Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In the 1960′ s, the idea of a mall had not come to York. There were some stores in plazas, such as Sears and Murphy’s, but there was no complete substitute to the old downtown department store. The store (Bon-Ton) had five floors – six if you count floor 1a, the mezzanine. Other than the mezzanine, which had an escalator, you used an elevator to get from floor to floor. It was there that I had my first inkling of a career. Those elevators did not work themselves, and obviously not just anyone could operate them. I thought it would be neat to join the ranks of professional elevator operators!
I never did check schools offering training for taking people from one floor to another. By the time I was looking at such education, the job did not exist. Other occupations arose that no one would dream of at one time. At one time, the phone company provided phones, and you did not even get to pick the shade of black for your phone. Now selling phones of all colors and setting them up is an open field. Video games were simply entertainment when they began. Now, apparently, there is such a thing as a professional video gamer. As times change, so do the ways of fitting in.
The church has an almost 2000-year tradition in its worship. There are aspects of our worship and building that we have in common with churches many centuries ago. But even here, there have been subtle changes that we have had to adapt to. Modern churches tend to have electric lights and so ushers are trained in turning them on and off. Climate control systems need to be set. A sound system must be turned on and off and sometimes reconfigured for a soloist or group.
The newest feature we have added to our congregation is the video display. It was set up so that even a simple elevator operator (me) can operate it. However, this would be an opportunity for others to be an active part of worship. It does not demand youth (my son Mike’s church in Illinois has mostly seniors operating theirs) nor an in depth understanding of computers. It would be great to have several people trained to operate the worship slides as an aid to our worship. It would help our worship services run more smoothly. If you are interested or even simply curious, please speak to me. I can let you in on the ground floor!
Yours in Christ,
Rev. Martin H. Horn