Wow!  What a wonderful celebration we had on October 11^th as we held our first homecoming since 1991.  I know that’s a long time ago, because it’s the year I graduated high school.  Final count had 107 people in attendance for the worship service and more than 80 stayed for lunch.

I want to take an opportunity to thank the Vision Group and the congregation as a whole who made the homecoming such a success.  In a sense, this wasn’t what many have come to know as a homecoming, with a guest speaker and special music.  Perhaps, this was a homecoming in a much more literal sense.  It was an invitation to join us for worship, a worship that looks and sounds like any given Sunday.  It was a homecoming to reconnect with a place where people have strong ties and where they might want to reconnect some of those ties that have loosened over the years.

I do want to say that typically, former pastors are invited to attend homecomings.  I learned recently that we have three living former pastors, Bernie Fuska, Dee Flory and Joe Mason.  By the way, Joe is 102 years old!  I know many would have liked to visit with Bernie and Debbie, but the homecoming took place as they were heading to Missouri to see their grandchildren.   Bernie sent a lovely letter to the church that was hanging in the foyer for a couple weeks and anyone who wants a copy or would like to see it can come to the office and do so.

I want to make sure that I thank Bev Garber who threw himself into this project, locating and displaying documents, pictures and other items from the church’s storied history.   It was a special treat to hear Bev speak on some of that history as only he can. As part of Bev’s preparation, the 1991 Homecoming service was digitized from the old VHS tapes.  Anyone wanting a copy can drop off a flash drive at the office with their name on it.  It was a special treat for me, as I had never heard Fred Bowman’s voice before.

In addition to the service, we enjoyed pork tenderloin prepared by Frank Showalter for our fellowship meal and it was as good as ever.  Along with Bev, the Vision Group and Frank, there were many others who lent their hands, time and talents to putting this day together. We are blessed to have such people in our congregation, and I offer each of them my deepest gratitude.