Thanks for your support and Service for 14 February

 

First of all I want to thank you for your very generous support for the January 5km walking challenge. When I embarked on it, I had hoped to raise about €3000 which would be divided equally three ways between the parish, Cork Penny Dinners and the Church of Ireland Bishops’ Appeal. John Kershaw (Treasurer of Douglas Union) informs me that the final result is approximately 4 times that amount! The GoFundMe page received approximately €8000 in donations and about another €4000 was received from parishioners through direct giving. For this I am very grateful! 

I also congratulate those who took up the challenge and walked, jogged, cycled and got outdoors every day in January too. I hope you feel a little better and fitter as a result.

The GoFundMe page will be closed and taken down shortly by the parish. John Kershaw will have an exact figure in the very near future. However in broad terms the proceeds are as follows:

€4000 to be divided equally between Cork Penny Dinners, the Cork Simon Community and Pieta House Cork – all local and very deserving charities. 

Again I thank you all for your generous support at a time when I know it has been difficult for many people.

Please find the attached service for tomorrow. I include it as I know some of you receiving this email print it off and distribute it to parishioners in your area who do not use broadband. The link for the service is here:

 

 

I will be in email contact with you all again on Tuesday this week. I have written a short daily Lent Course called ‘Biblical Byways’. It provides you with a short reading and a reflection for every day in Lent from some of the less familiar parts of the Bible. Each day should only take you 5 minutes to read, but I hope it will keep you thinking for much longer! Rather than send you the material in one big block, I have broken it up into smaller sections. On Tuesday you will get material for the first 4 days in Lent starting on Ash Wednesday.

On Tuesday I will also send you a Zoom link for a short live service at 11.00am on Ash Wednesday. As our churches are closed, every Wednesday in Lent I will host a short service with a reading, reflection and prayers. There will also be an opportunity for some conversation and discussion afterwards but all will be wrapped up within 40 mins. I do hope some of you will join me from your homes as I host it from the Rectory. I know many of you are familiar with Zoom but if you are not, perhaps you could get a friend or family member to set you up on it. 

I hope you have a good week. I will be in contact again on Tuesday.

Until then, take care and God bless,

Adrian

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