Second Sunday of Advent

Hi folks

The Second Sunday of Advent falls on the first Sunday of December this year, and also falls within the Circuit Breaker lockdown being used by the NI Executive as a means of controlling the infection and treatment of Covid-19. It is an important means of controlling the number of people being admitted to hospital - and, as such, we must be careful to avoid unnecessary travel and opportunity to contract or transmit the virus that has disrupted so much of our life this year! Part of the restriction has been to close all religious gatherings in churches throughout the country - and not just in the main denominations, but throughout the whole of the Christian communities.

Anyway, as we gather on Sunday 6th December, we will be celebrating Holy Communion. Despite our obvious physical separation, we have God's assurance that He will send his Holy Spirit to join our hearts and minds as we worship together. In this way, depite the fact that we cannot all receive the elements of bread and wine, we have complete confidence that God will grant us the same eucharistic blessing as we worship together.

The service sheet is attached, but you can follow along in your Book of Common Prayer, starting on page 201. As we are in the penitential (or preparatory) period of Advent, we will be omitting the Gloria in Excelsis from our service.

Please join us as we worship God through our liturgy, prayers and the reading of His Word.

Blessings

Johnny

Rector

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AccessNI Check process

Hi folks Please see the following pages for the process of getting our AccessNI accreditation for our Sunday School and GFS leaders and helpers. You will need to print out the pages and keep a special note of the long number provided to you by email and let me know as soon as possible. We require an Enhanced check for everyone - and use the PIN number 918066 as detailed on the first page. The second page details the forms of identification you will need to provide - one from the first group, and two from the second group. The quicker we can all get the checks completed, the sooner we can get everything back to normal and put this whole process behind us for another three years! If you can photograph yourself (by smartphone or tablet) and email (revdjohnny@gmail.com) or WhatsApp (07488371680) them to me, that'd be great. I will also be available at the Parish Hall on Monday evening from 7pm to 8pm to help you with anything you would like assistance with! If you need any help at all

Back to the BCP!!

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Second Sunday in Lent

Hi folks Another week has literally flown by - and we've already started the new month! This Sunday's readings include the best known passage in the Bible, John 3 - the conversation between Jesus and Nicodemus. In this passage, Jesus sums up the whole Gospel message of love, salvation and eternal life in one verse, known to us all as John 3:16. Is this the most important verse in our Holy Scriptures? Possibly, but join us on Sunday to discuss the passage, and how it fits into the Christian life as we know it. Our service is Holy Communion Two, and our readings and passages are listed on our service sheets attached. Our service will be streamed on Facebook (all being well) and shared afterwards on our page if you can't join us live. Blessings Johnny

Aghavea Parish Church

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