For some years now the "four church leaders" have together made annual visits to various parts of the country. Archbishops Sean Brady (RC) and Robin Eames (C of I) and the Rev Kenneth Todd (president of the Methodist Church) and Rev Trevor Morrow (Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland) will visit Cork on December 13th and 14th.
The dignitaries will go to University College, Cork, on Wednesday evening, December 13th. Visits to Cork City Hall and the premises of the COPE Foundation are also planned. The COPE Foundation is a highly commended help for the handicapped in society.
The Moderator, Dr Morrow, wishes to meet all Presbyterians in the vicinity of Cork and has made arrangements to do so on December 13th between 12.30 p.m. and 2 p.m. The Rev John Faris, minister of Cork and Aghada and clerk of the Dublin Munster Presbyter, is virtual aide-de-camp for Dr Morrow during the visit and may be contacted at 0214891437.
On December 10th at 7 p.m. in Christ Church Rathgar, Dr Morrow will conduct a service of Christmas celebration. There will be special Christmas readings and a visiting 20-20 vision orchestra will join in leading the praise. Attendance at this service is commended to all Presbyterians in churches in the Dublin area and their friends.
Designating a Sunday in the year a Bible Sunday was first done by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1904. A Sunday in March was first observed. However, more recently the second Sunday in Advent (December 10th this year) has been observed.
It is accepted that every Sunday is a veritable Bible Sunday and that all congregations do not necessarily have to observe the Advent arrangement.
In announcing Bible Sunday, the National Bible Society of Ireland indicates a change in its usual format. Its theme this year is "Bringing the Word to the furthest ends of the earth". Source material for preachers and teachers can be used any Sunday and has been written with the intention of coalescing with the wider work of the United Bible Societies.
The source material comprises Bible facts and figures: a description of places (Mozambique, Gaza City, West Bank, Cambodia and Paraguay) as examples of where there is a desperate need for more scriptures.
Accompanying these helps are a sermon outline and suitable prayers for Bible Sunday. The material has been provided by the Rev John Littleton and its use in the churches on December 10th or other Sundays is much commended.
The annual Christmas fair in the Malahide Presbyterian Church is a red-letter day each year for the congregation and many friends in the other churches in the community. It will be held today from 10.30 a.m. until l2.30 p.m.
At the book stall there will be an opportunity to buy the interesting history of the last 100 years of the Howth and Malahide congregation. The proceeds from the book's sale will go to the hospice at Raheny.