Diocesan News18 Mar 16

St Patrick’s Day in Down – ‘In the footsteps of St Patrick – Proclaiming Christ’

The theme at this year’s Down and Dromore St Patrick’s Day Celebrations was ‘In the Footsteps of Patrick – Proclaiming Christ’. This is the first time that ‘Evangelism’ has been the focus and at the Festival Service the diocese commissioned its first group of Diocesan Evangelists. The Evangelists also led the prayer pilgrimage from Saul where the preacher at the Holy Communion Service was Captain George Newell (Church Army).

The Diocese was delighted that a group of 22 children from Brooklands Primary School, Dundonald (including a young ‘St Patrick’), joined the celebrations on another sunny 17 March. They led the pilgrims into the cathedral and later helped to lay the wreath at St Patrick’s grave.

Bishop Harold gave the address at the cross–community Festival Service which was attended by local clergy and dignitaries including Margaret Ritchie MP. The bishop began by saying that, ‘This centenary year, with all the resonances of 1916 … brings with it many of the fault–lines which still lie open to be seen in the island of Ireland. It carries in it our different ‘histories’, which we need to understand, reflect on and explain to ourselves.’

Quoting his friend Harold Good, he noted that, while the two histories could not be reconciled we could be reconciled. The bishop went on to say: ‘We will not, of course, find our reconciliation in 1916 or 1912, in 1798 or 1690, we will find our reconciliation by going back a lot further– to AD432, when Patrick, our common ancestor in the faith came to Saul, proclaiming Christ.’

Bishop Harold described Patrick as the ‘archetypal evangelist’ who had declared in his Confession: ‘I must fearlessly and proudly spread the name of God everywhere in order to leave a legacy after my death to my brothers and children – the many thousands I have baptised into the Lord.’

He continued: ‘We are here today as part of that amazing legacy of faith planted by Patrick more than 1½ millennia ago – and it is our privilege to pass the baton on to generations still to come – to leave a legacy of faith.’

Taking the Book of Jonah as his text, and with the interaction of the congregation, Bishop Harold described evangelists as: those who had experienced conversion in their own lives; who were called by God to the task of evangelism; who were planted, under God, in a particular place and who persevered, even when everything in them wanted to give up. That, he said, was ‘probably the most important moment of all. God’s work is done when we are challenged about our motives and break through. It’s then that the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is extended and his love revealed.’

The bishop commissioned 8 Evangelists to be deployed in the diocese. Warm congratulations to: Colin Birnie, David Charleton, Janet Fleming, Jim Fleming, Simon Henry, Susan McFarland, John Menagh and Ian Morton, each of whom have successfully completed a 2 year distance–learning based course accredited by St John’s College Nottingham.

The service also saw the launch of a magazine reflecting on the centenaries marked in 2016. 100: Our Story of Healing, Honour and Hope is a collection of thoughts, interviews and essays that pause to reflect one hundred years on from the Easter Rising and the Battle of the Somme, while looking forward to a hope–filled story for the next one hundred years in our land. The magazine is a joint initiative of Evangelical Alliance, Summer Madness and 24–7 Prayer and forms part of a larger movement of prophetic prayer – 100 days of prayer for 100 years of history.

The celebrations ended with the customary Irish stew and apple tart lunch served in a packed marquee. Once more we were grateful to the Sullivan Traditional Music Group who created a wonderful atmosphere in the narthex and the marquee and to solo flautist, Teresa Clarke.