Pew Sheet – 25th October 2020
The Rector writes ‘ I write this covering page with a heavy heart. Our friend John Sweeney, whom you may remember appeared at the beginning of the Healer Prayer video just last week, died suddenly this morning (Wednesday 21st ). John was a hugely engaged member of our parish community. He had led the Monkstown Home Group for years, He was a vital part of the Healer Prayer Group where his extempore prayers had provided comfort and support to many people and his administrative skills ensured that no one was forgotten. He had also been our parish representative for Christian Aid until very recently when Clodagh King took over from him. Together with myself and Rosemary Powell, he was part of the parish Safe Guarding Trust Panel since 2012.
Dr John Sweeney PhD MSc DipANS RPN RNT RNID CNT TNurs had been a senior lecturer in UCC School of Medicine until he retired a few years ago. He had given his time unstintingly to this parish and he will be very much missed by us all but at this sad time we think particularly of his wife Mary and all of his family. May his generous and inspiring soul rest in peace and rise in glory. ‘
Music Notes 25-10-2020
The hymns for today’s online service are:
385 Rise and hear! The Lord is speaking
Hymn meditation – Ubi caritas
455 Go forth for God
The hymn of the Offertory today is replaced by an improvised meditation on the beautiful plainchant melody ‘Ubi caritas et amor’. Both text and tune have been traced back to the eighth century. The message of love and charity is a universal one, and in modern times versions of the text have appeared in many hymnals of all denominations. The Taizé version alone appears in twenty-six hymnals. Several contemporary choral composers have also set this text very effectively. For those of you who like to explore new music may I recommend a beautiful version for choir by the American composer Ola Gjeilo.
The Latin and English text of verse 1 are given below as a text for reflection during the improvisation.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Where charity and love are, there God is.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor
The love of Christ has gathered us into one.
Exsultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.
Let us exult and in Him be joyful.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Let us fear and love the living God.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.
And from a sincere heart let us love each other.
Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Where charity and love are, there God is.
The concluding voluntary today is a setting by the sixteenth century composer Heinrich Scheidemann of the Lutheran hymn tune ‘O God, we thank Thee for Thy grace’ (O Gott, wir danken deiner G?t).
Bébhinn
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Random Notes CCCLXIII
Stars in their eyes!
I hope you have been enjoying the later sunrises (Canon Elaine has been taking a great set of pics from her early morning dog walks) and have been catching the planet Venus in the early morning.
The end of October and early November give us a chance to see all five of the non-telescope planets.
Mercury – trickiest but look to the east the first two weeks of November – it will be rising before the Sun, but only barely.
Venus – dead easy – extremely bright before sunrise.
Mars – unmissable – visible all night long as a bright orange/red star.
Jupiter – look south at sunset, low but bright
Saturn – to the east of Jupiter & not as bright.
Don’t forget that clocks changed on Oct 25 – and Ireland is due to implement the EU directive on getting rid of the twice-yearly clock change. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t been agreed if we will stay on GMT or on IST(+1). There was a public consultation on this a year ago – so watch this space.
The difference really comes in during the winter, when more northerly parts of Ireland have only slightly more than 7 hours of daylight. Even in Cork we have sunrise in mid-December at 8.40 am, with sunset at 4.30pm; solar noon is at 12.30. If we change our clocks so that solar noon / the middle of the day is 1.30pm (as it is in the summer, when we use IST), then we will enjoy an extra hour of daylight at the end of the day, at the expense of the morning. I’m not in favour of this – I need the sunlight to help me wake up and the thought of starting work in the darkness- ugh!
FMcC
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