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Worship: Sunday, 26th April

Downpatrick 1 Oct 2016

Our service this morning comes from the First Presbyterian (NS) Church, Downpatrick and again features the Mountains of Mourne which can be viewed in the distance while a bagpipe duet plays courtesy of Robert and Laura Neill. When the music stops it is replaced with the music of birdsong. We are pleased to again have John Strain playing the organ at Ballee Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church, providing us with the music for the hymns:

All things bright and beautiful (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 245)

Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty! (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 19)

Reading: Genesis ch.1 v.20-31.

The sermon takes as its starting point some words of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks:

We are each, regardless of class, colour or culture, in the image and likeness of God. This is the most important statement in Western culture of the non-negotiable dignity of the human person.

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Worship in a Church of the Polish Brethren

Kolosy date 02

There are a number of previous posts on this blog about the Minor Reformed Church/Polish Brethren and my visit to Poland in the summer of 2019. They can be seen here:

The Polish Brethren

Fausto Sozzini, the Polish Brethren and Kraków

The Dominican Church of the Holy Trinity and the Unitarian history of Kraków

Raków

The grave of Fausto Sozzini

But I have now uploaded to YouTube a video of the short act of worship we held on Sunday, 28th July 2019 in the former Polish Brethren church at Kolosy.

To be honest there is a lot wrong with this video – sound, picture, continuity, all are faulty in one way or another. It was recorded on a device that was seriously unreliable, indeed the picture cuts out altogether towards the end although the sound continues for a little bit longer. However, the end of the film now contains a number of still images of the former church at Kolosy, both exterior and interior shots, and closes with the text of the Lord’s Prayer in Polish which we tried, but did not succeed, in saying together in that language.

It is reproduced here because it represents a rare if not quite unique event – an act of worship in a church of the Polish Brethren/Minor Reformed Church, a church which was suppressed during the counter-reformation in 1658, just four years after this little church was built.

The service is led by myself, the Rev Dr Sándor Kovács (Unitarian, Kolozsvár, Transylvania), and the Rev Dr Roger Jones (UU, Sacramento, California). We were part of an organised tour of sites connected with the Polish Brethren in July and August 2019. Although a service was planned for this day this was essentially an impromptu act of worship because the Rev Dr Jay Atkinson, who was to have led the service, was unfortunately taken ill on the way to the building and had to go to hospital. So it fell to the three other clergy present to devise a service on the way. This is the service which is presented in the video, albeit in rather imperfect form. The chapel was built in 1654 and closed in 1658 but somehow has survived to the present day, perhaps being used as a store for many years. But it is still immediately recognisable as a place of worship. 

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Sunday Worship

Our service on Sunday, 19th April comes from Clough Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church and encompasses, among other things, in different ways: the Mountains of Mourne; the Church’s cherry blossom tree; a bagpipe duet; a nineteenth-century Unitarian minister in Wandsworth, London and sometime editor of the Inquirer; George Herbert, Anglican clergyman and poet; the book of Proverbs, and much more.

At times we cannot be at the thing we would; yet there’s a good thing to do.

W.G. Tarrant

Recorded Service at Clough Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church, county Down, Northern Ireland

Sunday, 19th April 2020

Minister: Rev Dr David Steers

Organist: Alfie McClelland

Bagpipes: Robert Neill & Laura Neill

Reading: Proverbs ch.13  v.14-21.

The hymns played are:

‘Immortal, invisible, God only wise’

Hymns of Faith and Freedom No. 30

‘Fight the good fight with all thy might’

Hymns of Faith and Freedom No. 198

‘Amazing Grace’ (bagpipes)

When every day is pretty much like any other it is important to remember which day is Sunday. We need to keep one day special, to punctuate our week with prayer and meditation.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

John ch.4 v.24 NRSV

Pink Moon crop

Pink Moon on 8th April 2020.

 

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Online Worship: Easter Day

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Our service for Easter Sunday comes from First Dunmurry NS Presbyterian Church, Dunmurry.

Easter service, Sunday, 12th April 2020.

Service conducted by the minister in charge: Rev Dr David Steers

Piano: Allen Yarr

Guitar and solo: David Gibbs

Reading: John ch.20 v.11-18

 

The hymns played are:

Church Hymnary No. 119

‘Jesus Christ is risen today’ (first three verses)

Church Hymnary No. 123

‘The day of resurrection’

With special music provided by David Gibbs of Portrush. David sings Moliannwn (Let’s Rejoice) a Welsh folk hymn written by a Welsh slate quarryman called Benjamin Thomas who lived from 1838 to 1920. This is a great song for this time of year. Benjamin Thomas emigrated from Wales to North America and with his roots in Wales but living in America it beautifully brings together his experiences of the Spring on both sides of the Atlantic.

The Stories in Slate blog says:

“Born on April 9, 1838, Benjamin Thomas was a native of the famous slate quarrying town of Bethesda in North Wales, but he spent a good half a century on the North American Continent ending his days in the Slate Valley. He was a man who involved himself in things Welsh, most notably in poetry – he penned several verses which can be found in countless old periodicals of the age. Most are musings upon the vicissitudes of life, but there is no doubt that his most enduring piece is ‘Moliannwn’, the vigorous song of praise at the arrival of spring.”

You can read the full fascinating account of this song here:

Moliannwn (Let’s Rejoice)

Thank you David for singing it for us.

Image at the top of this page: The Three Marys at the Tomb (1396) by Lorenzo Monaco, Illumination on vellum, 46 x 48 cm, Musée du Louvre, Paris. Source: Wikimedia. Public Domain.

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Online Worship: Palm Sunday

Assisi-frescoes-entry-into-jerusalem-pietro_lorenzetti

‘The Entry of Christ into Jerusalem’ (1320) by Pietro Lorenzetti. A fresco in the south transept of the Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi. (Source: Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain).

Our Sunday service today comes from Ballee Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church county Down.

Minister: Rev Dr David Steers

Organist: John Strain

Reading: Matthew ch.21 v.1-11.

The hymns played are:

Hymns of Faith and Freedom No. 43

King of glory, King of peace,
I will love thee;
And that love may never cease,
I will move thee.
Thou hast granted my request,
Thou hast heard me;
Thou didst note my working breast,
Thou hast spared me.

Wherefore with my utmost art
I will sing thee,
and the cream of all my heart
I will bring thee.
Though my sins against me cried,
Thou didst clear me;
And alone, when they replied,
Thou didst hear me.

Seven whole days, not one in seven,
I will praise thee;
In my heart, though not in heaven,
I can raise thee.
Small it is, in this poor sort
To enrol thee:
E’en eternity’s too short
to extol thee.

 

Hymns of Faith and Freedom No. 327

Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
O’er the world’s tempestuous sea;
Guard us, guide us, keep us, feed us,
For we have no help but thee;
Yet possessing every blessing
If our God our Father be.

Jesus, breathe forgiveness o’er us;
All our weakness thou dost know,
Thou didst tread this earth before us,
Thou didst feel its keenest woe;
Tempted, taunted, yet undaunted,
Through the desert thou didst go.

Spirit of our God, descending,
Fill our hearts with heavenly joy,
Love with every passion blending,
Pleasure that can never cloy;
Thus provided, pardoned, guided,
Nothing can our peace destroy.