At this time of year churches begin to be busy preparing for Christmas. Preparations are going forward for carol services, and for those Sundays of Advent that lead us to the festival of Christmas Day itself.
It is also a time when churches plan to bring gifts to people in need, locally and in other countries. This column has space to mention only a few of these activities, but they are representative of many.
Monday sees the 1,400th anniversary of the death of St Columbanus, the Irish saint who exercised ministries in Burgundy, Gall and Bobbio. It is being celebrated in Bangor, Co Down. Celebrations began yesterday in Bangor Abbey.
There will be talks and storytelling sessions this morning in St Columbanus’s Church at Ballyholme and this afternoon in St Comgall’s Church, Bangor.
This evening ‘Songs of the Scribe’ will be the theme in First Bangor Presbyterian Church. The concluding events will be in Bangor Abbey tomorrow at 3.30 and 6.30pm.
Tomorrow afternoon in Rathgar Methodist Church on Brighton Road, William Dowdall (flute) and John Feeley (guitar) will perform music by Schubert, Ravi Shankar and de Bromhead. It will begin at 3pm. Tickets are €15 and concessions €10.
Christmas appeal
The Newtownabbey Methodist Mission is looking forward to a busy Christmas. To raise funds for its Christmas appeal it is holding an evening of contemporary Christian music, testimony and praise in the Mission premises at Rathcoole Drive. Praise will be led by the One Accord Choir.
Under the title Celebrating Christmas Together, the event will begin at 7.30pm on Saturday, November 28th. Admission is free but there will be a retiring collection.
The Leprosy Mission is raising funds to replace the outpatients department at Karigiri Hospital in India. This treats about 120,000 patients each year. One of its fundraising events will take place at Newtownmountkennedy in the Parkview Hotel on Thursday, December 3rd.
It will take the form of a cabaret dinner at which Bob Drury will trace the career of Neil Diamond and perform some of the songs he composed. Tickets are €40 from leprosy.ie.
Christian Aid Ireland are planning three climate marches to draw attention to the need for action now to bring about climate justice, community energy and a carbon free future.
All three marches will start at 2pm on Sunday, November 29th – the day before the start of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris.
In Dublin, supporters are asked to assemble outside the Custom House; in Cork the venue is the library on Grand Parade; and in Belfast the park opposite St Anne’s Cathedral.
Our church in Armagh has recently started a series of monthly soup lunches in its hall. They will happen on the first Wednesday of each month throughout the year. The light lunch suggests a measure of sympathy with those who have even less to eat every day in other countries, and proceeds will go to Christian Aid for the relief of hunger.