Exploring who we are
An exciting Study course shared between our Parishes
On Tuesday the 7th of January
the first of six evenings in the Abbeyleix
Manor Hotel took place. In was attended by members of Kilcooley &
Fertagh,
Templemore, Clonenagh, Rathdowney, Abbeyleix & Killermogh, Portlaoise,
Stradbally and Castlecomer groups / unions of parishes. On this first
night
about sixty people attended. The evening started with worship lead by
Rev
Barbara Fryday. We used an interesting liturgy from 'A Wee Worship Book'.
Following the worship, Canon. Patrick Harvey spoke for a few minutes on
a
series of leaflets available from APCK on beliefs of the Church of Ireland.
At this point all were encouraged to go and get a drink from the bar !!
After which (eventually !!) those attending were then were organised into
groups for the teaching and discussion. This was lead by Rev. Cliff Jeffers
and the topic for the first night was the historical reliability of the
New
Testament.
Over the next five sessions we will be exploring different types of worship,
from the Book of Common Prayer, Youth Worship, The Eucharist and others.
Each evening there will also be reviews of different resources available
to
us to help us explore who we are. The exploration of our beliefs will
continue looking at the life of Jesus from the New Testament, and especially
the Gospel of Luke, and how we should respond to him in our day and age.
One person who attended the first evening commended; "We learned
to discuss
our beliefs with each other and felt enriched by the whole evening."
On Tuesday the 11th of February we are hoping that Bishop Peter will be
able
to join us for the evening. He plans to address us for a few minutes during
the evening as our new bishop.
If you would like to join us for the last few of these evenings, please
contact the Rector of one of the parishes below for details.
click on images to enlarge
Bishop Peter Barrett and Rev'd Cliff Jeffers
Rev'd Philip Heak leading worship at one of the evenings
