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Prayers for these times

Pray for Ukraine

God of all,
with alarm and concern we bring before you
the military intervention in Ukraine.

In a world you made for peace and flourishing,
we lament the use of armed force.

We mourn every casualty of this conflict,
every precious life extinguished by war.
We pray comfort for those who grieve
and those who are fearful.

Hear our longing that leaders and nations
will honour the worth of all people
by having the courage
to resolve conflict through dialogue.

May all our human failings be transformed
by your wonderful grace and goodness.

We ask this in the name of Christ,
the author of peace and sustainer of Creation.
Amen.

(A Prayer from the Joint Public Issues Team of of the United Reformed Church, Methodist Church and Baptist Union)

We also have two new Reflections on our YouTube channel:

Available from 8.00 am on Sunday, 27th February

Reflections on Transfiguration

First Presbyterian (Non-Subscribing) Church, Dunmurry

Rev Dr David Steers

Pianist: Allen Yarr

Hymn: ‘Praise to the Lord the Almighty’

Reading: Matthew ch.17 v.1-13

Includes reflection on the situation in Ukraine.

Wisdom

Reflections on Wisdom

First Presbyterian (Non-Subscribing) Church, Dunmurry

Rev Dr David Steers

Organist: John Strain (Ballee Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church)

Reading: Psalm 90

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Be still and know that I am God

So far in February we have had two online Reflections which look at verses from Matthew chapter 6; Look at the birds of the air, and from Psalm 46; Be still and know that I am God. But the call to still ourselves in the presence of God and an awareness of the natural world around us are both routes to closer engagement with the divine. There are different ways to centre ourselves in a way that leads to deeper communion with God.

I am very pleased too, to have images of birds taken by Graham Bonham which feature in the video, some of which are reproduced here.

Sparrow. Photo by Graham Bonham
Look at the birds of the air

February Reflections: Look at the birds of the air
Rev Dr David Steers
First Presbyterian (Non-Subscribing) Church, Dunmurry
Pianist: Allen Yarr
Hymn: ‘For the beauty of the earth’
Bird photographs all taken and kindly provided by Graham Bonham

Snowdrops, Ballee. Photo by Sue Steers
Be still and know that I am God (available after 8.00 am on Sunday, 13th February)

Reflections on Psalm 46

First Presbyterian (NS) Church, Dunmurry

Organist: John Strain (Ballee NSP Church)

Jay. Photo by Graham Bonham
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January Reflections

In the month of January 2022 we have uploaded four new short video Reflections to our YouTube channel. These cover Epiphany; the installation of the Rev István Kovács as the new bishop of the Hungarian Unitarian Church in Kolozsvár, Transylvania, Romania; the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; and Psalm 8. John Strain and Allen Yarr provide music. The Reflections are by Rev David Steers and Jennifer Miles provides a reading. The picture at the top of the page and the thumbnail for the fourth video are images taken remotely from the camera on the International Space Station. The videos can be seen below.

January 2022 Epiphany

Hungary and Transylvania

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

When I look up to the night skies (available from 8.00 am on Sunday, 30th January)

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The A to Z of Non-Subscribing Presbyterianism: K to M

We have now reached the letters, K to M in our alphabetical survey of Non-Subscribing Presbyterianism. So our next three videos look, in turn, at Kedron, the Lord’s Supper and Henry Montgomery.

Kedron

When the Paschal evening fell
Deep on Kedron’s hallowed dell,
When around the festal board
Sat the Apostles with their Lord,
Then his parting word he said,
Blessed the cup and brake the bread –
“This whene’er ye do or see,
Evermore remember me.”
From a hymn by A.P. Stanley

James Martineau wrote another hymn which mentions Kedron, which is our subject for the letter K. To find out what links Jerusalem’s Kedron valley with the churchyard at Downpatrick watch this service. Filmed at the First Presbyterian Church (NS) Downpatrick, Mary Stewart gives the reading from John ch.18 v.1-9, and church organist, Laura Patterson, plays the hymns Christ, be our light and Great is thy faithfulness’.

The Lord’s Supper

The Lord’s Supper

L stands for the Lord’s Supper and in this short film we look at how we understand this important service. Filmed at Ballee Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church the reading comes from 1 Corinthians ch.11 v.23-25. Church organist, John Strain, plays Lord of all hopefulness, May the mind of Christ my Saviour and My faith looks up to Thee.

A Scottish Sacrament by Henry John Dobson. (Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons)

Henry Montgomery

Click on the video to join the service and hear about Rev Henry Montgomery (after 9.45 am on Sunday, 26th September).

The thirteenth instalment in the series is the letter M and features the Rev Dr Henry Montgomery. Filmed at Dunmurry, where Montgomery himself ministered from 1809 to his death in 1865, we look at his importance and his legacy. The reader is Bobby Graham who reads Matthew ch.23 v.1-12. Allen Yarr plays the hymns From all that dwell below the skies and Let saints on earth in concert sing.

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The A to Z of Non-Subscribing Presbyterianism: Doors

Having reached the letter ‘D’ in our alphabetical survey we look at ‘Doors’.

Doors are both highly symbolic and completely essential for our meeting-houses. In this service we look at the doors we find in the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland.

In religious art perhaps the most famous image of a door is that found in William Holman Hunt’s Light of the World:

Light of the World by William Holman Hunt. Manchester Version. Public Domain. Wikipedia Commons

A more ornate image than the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church doors that appear in today’s film. An image inspired by the reading used in today’s service:

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

Revelation ch.3 v.20.

What meaning can we find in the doors of our churches, what can they tell us of our attitudes and faith?

Sunday Service. The A to Z of Non-Subscribing Presbyterianism: Doors. Click on the video to see today’s service – after 9.45 am on Sunday, 18th July 2021

Today’s service comes from Dunmurry. The pianist is Allen Yarr who plays Ye holy angels bright (Church Hymnary 39) Yield not to temptation (Church Hymnary 704) and Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, by J.S. Bach. The reading is Revelation ch.3 v.20-22.

All the doors mentioned in the video can be seen on my Non-Subscribing Presbyterian History blog beginning here: Portals to a Liberal Faith

And remember each week we will upload a new video that will go live on Sundays at 9.45 am. The services can be found on our YouTube channel. Click here to see the videos

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All the trees of the wood will rejoice

This week our service comes from Dunmurry. We reflect on Psalm 96, recast by J.S.B. Monsell into the famous hymn O Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; Let the sea roar, and all its fullness;

Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord.

Psalm 96 v.11-12

Online service. Click on the video above after 9.45 am on Sunday, 6th June 2021

The service is conducted by the minister in charge, Rev Dr David Steers. The reading from Psalm 96 is given by Lorraine Donaldson. Church organist Allen Yarr plays the hymns Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (Church Hymnary 22) and O Worship the Lord in the beauty of Holiness (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 18) as well as an excerpt from Music for the Royal Fireworks by G.F. Handel, all on the piano.

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The One Spirit

Today our service comes from the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church in Dunmurry. Conducted by Rev David Steers, the minister in charge, Emma McCrudden gives the reading from 1 Corinthians ch.12 v.4-14 and church organist Allen Yarr plays the hymns on the piano. The hymns played in the service are For the beauty of the Earth (‘Church Hymnary’ 17) and When peace like a river (‘Mission Praise’ 757).

Click on the video above to see the service (after 9.45 am on Sunday, 2nd May 2021)

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

1 Corinthians ch.12 v.4-6

Ode, Composed on a May Morning by William Wordsworth

While from the purpling east departs
The star that led the dawn,
Blithe Flora from her couch upstarts,
For May is on the lawn.
A quickening hope, a freshening glee,
Foreran the expected Power,
Whose first-drawn breath, from bush and tree,
Shakes off that pearly shower.

All Nature welcomes Her whose sway
Tempers the year’s extremes;
Who scattereth lustres o’er noon-day,
Like morning’s dewy gleams;
While mellow warble, sprightly trill,
The tremulous heart excite;
And hums the balmy air to still
The balance of delight.

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Palm Sunday 2021

Today’s service for Sunday, 28th March celebrates Palm Sunday.

The crowd spread their garments on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, “Who is this?”
And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.”

Matthew ch.21 v.8-11

Our service comes from Dunmurry where Dillon and Haydn read Philippians ch. 2 v.6-11 and John ch.12 v.12-16, the gospel reading complete with palm leaves. Church organist Allen Yarr plays the hymns: Ride on! Ride on in majesty! (Church Hymnary 92) and When I survey the wondrous cross (Church Hymnary 106). The opening and closing shots of the church show the glorious crop of daffodills in the church yard.

Palm Sunday Service, 28th March 2021

Click on the above video to join in the service (after 9.45 am on 28th March 2021)

Hosanna!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

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Seeking Wisdom

This Sunday’s service comes from First Dunmurry NS Presbyterian Church and considers the question of finding wisdom. There are lots of distractions in life and plenty of goals to aim for, which may or may not actually be worthwhile, but we have to underpin all that we do with a wise appraisal of ourselves and the world we live in.

Sunday Service, 31st January 2021

Today’s reading comes from Job ch.28 v.12-13, 23-28 and is given by Noelle Wilson. Church organist, Allen Yarr, plays the hymns When I survey the wondrous cross (Church Hymnary 106) and Ye holy angels bright (Church Hymnary 39). At the start of the service Allen plays the Air from Handel’s Water Music on the piano.

We are moving towards the Spring now as the pictures of snowdrops in the grounds of Ballee Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church testify at the top and bottom of this post.

My soul, bear thou thy part,
triumph in God above,
and with a well-tuned heart
sing thou the songs of love;
let all thy days
till life shall end,
whate’er he send,
be filled with praise.

From Ye holy angels bright by Richard Baxter (1615-91)

Posted on by David Steers

The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice

The quotation at the top of this page comes from Martin Luther King. It is in fact itself a distillation of a quotation from Theodore Parker, the nineteenth-century Unitarian theologian and abolitionist:

I do not pretend to understand the moral universe; the arc is a long one, my eye reaches but little ways; I cannot calculate the curve and complete the figure by the experience of sight; I can divine it by conscience. And from what I see I am sure it bends towards justice.

It is interesting to compare the two sayings; one a very powerful soundbite, the other, the older one – the first to make the case for this imagery – far less snappy but explaining the idea in a very clear way.

I use this saying in this week’s online service which looks back to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The impetus for this momentous event came from the churches, most notably in Leipzig where St Nicholas Church became the centre of resistance to a corrupt state in a society poisoned by secret police and corrupted by layers of informers and spies.

St Nicholas Church, Leipzig (Wikimedia Commons)

The minister of the main church in Leipzig, the Rev Christian Führer, led the people in mass prayer vigils which helped to bring the system to an end. His position was similar to that of László Tőkés in Romania, who I was privileged to meet a couple of years ago in Transylvania, and who distilled his experience in his book With God, for the People. But both men showed the necessity of observing the phrase in our reading today ‘choose this day whom you will serve’.

You can see the service in this week’s video:

Available from 9.45 am on Sunday, 15th November

This week’s service is filmed in Dunmurry. The reading is from Joshua ch.24 v.14-18 and is given for us by Emma McCrudden. Church organist Allen Yarr plays the hymns When I survey the Wondrous Cross and Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of Creation.

Time for a Story: War Horse

With Armistice Day in mind this week’s Time for a Story, given by Sue Steers, tells the story of the work of horses in the First World War, an aspect of the story of that conflict which was long overlooked until the publication of Michael Morpurgo’s book War Horse. The video can be seen here: