360 Miscellany – News, views, resources, and online events

An invitation to join tonight’s service online

Methodist Church Livestream Service of Remembrance and Consecration

The event is taking place in the Assembly Buildings in Belfast attended by the President and a small group of family and friends. We also look forward to hearing from the President, Rev Dr Tom McKnight, on his theme for the year ‘Grace Without Limits’.

As the Methodist Church in Ireland gathers ‘virtually’ as a Connexion for this significant event, you are invited to join them whether it be from your living room sofa or your kitchen table

Livestream from 7:15PM | Service starts 7:30PM.
📌 To access livestream head to the church’s homepage: [ www.irishmethodist.org ]

Archbishop endorses resources for
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021

The Archbishop of Armagh and Chairman of the Church of Ireland’s Commission on Christian Unity and Dialogue, the Most Revd John McDowell, has endorsed and encouraged the use of resources for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, in January 2021. (See link at end).

Archbishop McDowell writes –
“There could hardly be more challenging circumstances in which to plan for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on 18–25 January. “Getting together” in local settings was in itself a witness to the underlying communion we share by virtue of our baptism and faith in the Crucified and Risen Lord. In large parts of the island of Ireland probably that will be impossible this year. In other parts, it will be very limited.

“However, clergy and lay people have shown themselves to be imaginative in keeping the worshipping life of the Church alive in general and I trust that new ways will be developed to give some concrete expression to Our Lord’s desire that “…they may all be one”.

“The resource material in this unusual year has been prepared by a very singular group, the Grandchamp Community based in the French speaking part of Switzerland. It is a monastic community of women, begun by members of the Reformed tradition, but now fully ecumenical, sitting outside the formal structures, of any tradition, but with strong links to the Taizé Community.

“It began when a group of Reformed women rediscovered the practice of silence in gathering around the Word of God. The material they have produced centres on a well–known passage from St John’s Gospel, “Abide in me”.

“I pray that their spirit of silence in the presence of the Word may inspire you as you think about the opportunities for ecumenical witness and worship in the period of silence we are passing through”.
[[] https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/worship-and-background-material-for-the-week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-2021 ]

Faith in the Environment – Interfaith Perspectives – on Zoom

You are invited to this joint meeting hosted by the Green Party Northern Ireland and the Northern Ireland Interfaith Forum

Title: Faith in the Environment – Interfaith Perspectives Saturday 14th November 11am – 1pm on Zoom (details below)
Chair – Professor John Barry QUB

Keynote speaker – Alastair McIntosh – activist, writer and academic – will speak about the Climate Crisis, a faith-based understanding of the environment and our relationship with it.
Most recent publication: Riders on the Storm – The Climate Crisis and the Survival of Being (Birlinn 2020)
[ www.alastairmcintosh.com ]

This presentation will be followed by responses from:
Gasser Abdelal – Belfast Islamic Centre
Vicky Heslop – Jampa Ling Buddhist Community Raj Puri – Indian Community Centre
Boyd Sleator – NI Humanist Association
Rev Andrew Orr – Eco-congregations Ireland
Followed by time for questions and discussion.

Zoom Link:
[ https://zoom.us/j/97644417385?pwd=N2NmOTVRa0J1VmlCMXVKeG5jNXcrQT09 ]
Meeting ID: 976 4441 7385
Passcode: 825101

Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland online Remembrance

A page dedicated to Remembrance Day has gone live on the Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland website.

To visit the Remembrance page click this link –
[ http://goli.org.uk/remembrance ]

Two new titles in Very Best Bible Stories

Deborah and the Very Big Battle and Moses and the Very Big Rescue, the next two in the Very Best Bible Stories series from The Good Book Company UK

Available to purchase online from The Good Book Company UK, Amazon.com, Waterstones, Christianbook.com, The Good Book Company Ireland, The Good Book Company US

New PCI Blog – Refined worship

Rev David Thompson reflects on how the unusual circumstances in which we find ourselves worshipping might prove God’s way of refining our understanding and practice of something we have come to take for granted.

“… maybe these are days rich in the possibility of rediscovering the sacred in our worship. The steadying sense that there is a higher focus for our lives than the here and now. Something that lifts us above the gloom and fear that lurks behind every headline, to catch a glimpse of God in his majesty and to marvel again at his victory in Christ.” – [ https://bit.ly/3jTzjKf ]

Canon Trevor Arnold Sullivan, 1940 to 2020

Canon Trevor Sullivan is well remembered as Rector of the Aughrim & Creagh Parish Unions, where he served from 1984 until his retirement in 2007. Portadown born, his church ministry began in the 1960s as a lay Church Army captain in England. Following his ordination in the Church of Ireland in 1970, he served in curacies in Shankill, Lurgan, and in Tralee & Dingle. He also worked in the Irish School of Ecumenics, as Industrial Chaplain in the dioceses of Dublin and Glendalough, and as rector of Ematris, Aghabog and Aughnamullen in Clogher Diocese. During his time in the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe, he was appointed as rural dean and as Prebend of Inniscattery.

Canon Sullivan’s ministry was characterised by his passionate commitment to peace and reconciliation. From the 1970s onwards, he worked with a number of bodies to build peace on this island and served as a consultant at different stages of the peace process. His work with the Battle of Aughrim Interpretive Centre and with the Aughrim Summer School did much to bring together people from the north and south. He will be fondly remembered by the staff and patients of Portiuncula Hospital, where he ministered with deep devotion as hospital chaplain for many years.

Canon Sullivan had a very active retirement, during which he continued to minister in a number of parishes, including Athlone Parish in the Dioceses of Meath and Kildare, and in the Ardagh Union and Roscommon Parish in the Dioceses of Kilmore, Elphin and Ardagh.

On the news of his sudden death last weekend, there has been a deep outpouring of affection for Canon Sullivan from former parishioners, clergy colleagues and people in the wider community, who remember his life and ministry with such fondness. Their thoughts and prayers are with his wife Doris, their daughters Moynagh and Johanne and all the family

Well said

Pointers for Prayer

Give thanks for the formation of the new Province of Alexandria, which will consist of the Dioceses of Egypt, North Africa, Gambella and the Horn of Africa. Pray for Archbishop Mouneer as he undertakes leadership, with many challenges to face – CMSI

Today we give thanks for God’s beautiful creation. Recently, Australian scientists have discovered a detached reef taller than the Empire State Building at the northern end of the Great Barrier Reef

Pray for the complex situation which has arisen from demands of the Protestant Churches in Egypt (PCE) upon the Anglican Church in Egypt. A new court case has been raised and Bishop Mouneer asks for our prayers for these difficult issues.- CMSI

Pray for schools as they resume after the autumn break; for safety and protection for children, staff, parents and carers. – Church Army

God in creation