To the Yay-Sayers

During Roman times, Northern Europe was referred to as “Germania.” Eventually the languages used in the area were influenced by Vikings who settled in the Normandy region in the north of present-day France, and in 1066, these “Norman” Germanic-French-Vikings brought the influence of their language to Great Britain when they invaded there.

One of the elements of this Norman language collection was their words for answering a question in the affirmative or negative. The affirmative was “Yay” or “Aye” depending on your accent, and the negative was “Nay.” These continue to be the way that members vote in the British Parliament and other government bodies influenced by the former British Empire around the world today.

It’s also where we get the word “Naysayer.” It’s the negative person who doubts, who usually seems to focus on problems rather than solutions, and is one of the last to jump in and help a group overcome the challenges of the process and press on to success. Their instinct is to say “no.”

Every church has their share of naysayers, and we’re no different. This week, however, we’re reminded of all of the many selfless members of the Heritage United Methodist family who, when asked to help accomplish our mission, have responded time and time again with a resounding “Yay.”

So from all of us on your staff here at Heritage, we offer our most heartfelt thanks to all the amazing “Yay-saying” volunteers who make it possible for Heritage to continue serving our church family, community. and world each and every day. There are literally hundreds of Yay-sayers, from the dedicated team who shop, prepare and deliver meals to the homeless twice a month; to those who shop and deliver to food shelters each week; to the all the teams who supported and spent endless hours working in the pumpkin patch; to those who are now getting ready to become the city of Bethlehem as we celebrate the birth of Jesus with our community; to all those who deliver beautiful, powerful music during both of our services each Sunday; to all of the greeters, ushers, communion preparers and servers at Ignite and the Traditional services; to those who count and process the donations each week; to all the caregiving teams; to our faithful youth and adult small group facilitators; to those helping keep our facilities looking great; to those on our leadership teams; to those running our foster closet; you make Heritage the kind of church where anyone would be glad to be, and you are the ones God is using to infuse hope and joy and excitement for our future.

We love and appreciate you, give abundant thanks for you, and we wish each of you a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,
Pat Bluhm, Ashley Allen, Tom Allen, Jake Authier, Janean Briseno, Nathaniel Briseno, Wayne Bloodgood, Barbara Davis, Barb Galbreath, Peggy Ingram, Rob Knabel, Matt Horan, Eric Johnson, Jason Langdon, Colleen Lastkowski, Curtis Paige, Margot Savage, Laurie Spaulding, Tracey Walling, Logan Webb, Charlie Wood, and Neil Yarian