Pew Sheet – 31st January 2021

The Rector writes  ‘ I’m delighted that the Revd Julia Cody is our guest Preacher today (via video which you can watch in the player below) and that I am ‘preaching’ over in Perton. Virtual Pulpit Swaps are such fun ! Having a link parish can be a wonderful opportunity for us to connect with others.  I really enjoyed being part of the last two online quizzes with the Perton gang.  Even online,  I  could tell who the ‘characters’ were … just as it would be with us. Last week, I spoke about the Holocaust Memorial Day and how it was so important that we never allow ourselves to view fellow human beings as the ‘other’.  In the light of Brexit,  I think our link with Perton in the diocese of Lichfield, can help us to remember all that we have in common with our sisters and brothers across the Irish Sea. It’s all too easy to dismiss their troubles as being ‘their own fault’ and forget the human suffering involved. 

In today’s Service, we remember the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, the feast often called ‘Candlemas’ and Bebhinn also speaks about it in her music notes.   At home, you might like to have a candle at the ready for the special ending liturgy today.  As we turn away from the Crib and the infant Jesus and turn our faces towards the Cross and the adult Christ, we remember that we are all called, along with Simeon, to be the ‘Light of the World’

Monkstown Chamber Choir

We resume our zoom choir practice on Thursday 4th  February at 8pm.

We took January off, but since September 2020, we meet every week for about an hour online. Although not ideal, the choir members really enjoy seeing each other, having a chat and of course practicing our music. Some even enjoy a sneaky glass of wine from the comfort of our cosy, warm homes!! If anyone would like to join this lovely happy group, please contact choirmaster Roger Ellis on 087 0539416 (RCE)

DIOCESAN MAGAZINE

subscriptions are now due.     €25 for 2021.

Please post your subscription to Rowland Newenham,  Cooleens,  Church Road, Carrigaline  P43 FR88,  or you may also  pay online to Rowland Newenham,

Music Notes 31-01-2021

Hymns

134      Make way

48       God in his love for us

358     King of glory

We mark the presentation of Christ at the Temple this Sunday and are also mindful of next Tuesday, February 2nd which is Candlemas Day. Traditionally, the eve of Candlemas was the day on which all Christmas decorations were removed. A poem by Robert Herrick (1591-1674) says:

“Down with the rosemary, and so

Down with the bays and mistletoe;

Down with the holly, ivy, all,

Wherewith ye dress’d the Christmas Hall.”

Candlemas is the last festival in the Christian year dated by reference to Christmas.  In Christian belief this festival celebrates the presentation of Christ in the Temple in Jerusalem 40 days after his birth (as Jewish custom required), and the purification ceremony of the Virgin Mary at the same time.  The word ‘Candlemas’ refers to the medieval custom of blessing and distributing candles and processing into church before mass symbolising the arrival of Christ as light of the world. Our first hymn ‘Make way’ was especially written as a processional hymn.

The service today is bookended with two organ pieces. Both were inspired by two hymns written by the sixteenth century Lutheran pastor Phillip Nicolai who lived through a time of plague in Germany. ‘How brightly shines the morning star’ is a hymn which envisaged the Christian soul as a bride of Christ. The final piece is Bach’s famous setting of ‘Awake, sleepers awake’ which also uses the imagery of bride and groom.

It seems a fitting way to say goodbye to the season of Epiphany – with hope in our hearts.

Bébhinn

bebhinnmuire@gmail.com 087 228 5965

Random Notes  CCCLXXV   

If you’ve ever struggled to finish something , you are not alone.    

So has Pam Ayres.

Unfinished

Have you seen these little booties

that I’m making for my son ?

I’ve finished one completely,

now I’m on the second one

I’m knitting them myself,

they’re not being made by a machine

Only now my son is thirty

and his feet are size fourteen.

Have you seen this lovely tapestry

I’m working on of late ?

I’m going to make a screen to cover

the black and empty grate.

The picture’s of a duck pond,

a village green, and spire.

Only lately we’ve downsized,

our new house hasn’t got a fire.

But one day I shall finish them !

And then I’ll start once more.

With pride and satisfaction,

I’ll show off the empty drawer

I’ll finish my creations

and display them with pizzazz !

If it takes me twenty years !

Oh, it already has.

MMPC

Categories Parish Notices | Tags: | Posted on February 1, 2021

Social Networks: RSS Facebook Twitter Google del.icio.us Stumble Upon Digg Reddit

Comments are closed.

close window

Service Times & Directions

Weekend Services

Sunday Morning: 11:00 am

map
Church Road
Carrigaline
(021) 437 4045