May 1940

Seagoe Parish Magazine

MAY, 1940

CLERGY:

J. W. APPELBE, M.A., B.D., Seagoe Rectory.

W. F. HAYES, B.A., L.Th., The Bungalow,

Lower Seagoe.

CHURCHWARDINS.

Rector's—GEORGE LEAKE.

People's—J. R. REID.

THE CLERGY WILL DEEM IT A FAVOUR

IF IN CASES OF SICKNESS THEY ARE

INFORMED IMMEDIATELY.

CALENDAR FOR MAY.

May1st—St. Philip and St. James.

May 2nd—Ascension Day.

Holy Communion at 11.30 a.m.

May 5th—Sunday after Ascension.

May 12th—Whitsunday.

Monthly Service in Drumgor at 3 p.m.

May 14th—Mothers' Union Meeting at 7.30 p.m.

May 19th—Trinity Sunday.

May 26th—1st Sunday after Trinity.

Monthly Service in Hacknahay at 3.30 p.m.

CONFIRMATION CLASSES.

BOYS—Parish Church, Sundays, at 3 p.m.

GIRLS—Parish Church, Tuesdays at 8 p.m.

NEW ORGANIST.

Mr. Norman Hamilton, of Lurgan, has been appointed

organist of Seagoe Parish Church, and will take up his

new duties on Sunday, May 5th. He has had considerable

experience, having been organist of Aghalee Parish Church

for six years, and as well has been deputy organist in

Shankill Parish Church, Lurgan. We pray that under his

leadership Seagoe Choir will maintain its high standard.

We are grateful to Miss A. McDougall for playing

during April.

MEMORIAL TO THE LATE MR. T. H. WILSON.

The Select Vestry feel that something should be

done to perpetuate the memory of the long and faithful

service of our late organist, and they are confident

that this proposal will meet with the full approval and

support of the parishioners. They propose to have the

organ overhauled and cleaned and to put a brass plate

suitably inscribed on the organ, recording the unique

record of the late Mr. T. H. Wilson. This indeed will

be a fitting tribute to one who played for sixty-eight

years and as well it will give us an opportunity of

putting the organ into proper order. Nothing of this

nature has been done since the organ was installed; it

very necessary, as unless periodic overhauls are

carried out, grievous damage might ensue to the organ,

which is a valuable and beautiful instrument.

It is reckoned that about £60 will be needed for this,

and it is hoped that when the appeal is launched in

the near future it will meet, with a quick and generous

response.

DAFFODIL TEA.

On Thursday, April 4th, this very successful entertainment

was held in the Parochial Hall, Edenderry. The Sunday

School teachers of the morning and afternoon combined,

and with the help of friends, provided a sumptuous tea.

Daffodils were in evidence as decorations. The purpose

of the entertainment was to raise funds for Sunday School

prizes, etc.

After tea, a most interesting and varied programme

was given by the following artistes: - Pianoforte duets,

the Misses Betty Young and Mary Gracey; Miss

Harrison, recitation and song; Mr. Jos. Hynes, songs;

step dancing, the Misses Maureen M'Nally and Betty

Lutton, Averil Little, Esther Hinds, accompanied by

Master Eric Gates on the violin; Miss Audrey Mitchell,

pianoforte solo; sketch by Miss S. Maginnis and Miss

Walker; Master Clifford Mitchell, recitation; Miss S.

Tweedie, songs; a sketch by the pupils of Balteagh

P.E.S. (sketch written and produced by Mr. L. Bell).

Miss T. Wilson kindly acted as accompanist.

The programme was well up to the standard of

recent years, and all concerned are to be congratulated

on the success of the evening.

We print below the financial result and details as to

How it has been spent:

Subscriptions to Daffodil Tea £10 0 0

Subscriptions received later 1 7 0

Total subscriptions £11 7 0

Less Expenses: -

Mrs. Vance 3 0 10

"Portadown Times" 0 6 0

Mr. W. H. Best 0 3 0

Mrs. Vennard 0 5 0

Mr. Jackson 0 6 3

Prizes (morning and evening) 6 7 0

Balance 10 8 11

£0 8 11

MOTHERS' UNION.

At the monthly meeting held on Tuesday, April 9th,

there was a good attendance of members, and a most

helpful address was given by Miss Wightman. The

annual election took place, the office-bearers and committee

being re-elected.

A report, was given of the activities of the work party

up to the end of March. Over 200 articles, including

socks, mufflers, mittens, gloves, caps, pyjamas, helpless

shirts, bed-jackets have been sent in to the local British

Red Cross Hospital Supply Depot.

The next monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday,

May 14th, in Seagoe School at 7.30 p.m., when it is

hoped that the Rev. W. G. Kerr, M.A., Rector of

Mullabrack, will give an address.

NEW RECTORY BUILDING FUND.

The Hon. Treas. for the above gratefully acknowledges

receipt of the following subscriptions:—

Mr. Ernest Preston, Levaghery 1 0 0

Mr. H. Sinnamon, Levaghery 0 10 0

Mr. S. Watters, Goban St. 1 0 0

Mrs. J. Roney, Goban St. 1 0 0

Mrs, Ballantine, Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

Mr. Robt. Walker, Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

Mrs. W. Neill and family, Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

Mr. W. Hall, Lower Seagoe

Mrs. Jos. McLaughlin, Lower Seagoe 0 10 0

Mrs. Norman Guy, Derryvore 1 0 0

Mr. George Matchett, Derryvore 0 10 0

Mrs. Samuel Guy, Derryvore 1 0 0

Mrs. W. J. McLoughlin, Drumnagoon 1 0 0

Mr. George Wilson, Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

The Late Mr. T. H. Wilson (Estate of)

Lower Seagoe 1 0 0

Mrs. F. Metcalf, Lower Seagoe 0 12 0

Mr. David Cordy, Carne 1 0 0

Mr. Wilson McKinney, Carne 1 0 0

Mr. A. Kirk, Ballinacor 1 0 0

Mr. Geo. Connolly, Carne 0 3 0

Mr. Wm. Simpson, Carne 0 2 0

Mr. Jas. Atkinson, Tarson 0 10 0

£16 7 0

Already acknowledged £609 1 1

Total £625 8 1

SIDESMEN—MAY.

Morning Prayer—The Churchwardens, Messrs. S.

McCormick, Gilbert Price, Foster Shanks, Jos. Ward.

Evening Prayer—Messrs. N. Campbell, Thos. Gracey,

Wm. Hewitt, S. D. Walker, Geo. Nixon, Holmes White.

JUNE.

Morning Prayer—The Churchwardens, Messrs. J.

Gee, Thos. Hall, Wm. White, D. Sherman.

Evening Prayer—Messrs. G. Wilson, D. Allen, H.

Ellis, Wm. Neill, R. M'Murray, J. McLoughlin.

C.L.B. BATTALION SERVICE.

The annual Battalion Service for the Church Lads'

Brigade will be held in St. Anne's Cathedral, Belfast,

on Tuesday, May 14th, at 8.15 p.m. Seats will be reserved

for ex-members. Members of Church Choirs are invited

to augment the Cathedral Choir at this Service. The Seagoe

Company, as is their custom, will attend the parade.

THE LATE MISS HALLIDAY.

Her many friends in this parish and especially in

Edenderry regret much the death of Miss Sarah Halliday,

which occurred suddenly in Belfast last week. For many

years she was a regular worshipper and an enthusiastic

Church worker in Seagoe. She took a keen interest in the

work of the Sunday School at Edenderry, where she

conducted the senior girls' Bible class. Miss Halliday's

bright disposition and her devotion to duty will be long

remembered. —(W.F.H.)

SOUTH AMERICAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY.

1939-1940.

Boxes for Support of Indian Girl: -

Drumgor Sunday School. £0 15 9 ½

Hacknahay Sunday School 1 0 0

Seagoe Sunday School 1 17 11

Seagoe Mothers' Union for Support of

Indian Baby 3 0 0

Harvest Offertories 3 11 6

Collection at Missionary Meeting 0 17 9

Children's Services 1 5 10

Boxes: -

Miss Calvert 0 7 3

Miss Agnes Guy 0 5 1 ½

Mrs. M'Dougall 0 2 9

Miss S. Montgomery 0 8 1

Miss D. Montgomery 0 3 0

Mrs. H. Sloan 0 4 2

Miss Reid 0 10 0

Mrs. J. Walker 0 3 7

Miss M'Combie 0 13 7 ½

Mr. and Mrs. Cathcart 0 10 2

Card: —

Miss Atkinson's Card 5 10 6

£21 6 6

OBITUARY.

Reference has been made above to the passing of

Miss Halliday; yet another old parishioner, Mr. Samuel

Boyd, has been called to higher service. Samuel Boyd,

for the past few years had been living in the parish of

Tartaraghan; previous to this he resided in this parish,

and though an invalid his bright and cheerful bearing

was an inspiration to all who knew him. We tender

our sympathy to the members of his family.

BAPTISMS.

"Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid

them not. for of such is the Kingdom of God."

April 7th—Aileen Margaret, daughter of Robert James

and Dorothy Florence Elizabeth Woolsey, 17,

Margretta Park.

April 7th—Mary Christabel, daughter of John Andrew

and Emma Christabel Hughes, Ballymacrandle.

April 9th—Francis William Henry, son of Francis and

Sarah Brown, 7, Bright St. (Privately).

BURIALS.

"Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from

henceforth, yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest

from their labours."

April 3rd—Samuel Boyd, Derrykeeran, Portadown, aged

67 years.

WHAT DOES BEING A CHRISTIAN

MEAN?

[The following sermon was preached by the Rev. W.

F. Hayes on Sunday morning, April 14th. Those who

were privileged to hear it will be glad to read it again,

and we feel there are many who were not present who

would be helped by reading it.]

2nd Cor., 5: 14—"The love of Christ constraineth us."

The advertisements in a paper make interesting reading.

In some papers, unfortunately, this is the only interesting

part. Sometimes you read this kind of advertisement—

A Christian girl desires a situation in a Christian home.

Or an old lady wants somebody to keep her company

and to drive her motor car; so she advertises for someone

from whom she is pleased to require, among many other

qualifications, the profession to be a Christian. When we

read that type of advertisement it rather grates upon our

better feelings because his use of the term Christian is

very exclusive. We feel, and I think not unfairly, that

the people, who use the word thus, would not be prepared

to extend the benefit of the doubt to any but those who

would conform to their own peculiar idea, brand and

stamp of what Christianity is.

This in itself creates in our minds the question—

What does it mean to be a Christian? If we were

asked that question, no doubt the replies that we would

give would be varied and interesting. I wonder what

you would say yourself. If it were put up to you to

give in half a dozen words a concise, compelling and

convincing definition of what is a Christian; what

would you say? You might say a Christian is a person

who believes in Jesus Christ, or a Christian is a person

who follows Jesus Christ. I don't think many would

beat St. Paul's definition. His definition, his explanation

to the world of the lives and position that he and his

fellow Christians took up and maintained was this—

"the love of Christ constraineth us." A Christian is

a person who is constrained by the love of Jesus Christ.

This was St. Paul's experience. On every hand in

the world there were attractions and influences that

might draw him this way or that way. But he found

in Jesus Christ a magnetic power and an influence that

stood out superior to all these and that lifted him

above them. His Christianity was his response, his

continued response to a Lord, a Leader and a friend

whom he could not resist. He had tried to resist the

Saviour but he had failed. He was violent in his

determination against Jesus Christ, but his violence was

broken down; love conquered force. St. Paul, who

before was the persecutor, was captivated by Jesus

Christ. The attractiveness of our Lord's person and

the Power of his appeal he could not withstand.

In everyday life there are people who attract us and

whom we admire intensely. There are men and

women of whom we must say within ourselves, if not

to others, there is manhood and there is womanhood

as it ought to be. They make us enthusiastic where

otherwise we would not be. They exercise a compelling

and constraining force upon us. It is a pleasure to

be in their company; it is a pleasure to work with

them; what we do for them is never a labour to us.

They are always an inspiration impelling us upwards

and onwards in paths where we fine true satisfaction.

What we might each ask ourselves this morning is this

question—Does the Risen Lord, does He take any such

unique place in our lives? Is He the central figure

whom we admire above all others, and to whom we find

ourselves looking? Is he the person who exercises the

strongest influence upon us? Do we find in him inspiration

and encouragement? Is it just a real delight to do the

things we know He would have us do? I may be wrong,

but sometimes feel we either have never had very fully

or that we have lost to a great extent the sense of the

presence of the Living Lord, who is the central figure

of the world, to whom we can look up and lift up our

heads, and who has the power to lift us up to a new level

of life.

What it means to be a Christian, I am afraid it has

very often been distorted and twisted. Christianity too

often has been presented as something that is unattractive,

that is boring and depressing. It has too often been reduced

to a code, of what must not be done. There are some who

seem to have the idea that to be a Christian is to go about

the world "like a pelican in the wilderness." They bear a

woe-begotten expression on their faces. They disapprove

of those who enjoy the things that were given to be

enjoyed, and which were intended to brighten life.

They cast a shadow where there should be sunshine.

Some of the pictures, too, that we see of our Lord are

both depressing and misleading. The picture of Jesus

that moves before us in the Gospels is not of a lifeless,

dejected creature that you would prefer not to see or

meet. It is rather the picture of one who was full of life

and enjoyed it. It is the picture of one who was

distinguished and winning, and in whose person were

blended perfectly the fine qualities of character. He is,

moreover, portrayed as one whose sole aim was to fit

others for fulness of life. Those who were constrained

by his presence, those who were drawn to Him and who

followed Him they did not find themselves called to a

miserable existence. On the contrary they found very

good reasons why they should not be dejected even in

the most adverse and unwelcome circumstances. In

following His lead they found opportunity for enterprise

and adventure. The world could not always understand it;

it could not grasp why these Christians went on enduring

hardship and unpleasantness where they might have

escaped or avoided these. St. Paul's explanation was—

"the love of Christ constraineth us." They were so

much aware of what He had done and to what He had

called them, that they were ready joyfully to do anything

and everything in response. As our thoughts go back to

their ready, effective service we must ask what has

happened? Christianity to us has become somewhat

laborious and heavy. If it has, is it not due to this,

that the sense of the Living Christ has faded from our

horizon. Is it that we are trying to be Christians

without Him? The fact is that we cannot be. To be

a Christian is to respond to the constraining love of

Jesus Christ. This leads us to the consideration that

follows.

When do we begin to be constrained by the love of

God? When do we become Christians? There is a

great deal of confusion in the minds of our people

about this. It is often due to confused thought, and

also to the difficulty of expression. You know how

very easy it is to give a wrong impression, or how

difficult it is, without faltering words, to express to

others what we want to express. You may have sometime

heard a person speaking thus—"I lived without the

Lord until I was twenty-five." Of course, that is not

true, no one can live for five minutes without the Lord.

You cannot live for a moment without him. He is the

author and giver of life. The person who says “I lived

without the Lord until I was twenty-five," if he used,

what would be to him an equivalent phrase, he would

say, "I was not a Christian until I was twenty-five.

"Something happened then, and he became more

conscious than ever before of the claims of Jesus Christ

upon him. He dates his Christianity from that time.

While not doubting that man's experience, I would say

that his is an exceptional case. The trouble with many

of our people is this, they regard and try to make the

exceptional the normal. Once you attempt to displace

the normal for the exceptional you cause confusion

and bewilderment. To use an illustration, you are a

member of the British Empire. When did you become

a member? was it when you were nineteen or when

you were forty-five. You became a member the day

you were born, but of course you did not know it.

Though you did not know it, you have been a member

of the Commonwealth since you have enjoyed

privileges, its protection and the facilities of life which

it has afforded. When did you become conscious of

all this? It did not strike you when you were three

or four or when you were seven or eight. When you

came to years of discretion you began to be aware of

your membership in the Empire, it’s worth and your

obligations to it. To-day because of the war we are

all very conscious of this. We have had a national

awakening, there has been a national appeal and a

national response. This has been said to show that in

ordinary life we are members of our state long before

we are aware of it, long before we can recognise the

advantages that come thereby, and long before we can

serve therein to any useful extent.

It is somewhat like that with our Christianity. If we

are born in a Christian community and into Christian

homes we are Christians from the very outset of life.

"Baptism which represents our profession," and which

is administered normally in infancy, gives expression

to this. As Christians, just as citizens, we grow up.

The point that I wish to make and to emphasise is this

the child that is brought up in a Christian home, under

and in touch with Christian influence, that child is

being moulded from the very beginning by the

straining love of Jesus Christ. He is touched by Him

through those who have most to do with him. As

years go on he must become aware of all this. He

learns that behind all this there is the love of Christ. In

normal life we should be more conscious of his

constraining love as the years increase, because we

have the more opportunities for knowing it. If we are

not more and more aware of this unceasing divine

influence is it not because we have not taken time to

consider it?

We need to keep fresh the sense of our Lord's restless,

resistless person. Aware of this, we could never be so

dead and so lacking in spiritual vitality as we sometimes

are; our Christian life would not have the meagre, pinched,

worn-out expression it so often bears.

“The love of Christ constraineth us. If we felt this

as a great reality here in Church this morning we could

not be half-hearted about the prayers, the readings and

the hymns. We would go home different people, we

would even have a great desire in our hearts to come

back again to the service this evening. Again, if it were

a reality, the command of our Lord would be the delight

of our lives. We would find ourselves doing gladly and

whole-heartedly that which we otherwise would leave

undone or perform with much reluctance.

Will you some time to-day and some time each day

throughout the coming week just think of this simple

but profound truth that above this world with its cares

and worries and divisions, and even through all these

there is centred upon each one of us the constraining

love of Christ. Try to make all that you are and do

and say your response to His compelling appeal, and

see if it does not make a difference.

Let us see that our Christianity is never an unwelcome

acceptance, but a glad, spontaneous, vital response to

the love of Christ, who constraineth us, as He did His

Apostles of old.

WEEKLY FREEWILL OFFERINGS.

The W.F.O. Hon. Secretary has submitted the

following tabulated returns of amounts received for

the first three months of this year, with the amounts for

the corresponding Sundays in 1939. Allowing for the

absence of the parish social, this shows a decrease of

about £20 in Church collections and W.F.O. contributions,

when compared with the same period in the previous year.

If this falling off persists throughout 1940 the parochial

finances will be in a very unsatisfactory condition, when

the accounts are closed at the end of the year. It is hoped

that our parishioners will see to it that this does not happen,

by regularly bringing (or sending if prevented from attending)

their envelopes regularly each Sunday.

1939 1940

January £5 12 1 £5 11 2

7 13 4 5 1 6

5 17 4 6 7 2

8 6 3 4 0 7

8 18 7 -

February 9 0 2 7 1 7

8 4 1 6 9 9

9 3 0 7 3 6

7 17 2 12 16 6

March 9 1311 9 2 7

9 5 8 7 13 8

9 8 3 8 5 2

Parish Social 10 7 8 -

£109 7 6 £79 13 2