric: It is with joy and with an awesome sense of responsibility that I accept your gifts. It is a privilege for Magda and myself and our children to become the pastoral family at Community Wesleyan. We covet your prayers. We look forward with great anticipation to what God intents to do among us as we work together with God. He is the same yesterday, today and forever!

Larry Nemitz: On behalf of the local board and all of God’s people here, we welcome you as our pastor and pastoral family. We look forward to laboring together in the kingdom of God.

Congregation: We heartily welcome and accept you as our pastor and pastoral family. God helping us, we will pray for you and listen carefully to the Word of God preached through you. May God richly anoint you with his Spirit and guide you as you lead us in following Jesus.

Tags pastoral ministry, transition plans, worship

Journal Joy Notes

So thankful for everyone’s kindness

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date June 2, 2013

JoAnne and I are so thankful for all the kindness and generosity that has been expressed to us over the last few days. For our moving time yard sale that JoAnne organized, all kinds of people volunteered in one way or another to help move things in and out of the house or office or to tend the sale itself. While we didn’t make a fortune, we moved some items and more importantly we had great conversations with many folks. Turns out it’s a great way to meet people. But most impressive to me were all the friends who helped us, in spite of the 90 degree days we had. And some of them were the best customers too. Thank you so much everyone.

We also received a gift from our new church at Copper Hill to help with our move, a gift they were not required to give but chose to give out of kindness and generosity. We feel blessed indeed. Thanks to the folks at Copper Hill too.

Tags generosity, kindness, our move

Church Leadership Forward Look Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

A new assignment

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date April 15, 2013

Today it was announced at both churches that I have a new part-time pastorate in Connecticut starting in July after my retirement from full-time ministry here in Kirkville. I will begin serving as the pastor at a very old and historic United Methodist Church at Copper Hill, Connecticut. There is a very roomy parsonage that comes with the assignment where JoAnne and I will reside. The parsonage is 10 or 12 minutes from the church and both are about 30 minutes from Keely and Mark and Sam.

The sanctuary of the church is well preserved and was built in 1839—that’s four years before the Wesleyan Church was founded. It was near the site of a famous camp-meeting grounds. Like my home church in Haskinville, NY, it was built at a country crossroads. However, today the hills and vales are thick with modern houses so there is a great opportunity for expanded ministry. There is also a golf course across the street and a rails-to-trails trail a few hundred yards away as well.

The best part was the warmth and genuine sense of ministry anticipation that we saw in the staff parish committee with whom we interviewed. They made us feel very welcome and appreciated from the start. I could sense the faithful perseverance in the Christian faith that has enabled the church to survive all these years. I think they will be very receptive to our ministry there.

This position for us is an answer to prayer. We were looking for the good works prepared in advance for us to do after retirement. This will be very meaningful without being too draining. The economic boost will help us to handle Connecticut costs as well. So we are very thankful for this provision and looking forward to serving God together with the folks at Copper Hill.

Tags church news, our move, retirement

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