Littauer introduces Rev. Brian Dykema, as on-call chaplain Posted on January 31, 2018 by Dakota Pike– Littauer’s new On-Call Chaplain, the Rev. Brian Dykema Littauer announces the addition of the Reverend Brian Dykema to their Pastoral Care Department. He is Littauer’s new On-Call Chaplain, now assisting the Rev. Bonnie Orth with Littauer’s Pastoral Care. He began working with Littauer in December 2017. “I have to say, I really enjoy the people here at Littauer,” said Dykema . “I am greatly impressed with the true kindness and compassion I see exhibited here daily.” Rev. Dykema grew up in Michigan with a legacy of family involved in ministry. It wasn’t until he was a young adult that he knew this calling was his as well. He completed his college and seminary training in Michigan. He then completed five units of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Rev. Dykema moved to this community originally as the pastor of the Calvary Reformed Church in Hagaman, New York. He then served as the pastor of the Johnstown Reformed Church for 10 years. He then joined Littauer and is pleased with the opportunity. He is married to his wife Sarah and living in Johnstown. They have a 15 year-old chocolate-lab mixed dog appropriately named Coco. Rev. Dykema, who likes to be called simply Brian, can be reached through Littauer Pastoral Care at (518) 773-5655. The Pastoral Care office is located on the second floor of the hospital.
Many wonderful things come without planning Posted on September 9, 2014 by Dakota PikeThe Rev. Bonnie M. Orth is the Pastoral Care Coordinator at Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing HomeMany wonderful things come without planningSeptember 6, 2014By The Rev. BONNIE M. ORTH, Leader HeraldDuring the summer, when the children in our church are on break from Sunday school, we have what we call “adult time” during our worship service. I have been reading snippets from a wonderful book by Mr. Rogers called, “Life’s Journeys According to Mister Rogers, Things to Remember Along the Way.” Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian minister whose specialized ministry was his wonderful children’s television show.This past Sunday, I read the following entry from his book, “I saw a friend who is a freelance writer and asked him what he was working on. ‘Nothing right now,’ he answered. ‘You know how it is for freelancers. But at times like this I tell myself I’m in between opportunities. That way, I don’t have to feel I’m nowhere.'”Mister Rogers continued, “There’s often a tendency for us to hurry through transitions. We may feel that these transitions are, ‘nowhere at all’ compared to what’s gone before or what we anticipates next to come. But you are somewhere, you are ‘between.'”September is a time of transitions for many of us. Children transition to a new grade, and teachers transition to a new group of students. College students transition to living in a dorm on campus and parents transition to empty nests. For many churches, September is also a time of transitions, the beginning of a new Sunday school season, often the gearing up of church activities, Bible studies, stewardship campaigns, committee meetings and the business of the church after a restful break for the summer.Many of us are thrown by transitions. They seem an awful lot like that dreaded word “change.” I wonder if we too looked at the transitions of our lives as “in between opportunities” we might be more open to them and would embrace them.Mr. Rogers finished his lesson by saying, “Sometimes it surprises me to think that my work on that first children’s program was almost by chance! Isn’t it mysterious how so many wonderful things in life come to us seemingly without our planning? We start traveling down one street, and we find ourselves interested in something we never expected on a side street, and as we explore it, the side street becomes the main street for us.”As we enter the transition times of our lives, may we have the patience not to hurry through, but to take our time and experience the plans that God has for us. None of us can go back and make a new start, but we can all begin today and make a new ending. Trust in the words from Jeremiah 20:11-13, “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart.”The Rev. Bonnie M. Orth is the pastor of the Mayfield Central Presbyterian Church and the pastoral care coordinator at Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Home.
