Our congregation extends sincere sympathy to Clark and Ellie Heller on the loss of their son Mark after a long struggle with cancer, and to Jeri and Mark Culbertson on the death of Jeri’s sister.  Both were relatively young persons.

Another death was that of Al Withers’ brother Ben. He died at Good Samaritan Hospital, Lebanon, of a heart condition. Burial will be at Fort Indiantown Gap. Ben had been a Donegal Church member in his early years.

After displaying his hand crafted “bat house” at a Historic Preservation Trust function, Ken Ginder found them in demand and had to take orders.  Ken and Connie are very active members of the Trust.  We are aware too of the many bluebird houses that Ken has made and erected around their home and the church grounds.

Ann Gecelosky sent special Christmas greeting cards that displayed a 1960’s photo of Donegal’s children’s choir.  There were (amazingly) nineteen members, all wearing white robes with red satin bows made by several of the church women.  Margie Heisey was the children’s director and held the weekly rehearsals at her home.  So many of those nineteen are no longer at Donegal.

It may have been known that Donegal member Kerry Johnson is a dentist, but a recent extensive newspaper article relates many additional mouth and jaw problems such as TMJ that he is qualified to treat and provide pain relief.  Dr. Johnson and his large staff are located in Landisville.

There is a new look for our denomination’s periodical.  Presbyterians Today now has a less stylized and more casual friendly look. Current copies are available on the library magazine rack, but, like all periodicals and newspapers today, they need subscribers.  Cards for this purpose are found in all issues.

 

What good things have you seen or heard recently?

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Israel:  Culture and Contrast

“Congratulations! You have been selected to participate in MASA Israel Journey’s all-expense-paid study trip to Israel.”  Less than a week after I received this exciting e-mail, I was booked on a flight to Tel Aviv and preparing for my December trip to learn about educational opportunities and to experience the culture of Israel. A joint venture of the government of Israel and the Jewish Agency for Israel, MASA is dedicated to introducing counselors and students to the long-term study opportunities that await them in this nation.  In the week that I was in the country I sat in on a language class at Kibbutz Ulpan, talked to participants in Young Judea, viewed at the art on display at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, toured the Rothberg International School at Hebrew University, tramped through the mud of the organic farm Eco-Israel, thrilled to performances by students at Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music and at Dance Journey, and toured the Technion, Israel’s “MIT,” which owes some of its history to Albert Einstein.  And these are just a sampling of the programs that I will be able to discuss with my students who wish to pursue gap year programs in history, politics, the arts, environmental studies, or science.

            Between visits to programs my group of twenty high school counselors was also treated to tours of this country of contrasts—contrasts in lifestyle, politics, religions, and terrain.  After landing in Tel Aviv, I quickly made my way to Jerusalem, where I was based for four days, and even in the van of residents and tourists—none from my group—I was exposed to the diversity of the nation.  On one side of me was a German woman going to her apartment in the city much as some of our citizens might go to Florida for the winter.  On the other side sat a man with dual citizenship who lived part of the year in Chicago and the rest of the year in Jerusalem.  In the days I was in Jerusalem I walked through the old city, peering into the cavern-like shops and watching pilgrims walk the “Sorrowful Road” and pause at the Stations of the Cross.  I joined women on their side of the gender-divided Wailing Wall, offered my own prayer, and slipped my paper into one of the cracks of the wall with the thousands of others placed there by supplicants.  So many of the places that I had read about—the City of David, the Mount of Olives, the Upper Room, to mention just a few—I saw for myself and pondered their import and influence. 

Outside of Jerusalem our group traveled along the West Bank—with a wall on one side of the highway and a barbed wire barrier on the other—to reach Jaffa and later Haifa.  In Jaffa history and commerce mingle, and our group experienced both as we stepped inside the Church of St. Peter and later bargained for souvenirs in the bustling market.  We bought soaps of Dead Sea mud and ate traditional foods: falafel, couscous, shakshuka, and desserts sweetened honey.  We traveled on to tour the caves of Rosh Hanikra and look out toward the border with Lebanon, a spot the last group of counselors could not visit because a war was in progress.  We ate freshly baked native bread at a roadside stand in a Druze village known as one of the most picturesque spots in Israel.  In Haifa we had a tour of the Bahai Gardens, and I chatted with a young man from South Africa who was making his pilgrimage to this verdant holy place. 

I returned from Israel determined to learn more about the religions and conflicts that have shaped this land where Christ once walked. 

                                                   Submitted by Linda Campbell