Irish Times Notes
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’
Saturday 17 May 2014
Exhibition in Christ Church, Dublin
Until the end of this month Christ Church cathedral, Dublin, is hosting an exhibition, ‘On Earth as it is in Heaven’ which explains the meaning of linen in the Bible.
The exhibition draws on a wide range of images and texts to explain how linen has been a spiritual symbol. In the religion of old Israel linen often stood for vegetation, earthiness and the soil and in the fabrics of Jerusalem’s Temple linen was a symbol of the earth. But once the cloth was drained of pigment and made to glow a brilliant white it stood for the kingdom of heaven, the realm of eternal life and light. In the Resurrection story the white fabric stands both for mortality and for eternity.
The exhibition uses images from ancient Egypt and medieval Christian manuscripts as well as pieces of contemporary art. It features specially commissioned photographs of early Christian icons including a famous Serbian fresco and a 1500 year old mosaic from St Catherine’s monastery on Mount Sinai.
The exhibition has been curated by Margaret Barker, an authority on the Jerusalem Temple, Bruce Clark, online religious editor of the Economist, and by the Temple Study Group, an international initiative which promotes study and discussion of the Temple in Jerusalem.
Today (Saturday) is International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia (IDAHOT) and to mark the day Changing Attitude Ireland has organized special services tomorrow (Sunday) with invited speakers. The first service will be at 10.30am in in St Anne’s church, Shandon, where Stephen Spillane will speak. In St George’s church, Belfast at 3pm Michael Wardlow, Chief Commissioner of the N.I. Equality Commission, will speak while in St Ann’s church, Dublin, at 3.30 the speaker will be Canon Adrian Empey. At 4pm Wendy Donaghy will speak in St Columb’s cathedral, Derry, and at 7pm the Dean of Limerick, the Very Revd Sandra Pargnell, will be the speaker in St Mary’s cathedral. The final service will be at 7pm in Christ Church cathedral, Waterford, where the speaker will be the Bishop of Cashel, Ferns & Ossory.
For the sixth year in a row Divine Healing Ministries are organising a day of prayer in St. Anne’s cathedral, Belfast, for the renewal and revival of the faith in this land. This is part of a seven year cycle of prayer which began in 2009 and finishes in 2016. It takes place today (Saturday) from 10.30 am until 3.30 pm. The theme this year will be ‘Moving Forward Together’ and this theme is well reflected in the wide variety of speakers.
Tomorrow (Sunday) morning the Archbishop of Dublin will be in Nun’s Cross for the dedication of the recently restored church roof. At 4pm the Dean Herbert Cassidy Memorial Organ Recital in St Patrick’s cathedral, Armagh, will be given by Malcolm Sims, organist of Glasgow cathedral. In the evening at 7.30pm the combined choirs of Monkstown and Gleneageary parishes will sing Choral Evensong in Monkstown parish church . The service will be led by Revd Gary Dowd and Canon Patrick Lawrence, with music, including settings by Tallis and Faure, directed by Derek Verso and Raymond Russell with Matthew Breen (organ scholar).
On Monday Mark Duley will begin a ‘20 cathedral 20 concert Organ Marathon‘ around Ireland in seven days. The Church of Ireland cathedrals in which he will play next week are Ferns ( Monday), Cloyne, Cork and Killaloe (Tuesday), Limerick and Kilfenora (Wednesday), Clonfert (Thursday) and Kilmore and Armagh (Friday). The marathon is in aid of Pipeworks, the Dublin international organ festival.
Church of Ireland Notes from ‘The Irish Times’