Month: November 2023

Editor’s Note: On the first Thursday of each month (or close to it), the eNews feature article highlights the mission focus for the month. In December we’re lifting up the Christmas Joy Offering and Stop the Violence, recipient of a portion of that offering. 

On Sunday, when I push through the curiously heavy doors that lead into Derry Church, I’m reminded about how much God has blessed our church with many amazing gifts. With those gifts comes a weighty responsibility to do our best to love and support our neighbors in the community, especially the vulnerable.

Who is vulnerable? Surprisingly, the vulnerable look just like you and me. They have jobs, but maybe don’t make enough to support a family. They have children, but lack affordable healthcare or childcare. They have housing, but struggle to have enough left over each month to pay for heat and other utilities.  

God reminds us in Proverbs 31:8-9, “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.”

The Christmas Joy Offering is one of four special offerings received by the Presbyterian Church (USA) during the year.  This month and on Christmas Eve, Derry Church is receiving the Christmas Joy Offering. Derry Church will share a portion of our 2023 Christmas Joy Offering with Stop the Violence (STV) in Harrisburg. STV supports those that are vulnerable by providing counseling for women of domestic violence, as well as providing food, clothing, gifts and school supplies to families and elderly in need. 

Rev. Mim Harvey, President and Founder, provides this update:

This is a very sad time for our area, as we experience high levels of crime and poverty. Many mothers and grandmothers are raising children on their own. People are hurting. The high cost of food and necessities, like clothing and diapers, is also an issue for our community.

So, what will the Christmas Joy Offering mean to an organization like STV?

• Secure food that is delivered to seniors that are afraid to come out, that don’t have transportation, or that don’t have relatives.
• Fund Thanksgiving food baskets for over 100 families, including turkeys and the works for dinner.
• Purchase new coats for needy children.
• Support a drive-by Christmas party serving 125 children with Christmas toys and candy bags (with a special appearance from Santa Claus!).
• Provide blankets, coats, hats, gloves, scarves, and socks to the homeless.

In other words, donating to the Christmas Joy Offering will mean fewer hungry mouths, warmer people on the streets, reduced anxiety for mothers, grandmothers, and the elderly. It will mean that children in the community will be happier and healthier.

As you think about how you can spread love and joy this holiday, consider giving to the Christmas Joy Offering and helping lift up those in need. Click here to donate online or notate checks “Christmas Joy Offering.”

To learn more about Stop the Violence and ways you can volunteer, contact me. 

Thank you, Derry Presbyterian Church. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn and grow as a faith leader over the last five and a half years.  Thank you for your unending support and encouragement. Thank you for helping our children’s ministry programs grow by volunteering in our classrooms, surrounding us with your thoughts and prayers, joining us for special events, and sharing your gift of time, talents or financial contributions to our various programs. Thank you for joining with the Derry family for our whole church events like the Church Picnic and Corn Roast. Thank you for helping our Prime Timers program on Monday afternoons become a wonderful fellowship opportunity for the adults of the church.  Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to lead and serve you. 

This Thanksgiving season I find myself extra full of gratitude.  As I prepare to transition from my role as a church staff member to a congregation member, I feel incredibly thankful that I do not have to step away from this wonderful church family. While I will need to remove myself from our children’s ministry programs to allow Shawn Gray the opportunity to grow into his role at Derry, I am thankful that I can still be active in so many other ways.  

I am thankful to have Shawn joining us on December 1 so that we can share a month working together.  What a blessing for Derry Church to have this overlap time. I look forward to showing Shawn all the gifts that Derry Church offers to our church family, and the community, through our programming, education, care, time and talents.  

The next few months will be different for us all. However, if we focus on the many church blessings we have and allow that to guide our hearts, this time of transition will be more joyful. As I was preparing for many Thanksgiving lessons between Sunday School, KIWI, fellowship, my preschool classroom and Prime Timers, I came across the following quote from Maya Angelou and it has stuck with me…

“Be present in all things and thankful for all things.” 

I hope during this time of transition at the church, and during the Thanksgiving season, that you will find a way to stay present and thankful. My prayers consistently include prayers of thanksgiving for the unending helping hands we seem to have for one another, the level of stewardship for our beautiful and vibrant church building, the warmth and joyfulness you feel as you enter our church for worship, the thoughts and preparations made for each program and event held at the church, and the genuine care, help and thoughtfulness shared by everyone. Being present and thankful is much easier when you are with this church family.

As we approach my last month working at the church, I want you all to know how thankful I am for the last five and half years. What a blessing this chapter has been in my life. I look forward to this next chapter together as I continue to worship, grow in my faith and share my gifts alongside each of you.

I hope you have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving!

With love and gratitude, 

🙂 M.E.

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:18 

If you haven’t already heard or read about it, next year Derry Church will commemorate 300 years of being Presbyterian and witnessing to our faith in Christ. Planning has been under way for almost three years now. It is my hope that we will not only look back, but also celebrate who we are today and what we aspire to be in the future.

To that end, 2024 will be filled with opportunities to celebrate, to explore our history, and to fulfill our mission to proclaim God’s word, share God’s love, and practice God’s justice. The year-long celebration will feature events and educational opportunities to learn more about Presbyterian history and Derry Church’s past, special musical performances, church family gatherings, special mission projects and a rededication of our church cemetery, established in 1734.

HERITAGE
Derry Church has a rich and sometimes uncomfortable history. To help us better understand our past, each month we will be sharing an essay in the weekly eNews that explores different aspects of our history.

Sadly, many of Derry Church’s earliest records were destroyed in a fire. At that time Derry did not have a pastor, the old Derry sanctuary had been torn down the preceding year and the Chapel was under construction. The church records had been moved to the attic of the Paxton Presbyterian Church manse, which caught fire on August 24, 1894. Without those records, it would be difficult to try and write a formal church history. Instead, our goal with these essays is to put Derry Church in context with a broader history of the region and the state.

Once a month our worship services will include a heritage moment focused on the monthly topic. On another Sunday each month, a heritage moment will focus on a profile of one of our saints buried in our cemetery.

An important part of the anniversary year will be the rededication of our cemetery. During the past two years, the cemetery has undergone a major restoration. Two of the cemetery walls were rebuilt, gravestones were repaired and straightened, and volunteers cleaned gravestones. The cemetery was regraded and reseeded. Plans are underway to rededicate the cemetery as part of our Homecoming Sunday celebration that will be held next fall.

EDUCATION
The Adult Education sub-committee has developed a series of classes to explore the history of Native American and European settler relations during the 18th and 19th centuries. A series of five classes, one held each month as part of the Issues class, will be presented.

A learning tour to Lancaster County is planned to explore parts of our history that we might not know regarding Presbyterian and European settler relations with Native peoples. It is our hope that these opportunities to learn about our past will help us to ask questions about how we might respond to this history. 

Pastor Stephen and his wife, Courtney, will offer classes to explore the Scottish and Irish origins of Presbyterianism and why Derry’s founders chose to settle here in Central Pennsylvania.

There will also be an opportunity for all Derry members to join together in reading a special book. Authored by Reverend David Latimer, A Leap of Faith: How Martin McGuinness and I Worked Together for Peace, is a memoir of how two men stepped out of their comfort zones to work together towards change and reconciliation in Derry, Northern Ireland. A variety of discussion groups will be created to explore this book. Reading and discussing the book will be a wonderful opportunity to prepare for the arrival next fall of the author, David Latimer, Derry’s homecoming weekend special guest.

Derry Church children are already exploring our church history through the growth and development of the church campus over the past 300 years. Through artwork and writing, the children are creating a Derry Church history picture book that will be available for sale in the fall of 2024. Monies raised will be directed towards mission as decided by the authors and artists. A group of 11 Derry teens will travel to Northern Ireland next July to participate in a week-long program at the Corrymeela Community to build peacemaking skills.

MUSIC AND WORSHIP
The 2024 Arts Alive season will feature a variety of concerts and performances. Of particular note will be a performance by the Paloma School of Irish Dance on April 7. On March 17, our Director of Music Dan Dorty will present a Hymn Festival, conducted by Linda Tedford, director of the Susquehanna Chorale. The year will conclude with the annual Christmas concert.

Music is an important part of Derry in worship and outreach. Derry Church has commissioned David Gambrell, a noted hymnist, to write a hymn in recognition of our 300th anniversary. The hymn will be added to the pew hymnals and be introduced on Heritage Sunday, April 28, 2024.

HOMECOMING
While friends and former members of Derry Church are always welcome, a special Homecoming celebration has been scheduled for the weekend of September 21-22. The Homecoming celebration will be an opportunity to invite  past members, staff, and ministers to come and join in the celebration.

On Saturday night, September 21, a more formal ticketed dinner will be held with a keynote speaker and special program.

Sunday, September 22, 2024, will feature a special worship and homecoming reception following the 10:30 am service. Our special guest will be Reverend David Latimer, retired pastor of 1st Presbyterian Church, Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Reverend Latimer will be the keynote speaker for the  Saturday evening event and will preach on Sunday.

MISSION
Mission is at the core of Derry Church’s mission statement as we share God’s love and practice God’s justice. When we began making plans for how we might celebrate this significant milestone, the Anniversary committee asked the Mission & Peace Committee to propose a mission project that would reflect Derry’s commitment to serving others and sharing our abundant resources. In response, the Mission & Peace Committee proposed not one, but two projects: to support homeless veterans by funding the construction of a tiny home in a new community being created to support homeless veterans in Harrisburg, and to fund the construction of a new classroom for Logos Academy in Harrisburg. These two projects will allow Derry Church members to practice God’s justice and share God’s love, not only by sharing our financial resources but also participate in the construction. 

KEEPSAKE
At previous anniversary celebrations, a variety of commemorative items were created: plates at one time were very popular. For the 275th, a beautiful large print of the church was commissioned and a replica of a communion token was created. For this anniversary, we turned to blacksmith and former member, Mark Smith. As he has done for several years, Mark will create a Christmas ornament that will serve as our anniversary keepsake. Mark will use copper from downspouts and gutters that were replaced on Derry Church’s building. The ornaments will be offered for sale beginning next fall, with the money continuing to fund scholarships for students at the Sargodha Schools in Pakistan.

I hope everyone will be able to participate in one or more of the opportunities planned to celebrate and honor this significant milestone in our church’s history. 

Our stewardship theme this year is “God Gives.” God Gives. It’s a simple, yet powerful statement that undoubtedly has a different meaning to each of us. Two words. Boundless interpretation.

God gives us our health. God gives us food for our table and shelter over our heads. God gives us the sunrise and the sunset. These are just a few examples of the simple interpretation of this statement.

I have thought deeply this stewardship season about how God Gives to my family through Derry. I have the honor of serving as Derry’s Stewardship & Finance Committee Chair and my wife, Kristen, is a member of the Mission Committee. Our boys, James and Brooks, have grown up in this church and have been Pilgrims, members of the choir and participants in youth group.  In fact, James will be traveling to Ireland next summer with other members of the youth group to study conflict and learn about reconciliation and peacemaking. What a tremendous experience this will be for him, and one that he would not have, if not for God’s giving through Derry. 

God gives so much to our family through the opportunities afforded to us by our church. When the Mission committee began to consider how Derry might host a refugee family, none of us knew exactly what this effort might entail. Indeed, it has been an effort—a herculean effort–with so many individuals providing their time and energy to ensure a successful experience for the Haikal family from Syria. Kristen has enjoyed her time with Alaa; my kids have gotten to know the Haikal kids, spending time with them at HersheyPark and Adventure Sports. I can fully attest to the fact that while we have done our best to provide the Haikals with a loving home in Hershey, God has certainly given to us in the form of this beautiful family. We are better off as a family and as a church for this opportunity that God has given to us.

I encourage you to give some thought to how God gives through Derry; and by doing so, think through the importance of our gifts to Derry. As the stewardship campaign winds down for the year, the pledges that we make to Derry will determine the opportunities that Derry can provide us in the coming year, our 300th anniversary year as a church. It will be a significant year in the life of Derry Church, and we have the opportunity to help shape this milestone year through our individual gifts. To this end, please join us after church on Sunday, November 12 for a soup and salad lunch as we celebrate the many ways God Gives.

God gives in many wonderful ways, from the simple to the complex and everything in between. If you think about your own experience at Derry, maybe you have felt God’s imprint of giving through the wonderful acts of kindness and love that the church affords us. I know that we have, and this giving has meant so much to our family’s spiritual growth.

A young woman came to the door of Christ Lutheran Church and rang the bell.  As I opened the door and greeted her, I could see the expression on her face: she was concerned and looked uncertain. And she was very pregnant. She spoke no English, and my Spanish is limited. Thanks to Google Translate, I was able to discern that she was looking for the medical outreach clinic and she was told that the church could help her. I escorted her to the entrance of the clinic and explained to her in my broken Spanish that she could talk with a nurse who could help her directly. As we entered the lobby which had other people waiting to be seen, I introduced her to the nurses who immediately took her under their wing to offer her care and support.  

This is a typical day at Christ Lutheran Church and one of the biggest reasons I wanted to come to here. I serve as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church as well as the executive director of the health ministries. My background includes extensive history in politics and government, entrepreneurial coaching, and at a food pantry. During my previous call, our congregation did a variety of ministries with those who were unhoused and in poverty.  

I want to thank Derry Church for being a crucial partner for the Health Ministries at Christ Lutheran Church, going back to 2017.  I look forward to seeing that relationship grow and strengthen as we continue helping our neighbors in need.  

The Health Ministries at Christ Lutheran Church include a free medical outreach clinic which is visited by an average of 800 people each month with an assortment of health needs. The clinic is staffed by nurses from Penn State Health who offer care and support for every person who enters the clinic. Because of partners like you, Christ Lutheran Church is able to ensure that the clinic has all the supplies it needs including non-prescription medication, bandages, socks and underwear, reader glasses, and more.  

We also host a free dental clinic that takes place three times a month.  The clinic is staffed by dentists in the area who volunteer their time and expertise, as well as dental assistants who are paid by the church to be onsite for the clinic. The dental clinic sees between 6-12 patients each time it is open, and the main focus is on people who are experiencing active pain, offering fillings as well as tooth extractions. Plans are in the works to expand the dental clinic by moving it to the first floor, which would give us the ability to add an additional chair and be able to see even more patients.  

In January, we will be launching our newest clinic which we are calling “Healthy on the Hill.” One of our nurses recently became a Licensed Nurse Practitioner, giving her the ability to prescribe medication as well as refer people for tests. Much of the focus of this clinic will be working with people who have chronic conditions such as diabetes, which require more consistent medical attention and care for the patients’ wellbeing.  

Along with these ministries, Christ Lutheran Church also partners with Harrisburg Area Community College. Every nursing and dental hygiene student in their respective programs spends at least one rotation through the clinics at the church. This means that students are getting important hands-on experience that helps shape their career.  It’s been reported back to me from the instructors that the students’ time at the Health Ministries of Christ Lutheran Church are some of the most important and formative parts of their education.  

Thank you for your partnership in this ministry.  We could not do this without you, quite literally.  Because of your support, so many people’s lives are positively impacted, and they can start to receive healing. You help make Christ Lutheran Church and the health ministries that happen here a special place of healing. Thank you!