Magheragall Parish Church

Whilst the hospital chaplains are always very good at informing me about parishioners who are in hospital, sometimes the information doesn't’t always get through in time. The Hospital Chaplain does his/her rounds and then notifies the relevant parish minister. Often the individual could be home before the relevant minister is even aware that they are in hospital. To help me visit everyone in hospital it would be very helpful if you could let me know of anyone who is having to go into hospital or is already in hospital. During the summer please phone the clergy covering my holidays.

Connor - Yei Diocesan Partnership.
Schools Project

LATEST UPDATE

Connor has raised more than half the funding needed to build a new school in Mongo in its link diocese of Yei, southern Sudan.

As of January 31, £51,464.47 had been contributed to the Yei School Project by almost half of Connor’s 75 parishes as well as individuals and other organisations.

This means Connor is well on its way to reaching its target of £80,000 to build the Mongo school, guaranteeing a better education and a brighter future for young people in the village.

Archdeacon Stephen Forde, who visited Yei last January, and launched the project at Connor diocesan synod in October, said: “It will cost £20,000 for each of the four classroom blocks. The money we have raised to date means work on the first two classrooms blocks can get underway, hopefully in March during Yei’s dry season.”

Mongo’s present school building comprises shacks with no walls, roofs with holes, and rough sticks which act as seating. There are no desks. Three classes are held outdoors, under a mango tree.

The new school will be brick built with a corrugated iron roof and concrete floor and there will be desks in every classroom.

With many parishes adopting the appeal as Lent project, it is hoped that the full £80,000 will soon be raised, allowing work on the school to proceed quickly.

And Bishop Hilary of Yei is due back in Connor early in April to talk to parishes about his home diocese.

A powerpoint presentation on the project, delivered by Archdeacon Forde at synod, is now available on disk for any parishes wanting more information. Please contact Mrs Rosemary Patterson, secretary to the Bishop of Connor, at Church of Ireland House, telephone 903101228.

Mid-week Activities Are Popular!

Two churches in every five, 42%, have at least one mid-week activity. The most popular activity is one for Parents and Toddlers, which two-thirds, 65%, of churches provide. However, almost as many, 64%, have an activity for older people – a coffee morning perhaps or even a luncheon club.

Not only are these activities popular with churches, but they also attract more people on average than other mid-week activities. The average parents’ and toddlers’ group reaches 30 people, and the average elderly activity 32 people.

Some churches even offer Alpha or Emmaus Courses, and then invite those who come with their toddlers or to a coffee morning to participate in these other events.

Parents and toddlers may be the most popular mid-week activity for a church, but research has found it is the least effective in helping people to join the church! Having an elderly group (of whatever kind) is much more successful in attracting folk into a service of some kind.

However, the most effective activity is doing something mid-week for young people. Only a quarter, 27%, of churches have the leadership to run such, but over half of those young people who come will often come to church on a Sunday morning.

Dr Peter Brierley,Church Consultant.Contact: peter@brierleyres.com

Revd Paul Hoey visited Magheragall on Sunday 8th June 2008

As a follow up to the week of mission, “Rise and Shine”, the Rev. Paul Hoey, joined us on Sunday, 8th June at the 11.30 am service.

Paul’s address was based on
Hebrews 12 v.1-3

“1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Paul gave us food for thought, as he shared a number of points from the text, including the following,

Perseverance, to stick at it. The Christian life can be 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration. So many of us feel like giving up but then we realise we couldn’t manage life without Jesus’ help. So we need to stick at it! Even though being a Christian is hard work!

We have to be careful of sin, we can throw off everything that hinders and our sin that so easily entangles. We can get rid of them through the power of the cross. What is holding us back in the race of life?

Supporters, they can make or break an athlete. Who spurs us on? Who do we support? Think about Christians we know who have remained faithful to God. supporters in the faith and who are we supporting, encouraging? We need to meet together.

The Prize, what is the prize we are running the race for? In the Christian race everyone is a winner...so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. Try to encourage people we know to keep going to avoid dropping out of the Christian race. The prize is life with Christ. Who are the people in our lives today who encourage us in our faith?

As a Parish, we need to keep moving forward. We need to keep on the race track and keep looking forward. We don’t need to look backwards but keep on encouraging each other. If we know people who feel like giving up we can encourage them to persevere because God is faithful!

School Days

Mother to young daughter after first day at school: “Well, dear, what did they teach you today?”
Daughter: “Not much. I’ve got to go back again tomorrow.”

WHAT KINDA TATER ARE YOU?

Some people are very bossy and like to tell others what to do, but don't want to soil their own hands.
They are called "Dick Taters."
Some people never seem motivated to participate, but are just content to watch while others do the work. They are called "Speck Taters."
Some people never do anything to help, but are gifted at finding fault with the way others do the work.
They are called "Comment Taters."
There are those who say they will help, but somehow just never get around to actually doing the promised help.
They are called "Hezza Taters."

Some people can put up a front
and pretend to be someone they are not.
They are called "Emmy Taters."

Then there are those who love and do what they say they will. They are always prepared to stop whatever they are doing and lend a helping hand. They bring real sunshine into the lives of others.
They're called "Sweet Taters."

Petrol prices soaring, food prices up, and education costs spiraling out of sight... while incomes are growing at the slowest rate for a quarter of a century.

No wonder we are all feeling the pinch. So here are ten ways to save some money:

1. Switch to supermarket own brands... it could reduce your bills by a third over four months.

2. Buy your fruit and veg at your local market... where prices are about 30 per cent cheaper than a supermarket.

3. Switch off your TV set at night, and lights when you leave a room. You could cut your electricity bill by 19 per cent.

4. Go shopping for food after 7pm, when you will find that perishable goods are cut by as much as 70 per cent. Buy them – and freeze them until needed.

5. Beware expensive branded medication. For example, own brand paracetamol costs 39p, as opposed to the cheapest branded alternative – at £1.59.

6. Change all your light bulbs to energy-efficient ones. Each one reduces your electricity by £7 over a year. So ten bulbs could save you £20 in four months.
7. Only EVER boil as much water in the kettle as you will need. Kettles use a large amount of electricity.

8. Never buy your favourite magazine off the shelf. Take out a subscription – and save up to 80%!

9. Cancel your credit card’s payment protection plan, and take out cheaper protection, which you can find on paymentcentre.co.uk

10. Keep your tyres properly inflated. Lower tyre pressure means higher petrol consumption.

Robert Lamont, Environmental Health Manager, Lisburn City Council Environmental Health department, will provide training for all levels of church catering on Wednesday, 3 September, 2008 in the Church Hall from 7pm until 8pm. At 8.15pm there will be a demonstration on how to operate the new dishwasher. You are earnestly encouraged to attend this vital training.

Slow me down Lord,
ease the pounding of my heart,
Quieten my racing heart,
steady my hurried steps.

Amidst the confusion of my days
Give me the calmness of the everlasting hills,
Help me to know the magical
restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art of taking time off,
Of slowing down to look at a flower,
to chat with a friend,
To read a few lines from a good book.

Let me look upwards into the branches
of a towering oak,
And know it grew great and strong
Because it grew slowly and well.

Slow me down Lord,
Teach me to be gentle and humble of heart
So that I may find rest for my soul.

DOUBLY INDEBTED
Read Colossians 1 : 3 - 17

A wealthy English family once invited friends to spend some time at their beautiful estate. The happy gathering was almost plunged into a terrible tragedy on the first day. When the children went swimming, one of them got into deep water and was drowning. Fortunately, the gardener heard the others screaming and plunged into the pool to rescue the helpless victim. That youngster was Winston Churchill. His parents, deeply grateful to the gardener, asked what they could do to reward him. He hesitated, then said, “I wish my son could go to college someday and become a doctor”. “We’ll pay his way,” replied Churchill’s parents.

Years later when Sir Winston was Prime Minister of England, he was stricken with pneumonia. Greatly concerned, the King summoned the best physician who could be found to the bedside of the ailing leader. That doctor was Sir Alexander Fleming, the developer of penicillin. He was also the son of that gardener who had saved Winston from drowning as a boy. Later Churchill said, “Rarely has one man owed his life twice to the same person”.

What was rare in the case of that great English statesman is in a much deeper sense a wonderful reality for every believer in Christ. The Heavenly Father has given us the gift of physical life, and then through His Son, the Great Physician, He has imparted to us the gift of eternal life.

May the awareness that we are doubly indebted to God as our Creator and Redeemer motivate us to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto Him.

My life, my love, I give to Thee,
Thou Lamb of God who died for me;
O may I ever faithful be,
My Saviour and my God.

No one can fully enjoy the gift of physical life who has not received the gift of spiritual life.

Revd Canon Trevor Williams Elected Bishop of
Limerick and Killaloe

It was announced on 6 May, 2008 that the Episcopal Electoral College for Limerick and Killaloe, meeting in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, has elected the Revd Canon Trevor Williams, Rector of Holy Trinity and St Silas with Immanuel parish in North Belfast as the new Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe.

The Revd Canon Trevor Williams (59) was born in Dublin in 1948 and educated in St Andrew’s College, Dublin, Trinity College, Dublin and St John’s College Nottingham. He was ordained a deacon in 1974 and a priest the following year and first served as Curate in Maidenhead, St Andrews and St Mary’s in the Diocese of Oxford from 1974 to 1977. He moved to Ireland to become Assistant Chaplain to the Queen’s University of Belfast in 1978 before going on to serve as Religious Broadcasting Producer with the BBC from 1981-1988. From 1988 to 1993 he served as Rector of St John’s, Newcastle, Co Down. In 1993 he became leader of the Corrymeela Community, an ecumenical Christian group committed to promoting peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. He was appointed a Canon of St Patrick’s Cathedral in 2002. Since 2003 the Revd Canon Trevor Williams has been serving as Rector of Holy Trinity and St Silas with Immanuel in North Belfast (Diocese of Connor).

Canon Williams retains an active interest in working for reconciliation in Northern Ireland. He recently joined with four other protestant clergymen from North Belfast in urging the Northern Ireland Executive to put more resources into addressing sectarianism in its Programme for Government.

He is married to Joyce (nee Milne) and they have three adult sons, Andrew, Mark and Michael. Joyce works as an administrator with the Churches Community Work Alliance.

Reacting to his appointment, the Revd Canon Trevor Williams said that he was “surprised and delighted to be offered the opportunity of serving the people of the United Dioceses of Limerick and Killaloe. I’ve really enjoyed my time here in North Belfast and I’d like to thank the people here for their warm and generous welcome.”

In his spare time Canon Williams enjoys sailing and car mechanics.

Following approval by the House of Bishops, the Bishop-elect will be consecrated in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on a date to be determined. On separate dates also to be determined he will be enthroned in the two Cathedral churches in the Dioceses. St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick and St Flannan’s Cathedral, Killaloe. Until his consecration, pastoral responsibility for the Diocese remains with the Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr John Neill, with the Venerable Wayne Carney, Archdeacon of Killaloe acting as his commissary.

The Parish of Magheragall pray for God’s blessing on the Bishop Elect, the Revd Canon Trevor Williams as he prepares respond to God’s call to take on new responsibilities as Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe.