Major Presbyterian appointments; New Presbyterian dispute resolution process; Presbyterians urged to talk more about human sexuality; Alderdice not in favour of gay marriage plans; Summer tour by The Choir of Gonville and Caius College Cambridge; Music in St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick; Ordinand Plans To Run 52 Marathons Over Summer Break
Major Presbyterian appointments
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has appointed a new clerk of its ruling General Assembly.
Tandragee man, the Rev Trevor Gribben, currently deputy clerk, was ratified yesterday to succeed current clerk of assembly, the Rev Dr Donald Watts, on his retirement in August 2014.
The assembly also confirmed the appointment of former church moderator, the Rev Dr Stafford Carson, as principal of the Presbyterian Church’s Union Theological College in Belfast.
Both were nominated through an appointments process within the church.
Dr Carson, a Larne man, is minister of First Portadown Presbyterian Church and he played a prominent role in resolving the Presbyterian Mutual Society financial crisis.
The establishment of a more probing Presbyterian Church conciliation service to resolve schisms at congregational level was approved by the General Assembly.
New Presbyterian dispute resolution process
News Letter – Church leaders have found that too often congregations have been unable to resolve internal disputes and have to resort to the church’s formal procedures.
These tend only to judge who is “right” and “wrong” rather than resolve the conflict.
A report from the church’s general board advised the assembly to revitalise its conciliation process, set up in 1997, in an attempt to deal with problems before they reach the “pain” of a formal judicial process.
This will involve the identification and training of mediators by presbyteries; encouraging congregations to seek help sooner rather than later; and ensuring that disputes can only follow the formal route once conciliation is deemed to be unable to resolve the dispute.
Increasingly, congregational schisms have caused concern in senior Presbyterian church circles, diminishing as they do the essential work of the church at grassroots level.
Presbyterians urged to talk more about human sexuality
News Letter – Former Presbyterian Moderator, the Rev Dr Norman Hamilton, has challenged his church about a marked reluctance at congregational level to discuss highly controversial matters of human sexuality.
Dr Hamilton said issues of human sexuality have not been – and are still not – prominent in Presbyterian pulpit ministries, nor in midweek fellowships, nor as a focus in prayer gatherings.
“Nor do we talk much about money, or equality, or human rights or even dying. Yet the way all these are handled in our society affects every single one of us in this General Assembly, in our homes, in our congregations, in our places of work… wherever,” he added.
The Presbyterian Church, like the other main churches in Ireland, is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage, on Biblical grounds.
Dr Hamilton, co-convener of the Presbyterian Church and Society Board, quoted from a conversation he had had with a senior Stormont MLA, who, he said, was also a committed Christian.
In conversation about a wide range of issues, the MLA told Dr Hamilton: “The reason that these issues are so difficult for the church is that you have not taught on them very much for well over a generation, so that when they surface, they are already political hot potatoes, and the church is playing catch-up.”
Dr Hamilton said: “Our Church and Society Board is privileged to deal with these very things in the public arena. But we cannot deal with them adequately unless and until as a whole church we search the scriptures about them, and with the wisdom of the Holy Spirit think deeply about them.
“We must handle them graciously and sensitively, for they shape the lives of many ordinary people just like us.”
Dr Hamilton, a north Belfast minister, said it was a privilege to uphold the Presbyterian Church’s historic and thoroughly Biblical understanding of marriage.
“What alarms me, however, is the often very poor quality of public debate and discussion,” he said, adding that “in too many of our debates so far, we seem to thrive on aggression, opinion and superficiality”.
“This will not do. There are big issues on same-sex marriage that have not even begun to surface either in the church or in the media.”
Dr Hamilton added: “We seem to be heading to a version of democratic totalitarianism where the state is always right, the conscience of the individual is of little or no importance, and intolerance rules yet again.”
Dr Hamilton said the vision of a shared and cohesive society which “embodies Christ’s command to love our neighbour as ourselves, no matter how much he or she may be different”, is still a very hard one to bring to pass.
Alderdice not in favour of gay marriage plans
Sam McBride in News Letter – A former Alliance Party leader has spoken out against the Government’s gay marriage plans as the controversial proposals were debated in the House of Lords.
Lord Alderdice told peers that although he had “strongly” supported civil partnerships, he was “not persuaded of the virtues of this piece of legislation”.
The Ulster peer — who now chairs the Liberal Democrat group in the Lords — did not speak from the Government benches as he opposed a policy championed by David Cameron and Nick Clegg.
Last year, the Alliance Party voted to support gay marriage, a position which has caused internal dissent and led to leader David Ford standing aside as a Presbyterian elder because of his stance.
But Lord Alderdice — who is also a Presbyterian elder and who spoke out against the church’s treatment of Mr Ford — said that it was wrong to say that “any opposition to the Bill can be based only on homophobia”, adding: “That is as unhelpful and unfortunate as extremism on the other side.”
He added that same-sex marriage was a “major change” and it was “for the proponents of change to make their argument persuasively, not the reverse”.
Summer tour by The Choir of Gonville and Caius College Cambridge
The Choir, which has four Northern–Irish choral scholars, will visit Northern Ireland from 5–7 July, to perform in concert and participate in two church services.
The visit also marks the quatercentenary of the birth of Jeremy Taylor, a former Bishop of Down and Connor (and later Dromore) and one of the College’s most distinguished Fellows.
The Dean of Caius has written, ‘Jeremy Taylor is among the most distinguished of all Caians, who began his College life as a sizar (a poor scholar), and afterwards became a Fellow. His intellectual and spiritual gifts made him one of the most influential Christian writers of the seventeenth century.
His outlook was, in its time, remarkable for its ecumenism and support of religious toleration. Despite periods of difficulty both during the civil war (in which he was imprisoned for a time) he wrote tirelessly to commend Christian faith through devotional works remarkable for their practical usefulness to ordinary people. He composed the first English life of Christ, The Great Exemplar, mixing the story with reflection and prayer, as well as the two extraordinarily popular manuals of prayer, Holy Living and Holy Dying.’
Jeremy Taylor became Bishop of Down and Connor in 1661 (to which was added later the See of Dromore) and remained there until his death six years later. The choir’s visit to Northern Ireland will be the culmination of the College’s Taylor celebrations, particularly in the form of a Choral Evensong recorded for BBC Radio 3, with a specially commissioned anthem setting words of Taylor.
The schedule of engagements in Northern Ireland appears below:
Friday 5 July, 7.30pm – St Peter’s Cathedral, Belfast BT12 4BU To include Vaughan Williams’ Mass in G minor; anthems by Tallis, Blow and Purcell; Folksong arrangements; and organ music from Howells and Mulet. Admission (payable at the door): £10 (£6 under 16s and concessions)
Sunday 7 July, 11:00am – St George’s Parish Church, Belfast BT1 2AG The Choir will sing at the main Eucharist at St George’s on the 7th. The service lasts approximately 70 minutes. The celebrant and preacher at the Eucharist will (by kind invitation) be the Dean of Caius, the Revd Dr Carolyn Hammond.
Sunday 7 July, 6:30pm – St Malachi’s Parish Church, Hillsborough BT26 6AE* The Choir sings Evensong in the beautiful parish church of Hillsborough, with which Taylor was associated during his episcopate.
The music for the service comes largely from Taylor’s era of the early Restoration (John Blow, William Turner etc), which will allow us to make use of the church’s fine G P England (1795) chamber organ.
However, the anthem will be a setting of Taylor’s prayer O holy and ever–blessed spirit, composed by recent music graduate (of Emmanuel College) Joel Rust. This anthem was one of two commissioned by the College in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Taylor’s birth. The other, which shall not be sung at this service, was by Robin Holloway, a Fellow of Caius. Rust’s anthem sets a text written by Taylor in thanksgiving for the Annunciation, and it was premiered at Evensong in the College chapel on 5 May 2013. The theme of the text is particularly appropriate to be sung by the Choir, as the Annunciation (normally celebrated on 25 March) is the College’s feast of title.
*NB: The service at Hillsborough will be recorded for broadcast by BBC Radio 3. The congregation should therefore be seated by 6.10pm.
The service will be broadcast on Radio 3 on Wednesday 10 July at 3.30 pm, and repeated on Sunday 10 July at 4.00 pm.
Music in St Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick
Friday 14th June, 1.15pm – First United Methodist Church, Round Rock, Texas – varied programme of American choral music. Free.
Wed 19th June, 1.15pm – Owen Gilhooly, baritone (with Irina Dernova, piano) – Mahler songs. Free.
Sunday 23rd June, 5.30pm – Faure Requiem, sung by combined choirs of St Mary’s and of Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford. Admission – 8 euro (5 concessions) profits to Royal School of Church Music ‘Music Sunday’ campaign (23rd June is designated RSCM Music Sunday)
+ FREE CHOPIN RECITALS by celebrated, prize-winning local concert pianist STUART O’SULLIVAN
on Wednesdays at 1.15pm – 26th June and 3 July
All in St Mary’s Cathedral.
Ordinand Plans To Run 52 Marathons Over Summer Break
Church of Ireland ordinand has set himself the unimaginable task of running 52 marathons this summer in order to spread God’s Word.
Alistair Donaldson from Crossmaglen, South Armagh, will run an average of 26 miles a day, six days a week for eight and a half weeks.
He will lap the island of Ireland, running a total distance of 1,298 miles!
Although he will be supported by other runners along the route, health permitting Alistair is endeavouring to go the entire distance himself.
“I want to attempt to run the whole thing, although there are 25 other runners who have agreed to join me at various stages,” the 31–year–old said. “If I cannot physically run then
I will sit out, I don’t plan to run for the sake of it. Most people think I am a bit mad, but I believe this is doable.
“The important thing is the initiative behind it and that is the Gospel. We will be running with God’s strength.”
Alistair’s Run4Christ website (http://www.run4christ.org/) states that the run is ‘an initiative seeking to expose many people on the island of Ireland to the amazing Good News of Jesus Christ; His death, resurrection and ascension; and what it means for their own lives.’
Alistair, who has just finished his first year at the Theological Institute, came up with the idea of running round Ireland to spread the Gospel three years ago. He describes himself as ‘an enthusiastic and hopeful if somewhat ordinary runner.’ He has taken part in five marathons in the last seven years.
“Before embarking on the rigorous training schedule in preparation for this massive challenge, I had never run more than two marathons in a year so this is going to be a daunting yet awesome adventure,” said Alistair.
“That being said, Ireland north and south is much in need of hearing the Gospel of Christ afresh in this 21st century. With that in mind the pain and discomfort (terrible chaffing I’m sure) from so many miles will be well worth it.
“My fastest marathon time is four and a half hours, my slowest is five and a half so I reckon on running around five hours each day. The time aspect is not crucial, I would rather take six hours than wear myself out.”
International Mission Agency Crosslinks is partnering Alistair in his endeavor. “Having Crosslinks as a partner also is a blessing and I hope many people feel able to support Crosslinks through this initiative,” Alistair added.
His challenge begins in his home town of Crossmaglen on July 1, with an ambition to finish back in Crossmaglen on August 29.
Alistair will be accompanied daily by a van equipped with a bath for essential ice baths, and a team of physios will ensure he gets all the physical support and intervention he requires.
He is still organising churches to host him at each of his stops, and is planning on linking with churches so he can preach or speak as he runs around Ireland. If any parish in the towns Alistair is visiting can help with accommodation, or would like him to preach or speak at an event, please get in touch via the Run4Christ website.
Alistair grew up in a farming family and was a civil engineer for seven years before doing a ministry apprenticeship in Annalong Parish. He is a member of Creggan in Dundalk Group of Parishes, Diocese of Armagh.
With less than four weeks to go before he begins his marathon challenge, Alistair feels he is prepared.
“A large part of the challenge will be mental requiring a lot of stubbornness and I have that in abundance,” he said. “Hopefully God will use this for his purposes and more people will come to faith.”
Further information and full details of Alistair’s route are available on the Run4Christ website.