Holy Week at St Mark’s Church

THE programme of devotions for Holy week at St. Mark’s, Ballymacash begins with a special service entitled ‘Behold Your King’ on Palm Sunday evening (March 24) at 7pm.

This service will involve several people reading the Bible passages pertaining to the Passion of our Lord and the singing of the great Passiontide hymns.

From Monday, March 25, to Good Friday, March 29, there will be a service each evening at 7.30pm with liturgy and sermon.

There will be a celebration of Holy Communion each morning at 7.30am from Monday, March 24, to Maundy Thursday, March 28, and on Good Friday, March 29, the Side Chapel will be open for prayer and meditation from 12noon to 3pm to mark the three hours during which Jesus hung on the Cross.

On Easter Day, Sunday March 31, services at St. Mark’s will take place at 9am, 11am and 7pm.

The annual Discussion Forum on putting faith into practice will take place once again on the evening of Tuesday of Holy Week (March 26) at 8pm in the Canon Jones Hall. This year the theme is ‘Seize the Day!’ and Mr Richard McReynolds will act as moderator with a panel of four speakers - Councillors Ronnie Crawford and Pat Catney from Lisburn City Council, Mrs Kathleen Rogers, Young Parents representative of the Mothers’ Union in the Diocese of Connor and the Venerable Gregor McCamley, former Archdeacon of Down.

The questions to be fielded by the panel include the topical issues of education, the perception of the Church in an increasingly secular community, the role of a free press and the impact of sport on society. Once again the church anticipates a lively and thought-provoking discussion with ample opportunity for contributions from the floor.

The Discussion Forum has proved to be a popular and challenging part of St Mark’s Holy Week programme over the years.

It provides a valuable opportunity for the Church to serve the wider community by promoting discussion and creative thinking with respect to a range of topical issues which affect people’s daily lives.

The Forum also enables the Church to express appreciation of the sacrifice of time and effort made by hard-working public servants and others who serve on the Panel of speakers.