Bishop of Connor delivers Lenten seminar in Bushmills
MORE than 1,200 people from Church of Ireland parishes across Connor Diocese attended six seminars run by the Bishop.
This is the second year the Rt Rev Alan Abernethy has run his Lenten series 'Equipping the Saints.' Numbers were up on last year and he is already planning next year's series.
Two seminars on the topics of Worship and Suffering were held in St Peter's Parish Church, Belfast; Antrim Parish Halls and Church and the Dunluce Centre, Bushmills. An average 160 people attended each seminar with 230 attending the first seminar in St Peter's. The final seminar took place in Bushmills last Wednesday.
It has been a gruelling schedule for Bishop Alan, on top of his regular duties, but the annual series is something he places high value on: "I believe that one of the key roles of the Bishop is to teach the faith. It is very important that I do that, teaching in the sense of establishing relationships with people across the diocese," he said.
"I hope those who attended got a sense of support and encouragement for their own faith generally and felt they were allowed to ask questions and not always get answers, but still believe."
He said the large numbers attending the seminars had been 'affirming.'
During his seminar on Suffering there was total silence as Bishop Alan gave examples of suffering he has encountered in his ministry. He said the church must answer difficult questions with honest and integrity and stressed: "Our God does not exist because of the evil, our God of love exists despite the evil."
The Bishop focused on the Book of Job which, he said, was not a book to help us through suffering. "It is a wonderful spiritual truth. Job has the most awful, terrible, unfair things happen to him, but nevertheless he believes. That's what Job is about," he said.
Following all the seminars, Bishop Alan took questions from the floor. There was also an opportunity for tea and fellowship midway through each seminar, which the Bishop said was an important time for bringing people from different parishes in the diocese together.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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