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| The Derry Presbyterian Church |
| July 2008 Newsletter |
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Worship with Communion Sunday July 13th At 10:00 a.m. |
| From the Pastor | ||||||||||||||||||
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“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”, said Jesus. (Matthew 13:45-46)
Dear Friends, As I sit and write this letter, there are children playing in the yards surrounding the church. The noise of their games and joy floats through my window. Superimposed over their laughter and joy is the sound of the church bells playing hymns. It strikes me that this is what Jesus was telling the disciples and followers and he described the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is something which is to come but it is also something which we live into here and now. Just as the bells ring out the joy of the promises to come, the sound of children’s laughter attest to the joy of the promises now realized. Much of popular spirituality teach and lead us to believe that joy is something that we will get later or only in some other worldly place. We are led to believe that joy is not something we will experience in this present life in which we live. Nothing is further from the teachings of Jesus or the Bible. God has made us to be body and soul together. Our earthly bodies were created with great love and care to be functional, but also to bring us joy. Just watch children playing in the water from a garden hose or rolling down a hill, or flying down the street on a bicycle. They are experiencing the joy that the church bells are calling us to reach out and accept. Joy should not be confused with fun. Fun is fleeting and dependent often on things over which we have no control. Fun is often an illusion. What looks like fun can often turn to tears in the blink of an eye. Joy is the peace that comes from accepting the freedom that living in Jesus Christ brings to us. I have known people in very serious situations who still experience joy because they know to whom they belong and who is watching over them. Joy comes not so much from what we do as from whom we receive our identity. As you go about enjoying the summer fun, allow room for the deep joy that comes from discovering the treasure of God’s love. Allow yourself time to invest in the field that holds the treasure that brings lasting joy.
Peace,
Helen Weekly Scripture Readings for the Month of July
June 30th - July 5th: Genesis 24:34-38, 42-49, 58-67; Psalm 45:10-17; Romans 7:15-25a; Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30 July 6th - July 12th: Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm 119:105-112; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 July 13th - July 19th: Genesis 28:10-19a; Palm 139:1-12, 23-24; Romans 8:12-25; Matthews 13:24-30, 36-43 July 20th - July 26th: Genesis 29:15-28; Psalm 105:1-11, 45b; Psalm 128; Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
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Prayer List for July
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John & Frances Nicholson Ron Durika-seminarian Tim Wirick Mark Bush - sign language interpreter Bill Beighley When you or a loved one is hospitalized, please be sure to have someone contact the church. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) requires that you give permission to the hospital to release information related to your stay. Giving permission will allow the hospital to notify clergy of your name and hospital room number so that they may visit you. If you do not agree to release such information, the hospital is not allowed to share it.
Please Remember Our Shut-ins
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Requests have been made to publish a list of addresses and telephone numbers of all our shut-ins. The names of the shut-ins are listed below. Please contact the church office secretary to obtain the address and telephone numbers of the shut-ins is you care to send a card, note or make a phone call. A card, note or phone call would be greatly appreciated by those members who are unable to attend worship services. Also remember to keep each one in your prayers.
Louise Swartz
Virginia Meyers Virginia Pitt Martha Dibert
Our Servicemen and Women
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SFC Alan Mewherter 8337 Halter Lane Fort Meade, MD 20755 Chris Johnes 1165 Grassy Creek Circle Franklin, IN 46131 Nathan & Elizabeth Durika 94-1049 Kapukawai Streetbr> Waipahu, HI 96797 Tami Puskar 1123 Golden West Way Lusby, MD 20657 | ||||||||||||||
| Our Church Elders and Deacons | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Head Elder Schedule for July | ||||||||||||||||||
July 6th - Debbie Nicholson
July 13th - Dennis Dablock July 20th - Lisa Souders July 27th - Larry Kean | ||||||||||||||||||
| Here's What's Happening | Monday, July 7th - Pirate Game - 4:30 p.m. Friday, July 11th - Ladies Night Out 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Saturday, July 12th - Idlewild Picnic Saturday, July 12th - Reception for Sudanese Partners - 7:00 p.m. - Kester home Sunday, July 13th - Worship with Communion 10:00 a.m. August 1st and 2nd - Derry’s Great Garage Sale and Deacon’s Funnel Cake sale - 8:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. August 11th - 15th - Vacation Bible School 5-7 p.m. each evening. Please mark your calendars and plan to attend! | |||||||||||||||||
| Join Us for Morning Service | We will gather at 10:00 a.m. for Worship and will continue this schedule through and including Labor Day weekend. Sunday School for Adults will begin at 9:00 a.m. Children’s Sunday School will take place during the 10:00a.m. Worship. Children will be dismissed after the Children’s Message for Sunday School and will return during the last hymn. | |||||||||||||||||
| Picnic in the Park | Come one and all for a day of family fun at Idlewild Park. We will be meeting at Pavilion B at noon for lunch. Each family is asked to bring a dish to share. Tickets are $16.50 and can be ordered from the church office. The money must be paid at the time of reservation. If you are going to use a family pass or some other pass, please make a reservation to eat so we have a count for the meal.
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| A Trip to the Ball Game | There are still a few tickets available for the Pirate Game on Monday, July 7th. The cost of $20.00 covers your ticket and bus fare. Call the church office. | |||||||||||||||||
| Women's News | Ladies Night Out!! All women of the church and friends are invited to a night of pampering, food, Bible study, and fellowship on Friday, July 11th from 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. We will have a movie and babysitter for children. See Heidi Wright for more information or call the church office. | |||||||||||||||||
| Share God's Word | You are invited to join Rev. Keith Lohr from the United Mehtodist Church as he leads worship and Communion at the Barne’s House on Monday, July 28th at 2:00 p.m. The residents look forward to our visits. | |||||||||||||||||
| Mission Needs | You are invited to help with mission projects above your regular giving. There are a number of opportunities for second mile giving this month. Second Mile giving is money that you give over and above your weekly tithe. It is not simply a matter of moving money from one category to another but actually giving over and above your regular offering. The Session has set up the Dean Sheffler Emergency Benevolence Fund to help people in need of funds because of medical or other emergencies. Your financial love has meant much to families in times of transition. If you would like to give to this fund just put your check in the collection plate or put money in an envelope and mark it Emergency Fund. In the past month we have helped to buy medicine, baby supplies, and food for several families in the community. | |||||||||||||||||
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Men's Christian Fellowship |
The Session is excited to begin a new ministry to men in our community. We are hoping to provide speakers and a time for fellowship of Christian men in our town. On August 6th, beginning at 6:00 p.m. we will be hosting Tunch Ilkin, former Steeler as our first speaker. A picnic style meal will be served at 6:00 p.m. Everyone will gather afterwards to hear Tunch speak. Men may buy tickets at the cost of $10.00 each before June 30th and $15.00 after June 30th. Please call the church office for tickets. | |||||||||||||||||
| Birthdays in July | ||||||||||||||||||
James Barchesky 7/14
Lori DeLuca 7/27 Ilene Frye 7/4 Tom Hughes 7/12 Sharon (Mewherter) Nokovich 7/24 Becky Quatrini 7/12 Kristen Ross 7/13 Jesse Shean 7/20 Jeff Souders 7/24 Louise Swartz 7/4 Michael Wishard 7/19 If we have missed your birthday, please contact the Church Office. Thank you.
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| Anniversaries in July | ||||||||||||||||||
James & Jane Barchesky 7/28
If we have missed your anniversary, please contact the Church Office. Thank you.Hal & Helen Kester 7/5 Michael & Sharon Nokovich 7/26 Bill & Diane Patterson 7/18 John & Barb Sampson 7/18 |
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| With Sympathy | ||||||||||||||||||
The church extends our condolences to Jim & Beth Bluey on the death of Jennifer Bluey, Jim’s stepmother. Jennifer died to this life on June 2, 2008.
Derry’s Great Garage Sale August 1& 2!!
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The Derry Presbyterian Church will once again be participating in Derry’s Great Garage Sale. Starting Monday, July 21st you may begin to bring in your clean, and gently used items to be priced and displayed for sale. Please do not bring clothing. You will be able to bring in your items and place them in the designated room in the basement. Items may be brought to the Church, Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. noon. If this is a problem, please contact Lila Gularski at 724-694-8683 for other arrangements. Also, we will be having a hot food sale. Lila is looking for donations of hot dogs, chipped ham, hot dog and hamburger buns, and bottled water. She will need volunteers to work the kitchen during the sale and help with setting-up and clean-up. Sign-up sheets are in the Fellowship Hall for those who would like to lend a hand. Please contact Lila at the afore mentioned phone number if you have any questions. In conjunction with the Derry’s Great Garage Sale, on Friday and Saturday, August 1st and 2nd, our Deacons will be selling funnel cakes. Sign-up sheets are in the Fellowship Hall for those who would like to help make and sell the cakes. Please see Lorie Dablock if you have any questions.
Angel Food Ministries
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The Derry Presbyterian Church still continues to participate in this wonderful outreach ministry. If you are interested in placing an order, or purchasing an order to be donated to a family in need, you can pick up an order form at the church from the blue wire rack located near the water fountain. Please fill out all the needed information on the form and include the payment in cash. Return it to the church office by the date listed at the bottom. If you have any questions, please call the church office, Monday - Friday from 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. The cost for each Angel Food Order is $30.00
Carillon Requests
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You can request music, to be played for a week at the cost of $25.00, or on a specific day for a $5.00 gift, in memory or honor of your loved ones. Please fill out a form, which can be found in the blue wire rack near the water fountain, or call the church office. The music will be played Monday through Saturday at 6:00 p.m. and Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. The funds will be used to maintain the carillon and purchase additional cassettes and prepare to purchase a new carillon.
Worship Service Includes Interpreter for the Deaf
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In an attempt to be open to all of God’s children, we now have an interpreter for the deaf for Sunday morning worship. If you have friends or neighbors who don’t go to worship because there is no one to interpret for them, please invite them to join us for worship.
Vacation Bible School
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Jessica Beighley, Children’s Ministry Director, will lead Vacation Bible School for children ages 4 - 5th grade, the week of August 11th - 15th from 5- 7 p.m. each evening. Bring the children for a time of Bible stories, crafts, food, singing and fun. There will be a VBS organization meeting on Sunday, July 6th immediately following the worship service for those who would like to lend a hand, donation supplies or help in any way needed. Our theme for VBS this summer is the Wilderness. We need a tent, lanterns, sleeping bags, air mattress, mess kits and anything else that we can borrow to give the feeling of camp. If you have any of these items that you are willing to lend, please contact the church office or Jessica Beighley. We also need people to donate cookies and drink for snacks each evening. There will be a sign-up sheet in the Fellowship Hall.
Partnership with Christians
in Sudan
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In a united voice, the churches of Redstone Presbytery voted to enter a 5 year partnership with the Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Church. SPEC has 64 church congregations and over 60 preaching centers in Sudan. Our partners in Sudan are Christians who are deeply committed to living out the gospel of Jesus Christ, sharing hope and joy in the midst of the brokenness and harsh challenges in the world around them. The people in Sudan have suffered greatly in the past 20 years with over 2 million lives lost in armed conflict, and over 180,000 lives exterminated in a government sanctioned genocide of nation people. In addition, hundreds of thousands of people have died of starvation, and over one million people have become refugees from their ancestral farmlands in the south. How Can Our Church Help?
Prayer - Prayer is powerful, and it one of the most sought-out and cherished ministries of our partnership. Please consider a ministry of prayer in your congregations, and their needs.Projects and Programs - There are many opportunities for churches to partner in life-giving programs of nurture and support, such as: - basic education and teacher training - health care and water purification - Women’s and youth ministries - Nile Theological College and Gereif Bible School Scholarships Consider the $1.00 a day fund to ease hunger in the Sudan. We will be hosting one of our Sudanese friends this month . Come and hear first hand what God is doing in the Sudan.
Reception for Sudanese Visitors
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You are invited to a reception at the Kester home at 126 Walters Street, Derry, PA on Saturday, July 12th from 7 - 8:30 p.m. to meet our Brothers in Christ from the Sudan. This will be a time to hear first hand from fellow Christians what it is like to be a Christian in a non-Christian nation. You will find out about how your mission money from the Presbytery is helping to provide much needed food, medicine, and sewing machines to people struggling to survive. Come and enjoy an evening with our Brothers who have traveled half way around the world to share their story. Please sign up in the Fellowship Hall.
Big Thank You!
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Thank you to Jim & Phyllis Humphreys for donating copies of the Church History booklets. Thank you to all the men who put the new lights in the sanctuary. Thank you to everyone who helped with the Funnel Cake sale for the Fireman’s Convention. Thank you to Ken Taylor and his helpers who did the landscaping around the church building. Thank you to Lee Mewherter for faithfully mowing the grass, and thank you to Hollie Lewis for teaching the ASL class and Mark Bush for helping her. Lorie Dablock received the following letter from Portia Shirley from the Meals in Wheels Volunteers of Latrobe: “Thank you very much to you and your fellow church members for making the sandwich meals for the week of May 19-23. We are very appreciative that your church has donated the supplies. This allows us to continue and only charge the recipients for the cost of the hot meals provided by the hospital. Thanks for your generosity.”
Committee Chairs
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Church Operations- Howard Reynolds
724-694-8748 Memorial, Church Life and Restoration-Linda Miller 724-694-5707 Christian Ed - Jessica Beighley jabdms@comcast.net Worship and Sacrament and Nominating Committees Matt Quatrini RQUATRINI@aol.com MIS-Larry Kean 724-694-9318 Emergency Mission Team- Rev. Helen M. Kester 724-694-2923 (Home) 724-694-5710 (Church office) Vision Team - Matt Quatrini & Hal Kester Ways & Means Team - Lila Hughes-Gularski 724-694-8683 |