Tuam schools service; Lecture series; Story telling success; Dock Church is thankful;
Tuam’s schools’ service
The annual Nation Schools Service of Tuam, Kilala and Achonry was held in Tuam early in November and Saint Mary’s Cathedral was thronged with children from all over the diocese. The service was led by Revd John Godfrey, curate of Galway, and Bishop Rooke with the address being given by Lydia Monds of Bishops’ Appeal assisted by Andy McCormick of CMS Ireland.
After the service, the first phase of TKA’s MABWENI project was launched with the imaginative ‘Potty Walk’ around the interior of the cathedral. This was to highlight the need for sanitary facilties at the Maasai girls school in Kenya which TKA is supporting and to promote the ‘Jam Jar Appeal’ which will run in TKA during Advent 2012 and Lent 2013.
TCD lecture series
Sponsored by the School of Religions, Theology and Ecumenics –
Tuesday, December 4th 2012, 17:00–19.00 Prof Paula Fredriksen (Hebrew University & Boston University) When Christians were Jews: The New Jewish Annotated New Testament and its Goals
Tuesday, January 29th 2013, 17:00–19.00 Prof Elaine Graham (University of Chester) Ethics and Cultural Engagement in Post–Secular Public Theology
Tuesday, March 12th 2013, 17:00–19.00 Prof Remi Brague (University of Munich & University of Sorbonne) Philosophies of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the Medieval Cultural Space
Tuesday, April 9th 2013, 17:00–19.00
Prof Emer Luc Reychler (University of Leuven) The Role of Time in Conflict and Peace Processes
Story Telling Seminar a Great Success
Members of the clergy from the Church of Ireland and other churches attended an interesting seminar on children’s ministry in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute on Friday November 23. The speaker was Bob Hartman who was the main speaker at the Building Blocks Conference held for a wider audience on the following day. Bob spoke about engaging with children and of ways of telling stories to hold their interest and teach them the truths of the gospel stories. The lunch was organised by the Revd Ann Taylor.
Bob Hartman is the author of many Bible story books for children and adults. One of his best known books is the Lion Storyteller Bible. Others include The Noisy Stable, Anyone Can Tell a Story, The Complete Bible Baddies and Dinner in the Lion’s Den.
Belfast’s Dock Church gives thanks
A report from The Dock states –
The Dock has had a very thankful week. Our Thanksgiving Day celebrations (22 November) saw the whole Dock community – residents, students, tourists, builders, businesspeople, volunteers – join together to create a massive paper chain of Reasons to be Thankful.
Munching special thanksiving sandwiches and disgraceful amounts of Roses, Celebrations and Quality Street, we spent a hugely moving and powerful day remembering just how much we have to be thankful for – capping it all off with some fantastic acoustic tunes from the gang at the Belfast Met Christian Union to round off the evening.
And of course we’re still buzzing from the joy of celebrating The Dock’s third birthday – a birthday party held for the first time in ‘our place’.
On Day One, The Dock met in the open air and went for a walk.
For Birthday Party One, we hired a room in the Pump House Cafe.
For our second birthday, we used the empty concrete unit in which we’d been Meeting The Neighbours.
And for our third birthday… we gathered in Dock Cafe, fired up the heaters, ordered extra scones, filled the coffee machine, crashed on the sofas, gathered round the furnace… and partied our little socks off. We showed some pictures of the progress of both the Titanic Quarter and The Dock over three incredible, eventful, unforgettable years. I spoke (without a script – which I think meant that I just babbled, “I’m so thankful it’s so amazing thankyou, thankyou, thankyou…” for about an hour). We got out the guitars and keyboards (the Dock volunteers formed a band – provisionally called Dock Collective Experiment – for the evening), lifted our voices and thanked God with all our hearts and souls.
And then Tegan cut the cake which mum had baked – which, as always, perfectly captured the story of the Dock at each birthday. For Year One – in which we brainstormed, caught the vision, and formed the Dock as a shared project, the cake was the new Dock logo.
For Year Two – in which we started Meet the Neighbours, began the Dock Walks, and went boat–hunting – the cake had a nautical theme.
And for Year Three – in which The Dock found a home, opened a cafe, found itself at the centre of Life in the Titanic Quarter in Belfast’s Titanic year – three words summed it up:
We Are Open. Thankyou.