THE RECTOR’’S LETTER

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and the Lord JesusChrist.

I bid you greetings as the summer holidays come to an end again. Ihope you all had a pleasant and relaxing few months. It has been aquiet time for Parish life as the summer months always are.Theorganisations close for the well-earned break and people preparefor holidays whether here in Ireland or wherever.

Our Parish Centre continues apace with the hall structure in placeand the walls growing day by day.The stone that will ultimately be thefront of the building is beautiful and very much in keeping with thestone in the Church itself. It will indeed be a Centre that we can allbe rightly proud of.Well done to the Property Sub-Committee asthey continue to work, holidays or not, alongside the design team andTolmac Construction.

We gather in Greenlanes on Sunday 3rd September for our usualFun Day. It will kick off with an open-air All-Age act of worship.Susan Connolly, our YCP, will be giving the address and readings andprayers will be led by members of the Congregation as usual.This isalways a great day.The worship is followed by our annual BBQ andthen fun for all. Each family is asked to help with the catering. Pleaseput your name on the sheet at the back of the Church stating nameand numbers and also what you will be bringing on the day.All theusual goodies for young and old alike.

Speaking of BBQs, the Parish gathered at the Cricket Club onFriday 11th August for a summer BBQ.A lot of you were there andhad a great time. Michelle Harper, Heather McCullagh and LucyBarker worked very hard before, during and after it.The proceedswent to Bishops’ Appeal.

As many of you are well aware, as at going to press the humanitariandisaster that is the Lebanon continues.With a ceasefire agreed by theIsraelis and the Lebanese, the Israeli cabinet continues to push

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST — PARISH MATTERS — SEPTEMBER 2006

forward with its offensive which has displaced over one millionpeople, killing over a thousand and made aid work very, very difficult.This war against the Lebanese people, in effect, rather than Hizbollah,has questionable ethical standing. However, we as Christians must doall we can to help and alleviate the disaster that is the Lebanon.Withthis magazine there is an envelope.You are asked to return this asapto the Rectory or Church with a donation which will be given toBishops’ Appeal with the hope that it will help in some small waythose whose lives have been damaged or destroyed.

Let us all hope that unlike the Allied Forces in both Iraq andAfghanistan, action rather than words will follow when it comes tore-building this devastated region.War is, of course, inevitable attimes, but not always. It should always be the last resort after allnegotiations have failed, which is clearly not the case in this situation.

Our prayers are with all involved least of all the civilians injured byrockets and mortars sent to kill and maim by both Hizbollah andIsrael. Our prayer is for restraint, ethical responsibility and, above all,reason.Thanks you for your support of Bishops’ Appeal on this andother occasions.

On Monday 24th July the Narnia Summer camp opened. It lasted forthe week and everyone had a great time. Susan worked very hard inthe weeks leading up to it and she deserved the success it was.Thanksto all the young and not so young helpers.The children had a greattime and we look forward to next year. It ended with a BBQ in SarahWalsh’s house.Thanks to Tony, Heather and Sarah for hosting this andwhat became not one of the driest BBQ’s we have all attended. It wasgreat fun and a marvellous end to it.Thanks especially go to ourdancers Kirsty and Julie who kept us all on our toes.Thanks are alsodue to Clive Jackson for making it possible for the group going toENRG in Killester.That was great crack.

Looking forward to seeing you all on September 3rd at our ParishFun Day at Greenlanes

Derek

PPAARRIISSHH FFUUNN DDAAYY

AN OPEN-AIRALL-AGE ACT OF WORSHIP

WILL BE HELD AT 11.00 A.M. ONSUNDAY 3RD SEPTEMBER IN GREENLANES

THE WORSHIP WILL BE FOLLOWED BYOUR ANNUAL BBQ AND FUN FOR ALL

EACH FAMILY IS ASKED TO HELP WITH THE CATERINGPLEASE PUT YOUR NAME ON THE SHEET AT THE BACK

OF THE CHURCH STATING YOUR NAME AND NUMBERSALSO WHAT YOU WILL BE BRINGING ON THE DAY

GB Past Members

Well the days surely fly and here we are thinking of our newseason.We send thoughts to Eileen McDermott and wish herblessings for each new day.We wish congratulations to DorothyTaylor and Tommy on reaching their Golden Wedding.We think of Sheena Harper as she is settling in her new house andsurroundings; of Mamie in Harcourt Home and Hilda Baldwin in Sutton Nursing Home.We always think of Marjorie and Evelynwishing them better days. Our first evening will be a coffee eveningon Tuesday 19th September at 1a Vernon Heath 7.30 pm.

Looking forward to seeing everyone.

Isobel McMullen.

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Mothers’ Union

To open the new session there will be a Festival Service in ChristChurch Cathedral on Wednesday 20th. Sept. at 8 pm.The preacherwill be Rev.Ashling Shine.Anyone needing a lift should contactIsobel.

Our branch will start with a Service on Thursday 12th. Oct. at7.30pm.This will be followed by supper and a chat in the church.

Looking forward to seeing you all again after this marvelloussummer we are having.

I.Acheson

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Anchor Boys

Anchor Boys section will re-open on Monday 4th September inGreenlanes National School, Seafield Avenue.We will be playingfootball.This training will be from 6 - 7 p.m. I would like to thankDamian Duggan for helping us out with this great opportunity forthe boys.We hope to go to Greenlanes School for the month ofSeptember.

It depends on the weather. Boys may like to wear shorts, t-shirtsand runners down for this practice, as they will be running about a lot. I will bring drinks for the boys.

We look forward to seeing all the boys back and hopefully somenew faces.Thanks to the Greenlanes Board of Management forgiving us the use of the school premises. If you know of anyonewho is interested in joining please bring them along on the night.

H. McCullagh.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL SOCIETYinvites applications for the post of

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APPLICATION AND CV (including three references)

to Mrs Heather Wilkinson, 31 Woodbrook Park, Templeogue, Dublin 16.

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CLOSING DATE —18TH SEPTEMBER 2006Short listing may apply.

5th Company Girls’’ Brigade

As we are getting to the end of the summer holidays our thoughtsturn to our 2006/2007 Session which will commence at the end ofSeptember ’06 with our Explorer Section meeting on Saturdayafternoons and on Monday nights the Juniors/Seniors/Brigaders andAssociates.

We would ask anyone who is interested in joining the 5th Companyto please contact the following: -

Explorer Section — up to 8 years of age Lesley O’Byrne at 8334371Company Section — from 9 years upwards Margery McElhinney at8312807

As we will be celebrating our 100th year the following Session2007/2008 (the first Company in the World to do so!) we are verykeen to increase our Explorer Section especially, so if you know ofany girls between the ages of 2 and 8 please telephone Lesley orMargery for more details.

It goes without saying of course that we would welcome ALL ages.

Thank You, Margery — Captain 5th Company

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SCRIPTURE READINGS FOR SEPTEMBER

3rd September 12th Sunday after TrinitySong of Solomon 2: 8-13Psalm 45: 1-2, 7-10James 1: 17-27Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

10th September 13th Sunday after TrinityProverbs 22: 1-2, 8-9, 22-23Psalm 125James 2: 1-10, 14-17Mark 7: 24-37

17th September 14th Sunday after TrinityProverbs 1: 20-33Psalm 19: 1-6James 3: 1-12Mark 8: 27-38

24th September 15th Sunday after TrinityProverbs 31: 10-31Psalm 1James 3: 13 -4: 3, 7-8aMark 9: 30-37

The Burrow Players

The Burrow Players are an amateur drama group attached to St.Mary’s Parish, Howth. Our plays are presented and rehearsals takeplace in The Burrow Hall, beside the Burrow National School,Sutton and our President is the Rector of St. Mary’s Parish.

We were formed in 1981 and since then have produced thirty-oneplays, mostly comedies.We rehearse on Tuesday nights, with extrarehearsals as we come closer to the production date.We don’t takeourselves too seriously, but take pride in the standard of ourproductions to date.We like to enjoy ourselves and have beenparticularly adept at farce.We realise our audiences enjoy a goodlaugh!

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There is a great spirit within the Burrow Players.We enjoy the funat rehearsals which we regard as fun, not work, and have even beenknown to slip down to the Marine Hotel for a nightcap afterwards!

If any of you reading this might think of joining us, please contacteither our Hon. Secretary Audrey Carney (Phone — 8325491) orProducer, Norman MacCann (Phone — 8326710).We’ll be delightedto hear from you. If you have previous experience on the stage —great ! If not, or if you feel hesitant, it doesn’t really matter.There’san old saying that acting is the revenge of the shy!

Derek McCullagh

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3rd September: 12th Sunday after Trinity

8.30a.m. Holy Communion

11.00a.m. All-Age open-air Worship at Greenlanesfollowed by Parish Fun Day

6th September:

10.30a.m. Holy Communion with prayer for healing

10th September: 13th Sunday after Trinity

8.30am Holy Communion

10.30am Parish Family Communion

17th September: 14th Sunday after Trinity

8.30am Holy Communion

10.30am All-Age Worship

24th September: 15th Sunday after Trinity

8.30am Holy Communion

10.30am Parish Family Communion

SERVICES FOR SEPTEMBER

Reflection

"In my distress ... I cried unto my God" - Psalm 18: 6.

"In the day when I cried out, you answered me" - Psalm 138: 3.

During the heatwave in July, some of us had our first awakening at4.30 am and realised our coming awake was caused by the very earlydawn and light-change coupled with the birds’ Dawn Chorus. Settlingback in hopes of a sleep encore, thoughts drifted and some settled.

On one such occasion, it came to mind that by design rather than byaccident of early dawn, John Wesley started every day at 4.30am. Fortwo hours at least he prayed earnestly and read his Bible.Ahead ofhim lay, probably, a 20-mile journey on horseback and sessions ofoutdoor preaching.We were consumed with marvel and admiration.We were forcibly struck by the consequent thought that Wesley’sprayers were regularly answered! Then came the inevitable realisationthat much prayer would seem to go unanswered in our ownexperience and, indeed, many would concur.There followed the bigWHY? Reminders of disappointments and frustrations were troublingand we were conscious that the power of God through Jesus Christis evidenced in answered prayer. So ... the witness suffers.

Our reflection and ponderings brought us to the realisation thatthe answered prayers all through Scripture were the response tofervent, highly-focussed and determined cries to God, notplatitudinous requests, however sincere. many such answers weremiraculous and thus it has been for Christians ever since.We mustpray in desperate circumstances, desperate prayers crying to Godthat we believe and know that only He can solve the situation. In aword, "desperate situations call for desperate measures".And Godresponds to such believing prayer for we have the proof inScripture and in the lives of such as John Wesley of yore, and manycontemporary believers.We must pray that our prayers will beheartfelt, trusting and cries rather than bleats.

A. Maharry.

Clontarf Alpha Course

The second Clontarf Alpha course will begin in September.Parishioners and interested searchers are invited to take part in thecourse. No previous knowledge of the Christian faith is required,only an openness to learn in a non-challenging environment.

The Alpha course evening opens withfood, followed by a different DVDpresentation each evening.The eveningends with tea/coffee and a discussion of the subject matter and worship.

The venue for this course will beannounced in the upcoming weeks. If you are interested in takingpart in the course please contact the Rector at 833 1181, orDeclan Barry on 086 825 0099.

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DIARY DATES

Friday 4th August - Crossroads North West.Regular meeting in the Sligo Park Hotel.

For details of Crossroads North West Events,Contact Alan Cunningham at 087 6490046 or walancunningham@eircom.net

Friday 25th August — Club Alternative.Disco at the Hotel Kilmore, in Cavan Town.

For details, contact Shirley Crowe - 00353 87 2818845 or Trevor Morrow on 00 44 77 40511790

September - Crossroads North West.Weekend Away in Westport on 16th/17th September.

More details to follow.Contacts - Eric Brett (086 827 6930) & Robert Donaghy (087 267 5431).

Friday 20th October - En-Counter.Next event is at Corick House, Clogher. Contact Trevor on 0781 3098128.

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RECTOR: The Rev’d D. C. Sargent (8331181)clontarf@dublin.anglican.org

YOUTH AND CHILDREN’S PASTOR: Susan Connolly (086 882 7258)

GREENLANES NATIONAL SCHOOLPrincipal: Ms. C.Atkin (8331554) greenlanes@oceanfree.net

B.B. COMPANY SECTION: Mr A.Ayling (8315234)B.B. JUNIOR SECTION: Mr. M.Acheson (8318645)ANCHOR BOYS: Mrs. H. McCullagh (8535594)

YOUNG WOMEN’S GROUP: Mrs. B. Sargent (8331181)

YOUTH GROUPS: Ms. S. Connolly (086 882 7258)

BOWLING CLUB: Mr. H. Maude (8331056)

BADMINTON CLUB: Mrs. P.Watts (8326078)JUNIOR BADMINTON: Mr. R.Watts (8326078)

ORGANIST/CHOIRMASTER: Mr. J. Rowden (8310486)

SUNDAY MORNING CRECHE: Mrs. B. Sargent (8331181)

FLOWER GUILD: Mrs. I.Acheson (8338288) andMrs B. Gallagher (8338683)

GB PAST MEMBERS: Mrs. I. McMullen: (8530356)

BROWNIES: Mrs. P. and Ms. M.Watts (8326078)

LADYBIRDS/GUIDES: Ms.W. Kelly (8481569) and Ms. N. Flynn (8476110)

MOTHERS UNION: Mrs. I.Acheson (8338288)

SUNDAY CLUB: Mrs. J.Acheson (8318645)

PARISH GROUPS/CONTACTS