Eaglais na hÉireann – The Church of Ireland
Diocese of Cork, Cloyne & Ross
MALLOW UNION
of Parishes
Sunday 14th March 2021
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
WEEKLY BULLETIN
WELCOME to the new Mallow Union weekly newsletter. It builds on the structure and purpose of the Monthly Newsletter which has been an invaluable feature of the parish over many years. Here you’ll find weekly prayers and readings from the Book of Common Prayer, along with a reflection, as well as other news that is important to our life as a Union of parishes. Please do share this with others, wherever they are and whoever they are, if you think they may be interested in our life as a Christian community. You may want to think of it as a tool for outreach.
THIS WEEK
Sunday’s Gospel reading, with a short reflection on the reading, is also available in video format on the Parish facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Mallow-Union-of-Parishes-153486538476524/
Please find a dedicated time – and space – in your home for a time of worship and reflection each Sunday, either by reading the scriptures and reflection, or watching the video presentation.
For each day of the week, the Church of Ireland lectionary provides readings from Scripture for daily prayer and reflection which can be used at any time of the day.
• Monday 15th Psalm 30.1-5, 8, 11-12; John 4. 43-54
• Tuesday 16th Psalm 46.1-8; John 5.1-3, 5-16
• Wednesday 17th SAINT PATRICK, 461.
Psalm 145.1-13; John 4.31-38
• Wednesday morning at 10.30am – VIRTUAL COFFEE BREAK by zoom. Please use this link – and invite anyone along you know who may enjoy and appreciate some company. Just drop in with a cup of tea or coffee and bring your unique self to our gathering!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83457039316?pwd=S0VSSklPZzE4V2JFOVBkejd3T2k2QT09 Meeting ID: 834 5703 9316 Passcode: 369698
• Wednesday evening at 8.30pm – COMPLINE (Night Prayer) for Saint Patrick’s Day. This will be a short, quiet service of about 25mns. Next week our study of Mark’s Gospel will resume.
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84277959265?pwd=aUdJeHBBMkdLb1JBOFJKUVJkdm51UT09 Meeting ID: 842 7795 9265 Passcode: 608818
• Thursday 18th Psalm 106.19-23; John 5.31-47
• Friday 19th SAINT JOSPEH OF NAZARETH
Psalm 89.26-36; Matthew 1.18-25
• Saturday 20th Psalm 7.1-2, 8-10; John 7.40-52
WHILE SUNDAY WORSHIP AND OTHER EVENTS
TAKE PLACE ONLINE
During this period of Level 5 restrictions, when we cannot safely gather in our churches for worship, our Cathedral church of St Fin Barre in Cork broadcasts a weekly celebration of the Eucharist by Livestream at 11.00am every Sunday. It offers an act of worship in the Cathedral, with music, that enables us to join our prayers to the worshipping life of our wider Church and Diocese. You can access it here
https://corkcathedral.webs.com/
The Church of Ireland also publishes extensive listings of full services being broadcast or taking place online each Sunday. It can be accessed here:
https://www.ireland.anglican.org/cmsfiles/pdf/news/Press/2021/Broadcast-Online-Worship-March 2021.pdf
COLLECT and READINGS for this SUNDAY
COLLECT
Lord God, whose blessed Son our Saviour gave his back to the smiters and did not hide his face from
shame: Give us grace to endure the sufferings of this present time with sure
confidence in the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
High and lifted up,
I see Him on the eternal Calvary, And two pierced hands are
stretching east and west o’er land and sea.
On my knees I fall and worship that great Cross that shines above, For the very God of Heaven is not Power, but Power of Love.
G.A. Studdert-Kennedy (1883-1929)
Numbers 21: 4-9
From Mount Hor the people of Israel set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people be came impatient on the way. The people spoke against God and against Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.’ Then the LORD sent poison ous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, ‘We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you; pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people. And the LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.’ So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live.
John 3: 14-21
Jesus said ‘And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever be lieves in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 1Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgement, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.
THE WISDOM OF
CHRISTIAN TRADITION THROUGH THE AGES for this Sunday
from Weep Not For Me John V. Taylor
(1914-2001)
Every human suffering, every human evil, is focussed into one single event, as the only Son of God is lifted up on the cross. As we look at the cross, we cannot avoid recognising how all the evil and injustice of our terrible, bloody human history, with all its agonies and griefs, is focussed on the dying Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Here is the truth of what this death means for our world. That is why the true perspective of our faith in Christ crucified is the whole universe, where the great extremes of the Gospel can be found – light and darkness, life and death, luxury and starvation, heaven and hell. In the struggle of these great contrasts, the cross emerges to tell us something about ourselves, yes; but also about the wisdom, the strength and the inexhaustible love of God.
THE RECTOR’S REFLECTION ON THE GOSPEL
One of the small, but significant actions I’ve noticed, in various aspects of Irish life, is the way people are lifted up at significant moments. I was especially struck by it, last year, as the winning candidates were announced after the counts following the general election. As each successful candidate reached their quota, they were spontaneously lifted up on the shoulders of their supporters. It says something about giving someone added height at a moment of achievement: you don’t just talk about being head-and-shoulders above the rest; you experience it in a real and demonstrable way. It is a palpable moment of exhilaration and relief. Life feels good and it’s a moment to savour.
Our Gospel, today, speaks about being lifted up. ‘As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.’ This is not so much a moment of exhilaration as an interlude of foreboding. Jesus speaks of being lifted up, not because he has achieved success and come out on top; but because there is a death sentence looming on the horizon. As we pass the mid-point of our journey through Lent, we are beginning to turn a corner, as we contemplate Jesus making his way, slowly and painfully, up towards the hill of Golgotha. He’s moving to the place where the tools of execution are awaiting his arrival. These are the things we cannot avoid beginning to think about, even on this Refreshment Sunday, when we are traditionally offered some respite from the rigours of the season of Lent. Lent continues its course, moving us gradually towards Passiontide as surely as Jesus moves toward the cross.
In the world Jesus knew, to be lifted up on Golgotha is not to be head-and-shoulders above the rest. It is to be brought low. To be crucified is to share the fate of terrorists, insurgents, bandits, thieves and murderers. This is how the Roman Empire deals cheaply and effectively with those who don’t conform, those who threaten the delicate balance of power.
But St John’s Gospel opens our eyes to another way of seeing this lifting up. John’s Gospel speaks of this moment of dejection and humiliation as a revelation of God’s glory. This is the contradiction and paradox at the heart of the Gospel. Jesus is ‘lifted up’, says John,
because in his utter humiliation he is exalted. The cross becomes a throne – and the crucified Christ becomes the one who reigns in triumph. Many of you will know the hymn dating from the 6th Century, that celebrates the glory of the cross, as it tells of Jesus reigning from the tree of life:
The royal banners forward go,
The cross shines forth in mystic glow…
Fulfilled is now what David told
In true prophetic song of old
How God, the nations’ King should be
For God is reigning from the tree.
Throughout John’s Gospel, we find repeated references to Jesus being glorified; and he is quite clear that, if we want to see that glory, we need to go all the way to the cross on Golgotha. This is where we will see God as he most truly is.
That’s how today’s Gospel informs the way we believe. And it also impacts on the way we live, on our speaking and our actions, as we continue our journey to the cross and to the dawning of the day of resurrection.
It invites us to consider what makes us human – and what makes us the unique and potentially glorious people we are. Even in our worst moments, when we feel we can go no lower when sorrow, boredom and even shame seems to come at us in waves. At the cross we recognise who we are as human beings, with all our gifts and possibilities, by recognising who Jesus Christ is. When we recognise ourselves in the light of his glory, we see most clearly how God so loved that the world that he gave his only Son; not to condemn, but to open up a more glorious future. If it can be true for you and for me, how much more true can it be for those with whom we share this fragile planet?
We are reaching that point on our journey through Lent when it is time to ask ourselves what it means to walk in the way of the cross – and what that means for the whole world.
The cross seems a strange, even brutal place along this journey, and certainly not a place that makes us feel exhilarated and uplifted. It is not an obvious place to encounter glory. But that is where our faith is rooted as Christian people. We don’t meander through life, strung along by simple answers and easy solutions. As St Paul insisted, the weakness of God is stronger than human strength, his foolishness is wiser than human wisdom.
This is why we can set out in confidence and hope over these coming weeks, because our goal is to discover how there is glory in the midst of suffering, how hope triumphs over despair. This is the time to fix our eyes on the one who, when he is lifted up, will draw the whole human race to himself. It where we are lifted up, from who we are, to what we may become in the light of his glory and his love.
NEWS ITEMS FOR THIS WEEK
Mallow Union of Parishes
The Church of Ireland
serving people at the ‘Crossroads of Munster’
The Reverend
MEURIG WILLIAMS
Rector of Mallow Union
(022) 21473
mllwyd@aol.com
Please contact the Rector or the churchwardens at any time if you need pastoral support – or know of anyone in our parishes who would appreciate being contacted.
We also have two Diocesan Readers in our parishes whose ministry we value – Avril Gubbins (022 24267) and Emmanuel Adebisi (0868 467464)
Parish Website
www.mallow.cloyne.anglican.org/ Follow us on social media
• As well as our own service of Compline at 8.30pm next Wednesday, there will be a St Patrick’s Day Service organised by our rural dean the Reverend Tony Murphy livestreamed at 10.30 AM from St Marys Church,
Carrigaline at
https://carrigalineunion.org/live
A recording of the service will be available on Youtube from 1400 at Carrigaline Union of Parishes Youtube channel. This will be a bilingual service – trilingual if you count the Rector of Mallow’s reading in Welsh (Patrick, like many other missionaries, was Welsh!).
• Holy Week and Easter: details of online services for each day, from Palm Sunday to Easter Day, will be available in next week’s bulletin. Please make time to join in with worship during this week when we celebrate the events at the heart of our Christian faith.
• The next meeting of the Select Vestry is scheduled for Tuesday, March 23rd. A provisional date for our Annual General Vestry has been set for Thursday, April 15th. Both meetings are via Zoom beginning at 8.00pm sharp.
FOR YOUR PRAYERS
• Please remember in your prayers all who are isolated and anxious, the sick at home and in hospital (as well as the health service professionals who care for them, along with family and neighbours) and all who are grieving. We give thanks to God for all who have received their vaccination – and pray for those waiting to be called.
• We pray, too, for all who work in our schools as learners and teachers, particularly those preparing for the Leaving Cert in challenging circumstances.
• Today, we also pray for all mothers who will be the focus of family celebrations, and especially for those mothers who care for their families in tough and testing circumstances, in homes where there is conflict, sorrow or pain.
• We commend to God’s mercy all who have recently died, along with those we have loved and lost whose anniversary of death occurs at this time of year, remembering especially John William Coulter. In particular, we extend our sympathy to Olive Shallow on the death of her brother Ronnie.