Community Tractor Service – Sunday 22nd April 2018

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COMMUNITY TRACTOR SERVICE

Sunday 22nd April 2018

CARRIGALLEN MART 3pm

Special Music

Children invited to bring a toy tractor for the Children’s Corner ‘Farmers of the Future’ (adult must supervise)

BRING A TRACTOR, AS WE GIVE THANKS FOR OUR FARMERS AND PRAY FOR GOD’S BLESSING ON THEIR WORK IN THE YEAR AHEAD

After the service there will be a Tractor Run

EVERYONE WELCOME

Tea/coffee and light refreshments served

Voluntary collection for East Africa Famine Appeal.

2018 Easter message from Bishop Ferran Glenfield

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The Irish rugby team have been bathing in the glory of victory winning only their third Grand Slam in the long history of the game. The win warmed the country in the cold days of the Beast from the East and the Baby Beast from the East.

At Easter Christians celebrate the victory of Jesus Christ, victory over the harsh realities of sin and death. Sin which imprisons people, communities and countries in a deadly grip. Sin gives way to death, we will all die, it is inescapable.

Nonetheless the death and resurrection of Jesus is the means by which sin can be dealt with and death faced not as the end but the beginning of new life. Each one of us can be victorious through faith in the One who overcame all the odds and defeated death, once and for all.

+ Ferran

Plough Sunday Service Ballymachugh

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At the end of each farming year we join together at the church in great celebration and give thanks to God for the year that has been, the crops we have yielded, the livestock we have raised and the food we have made. This year, as well as looking back and thanking God for the harvest that has been, we made the conscious decision that we would look ahead and thank God for the work that He does on our lands each and every day to create the harvest that will be. We wanted to capture the imagination of the people and bring a reminder to keep God in the centre of their work through the year ahead – this is how Plough Sunday came into being.

The idea began as a Sunday service of thanksgiving for the land and the work of God plus a blessing of the farming machinery after the service. From there the vision was caught, the excitement built, and the idea grew and flourished. The people of Saint Paul’s, Ballymachugh, joined forces with St Mary’s, Carrick Church and the wider farming and working community to create a spectacular day.

The morning of the 18th February, 2018 marked our Plough Sunday service. It may have been wet but the spirits were high and the scene was beautifully set. The car park was filling with tractors belonging to the adults, the walkway was filling with tractors belonging to the children, and a single vintage horse Plough with an old oil lantern stood in front of Saint Paul’s, Ballymachugh, lighting the way for the farming year ahead. The very plough worked the neighbouring fields to the church 40 years ago.

Post service tractors big and small gathered together for their tractor runs. It was hard to tell which faces (adults or children’s) showed the most joy over getting to take a ride on their tractors. The children went first with great speed, enthusiasm and screams of joy, making history as they rode for Ballymachugh’s first official junior tractor run. The big tractors went with just as much enthusiasm and a remarkable rumble of engines as they took off on their tour around Lough Sheelin.

The day as a whole had a great buzz about it. Smiling faces, heartfelt conversations, delicious food, beautiful machines, generous giving and a wonderful sense of community are only some of the things that this event gave. We are grateful to all who gave their time to the planning and decorating; to those who donated food or prizes; and to those who participated in the day. Mostly we are grateful to God who makes all things possible, and whom works in our lives every day so that we may reap the harvest.

We look forward to celebrating God’s blessings on our land at Plough Sunday next year. We hope that each year we can gather together with our wider community and share a day of fun and fellowship. We invite all who are interested to mark the date in their diaries and join us at Plough Sunday on the 17th February, 2019, at Saint Paul’s Ballymachugh.

Call to prayer and fasting for South Sudan and DRC

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Following updates from its global partners, CMS Ireland is echoing a call to pray and fast for South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Friday 23rd February.

 

The mass movement of people within and outside these two countries is not stopping. Over many years, sustained violence and insecurity in both places resulted in huge numbers of people leaving their homes in search of safety and refuge. Following a recent, tentative peace agreement in South Sudan, some people have begun to return home, but this brings with it its own problems.

 

In South Sudan, Bishop Tandema of Olo Diocese has asked for support to help his people, who have come back home from exile to destroyed villages. Bishop Hilary warns that soon the situation might be similar for Yei Diocese as, even in the uncertain peace since Christmas, people have started to return home.

 

In Bukavu Diocese, DR Congo, Bishop Bahati has received support from Church of Ireland parishes to provide food aid for internally displaced people coming from the Kasai region. In North Kivu Diocese, more children have been arriving at the diocesan children’s home, displaced and separated from their families.

Anglican Church leaders have joined with Pope Francis in calling for prayer and fasting for both South Sudan and DRC on Friday 23rd February. The Secretary General of the Anglican Communion, Dr Josiah Idowu-Fearon, writes:

 

“Conflicts continue to blight the lives of millions of people. In support of our brothers and sisters in areas of conflict, and particularly in solidarity with those in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, I join with Pope Francis in calling the Churches of the Anglican Communion and all people of good will to prayer and fasting for peace on Friday 23 February.”

 

In encouraging prayer for DRC, Archbishop Masimango Katanda says:

“With Christ, let us learn that active nonviolence is a force that can transform society when it denounces time and time again the situations of injustice and exclusion that violence feeds. May our families be places where we learn to resolve conflicts in a nonviolent way. Every Friday of Lent, I invite you to fast so that God will expel from our hearts and men’s hearts any desire for violence and make them welcoming to his forgiveness.”

Archbishop Masimango has suggested the use of the following prayer:

 

God who watches over our world, look at the country where you gave us to live. Grant to all its inhabitants to seek the common good, to those who govern us to do it wisely, so that there is among us more justice, and in the whole world more happiness and peace.

 


Photograph attached: Archbishop Masimango Katana with Revd Andrew Rawding (Brackaville, Ballyclog and Donaghendry)

CIYD Day of Prayer for Young People

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The Church of Ireland Youth Department are holding a Day of Prayer for Young People and Youth Ministry on Sunday the 11th February. Parishes across the island will be organising events and services to pray for the needs of young people and for the you the leaders and ministries that serve them.

» Click HERE for resources to help you organise these events.

Crosslinks Day Conference

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Pentecost marked the launch of the Christian mission. The risen Jesus commissioned his disciples to proclaim “the forgiveness of sins in his name to all nations” but he also commanded them first to stay in Jerusalem until they were “clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:44-49). What followed on the day of Pentecost was as perplexing as it was dramatic – and would have remained so, were it not for the Apostle Peter’s intervention, “Let me explain this to you’ he said, ‘listen carefully to what I say” (Acts 2:14).  Peter goes back to the Old Testament prophet Joel and finds there the key for grasping what Pentecost is all about. Strangely, in our day, Joel is one of the least visited corners of the Old Testament. The result is that the events of Pentecost often remain perplexing and its implications–as spelled out by Peter–are widely unknown.

The 2018 day conference will explore the meaning and significance of Pentecost for mission today in the light of Peter’s exposition of Joel.

  • What does it mean to engage in God’s mission in these ‘Last Days’?
  • Who are to speak for God today?
  • What is the message they are to proclaim?

The Last Day and the last days conference promises a fresh encounter with the apostolic teaching that laid the foundations of Christian mission.

 

Our Speaker: Rev Alan Purser is a bible teacher who specialises in expository preaching and the theology of mission. As an Anglican clergyman Alan has served in a number of parishes in the UK and abroad and, most recently, spent 13 years working for Crosslinks. During this time he also travelled extensively in Europe and Africa. Alan retired in 2016 and, with his wife Anne, now lives in Buxton, Derbyshire where they are active members of Trinity Church.

 

Booking: £10 / €10 (This includes all refreshments and lunch)

 

Book online: www.crosslinks.org/lastdays or contact Valerie Ellis at vellis@crosslinks.org

Christmas Message 2017

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Christmas is on the cards. Sending and receiving Christmas cards is still very much part of our Christmas experience. There is a whole variety of greetings on the cards :Merry Christmas, Season’s Greetings’, Nollaig Shona Duit and Ho Ho Ho are but a few offered this year.

The greeting is key because it was at the centre of the Christmas story in the Bible. In St. Luke’s Gospel, the Angle Gabriel was sent by God, to Mary a young unmarried girl. His greeting frightened Mary and his message from God astounded her. She had found favour with God and was to conceive and to bear a son without human agency. He was to be called Jesus and he would be great and be called the Son of God.

The angel Gabriel’s greeting and Mary’s response lie at the heart of Christmas.
God comes to us in Jesus, born of Mary. God steps into our world and shares our human experience, being born into a family and be raised to adulthood. His coming has transformed the world through his life, death and resurrection.
The babe of Bethlehem is Lord of all and at Christmas we wonder at the purposes of God and marvel at his ways. This is His story we celebrate and it is our story too. Like Mary we are favoured by God’s Grace, and like her we are asked to believe and receive God’s gift, Jesus Christ his Son as our Saviour and King.

May we wish you and yours God’s favour and presence this Christmas as you gather with family or friends and as you gather in parish churches to hear again of the greatest story ever told.

+Ferran

Revd. Ali Calvin installed as Prebendary of Annagh

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The Revd. Alison Calvin was installed as Prebendary of Annagh at an evening service on Advent Sunday 3rd December in St Fethlimidh’s Cathedral, Kilmore. It was a beautiful service with the promise of advent running through all the hymns and readings. Canon Ali said it was ‘a reminder of what a privilege it is to serve God and his people while we eagerly await and look forward to his return’.

After the service there was a reception in the Kilmore Parish Hall at which Canon Ali was warmly welcomed to the cathedral chapter. The people of Killeshandra marked the occasion by presenting Canon Ali with flowers and a beautiful engraved lamp – a symbol of the light in the darkness.