Aghavea Parish Church

Hi folks Today brings us midway through Holy Week,  and tonight we are looking at the role of Negotiation in both the Scriptures and its role in the events of Holy Week for Jesus. Our service this evening will be based upon Evening Prayer, and you can follow the service using the sheets below.  As ever, our service starts at 8pm, and all are very welcome to join our worship - at any time!  See you all soon. Blessings Johnny    

Hi folks Tonight we turn to the topic of Anger - and look to see what part that had in Jesus' journey through that very first Holy Week. The service sheet is based upon Late Evening Office - and can be followed either here or in the Book of Common Prayer page 162. The service starts at 8pm, see you all soon! Blessings Johnny

Hi folks We are using the Kubler-Ross model which describes how people handle grief and difficult decisions.  There are nominally five stages - Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression/Sadness, Acceptance.  Tonight we start with Denial and Betrayal. The service sheet is attached, see you all at 8pm! Blessings Johnny

Hi folks This Sunday is Palm Sunday, marking the transition from "normal Lent" to Holy Week.  Our service marks both the Liturgy of the Palms and the Liturgy of the Passion - pivoting between celebration and denial - just as the crowds did for Jesus that day. I attach the service sheet, which will be required to follow the service properly - but don't panic if you don't have it - as most of the words in the service are lifted directly from the Bible! Enjoy the service, and we look forward to seeing you on Sunday at 11am.  Join us at the car park in Aghavea, or online as usual. Blessings Johnny

Hi folks   Throughout our Lenten Bible Studies we have looked at several important and essential aspects of our Christian life and practice.  We have considered the importance of Prayer, Bible Reading and Study, Sharing our Faith, and Serving God.  The final study in the set is about having the drive to keep going when all else is against us - our Hope for the future. It might seem that this is simply a reward - that one day we will be with Jesus - but it is much more important than that!  Paul spoke of "love" in 1 Corinthians 13, yet he finished the chapter by speaking of three things that are ultimately left when we boil everything down: Faith, Hope and Love. Our Faith involves our reason to follow Jesus, and the decision we have taken that He died for us. Our Love is the "X Factor" that is inherent in our actions everyday, as we live for Jesus. Our Hope is that we will be called by Jesus to meet with Him in the air, and to live with him forever! Here are the deta

 Hi folks It's 17th March, the day that the Irish celebrate St Patrick - the patron saint of Ireland.  He was a Christian boy, kidnapped by raiders and brought to Ireland by force.  He served as a slave for many years before escaping back to Cumbria - his homeland.  Arriving there, he found that everything was changed, his family dead, and he was no longer part of that community. Rather than be downcast or distressed, young Patrick took it upon himself to serve God, who had answered his prayers.  He was trained as a priest, most likely in France, and was then called by God to return to Ireland - this time as God's servant, proclaiming the Gospel.  In everything he did (probably not chasing snakes) he gave God the glory, insisting that he was only doing God's work. What a beautiful example of Christian service!  This is the perfect day to talk about serving God, and that is exactly what our Bible study is all about! St Patrick was also a formidable writer, and amongst his ma

 Hi folks So sorry that I'm terribly late in uploading the notes for my previous weeks' Lent Bible Studies.  Please find below the notes for both weeks!  I'll do my best upload this week's notes sooner than Christmas!! There are four pages in each study - if you have any problems accessing or reading them, just let me know. Blessings Johnny      

Hi folks For all of us make many mistakes. Anyone who makes no mistakes in speaking is perfect, able to keep the whole body in check with a bridle.  If we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire! And the tongue is a fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body, sets on fire the cycle of nature, and is itself set on fire by hell. For every species of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by the human species, but no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the like

Third Sunday in Lent Morning Prayer Two, BCP 101       The Lord be with you          and also with you.   Welcome and Announcements   Beloved in Christ, we come together to offer to Almighty God our worship and praise and thanksgiving, to confess our sins and to receive God's forgiveness, to hear his holy word proclaimed, to bring before him our needs and the needs of the world, and to pray that in the power of his Spirit we may serve him and know the greatness of his love.   The minister says Let us confess our sins to God our Father. Kneel. Silence is kept.   Heavenly Father, we have sinned against you and against our neighbour in thought and word and deed, through negligence, through weakness, through our own deliberate fault; by what we have done and by what we have failed to do. We are truly sorry and repent of all our sins. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ who died for us, forgive us all that is past; and grant that we may serve you in newness of li