SOUL SURMISE

CHRISTMAS AT FITZROY 2018

DECEMBER 6th @ 6pm (5.15 for food)

CHRISTMAS ALL OVER THE WORLD

Community Carol Service

with food, face paint and a disco pod

 

DECEMBER 9th @ 11am

FIRE + SOAP, SAND AND WATER

second service in Advent with REV DOUG GAY (lecturer, author, songwriter) led by PAUL LUTTON

 

DECEMBER 16th @ 11am

THE MYSTERY OF THE NEW NOISY NEIGHBOUR

FAMILY CHRISTMAS SERVICE with puppets, story telling and THE SOUNDS GOOD ORCHESTRA

 

DECEMBER 16th @ 7pm

SNOW AND TEARS AND STARS 

A SOUL SPACE of Quiet Reflection with the songs of OVER THE RHINE and Scripture

 

DECEMBER 23rd @ 11am

LABOUR OF LOVE 

FITZROY'S ALTERNATIVE 9 SONGS AND READINGS

 

DECEMBER 25th @ 10am

CHRISTMAS ACCORDING TO... THE GRINCH

Short CHRISTMAS DAY FAMILY SERVICE

TOMORROW IN FITZROY - 2.12.18

photo: Fiona McNeill

Tomorrow morning (11am) in Fitzroy we will be lighting the first Advent candle and remembering World AIDS Day. That might best describe the morning. We will be starting the advent journey without sentimentality in a world full of refugees, famine, war and political uncertainty. The Lectionary remains in Jesus apocalyptic musings, so we will be wrestling the Christmas morning angels with Bono and finding that Tom Petty was right, that the waiting is the hardest part. We will be finding out what hope looks like in the text, in advent and in life.

In the evening (7pm) we continue our very popular Bible Literacy Series. Tomorrow it is David Livingstone's turn to give us insight into the text, the context and how we might tread and live the book of Leviticus now! You might even go home eager to read that book that gets such bad press! All welcome. 

On Thursday night at 6 we will be having our Annual Community Carol Service. There will be free food from all over the world at 5.15 we will have a short Carol Service at 6, featuring Botanic Primary School Orchestra and Choir, and followed by face painting, balloon art and disco party pod!

EVERYBODY WELCOME TO EVERYTHING

TOMORROW IN FITZROY - 25.11.18

Tomorrow morning (11am) in Fitzroy we arrive at the last Sunday of the Church year - Christ Is King Sunday. In a world full of borders, back stops, arrogant politicians and a fragile Primer Minister we will be hearing Jesus claims of a Kingdom that is not of this world. What does that look like? How do we live in it?

Our lectionary pericopes are in John 18 and Daniel 7, and those texts give us a rich playlist. I can hear Van Morrison's Ancient of Days and wonder if this is where Bob Dylan came up with Wheels On Fire. Derek Webb's A King and a Kingdom is very apt with its stand against flags and even trust in democracy. In the end we are getting Nick Cave's There Is A Kingdom, the advantage of having a guitar toting Anglican like John Trinder who can marry Lectionary and a Rock Music Catalogue poignantly! Expect guitar driven worship too.

If you are wanting good ethical Christmas gifts then check out our Ethical Christmas Fair before and after the service... from 9.45...

In the evening (7pm) we have Derek Poole back with us, continuing his two part series on Lessons That Northern Ireland Churches Could Learn From Rwanda. The first evening was inspirational and challenging. Derek is gripping and has great insight both into the transformation of Rwanda and the need for it here at home. Even if you missed the first one, don't miss this one!

 

 

TOMORROW IN FITZROY - 18.11.18

Tomorrow morning (11am) I will be preaching an appropriate text in this week's Brexit apocalypse, looking at Mark 13's "little apocalypse". With the help of Charles Manson's commentary of The Beatles' White Album we will be asking about the fear and the shalom of the end of the world and looking at the end of one way of the world before Advent send in a whole new order. There will be updates about Saphara's work in India... we are delighted to welcome Semeda Steves, Head of Programmes India for Change Alliance...  a wee taster to...

... Tomorrow evening (7pm) when will be a celebrating Saphara's 10th Anniversary. 20 years ago this year Christine Burnett first went to India. Christine has done some amazing work in schools in India, using combinations of State and Catholic schools in N. Ireland. Education is at the heart of every Saphara policy and an integral part of our teams’ time in India. It is the key to empowering young people from disadvantaged communities to escape from poverty. This is a chance to look back, thank God for so many stories of real transformation and look ahead to whatever God might do through Christine in Saphara in the future.

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY IN FITZROY - 11.11.18

Poppy Art and photo: Gillian Fitch

Tomorrow morning in Fitzroy (11am) we will be remembering the Fitzroy youth who lost their adulthood as a result of the First World War. Exactly 100 years after Armistice Day we will stop to remember. This particular year we are privileged to have members of HMS Duncan at our service. A Fitzroy member, Rev Brent Van Der Linde, is Chaplain of that ship and we are thrilled to have some of his colleagues with us. As a result of their presence we will be including the National Anthem in our act of Remembrance, which we do not usually do.  Gillian Fitch has created a beautiful piece of poppy art around one of our Memorial stones.

In the rest of our morning we will be worshipping God as we do every week. How do you worship God during a World War? How do you worship Good when tough times knock you off your feet? The Lectionary this week is 146. In one commentary I read "Praise of God is sometimes an act of discipline. Under the circumstances of war and destruction, praise is not the result of external happiness, but stubborn belief in the face of evidence to the contrary." We will be looking at how worship puts God in his place in our Creation and therefore we can find our place, no matter what the circumstances. Expect maybe a little Springsteen! 

Rev Brent Van Der Lende will lead us in Communion.

In the evening (7pm) we continue are brilliant and well attended series on Bible Literacy where we will be looking at the content and reason for the writing of the book of Exodus. We are delighted to welcome James McKeown who teaches Old Testament Historical Books and Advanced Hebrew at Union Theological College and supervises postgraduate students. If you are keen to know how to read the Bible then this series is for you.

 

TOMORROW IN FITZROY 4.11.18

Tomorrow morning (11am) we will be having a Family Service in Fitzroy. It will double as a Harvest Service, giving thanks for God's goodness to us but also as one of our One World Lunches where we have a simple bread and soup lunch to stand in solidarity with large parts of our world who do not have all the good things that we so easily take for granted. The service will be filled with youthful energy in the worship band and by contributors. I will be drawing it all together by asking what the balance is between need and greed. celebration and contemplation is one very full but not long morning!

In the evening (7pm) we have the first in a two part series looking at the lessons in reconciliation that we in Northern Ireland might learn from Rwanda. We are delighted to have Clonard/Fitzroy Fellowship partnering with Thrive Ireland to bring us this series. Derek Poole and Diane Holt will be our facilitators. Together we will explore, in the context of Northern Ireland, four essential themes: Forgiveness, Justice, Reconciliation and Repentance. The workshop format will include opportunity for study, reflection and interactive learning.

BARTIMAEUS, EXILE, SHANKILL BOMB & U2 - TOMORROW IN FITZROY 28.10.18

Tomorrow morning (11am) in Fitzroy we will be unpacking sections of Mark 10 and Jeremiah 31 with various contemporary scenarios. U2 are in town and even a casual look at Blind Bartimeaus and the people of God’s Babylonian exile draws you their song The Blackout that will pump out across the SSE arena this evening. 

It is a song that started in Bono’s own personal near death experience but then added Trump and Brexit. I would want to add into this bleakness this week’s memorial to the Shankill bomb and the current state of the Church.

Yet, in the Blackouts of blindness, exile and Bono’s world, personally and globally, there is a light, a love that in the end is all we have left. What are the clues in the Biblical text and in U2’s Songs Of Experience tour that can help us find cheer, hope and consolation? Expect many many more references once I've soaked the texts in the actual concert tonight!

Our worship will be in our traditional Sunday cycle. Usually guitar riff led, tomorrow we will be of a more classical bent. Richard Guthrie’s Ulster Orchestra viola with the David Livingstone’s near New Orleans jazz piano will take us into hymns that have lasted the test of time. 

All Welcome!

THERE IS NO EVENING EVENT TOMORROW!

TOMORROW IN FITZROY 21.10.18

Tomorrow morning (11am) in Fitzroy we will try again! Last week's service was so jam packed with goodness that we did not have time for the sermon. So we will be looking at MONEY! The Lectionary takes us into the heart, literally, of the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10 and the heart of the nation in Amos 5. Can't Buy Me Love sang The Beatles and it would seem that God is suggesting, rather strongly, that it cannot buy the most crucial thing. In fact it distracts us from and tempts us away. We are rich. These texts are strong critique. We need to hear. 

In the evening (7pm) we will have a Prayer & Blues night led by, the theologian of the blues, Gary Burnett. We will be using blues songs to lead us into prayerfulness. Expect stunning performances of good songs and a lesson in prayerfulness too!

TOMORROW IN FITZROY 14.10.18

Tomorrow morning (11am) in Fitzroy we will be looking at MONEY! The Lectionary takes us into the heart, literally, of the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10 and the heart of the nation in Amos 5. Can't Buy Me Love sang The Beatles and it would seem that God is suggesting, rather strongly, that it cannot buy the most crucial thing. In fact it distracts us from and tempts us away. We are rich. These texts are strong critique. We need to hear. We will also hear some blues, some confession and gather around The Lord's Table for communion, should we find some hope of redemption after the judgement descending on our wealth!

Tomorrow evening (7pm) we are back in our Bible Literacy Course. After Paul Lutton's brilliant introduction in September, Desi Alexander will tell us the point of Genesis. Desi is a world recognised Old Testament theologians. Even Tim Kellor's Twitter account has recommended his work. This will be an informative night. As a congregation we will be reading as a community the books of the Old Testament that are part of this year's section of the Bible Literacy Course. Biblica, by seeming coincidence, has published these books under the title History of The Covenant. Books will be available to purchase at £5 if you wish to follow join our communal reading.

Details of the BIBLE LITERACY COURSE

LESSONS FROM RWANDA: Biblical Reflections for the Church in Northern Ireland

The Clonard-Fitzroy Fellowship

 

invites you to

 

Thrive Ireland’s

 

Lessons from Rwanda: Biblical Reflections for the Church in Northern Ireland

 

with Derek Poole and Diane Holt

 

November 4th and 25th at 7.00pm

 

Fitzroy, 77 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HL

 

As we continue our own slow journey towards reconciliation, Thrive Ireland, in partnership with Contemporary Christianity has produced a peace and reconciliation resource for churches in Northern Ireland. 

The material is based on the Rwandan churches response to the need for post-conflict National healing following the Genocide. 

The resource is designed to facilitate biblical reflection with Christians from an evangelical background to consider how the Rwandan experience might inspire and inform our commitment to peace building.

The resource will explore, in the context of Northern Ireland, four essential themes: Forgiveness, Justice, Reconciliation and Repentance. The workshop format will include opportunity for study, reflection and interactive learning.

For further information please contact Thrive Ireland (see details below) or Fitzroy (02890319710)

Thrive Ireland: Transforming Churches and Communities

241, Newtownards Road, Belfast, BT4 1AF

Office: 028 9073 0068

Mobile: 07749056403