People have been asking “who is the new pastor of Redeemer United Methodist Church in Kingston since Pastor Cal White, retired?”
To answer that question I am happy to introduce my readers to Redeemer’s new pastor, Darrel Reeck, a native of the Puget Sound area. For the last three years he has served in Bonny Lake Foothills United Methodist Church.
Reeck and his lovely wife Lucy are parents of two grown children and grandparents of four. Reeck has expressed excitement in his new assignment, coming challenges and possibilities, which started this July 1.
He preached his first service on July 4. The appointment came through Bishop Grant Hagia, at the United Methodist Church annual conference. Reeck has served as a pastor in other congregations in the past, and also has taught at the University of Puget Sound. He tells us that as a young man in high school he felt a call to the ministry.
The congregation warmly greeted the couple with a bountiful potluck and a time of getting acquainted on July 11, after service. So to our new pastor, “We hope your next few years with us will be a happy experience for you and Lucy. You have inherited a loving, caring family of the faithful.”
Our family is always open to all, and joyously welcomes new comers even if it’s just a curious pop in to visit and see what we are all about. The congregation invites everyone to come and meet Redeemer’s new pastor. Service is held every Sunday at 10 a.m. and a coffee fellowship follows in the narthex. This is a special time to greet and visit with one another and meet new people.
This writing in July is for the August issue and the Sunshine ladies have just finished their annual rummage sale. I enjoy working these events with this group as we all have a great time together. Even more than that, some of the most comical dialogue takes place while unpacking with oohs, ahs and ughs.
This time early on, a voice calls out, “Hey does anyone know what this plastic thing-a-ma-bob is?” Everyone stops, taking a quick look, no one knows, so the advice is — just chuck it. This is answered by, “Yes, but if I chuck it someone might come and know what it is and I really would like to know.”
“Yeah, but what if you don’t find out Carol?” comes another voice.
“Then it will bug me all day, that’s what,” she tosses back.
Finally the boss lady says, OK, do what you want. So, it is settled, right? I walk by a little later and see this strange, unknown thing sitting on a table with a note: “If you know what I am please tell me!” Signed IT. I just fell apart.
Living in the Depression Era as a child, I learned not to throw anything away, and waste not, want not.
The lessons have stayed with me as an adult and it’s difficult to get rid of anything. For me it’s always an argument with my alter ego: do we or don’t we get rid of this or that. I run across odd items in storage and mumble, “Where did you come from. Why would a sane person have only one shoe? In the garbage you go. No, on second thought there must be another shoe somewhere or I wouldn’t have saved you. Into the keep box you go.”
I always have this feeling that if I give something still usable away, sure enough someone will ask if I have one. Family members call for just about anything you could think of, knowing my habits of keeping everything for that rainy day grandma always claimed would come.
Maybe that’s the answer as to why rummage sales are so much more fun, because the packrat in me can give other folks junk away, and I can still keep my own.
