News

9:15-10:15 AM SUNDAYS, AUG 13-20-27 IN ROOM 2

Join Jack Keene and friends for a three-part video series, “Christian History Made Easy” presented by Dr. Timothy Jones. Participants will watch a 30-minute DVD on early church history, then spend the remaining class time discussing what they heard and saw.

Here’s the schedule for this adult education series:

AUG 13:  The First Christians 1-100 AD. The general question is proposed, “Can you be a Christian without dealing with history?”  This timeframe is when God enters history in the form of Jesus Christ. Christianity is an historical faith. There were many witnesses, not all recalling Jesus in the same manner. There is a study of Luke’s writings, and an account of Rome burning and how it was blamed on early Christians. 

AUG 20:  Defending the Truth 100-300 AD. Discusses the modern effect of The Da Vinci Code. There were many different Christianities in the early church. How were the books of the New Testament chosen? Defines the Christian beliefs of the Ebionites, Docetists, Gnostics and the Marcionites. 

AUG 27:  From Persecuted to Preferred 300-500 AD. Emperor Diocletian split the Roman Empire into East and West.  Galerius convinces Diocletian that Christians were against him and thus Christians became persecuted.  Constantine and his army subsequently captured Rome and Constantine became a Christian Emperor. Christianity first became legal. The Council of Nicaea convened bringing together church leaders from all over. The “real St. Nicholas” is documented.

Here’s a quick look at upcoming Derry Church events you can add to your calendar. More details coming soon:

10:30 am Sunday, Aug 20
BLESSING OF THE BACKPACKS/Sanctuary

7 pm Thursday, Aug 24
CHOIR REHEARSALS BEGIN/Room 7

Friday & Saturday, Sept 8-9
CONFIRMATION RETREAT/Gretna Glen

Sunday, Sept 10
RALLY DAY
RECEPTION FOR SUE FOX, NURSERY CAREGIVER

Tuesday, Sept 12
TERRIFIC TUESDAY KICKOFF/Fellowship Hall (5 pm)
DERRY RINGERS REHEARSALS BEGIN/Choir Room (7:30 pm)

Friday-Sunday, Sept 22-24
KRISLUND FAMILY WEEKEND/Krislund Camp

4 pm Sunday, Sept 24
ARTS ALIVE PIANO/ORGAN CONCERT with Dan Dorty and Tyler Canonico/Sanctuary

The following are questions you are invited to ponder and discuss this week with your family, with small groups and committees, or on your own so what happens in worship can follow you, inspire you, and guide you throughout the week:

1. Has a loved one ever had a problem, pain, or suffering that you couldn’t fix? How did you feel and what did you do?
2. Calvin’s idea of “Total Depravity” doesn’t mean we are awful, but that even at our best we can mess things up. Have you ever tried to help someone or do something good for someone but ended up making things worse?
3. Sometimes we have to do all we can to make things right and sometimes we need to let God handle it. That takes wisdom. How do you know when to try to fix a situation and when you need to leave it to God?
4. How can trusting that “God can make it right” help you offer forgiveness and find peace in the midst of pain or injustice?

Stop by the church nursery on Sunday morning and say hello to Haily Rador, our new Nursery Child Care Leader. In this role, she provides nurturing, loving care for the young children of Derry Church, and coordinates and schedules paid nursery staff and volunteers to assure adequate coverage.

Haily and her family moved to Pennsylvania in 2018 after her husband retired from the Air Force. She is mom to five children in a family that includes two dogs, a parakeet, three fish, two leopard geckos and a bearded dragon. Haily has more than 18 years’ experience working in childcare, including two years at Derry Discovery Days’ Preschool.

Haily loves music (singing), hiking, RV-ing, playing sports (she coaches and plays volleyball), watching movies, the outdoors and (almost) all creatures. The Radnor’s youngest two kiddos attended preschool at DDD where she fell in love with the kids and people of Derry Church.

Says Haily, “I am so excited to be at Derry with the children and their families and look forward to meeting you!”

1-2 PM WEDNESDAY, AUG 23 (AND SUBSEQUENT FOURTH WEDNESDAYS) ON ZOOM: CLICK TO JOIN

“Health Time with Nurse Beckie “ is a new one-hour health class on Zoom presented by our own Faith Community Nurse, Beckie Freiberg. Join her on the fourth Wednesday of each month to discuss a new health topic.

Beckie will give a 15-20 minute presentation, followed by discussion and questions. On Aug 23, the focus will be on Lyme disease and ticks, and in following months she will cover topics including diabetes, type 1 & 2 and metabolic syndrome, cold and flu season precautions, hypertension, heart disease and stroke, health maintenance and screenings, and what you need to know before traveling internationally.  

You and your friends and family are invited to join Beckie for these informative conversations. Contact Beckie with your suggestions for future Health Time topics.

August is the final month to Let Reading Take You Places in Derry’s Ruth Codington Lending Library.

It’s time to travel the globe and “book” your ticket to anywhere! See India through the eyes of 17 year old Lakshmi in The Henna Artist, head to Victorian England in Anne Perry’s mystery No Graves As Yet, or find out the fate of the Price family’s mission in the Belgian Congo in Barbara Kingsolver’s Poisonwood Bible. Get a head start on our 300th Anniversary trip with a book on Scottish customs, learn about the three faiths of Jerusalem, or peruse the biblical prints of Japanese printmaker Sadao Watanabe. And if you still haven’t followed Liz Gilbert through Italy (Eat), India (Pray), and Bali (Love), now is your chance!

While you’re at the library picking up your next entry in the Summer Reading Contest (Aug 13 deadline approaching fast!), visit the Staff Shelf to see their travel reading recommendations. Then, add your votes to the This or That graffiti wall (eat cacio y pepe in Italy OR carne asada in Argentina?) Don’t forget, you can browse books any time in our online catalog.

Here’s a new way to keep the conversation going after Sunday worship: gather your family, friends, small group, or committee to discuss a few questions based on the sermon. Here are four questions for the week of August 6: 

1. What comes to mind when someone talks about the Book of Revelation? What’s been your impression of the book?
2. What did you learn about Revelation and its context from the sermon?
3. What image, illustration, story, phrase, or message really stuck out to you from the sermon? Why?
4. Do you believe there will be a day when all that has gone wrong will be made right? What do you hope that looks like specifically for you right now?

Work is under way this month in the Chapel bell tower, where crumbling masonry is being fixed, brickwork around the windows is being repaired, and old wooden ladders are being replaced with ship’s ladder stairs. An old motor and bellows for the pipe organ that used to be in the Chapel have already been removed.

MEET 4:30 PM MONDAY, JULY 31 AT DERRY CHURCH, TRAVEL TO GRANTVILLE

On Monday we’re feeding the back-of-the-track workers at Penn National racetrack. Derry’s Hospitality Coordinator, Loretta Chubb, is providing the main course. Desserts and a watermelon are needed to round out the meal, along with two gallons of lemonade and two gallons of iced tea, and your good help to serve the meal.

Contact Marilyn Koch (717-503-6248) to sign up.

2-3 PM WEDNESDAYS: CLICK THIS LINK TO JOIN FROM YOUR COMPUTER, TABLET OR SMARTPHONE. HELPFUL HINT: MAKE SURE YOU ARE LOGGED IN TO ZOOM BEFORE YOU CLICK THE LINK

When it comes to managing arthritis discomfort and pain, studies have shown that “motion is lotion.” Join Derry member Sandy Morales, a certified arthritis exercise instructor who has been teaching the class for 14 years. She will guide you through a series of gentle exercises designed to take your joints through their range of motion.

Most of these exercises are done seated in a chair. An important goal of the class is fall prevention. Strength and balance exercises are included which will help you to prevent a fall. No special exercise equipment is required: just have some light hand weights or even small water bottles or soup cans handy for the strength training exercises, along with water to drink to keep yourself well-hydrated. 

Our mission partner — Hope Within Community Health, Counseling & Dental Center — is having their annual chicken BBQ fundraiser! Nolt’s BBQ from Manheim prepares a delicious, slow-cooked, charcoal-grilled ½ chicken in the “Amish style.” The meal also includes a baked potato, applesauce, roll, butter and a drink. Order at the link below by Aug 1 and pickup 11 am – 1 pm Saturday, Aug 12 at Hope Within, 4748 Harrisburg Pike, Elizabethtown. There’s also an option to purchase meals for Hope Within patients. Click to order

Our church treasurer, Craig Kegerise, has expressed his need to resign from the position. We thank Craig for all his work and service to Derry Church.

We are now in the process of identifying a new church treasurer. If we cannot find a volunteer, we may have to outsource or hire for the position.

The person selected as treasurer will be very familiar with accounting practices, bookkeeping, and financial software. Click to view the position description.

Contact Pastor Stephen if you have questions or are interested in applying.