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Christmas 2024

In celebration of Christmas we have this short video which looks at Charles Dickens and Christmas. The work of Charles Dickens has become deeply entwined in the way we celebrate and enjoy Christmas, most notably through his work A Christmas Carol but it runs through all his writing. A lot of the Victorian imagery that accompanies so much Christmas celebration probably harks back to DIckens as much as anything else.

This short video makes some use of words by Chales Dickens with images from the Continental Market in Belfast and trumpet playing by Jack Steers:

Click on the video

Botticelli Nativity (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Christmas Prayer

Let us pray that strength and courage abundant be given to all who work for a world of reason and understanding; that the good that lies in every one’s heart may day by day be magnified; that we will come to see more clearly not that which divides us, but that which unites us; that each hour may bring us closer to a final victory, not of nation over nation, but of humans over their evils and weaknesses; that the true spririt of this Christmas Season – its joy, its beauty, its hope, and above all its abiding faith – may live among us; that the blessings of peace be ours – the peace to build and grow, to live in harmony and sympathy with others, and to plan for the future with confidence.

(from Celebrating Christmas An Anthology, ed. Carl Seaburg)

Click on the video for an audio recording of our carol service with pictures from the day

We held our Congregational Carol Service at Dunmurry on Sunday, 22nd December. This was a wonderful occasion that was hugely enjoyable with contributions by the Youth Group and Sunday School. With thanks to Allen Yarr for playing the organ and Jack Steers on the trumpet.

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Rowel Friers

Belfast-born Rowel Friers (1920-1998) was perhaps the most famous cartoonist in Ulster, especially for his work during the ‘Troubles’. He began his working life in the art department of the Belfast printing firm of S. C. Allen and Co and studied at the Belfast College of Art. A keen watercolourist and oil painter he nevertheless was best known for his cartoons, which gently but effectively satirised the political situation in Northern Ireland. Our latest video looks at two cartoons by Rowel Friers, although they illustrate his versatility as a cartoonist and relate to life in the eighteenth century.

We have two fine examples of his work hanging on the walls of the Very Rev William McMillan Library in the First Presbyterian Church, Dunmurry. They were commissioned by the Rev William McMillan for an exhibition celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Presbytery of Antrim in 1975.

They are both immediately recognisable as his work. The faces of the figures convey exactly what is going on. One (above) is an imagined gathering of clergy around a blacksmith and relates to the practice of communion and the use of communion tokens. The other (below) relates to a specific incident in the history of the Comber congregation at the time of creation of the Presbytery of Antrim at the end of the First Subscription controversy when all the Non-Subscribers were separated from the Synod of Ulster and placed together in the Presbytery of Antrim.

It is good to give them special consideration now, as we prepare for the 300th anniversary of the creation of the Presbytery of Antrim. The full story of both pictures can be seen in the short video above.

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Christmas Readings

Our latest video (Number 7) exploring the collection of the Very Rev William McMillan Library at First Dunmurry looks at some Christmas readings. We also have O Come all ye faithful played by Jack Steers on the trumpet.

The video also includes some of the Christmas decoration in the Church including the excellent frieze created by the children of the Youth Group along the rail behind the pulpit, which can be seen in more detail below:

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Carols by Candlelight at Dunmurry

Despite the presence of Storm Darragh on Friday, 6th December we still were able to hold our well-attended service of Carols by Candlelight featuring Harmonic Sounds Concert Band under the direction of Paul Hamilton. It was a great evening and the whole service was livestreamed. You can watch the service here:

Click on the video

The service was conducted by the minister, Rev Dr David Steers, and our readers came from our own Church and our sister churches. They were David Kerr (First Church, Belfast), Kathy Yuille, Sylvia McBride, Adele Johnston, Diana Taggart, Erin Black, Rev Chris Hudson (All Souls’ Church, Belfast), Gilbert Cameron, Rev Chris Carson (Church of Ireland).

Band about to play

The Church was beatifully decorated both outside and in.

And many of those present were able to come over to the Hall for refreshments after the service.

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Malone Integrated College Choir at First Dunmurry

We were delighted to welcome the Choir of Malone College to our Warm Space Coffee Morning at Dunmurry on Thursday morning, 5th December under the direction of their musical director, Mrs Caroline Mitchell.

Click on the video to see Malone College Choir performing at First Dunmurry

The Choir sang a varied programme and were with us for two hours. The video above contains some of their repertoire. We are so glad that Mrs Mitchell, her staff and the Choir are able to take the time out to visit us at the start of the Christmas season, its an occasion that everyone looks forward to and fills us all with a strong sense of the Christmas spirit.

Malone Integrated College Choir at First Dunmurry (NS) Presbyterian Church
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The published works of John Abernethy

Episode 6 of our explorations of the Very Rev William McMillan Library at Dunmurry looks at the writings of the Rev John Abernethy (1680-1740). Without doubt the most prominent Presbyterian minister in Ireland in the early eighteenth century and the foremost exponent of Non-Subscription, he was minister at Antrim (see picture above) and later Wood Street, Dublin.

Click on the video to see John Abernethy’s books

Some of his books were the best sellers of their day and some of his publications were seen as either controversial theological statements or the key to opening up a new way to understand faith, depending on your point of view. Ironically at the time of the first subscription controversy the minister of Dunmurry, the Rev John Malcome, was a vocal opponent of the Non-Subscribers and was the first to use the term ‘New-Light’ about them. But Dunmurry Library has a good selection of his published works, most of them published after Abernethy’s death.

The founder of the Belfast Society in 1705, an outspoken advocate of the rights of the dissenting minority in Ireland and an established philosopher of some importance, John Abernethy’s books had considerable influence and this video looks at his publications held by our Library in Dunmurry.

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Remembrance

On Sunday, 10th November we held a well-attended Remembrance Service at Dunmurry and the video can be seen below. Special thanks go to John Neill for delivering Binyon’s Lines, to Jack Steers for playing the Last Post and Reveille, and to Allen Yarr for playing the organ.

Click above to see the Remembrance Service from First Dunmurry 10 November 2024

In the service I make full use of the booklet For Remembrance mentioned in the previous post. Indeed this little book, particularly the contribution by the Rev R. Nicol Cross, as it is mentioned in the previous video, has already sparked a lot of responses. Along with some of the other pieces it is a poignant and very honest reflection on the situation in 1919 for those returning from the front after the Armistice.

At the time he wrote his contribution Nicol Cross was minister of Mill Hill Chapel, Leeds, later he was minister of First Church, Belfast and later still Principal of Manchester College, Oxford. But from 1915 to 1919 he served as a private with the Royal Army Medical Corps. His perspective on the war was quite different from what you might otherwise have guessed.

Title page of the booklet

It is a very rare book, very few copies have survived. In the 2019 issue of the Transactions of the Unitarian Historical Society Alan Ruston contributed an article entitled ‘1919 – a re-evaluation of the part played by Unitarians in the First World War’. In his article he reveals that he had not previously come across the book, the copy he was sent while writing the article was the only one known to him. It certainly has not made its way into library collections. So this copy, in the Very Rev William McMIllan Library, is one of only two known copies.

One feature of For Remembrance that I didn’t mention in the first video or in the service above is that there is also a short note from the American Unitarian Association (AUA) included in the booklet. It seems to have come from a message sent out by the AUA to reurning troops and reads:

OUR GREETING AND PLEDGE

You have successfully met the challenge of the most powerful armies the world ever saw. You have shared in the most significant victory in all history. By a devotion that has won the affectionate admiration of the civilized world, you have helped to make possible a new and nobler life for humanity, and a truer brotherhood of man.

We welcome you again to our homes and our homeland. We pledge ourselves anew to the ideals for which you went forth to suffer; and because of your example we will rise to meet the duties of the new day with unwavering faith. Through our church we will unite our powers with yours in defence of the principles for which so great a price has been paid.

Your courage, cheerfulness, and fortitude will strengthen the church of your fathers.

From the Message of the American Unitarian Association

It would be interesting to know if this was the whole message of the AUA or whether they produced a book similar to For Remembrance.

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For Remembrance

Click on the video to see ‘For Remembrance’

From The Very Rev William McMillan Library of First Dunmurry (Non-Subscribing) Presbyterian Church.

Exploring the Library: Episode 5 For Remembrance. A booklet given to returning servicemen after the First World War.

A short talk by the Rev Dr David Steers. With thanks to Jack Steers for playing the Last Post and Reveille on the trumpet.

This is rather a scruffy looking booklet but it is a very rare survival of which the editors said: ‘If it attains to anything like its aim it will be a real “keepsake,” an abiding record of the owner’s place and part in our nation’s mightiest struggle…’ A copy was given to every Unitarian and Non-Subscribing serviceman who returned from the First World War. It contains some poignant quotes and six short reflections by ministers who had served alongside the troops.

Possibly as many as 9,000 copies were issued but very few survive, at least in libraries, so we are fortunate to have a copy in the Very Rev William McMIllan Library. Click on the video to find out more about ‘For Remembrance’.

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Dunmurry Harvest 2024

We had a wonderful Harvest Thanksgiving Service on Sunday, 20th October 2024. The service was conducted by Rev Dr David Steers, the organist was Allen Yarr and the readers were Lochlan Black and Erin Black. The Church was beautifully decorated throughout including the frieze depicting We Plough the Fields and Scatter made by the Sunday School and Youth Group. The service was live streamed and you can view it here on YouTube:

Here are some images from the day, beginning with We Plough the Fields and Scatter frieze created by the children and young people:

We were very pleased to welcome the Moderator, Rt Rev Alister Bell, who spoke warmly of the service and the work done by the children.

We also gathered a considerable amount of produce, both fresh vegteables and fruit, as well as tinned and dried foods, biscuits, pasta, sauces, tea, coffee etc. All of this has now been distributed to L’Arche Belfast.

What Is L’Arche?

“L’Arche (French for ‘The Ark’) is an international federation of 140 communities worldwide founded on faith and inspired by the gifts of people who have learning disabilities. By ‘community’ we mean a group of people of different ages, creeds, capacities and social and ethnic backgrounds connected to one another through a belief that everyone, irrespective of their circumstances, can have a positive impact on the lives of others. In our communities people with and without learning disabilities choose to live together in a spirit of friendship. We recognise the unique value of every person, the gifts we have to offer and our need for one another.” (From L’Arche website).

The newly created garden at the centre of the L’Arche community Belfast

You can find out more about L’Arche Belfast by clicking here.

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John Wesley and Belfast

In the latest of our videos exploring the Very Rev William McMillan Library at Dunmurry we take a (brief) look at the eight volumes of the Journal of John Wesley. In particular we look at his visits to Belfast and his relationship with the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian churches in Belfast.

Exploring the Library at Dunmurry, episode 4. Click on the video above

John Wesley visited Belfast 11 times in the course of his career, always preaching in the town, sometimes in the market-house, sometimes in the open air. Often it seems he visited at times of cold, windy or wet weather. Only once did he preach in a church and the only church to ever be open to him was First Presbyterian Church, Rosemary Street. But this visit was mired in controversy and was not repeated. I am grateful to Des McKeown of First Church who recently gave me a copy of a letter to The Northern Whig dated 3 December 1873 written by the minister of First Church, the Rev John Scott Porter. This features in the video and it is interesting to see his opinion of Wesley’s visit almost one hundred years previously.

A youthful John Scott Porter

But another feature of Wesley’s Journal is his identification of followers of Dr John Taylor in the crowds that came to hear him in Belfast. John Taylor was minister of the Octagon Chapel in Norwich and the author of the The Scripture Doctrine of Original Sin. What are the implications of this in Belfast in the 1760s? We try to unpack the meaning of this for John Wesley’s reception in Belfast in the video.

John Taylor (Source: Wikipedia)