by Bonnie Seely

Shiremanstown United Methodist Church welcomed back, as the special bicentennial guest speaker for the month of July, the Reverend Guy R. Baer whose wife, Eleanor, consented to act as liturgist. Pastor Baer served at SUMC from 1981 to 1992, during which time Eleanor also played an active part in the life of the church, especially in the children’s department. Pastor Guy and Eleanor are now retired and living in Fayetteville, but are still represented in Shiremanstown by daughters Karen Baer and Ruth Dietz and son Ken Baer, and their families. Granddaughter Christy Yentzer provided the special music of the morning, accompanied by her mother, Ruth Dietz. Following an introduction of the Baers by current pastor John L. Kurtz, and the Bicentennial Minute, read by Martin Coble, Eleanor Baer led the congregation in the Call to Worship:

L - Come to Him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight.

P - And like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

In a well constructed sermon, entitled "The Construction Business: Building For The Future," Pastor Baer built on his theme of history and the future. He began by complementing the outward beauty of the sanctuary, and the inward beauty of the people who fill it. He reminded this congregation that it’s roots are the oldest in the New Cumberland District of the Central Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church; that Martin Boehm, Philip William Otterbein, and Christian Newcomer, founders of the United Brethren in Christ Church, all preached to our founding congregation; that one of the early bishops of our church is buried in the Shopp Cemetery; and that in 1854 when the first, wooden church built by this congregation was torn down, a new, stone church was erected. He then challenged, "This is your past — but what about your future?" Continuing, it was proposed that if God has a partiality to one industry it is the construction business, because God, Himself, is a builder, an architect, and a designer. It is no wonder, said Pastor Baer, that His Son became a carpenter. "Come — be built into a spiritual temple. God can’t make you be anything you don’t want to be. You create your own spiritual building." Moving from the personal to the level of community, he stated, "This church is what you (it’s members) have made it." Pastor Baer suggested that although God designed and created the universe, His most interesting project is the building of His Church — a Christian community. Each individual is a living stone with a special place in God’s spiritual church building; with a job to do. The question: "You have a glorious past — can you live up to it in the future?" The invitation: "Come — every one of you — be built into a living stone, following the design that God has planned."

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