News

This week members of Derry Church and All Saints Episcopal Church agreed to partner with Church World Services Harrisburg to help resettle two Syrian families in the Hershey area. The first family will be arriving July 27 and the second family on Aug 2. Watch for further announcements about how you can participate in this refugee resettlement program. For more information and to volunteer, contact Pete Feil.

The 225th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) convened in recent weeks in Louisville and online. Click here for a short summary of actions. Click here to read more.

7 PM SAT JULY 23 AT FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, HERSHEY
10 AM SUN JULY 24 AT PINE STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, HARRISBURG 
4 PM SUN JULY 24 AT MECHANICSBURG PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Consisting of 12 ringers (ten teenage and two college-aged) and ringing five octaves of handbells, the Calvin Ringers are part of the historic handbell program at Tower Hill, begun by Bob Ivey. The musicians will present exciting handbell repertoire for the full choir, featuring settings of some familiar melodies such as Go Down, Moses, and Holy Manna along with original handbell compositions of the sacred and secular variety.

For the past two years, Tower Hill Church has also welcomed a thriving solo-ringing program and you will hear some of their brilliant young musicians in performance. The Calvin Ringers will feature pieces by some of the preeminent composers of solo handbell repertoire along with two very different works set by director Fiona Smith Sutherland, a movement from a Clementi Sonatina played on a Bell Tree, and the Theme from Schindler’s List.

• The Session joyfully approved the following children for baptism on July 10: Isabella Whyne, daughter of Jacqueline Warden-Whyne & John Whyne and Ayla Hamlin, daughter of Drs. Alexandra Delaplante & Dennis Hamlin.
• Approved the following building use requests: July 6, 2022 Partners in Medicine, fellowship hall & nursery for orientation meetings; September 4, 2022 kitchen & fellowship hall for Margie Bachman’s 100th birthday celebration.
• To upgrade and improve safety in and around the church building, the Session approved Capital Procurement Requisitions for lighting upgrades (convert/replace fixtures to LED capability $26,000) and gutter system improvements (upgrade gutters to eliminate leaf clogs and drainage issues $23,000).
• Awarded Natalie Taylor a $3,000/semester scholarship from the Brong Scholarship Fund for her 2022-23 coursework at Messiah College.
• Engaged the services of Boyer & Ritter to conduct an “Agreed Upon Procedure” review of Derry’s 2021 financial records.
• The Worship and Membership committees will be discussing upcoming Post Worship Fellowship gatherings.

• July marks the return of communion service to Derry members and friends who are homebound and unable to receive communion at the church. To request home communion, contact Pastor Stephen or call the church office (717-533-9667).
• A communion service will be held at 1 pm Monday, July 25 at Londonderry Village’s Di Matteo Worship Center/Chapel. Leading the service will be Pastor Stephen and Pastor Pam, with accompaniment by Kathy Yingst.

Thanks to your donations to the One Great Hour of Sharing Offering, these Derry-related folks and their friends from Morgan Stanley NYC were able to replace an old, corrugated metal house with the secure new cinderblock home shown above, located in the La Guama area of the Dominican Republic. Note that a porch is a cultural feature of the area. For the first time the group was able to paint a portion of the exterior and to participate in pouring the cement floor. The floor and the secured, bolted roof can be seen in the interior photo. Doors and louvered windows were added this week.

A joyous dedication of the new home took place with the family, friends, neighbors, masons, and Derry and Morgan Staley groups participating. Big thanks to Derry participants Pete & Doris Feil, Claudia Holtzman, Lynn Shirk, Mark Dear, Seth Freiberg and Amanda Ruch, and thanks to Seth for providing the great photos!

The Presbytery of Carlisle and the congregation of The Lower Marsh Creek Presbyterian Church invite you to celebrate the installation of The Rev. Mark Englund-Krieger as Pastor at 4 pm Sunday, July 17. The church is located at 1865 Knoxlyn Rd. in Gettysburg. Mark is the husband of Derry member Kris Englund-Krieger.

Following the service, all are invited to a church picnic with a pig roast, corn on the cob and ice cream. Rather than robing to process, clergy are invited to wear casual summer attire.

Derry Church elder and archivist Pam Whitenack takes you on a tour of the newly renovated Heritage Room, just inside the door of Room 6 on the lower level.