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Collection for Ukraine

With an estimated one million refugees now having fled Ukraine into neighbouring countries there is desperate need for help for those people – mostly women and children – who have had to leave their homeland to get away from the fighting.

This week’s video has been brought forward so that we can give an update on what has been achieved so far in our Collection for Ukraine. First of all thank you to all those people who have already supported the appeal, the response has been magnificent. There is still time to donate if you wish to, items can be delivered up to and including Sunday, 6th March.

This week’s online Reflections shares the latest news of the appeal.

Collection for Ukraine

The hymn sung at the start and end of the video is called ‘Prayer for Ukraine’. The first verse translates as:

Lord, oh the Great and Almighty,
Protect our beloved Ukraine,
Bless her with freedom and light
Of your holy rays.

Click on the short video above to find out about our Collection for Ukraine.

Can you help?

We are collecting donations that will be sent and distributed to Ukrainian refugees and those impacted by the current invasion. All items can be left in the Dunmurry McCleery Hall (main entrance) up until Sunday 6th March. Items requested include:

– Warm clothes for children or adults
– Sleeping bags or blankets
– First aid supplies
– Toiletries
– Non perishable food items.

For more information, please message First Dunmurry NS Presbyterian Church on Facebook directly.

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The A to Z of Non-Subscribing Presbyterianism R to U

We have been powering on with our alphabetical journey through the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland and have now added the letters R to U to our survey. R covers the topic ‘Remonstrant’, S is ‘Stained Glass’, T stands for ‘Tokens’ and U is ‘Ubi Spiritus Domini ibi Libertas’. I will upload the video for each letter below.

Remonstrant

The letter R is for Remonstrant. Click on the video to see the service

Remonstrant is an interesting word, not unique to Ireland, but only really used as a denominational name in one other country in Europe. In this video we look at the meaning behind the word and its resonance for us today. Conducted by the Rev Dr David Steers, Robert Neill (Downpatrick) reads Matthew ch.4 v.16-23 and John Strain plays In Christ there is no East or West (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 235), Thy way, not mine, O Lord (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 347) and Be still for the presence of the Lord at the start of the service on the organ at Ballee NSP Church.

Rev Henry Montgomery, founder of the Remonstrant Synod

Stained Glass

Some of our churches have only ever held plain glass through which the light shines directly illuminating our worship. Over time more churches have installed stained glass of various types and designs and have used light to tell a story or to beautify the sanctuary. In this service we look at the stained glass within Non-Subscribing Presbyterian churches. Robert Neill is our reader again, reading from Job ch.28 v.12-18, and John Strain, Ballee, plays Bright the vision that delighted (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 35) and Light of ages may Thy ray (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 270).

Stained Glass. Click on the video to see the service

Tokens

In this service we use the history of Tokens – more specifically Communion Tokens – to look at our attitude to Communion which has always been open and inclusive.

Cartoon by Rowell Friers. The blacksmith is closely observed by the local clergy as he casts the lead communion tokens.
The A to Z of Non-Subscribing Presbyterianism: Tokens

In this service Emma McCrudden (Dunmurry) reads from Mark ch.14 v.22-26 and John Strain plays O thou who this mysterious bread (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 407), Put peace into each other’s hands (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 408) and This is the hour of banquet and of song (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 403) at the start of the service. The video contains examples of eighteenth-century communion tokens. Click on the video above to see the service.

Ubi Spiritus Domini ibi Libertas

Under the letter U we look at the phrase Ubi Spiritus Domini ibi Libertas, its meaning and significance to us.

Ubi Spiritus Domini ibi Libertas. Available to watch from 9.45 am on Sunday, 28th November

Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Worship conducted by the Rev Dr David Steers. Filmed at Ballee, Clough and Dunmurry Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Churches the reading is 2 Corinthians ch.3 v.12-18. Ballee organist John Strain plays the Advent hymns O Come, O come, Immanuel (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 112), Hark the glad sound! The saviour comes (Hymns of Faith and Freedom 107) and, at the start of the service, Soon and very soon. The meaning of liberty for us.

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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.

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: