Diocesan News
Bishop of Connor to Address Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Services
The Bishop of Connor, the Right Revd Alan Abernethy, will address gathered congregations on the theme of ‘You are witnesses to these things’ at two services during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: at St Patrick’s Catholic Church, Dungannon, this evening, Thursday 21 January 2010 at 7.30pm and tomorrow, Friday 22nd January at 1.45pm, at St MacNissi’s College, Garron Tower, near Larne. The service at St MacNissi’s College will draw students from several different Co. Antrim schools and colleges. For further information please contact:
Connor Diocesan Communications Officer
Bishop Abernethy will relate to the chosen theme by recalling formative personal experiences: as a Protestant, witnessing a sectarian attack on a Catholic church in east Belfast as a teenager; and experiencing and sharing very different worship experiences with a friend of another tradition. He will say that ‘the witness of friendship deepens faith: what matters is how we relate to other people; how we seek repentance and forgiveness of sins and how we see Christ in each other.’
An outline of the bishop’s address is given below.
Contact Details
Karen Bushby
028 4066 0798
07766103880
[email protected]
‘You are witnesses of these things.’
Outline of Address for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity ServicesRt Revd Alan Abernethy, Bishop of Connor
It was very disturbing to watch and it was frightening for us as a family because we were trapped in our own home. I was 15 and I was watching an angry crowd attack the local police station and then the Catholic Church. They desecrated it and but for the army arriving the parish priest’s life was in danger. This was a mob who would have professed to be Protestant and it was the early 70’s in Northern Ireland when riots and street fighting were common. I witnessed this as a young Protestant and wondered where Jesus was in the midst of this so-called religious war. Witnessing this and other similar events changed me.
As a young first year student at Queen’s I was able to make friends with people that I would not have had much contact with growing up in East Belfast. As I studied (well attended classes) in History and Politics, a friendship grew with a fellow student, Brendan. He came with me to the Christian Union and was intrigued by how zealous people were. I went with him to mass at the Catholic Student Church and my imagination and sense were kindled by the symbolism and mystery of faith and worship. We shared so much in friendship and we were witnesses to Jesus in each other. It was because of our friendship that we were able to move beyond labels and find the reality of the Risen Jesus in each other.
‘You are witnesses of these things.’ This is a wonderful Gospel account of the resurrection. It expresses the confusion, the questions, the doubts, the mystery and yet the certainty of the fact that “He is not here, He is risen”. We are called to witness to these things and they are repentance and forgiveness of sins, made possible by the resurrection of Jesus.
My testimony is that as I found friendship with someone who I would have excluded from my faith journey I discovered repentance and forgiveness of sins and that has enriched my life ever since. Together we proclaim the resurrection and live out the prayer of Jesus that the world might see and believe. We need to recognise the hurt we have done to one another and that is not just Roman Catholic and Protestant but even between the various Protestant denominations.
There are still things that cause pain, such as the fact that we cannot share around the Lord’s Table. However, in friendship and fellowship we share Jesus together and we find ways of validating and recognising each other which are beyond human barriers. Our fellowship is brought about by the Spirit.
This is where our gospel leaves us full of hope, the promise is for us that the Holy Spirit will enable us to fulfil our calling and command to be witnesses to these things, that are not ours but God’s. Let us arise and go tell the world that Christ is Risen and that together we are witnesses of these things.
+Alan, Connor