This is Pastor Tim’s article which appeared in the Evening Leader on Monday, Sept 21, 2020
I would like to put a couple of dates on your calendar. Let’s face it, there hasn’t been much out there for us to put on our calendars recently, so the fact that I can write this article and ask you to consider joining me in a couple of community events puts a smile on my face.
The dates are two consecutive Sundays, October 11 and October 18. These are going to be two of the best days of the year to be from the great community of St Marys.
On October 11, you are invited to join me and many of the ministers from St. Marys downtown at Memorial Park, where we will have a community worship service. Local bands from our community churches will lead in worship and a number of the pastors will be speaking. We will observe social distancing while there, enjoying a nice day to be outside, lifting our praises to God as a community. Life hasn’t been easy these past months; this event will present an opportunity to meet up with your community and be a part of something good. The worship service will start at 4:00 p.m., continuing until about 8:30 p.m. This is a family-friendly event; we even have plans for a children’s choir to sing. Join us as we enjoy this special event and find reasons to be thankful.
The very next Sunday, October 18, between 12 noon and 5:00 p.m., you can once again join us in Memorial Park for the Walk with Nature. Take a walk on the Tow Path and enjoy the gorgeous setting and colorful trees. Again, we will be observing social distancing, but we will also be enjoying a good afternoon taking in one of God’s truly most magnificent gifts, fall in Ohio. This will present a wonderful time to be together and do what we can to help each other through this very lonely and isolated season of our lives.
These events have been planned by leaders who care about our community. We care not only about the physical health of our friends and neighbors but also the spiritual, emotional and relational health of our community as well. That has been the motivation behind planning these events, a chance to take part in community building by at least being at the same place at the same time. The more people we have at both of these events, the better they will be.
I know that I am a little on the early side here as we still have three weeks before this is going to happen. But I know that even in this time of limited engagement, calendars fill up quickly. As sporting events come back into full swing, people need to know about things soon enough to plan to take part. I hope and pray that you will share these two Sunday afternoons with your community. It will be a time for us to remember what life was like when we all lived in the B.C. era (B.C. now stands for “before Corona”). Since these events will be outside, it will help provide safety for the participants.
Events like these are very important. Again, there was a time not all that long ago when events like these were the backbone of a community like ours. We have a chance to reclaim these experiences but only if we take the opportunity to step out and get involved.
If you would like more information on either of these events, please feel free to contact me at Wayne Street and I will do my best to answer your questions. We all need to have a positive feeling about something and it has been quite some time since I felt anything close to that. These events will give us an opportunity to gather and enjoy each other. I hope that you will not pass up this chance to lift up the spirits of people around your community.