Living Faith at the Edge is the title of a series of six Bible studies published by the Irish Methodist Council on Social Responsibility. They are announced as recommended for us in Advent, but the issues are of such importance it hardly seems right to wait that long.
Behind the studies are three pertinent questions:
How does the church confront the issues of nationalism, and especially religious nationalism?
What is the relationship between the Christian faith and culture?
What is the relationship between the Christian faith and politics?
The studies are contributed by the Revs Dr Johnston McMaster, Dr Norman Taggart, Ivor Owens and Henry Keys, Dr Edgar Ritchie, and Dr Gwyneth Hinds. Both in the choice of texts for study and in the suggestions as to methods of study, this small booklet is thoughtful and practical.
More familiar to many people is the Prayer Handbook, which this year is titled A Touching Place. This was in some measure inspired by a particularly insightful reflection on the encounter of Mary Magdalene with the risen Christ on the morning of the Resurrection. Not only does this booklet provide for systematic prayer for the church throughout the world, but by its information and selection of prayers it provides a means of appreciating the experience and spirituality of people in situations very different from our own.
The Methodist Missionary Society (Ireland) has announced an important conference on February 17th, 2001. The keynote addresses will be given by Dr Joe Riverson, of Ghana, and Rev Dr Isaac Lim, the President of the Methodist Church in Singapore. Seminars will offer opportunities to examine issues on conservation, world vision, life in a pluralist society, racism and vocation among others. It will be held in Dungannon Leisure Centre and there will be a simultaneous programme for children. Details may be obtained from the Mission Office, Aldersgate House, University Road, Belfast BT7 1NA.
At a time when the Church of Ireland General Synod and the Methodist Conference have asked members to discuss at local level a proposed convenant between the two churches facilitating greater co-operation, it is coincidental but helpful that the Methodist Recorder should have included an article on tensions in Wales. There, the tensions lie between the minority of Welsh-speaking Methodists, whose co-ordinating body is Y Gymanfa, and the majority of English-speaking Methodists. The article reports a comment by Sister Eluned Williams, President of Y Gymanfa and Vice-President of the British Methodist Conference. She said: ". . . we have for generations wrestled with a number of tensions . . . In each chapter of our history as Methodists in Wales we have been able to listen well and carefully to each other as we have discerned the way forward with grace and understanding." Her words have a wider application than in Wales.
October is ordinarily the month for harvest festivals, but Gorey United Methodist and Presbyterian Church is doing something out of the ordinary this year. Instead of holding a harvest service on one day, they are planning a Millennium Celebration which will last for six. On the first evening, Monday, October 2nd, there will be a harvest thanksgiving service and on the Tuesday there will be a concert by Cor-na-Bhar. The Dublin Male Voice Choir will sing on the Thursday evening and the Gorey Choral Group on the Saturday. On Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, social events are planned for the afternoons and a youth night on Friday will feature music by Reality.