Corrawallen Kildallon Kinawley Newtowngore Swanlinbar Templeport Tomregan Group Newsletter

Newsletter No 22 April 2009

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For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor 1: 18 NIV)

As I write this, I am thinking on what I have witnessed this past week as the leaders of the world’s most powerful 20 nations gathered for the G20 summit in London’s docklands. The summit attracted much publicity, with some 2,200 journalists covering the event. The meeting was cloaked in the highest level of security with literally thousands of personnel deployed over the course of the weeks leading up to the conference and indeed during it. The leaders all arrived to much acclaim in their motorcades with hundreds of high-powered, expensive, top-of-the-range vehicles being used to transport these extremely important world leaders. That’s how we expect important people to be treated and to travel.
It all seems very far removed from the events of that first Palm Sunday as the King of kings, the Messiah arrived in Jerusalem….. on a donkey!! How ridiculous is that for a king to choose to travel on an ass when he could have chosen a chariot?
During the week, this King reveals that he is to be betrayed by one of his closest friends…. and he does nothing about it. How ridiculous is that for a King to know his betrayer and not do something to avert his betrayal?
By the end of that week, Jesus has been tried, flogged, spat upon, even humiliated by a common criminal and crucified…. how ridiculous is that for a king to allow these things to happen and to choose a death on the cross?
At one level, the journey to the cross seems totally pointless, indeed as Paul puts it the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. In many respects if we remain at the cross in our spiritual lives without reaching the empty tomb on Easter morning, we see only sacrifice without victory.
As Easter people, the empty tomb helps us to understand the power of the cross without denying the very real pain involved. We can understand that Jesus chose the most difficult path as he took upon himself the sin of the whole world, yours and mine, and experienced the separation which that sin brings for three dark hours on the cross of crucifixion. We can understand that a spiritual battle was raging throughout those dark hours, and the victory was claimed by Jesus as he cried out with his dying breath “It is finished!” We can see for ourselves the power of God through the cross as we stand at the empty tomb and realise with joy He is not here; he is risen! (Luke 24: 6a NIV) Easter eyes enable us to know Jesus and the power of his resurrection and see the cross for what it is, a place of power and victory over sin and darkness. This Easter, may we increase in our knowledge and love of Jesus and the power of his resurrection as we see more of him in our lives through Easter eyes.

Jesus on donkey
Jesus carries Cross

Jesus suffering on Cross
Resurrection

Church of Ireland Cross Geoff signature Revd Geoff Wilson

"Richard’s Letter"

One of my favourite Bible passages is Philippians 1:3-7. In it Paul speaks of joy as he prays for the church in Philippi because of their “partnership in the gospel.” He goes on to say, “I have you in my heart.”
It is a reminder to me that Missionaries may be physically many miles away but the heart is very close and our prayers can make a huge difference!!
The recent vestry decision to establish a link with Beryl Baker of the South American Missionary Society was a huge step for our group of parishes. It is exciting and I have picked up some genuine excitement and desire that this would be much more than financial giving as valuable as that can be. Our Lenten appeal had been to support her work. We give thanks for your generous response and now we look to continue to build our link.
It would be great if the relationship becomes two way. One of the things the grace course reminded us so clearly was that we are all in need and we have so much to gain from relationship with one another. We have to be realistic too. The demands on Beryl are very great as this article makes us aware. She is very isolated in a desperately poor region in Paraguay with poor communication links.
Beryl is clearly a very capable lady who has devoted 32 ½ years (half her life) to working with the people of the Chaco! She is clearly very committed to loving the people whom she seeks to serve.
The Chaco is an area for cattle but very different to our own. We have a copy of her news in February so it’s slightly out of date. It speaks of drought with temperatures of 40oC! Not a complaint we have! The plantations are shrivelling up in the intense heat. Water is in very short supply so please pray for rain and the provision of funds to provide fuel to get desperately needed water into the communities.
Beryl ministers in a complex, dangerous and demanding environment. Her newsletter mentions her horse that probably died suddenly possibly from snakebite. A lovingly assembled container of goods for Beryl sent from Scotland including some very personal gifts was raided. Many of the goods were taken.
Beryl serves some 18,000 people in an area that is very poor with very few amenities and help. Beryl describes herself as ‘orderly, gynaecologist, midwife and dentist’, treating anything from TB to gunshot wounds and snakebite. Government funding provides some medicines but offers little else in the way of support. The needs are considerable and alongside meeting daily health challenges Beryl trains indigenous health promoters to meet some basic community health needs. Underlying this, a love for people and longing that these needy people would know the love of Christ.
I will never forget that the average lifespan of the folk in the Chaco region is only 40 years.
Over the coming months we will look to develop our contact with Beryl. May it become a relationship of the heart and let’s see where God leads us as we seek to honour him.

Nurse Beryl Baker

There is much more about the Chaco Project in Paraguay here

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Happy Birthday!

It seems a long time ago we first spoke of the rowing boat. Our church is like a boat with two oars. One is prayer, the other is our Christian work of loving witness and service. Both are essential. Otherwise we go around in circles or crash in to the riverbank. It was a picture that inspired us and from which the prayer meetings were born.
Now they are a year old. For the last year folk have been meeting in homes weekly for prayer and its a good time to review. I am so grateful in so many ways.
I give thanks to God for the commitment of those who have faithfully come and for those who so generously have provided a welcome. It has been a real strength meeting in the warmth of one another's homes. I give thanks for those who have felt able to drop in now and again. We still get folk coming for the first time.

I praise God for laughter and tears, friendships that continue to grow, for answered prayer and for our faith getting stretched!
As I look to our second year I am keen that our enthusiasm to pray grows.
May we continue to learn to pray, in seeking God with the offering of our hearts. May our praying continue to be renewed by God and not run dry.
I would continue to encourage folk to keep coming even if they have never been before. I truly believe prayer lies at the heart of God working in our midst.
It may be you would like to come along for the first time - you would be made very welcome.

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Prayer Meetings after EASTER
Day & Date	Time	Area	Location
Tuesday 21st April	10.30	Kinawley	Vi Breen's
Wednesday 29th April	3.00	Correwallen	Louise Patterson's
Tuesday 12th May	8.30	Templeport	Abraham & Carol Graham's
Wednesday 6th May	3.00	Kildallon	Valerie Livingstone’s
Wednesday 20th May	8.30	Ballyconnell	Eric & Minnie Mitten’s

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Kidz Club

3.30 - 5 pm for all children aged 4 -12
Just two left before the summer break. Please encourage your children to attend. These are a great way to do activities that the restrictions of our buildings on Sunday mornings simply do not permit.
Sunday 3rd May in Ballyconnell.
Sunday 7th June in Newtongore

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Easter Vestry Meetings
I would to thank everyone who came along to our Easter Vestry meetings and to congratulate those elected to hold office within the church for the forthcoming year. As well as extending sincere thanks to those elected, I would also like to thank those who have chosen to stand down from office and those not re-elected, your contribution during your term of service has been very much appreciated. The following elections have taken place to date:

Church	Church Wardens	Glebe Wardens	Select Vestry
Ballyconnell	Mervyn Foster(Rector's), Roy Mitten (People's)	Eric Mitten (People's)	Cyril Foster (Secretary), Roy Mitten (Treasurer), Charlie Marsden, David Breiden, Dick Breiden, Phyllis Cassidy, Minnie Mitten, Caroline Morton, Ronnie Johnston, Noel Mitten, Kenneth Morton, Hazel Kells, Harry Wallace
Templeport	Billy Kells (Rector's), Bertie Howden (People's)	Cecil Howden (People's)	Carol Graham (Secretary), Linda Lovett (Treasurer), Ivan Hewson, Victor Lovett, Robert Clarke, Ivan Kells, Hazel Howden, Gracie Gould, Joyce Kells, Nigel Rofé, Abraham Graham, Ivan Gould
Kildallon	David Morton (Rector's), Norman Whyte (People's)	Victor Young (Rector's), Eric Magee (People's)	Gertie Woods (Secretary), Evelyn Morton (Treasurer), James R Young, Eric Cowan, Roy Woods, Stanley Morton, Kenneth Magee, William Woods, Dessie Young, Winifred Morton, Faith Garland, Dessie Foster.

Would all church members the Parishes of Swanlinbar, Corrawallen and Newtowngore please note the following meetings of the general vestry and make it a priority to attend or send an apology (if your name is proposed for election and you are not in attendance and have not offered an apology, then technically your name cannot go forward);

Date	Time	Vestry	Location
Monday 20th April	8.30pm	Swanlinbar	Minor Hall, Kinawley
Tuesday 28th April	8.30pm	Corrawallen / Newtowngore	Parish Hall, Newtowngore

In order to hold office within the Church of Ireland, and indeed have voting rights at the annual Easter Vestry, each member should be a registered vestry member. The register of vestry members is revised once each year and is now open for that purpose. Anyone wishing to have their name included on the register must complete a declaration. If you wish to be included on this list of vestry members then please contact Geoff and he will arrange for the relevant declaration to be completed.

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Holidays

Geoff and the family will be on holiday from Monday 13th April to Sunday 19th April inclusive. During this time, all pastoral emergencies should be referred to Richard.

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April Events

From Wednesday 22nd April to Sunday 26th April we will have Bishop Ken with us to encourage us all in our work and ministry. The itinerary is still being finalised but the following is an indication of what we can expect;
Unfortunately, since of our last Newsletter, the Bishop has been informed of a meeting in Dublin on the Wednesday which he must attend, so he will no longer be available during the day.

Day, Date & Time	Where	What
Wednesday 22nd April 8.30 pm	Ballyconnell Hall	Who wants to be a millionaire? Participants from our Group, both young and old, will battle wits with one another in our own version of this popular quiz show. This evening is for the whole of the family, including school children, so please do come along for an evening’s fun. The Bishop will bring the evening to a close with an epilogue..
Thursday 23rd April 8.30 pm	Ballyconnell Hall	An evening of encouragement, specifically for our Bible note readers, prayer meeting and Bible study folk – of course everyone else is most welcome at this evening with a more spiritual focus.
Sunday 26th April 3 pm	Ballyconnell Parish Church	Vision Day service – Bishop Ken will preach and then join us in the Parish Hall for some food and fellowship whilst we recall the events of 2008 in our Group and look forward to the year ahead.

On Thursday we intend to call at Newtowngore school, hold a service in the Breffni with the residents and the usual group of friends, visit some local businesses and some of the housebound in our Group. This visit has been planned for some time now and should be an opportunity for us to meet with the Bishop and be encouraged by him as we continue to move Forward! together.

Bishop Ken Clarke

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Mothers' Union

A Day of Refreshment for MU members in the Diocese was held on Saturday 4th April.Speaker was Revd. Steve Clark who used the theme "The God who Speaks", he gave a wonderful insight into the importance of hearing God's voice.It was a time of Meditation and Prayer.

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Table Quiz

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A short note to thank everyone who supported the recent Table Quiz in the Parish Hall, Newtowngore. The hall was absolutely packed with teams and the craic was good as everyone entered the spirit of the evening. Special thanks to Florence Bayliss, Miriam Fisher and Carl Johnston for all of their work in organising the evening which raised €1, 500 for Parish funds..

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Baptism

Congratulations are extended to the Cairns family of Renfrew, Scotland as their little girl Emma Grace was welcomed into the church family in Tomregan Parish Church on Sunday 22nd February. We wish Jack and Lorraine every blessing as they nurture Emma in the faith into which she has been baptised. .

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Forward Choir

Nothing more to report at this time other than to remind folk of the arrangements for the Forward! choir practices. Those who would like to participate in the choir must attend one of the following practices but would be welcome at more than one it they desire:

Monday	20th April	8 pm	Florencecourt
Wednesday	22nd April	8 pm	St John’s, Longford
Thursday	23rd April	8 pm	Calry Church, Sligo
Friday	24th April	8 pm	Kilmore Cathedral.

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Surgery Hours
Date	Time
Tuesday 21st April	1pm - 3 pm
Tuesday 28th March	9.30 am - 11.30 am
Wednesday 6th May	2 pm - 4 pm
Tuesday 12th May	2 pm - 4 pm

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School News

Newtowngore
. Parents enrolling their child from September should contact the Principal before the 29th May for an enrolment form – tel 049 4333955.
. Congratulations to our junior and senior teamscame 4th in the Leitrim Credit Union Quiz on Monday 2nd February . There were 30 teams involved.
. Congratulations to Ella Thomas who achieved 7th place in the Wilson's Hospital scholarship.
. Congratulations to Abigael Pierce for winning a 1st for the single jig in the feish in Drumreilly.
. Congratulations to Jonathan Graham and his badminton club in Newtowngore for winning the community games badminton on Monday 9th March. We wish Jonathan and the club all the very best as they prepare to play the Connacht team in Galway.
. Finally….congratulations to Chloe Graham who won the singles badminton in Ballinamore.

Ballyconnell

The ground works are progressing very quickly at this stage and we are delighted to inform you that the official opening and dedication of the new school building will be carried out by Bishop Ken Clarke at 11am on Friday 29th May 2009. All past pupils and folk with an association with the school are warmly invited to the opening. If you expect to attend it would be very helpful if you could let the school know by Friday 20th May at the latest in order that catering can be organised (please telephone 049 9526055).

School ground works

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Which Way to Heaven?

Reverend Billy Graham tells of a time early in his ministry when he arrived in a small town to preach a sermon. Wanting to mail a letter, he asked a young boy where the post office was. When the boy had told him, Dr. Graham thanked him and said, "If you'll come to the Baptist Church this evening, you can hear me telling everyone how to get to heaven."

The boy replied, "I don't think I'll be there... You don't even know your way to the post office."

A Special Hymn

A preacher was completing a temperance sermon; with great expression he said, "If I had all the beer in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river".
With even greater emphasis he said, "And if I had all the wine in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river".
Then finally, he said, "And if I had all the whiskey in the world, I'd take it and throw it into the river".
He sat down.

The song leader then stood very cautiously and announced with a smile, "For our closing song, let us sing Hymn No 677: "Shall We Gather at the River."

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Tomregan Drainage work

Progress continues with the second phase of the Tomregan church drainage works which are now approaching completion.
Water pipes and a sewer are also being laid to provide a w.c. at the church rather than have people cross the main road to the loo at the Church hall.

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Group Dinner

Our Group dinner is fast approaching with tickets now available. The evening will commence at 8pm on Friday 24th April in the Seven Horse Shoes Hotel, Belturbet with a 4 course meal including soup, beef main course, desserts and tea and coffee. Our after dinner speaker will be no stranger to us all as Geoff will be trawling for a few new jokes and finishing with a very light spiritual message to set the tone for the evening. Dancing will be to Nigel Livingstone, formerly of Kildallon Parish. To avoid disappointment, if you would like to come along, then why not contact one of our Forward! steering group members and book your ticket now (details of Forward! steering group members are listed below) The whole idea of the evening is to bring us all together for a social evening, with the emphasis on fun-raising rather than fund raising!

Florence Bayliss	049 4333057	Karen Breen	028 6774 8292
Violet Clements	028 6634 8989	Avril Graham	028 6774 8427
Cecil Howden	049 9521270	Minnie Mitten	049 9526271
Milly Morton	049 9526189	Mabel Pollock	049 4333051
Gertie Woods	049 9526324.

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Compassion Update

We are delighted to let you know that our Sunday School have now commenced sponsorship of a little girl from Togo, West Africa. Her name is Edoh and she celebrated her 6th birthday on the 27th of March. At this stage we have no further details but hope to have a photograph and some more details on her family circumstances, home life and schooling for our next Newsletter. In the meantime, you can support her through discussing this sponsorship with your child/grandchild and introducing them to the fact that we are supporting a child on a different continent.
As a parent, please do pray for this link with your child and remember Edoh in particular as she is encouraged and nurtured in her faith through your generosity.

Malto tribe in India

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Prayer Points for February & March

Let us continue to listen to God in prayer and develop a daily routine of praying for the following on the day of the week indicated;

Monday:	In this Easter season may our lives continue to discover the joy and life that Christ's resurrection brings ;
Tuesday:	Pray for Beryl Baker in the Chaco region of Paraguay. For the growing of our relationship that it would be much richer than just financial support;
Wednesday:	Pray for Bishop Ken and his wife Helen. For our Day of Vision - May we be faithful in continuing Christ's Mission in the coming year;
Thursday:	Pray for the planting of faith memories in our children and young people that share hope, wonder and joy;
Friday:	Pray for those who share in pain of lost loved ones. That they would experience Christ's presence in the darkest times;
Saturday:	Pray for leaders in our world in times of recession - for wisdom and courage in difficult times;
Sunday:	Pray for Geoff and the family in their last months with us. That God would continue to smooth and make clear the way ahead for them.

C of I Cross

Home page	Newsletter No 22 April 2009			Weekly news sheet
Prayer meetings	Quick links - Find you way quickly to:			Prayer Points
Vestry meetings	Office Surgery hours	Bishop Ken's visit	Holidays	Service schedule

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor 1: 18 NIV)

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