Sept 1940

Seagoe Parish Magazine.

SEPTEMBER, 1940.

CLERGY:

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

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

Lower Seagoe.

CHURCHWARDENS.

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.

1st September—15th Sunday after Trinity.

8th September—16th Sunday after Trinity.

Monthly Service in Drumgor at 3 p.m.

10th September—Monthly Meeting of Mothers' Union

at 7.30 p.m.

15th September—17th Sunday after Trinity.

18th September - Ember Days.

20th September - ,, ,, ,,

21st September - ,, ,, ,,

21st September—St. Matthew.

22nd September—18th Sunday after Trinity.

29th September—19th Sunday after Trinity.

St. Michael and All Angels.

Harvest Festival Service in Hacknahay

at 3.30, p.m.

30th September—Harvest Festival Service, Hacknahay

at 8 p.m.

THE NATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER.

It is the desire of H.M. the King that Sunday,

September 8th, the first Sunday after the anniversary

of the outbreak of war, should be observed as a day of

National Prayer. President Roosevelt is making a

similar request to the people of the United States of

America.

The Lord Bishop of Down refers to this in the current

issue of the Diocesan Messenger. He writes: —"A

year's war, with all its bitterness and loss and sorrow,

will have passed by then. The day will, we hope, be

used to great spiritual enrichment. There is much

need, just now, for teaching on Christian prayer. In

a time like this there comes the temptation to think

of prayer apart from life, as if God could be exploited

by us when we are face to face with special difficulty

or trouble. The two must go together, life and prayer.

Dr. Gougde, of Oxford, wrote a very helpful essay

during the last war, on prayers in time of war. He

spoke of the Church as having a priestly as well as a

prophetic work. The Church, not simply the clergy,

should be regarded as the great priestly body called

in the power of the Spirit to make prayers, intercessions,

and to give thanks for all men, and thus he argued that

the Church could make her greatest contribution to

the need of the world. The Church's supreme

contribution is Christian prayer. This, I hope, will be

remembered. We have only to open our prayer books

in order to see what our Church's intention for her

people is:—"The Order for Morning Prayer, Daily

throughout the year." There is similar guidance as

to Evening Prayer. Unfortunately, we think other

things are more important. The agonies of these days

may set us thinking. Our Prayer book assumes two

things, daily services and weekly Communions, and

these two have been greatly neglected. God calls us

to fellowship with Himself and seeks the co-operation

of His children in carrying out His eternal purpose.

If we do not respond we delay the accomplishment.

Prayer is our greatest means of co-operation with

God and is the highest exercise of our freedom. By

prayer we can forward the accomplishment of God's

purpose wherever we are able to discern it. Prayer

may draw upon power which God has in reserve.

God refuses to accomplish without us what He has

made possible for us to accomplish in union with Him,

so our prayers may be real factors in the shaping of

events. God refuses to bestow without our prayers

the blessings He is ready to bestow in answer to them.

But will He not do what is best whether or not we pray?

No, for what is best is fellowship between Him and us,

and the perfect fellowship is built up gradually, through

the real co-operation involved in prayer. Our prayer

must be in harmony with God's purpose. Co-operation

with God is the very purpose of prayer. To pray "in the name

of Christ" is to pray in the Name of Him who lived

but for the Father's purpose. It is to pray in view

of that revelation of God and His purpose for mankind

which is contained in the Name or revealed character

of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself; it is to yield ourselves

as the members of Christ to be the instruments of His

own continual intercession, just as in active life we

yield ourselves to be the instruments of His unceasing

activity among us. Our power to pray depends upon

our power to discern the Divine purpose and our

willingness to co-operate with it. But all that God made

is embraced within the scope of His purpose and so all

that God made is within the scope of Christian prayer.

If we have the mind of Christ, we still have an insight

into the Divine purpose, and we shall be able, each one

of us, to forward the accomplishment of that purpose by

our prayers, as we never could by our practical activity

apart from God. If our prayers are in the deep and true

sense offered in the name of Christ, then they are taken

up into Christ's abiding intercession and heard and

answered." In these words, the Bishop stresses the need

and the worthwhileness of Christian prayer, in this time

of national emergency. In this connection a recent

article in the "British Weekly" by the Rev. Dr. Jas.

Reid is worth quoting, in which he writes on the

meaning of the prayer "Thy will be done” as follows: -

“No phrase in the Bible has been so often or so

long misused as this, "Thy will be done." It has

been turned into a sigh of resignation. It has become

a means of softening some hard blow by accepting

it as the will of God. A familiar hymn has been

responsible for a good deal of this wrong emphasis.

It contains a list of every possible misfortune that

can befall us in this world, and then asks for the power

to say to all of them, "Thy will be done.”

No one will condemn the mood of resignation who

has known the comfort that can come when we take

a bitter cup from the hands of God, believing that His

love is in it. But to call our misfortunes the will of

God and to identify every dark trouble with His will,

is to miss the real meaning of the prayer, "Thy will

be done."

For one thing, the will of God is like our own will,

which gives force and direction to all we do. God's

will must therefore be the active energy of His love.

We must learn to see it at work in every beautiful

thing and in every loving heart. We must see that

Will in every lovely flower that thrusts its way out of

the dark earth. We must see it active in every kind

heart, every champion of the weak, every life that

gives time and strength to heal the sick or make the

world a friendlier place. We see it most of all in

the heart and life of Jesus. If we want to know the

nature of the hidden current that sleeps in the electric

wire, we see it in the light that fills the lamp and

floods our room. So, in Jesus we find God's will

expressed in the things He did, in the burning energy

of love that ran through all His mind and spirit.

God's will for the world is what Jesus would have

made it if He had not been thwarted by the self-will

of man. But it is undefeated and indestructible. It

does not change, and in it is all that we call good.

But that will of God is something to be done, and to

be done by us. It is not merely a fate to be borne or

accepted. The world is full of evil and suffering

today because of two kinds of people—those who

deliberately thwart and oppose the will of God, and

those who stand by and do nothing. It is hard to say

whether active opposition or moral inertia is worse.

Life is full of evils that would be attacked and swept

away if we were giving ourselves to become God's

agents, to do His will. A new current of Divine power

would sweep through the lives of men if we would

give ourselves to be God's channels.

What we should be asking in this prayer is that

we might be used of God as the agents of His love

in everything. It is a prayer of dedication. It means

that we offer ourselves to serve His will in all that

we do. This does not mean that we need to seek for

opportunities far afield. The daily round and the

common task will serve to begin with. It does mean

that in everything we will give ourselves with our

whole energy to do the kind of things that Christ

did—to seek the truth, to work for friendship, to make

love to men a reality. At every moment we should

be ready for this active, loving purpose of God, to be

expressed in us and in our actions.

Seen in this way, the phrase becomes a battle-cry,

a sigh of resignation. It becomes marching music,

not a dirge. It can fill the mind with a glorious sense

of purpose. It can give the humblest life a meaning

that will make it infinitely important. For in that

urgent will of God, seeking expression through us,

lies the fulfilment of all that gives life hope. Even in

the darkest hour this is the way of light. When Jesus

before Calvary prayed, "Thy will be done," it was

not mere acceptance of the Cross that was in His mind.

God's will was to be done in the love that never failed,

the courage that never faltered. It was done in the task

which that love accomplished for us all upon the Cross.

The will of God was an active, positive deed. It was an

offensive against the spirit of evil. It was His crowning

act of healing redeeming love. The will of God, as Jesus

saw it, thus claimed all the energy of His nature and

filled His soul with its music.

This prayer, then, is the key to life's meaning. It

is a prayer for the light to see God's will and for the

power to do it. That should be the key-note of all

our praying. Thus, prayer may become a battlefield

in which our own desires must be overcome and God's

will take first place.

It will help us into this victory if we learn to see

God's will as Jesus saw it—the activity through which

God is waiting to pour the energy of His Jove. It is

always found in deeds that have in them the spirit

of Jesus, no matter how lowly the deed or humdrum

the task. If we find it hard to see and to do God's

will, let us remember that He "worketh in us both

to will and to do" what He wants done."

Let us all see to it that we use this spiritual weapon

of prayer for ourselves, for our country and for the

world in these difficult days; and above all let us

pray that men and nations may turn from the folly

of trying to live in God's world without God and

that they may realise their high privilege of being

God's fellow-workers in the world so that in and

through them His Kingdom may come and His will

be done. We are specially bidden to pray for these

blessings on September 8th, but the day of National

Prayer is not meant to suggest that it is only on this

day we are called to pray for these things, let us, daily

in our homes, and corporately on Sundays in God's

House, "pray without ceasing."

BRING AND BUY SALE.

As announced in the August Magazine the "Bring

Buy" Sale will take place in the Parochial Hall,

Edenderry, on Saturday, September 7th, at 3.30 p.m.

Admission, including tea, 3d. As the title suggests

you are asked to bring something and buy something

(eatables preferred) and by so doing you will be helping

in a practical way the finances of the Parochial Hall.

MOTHERS' UNION.

The monthly meeting took place in Seagoe School

on Tuesday, August 13th, at 7.30 p.m., when the Rev.

W. F. Hayes gave an appropriate address.

The next meeting will take place in Seagoe School

on Tuesday, September 10th, at 7.30 p.m., when it is

hoped there will be a special speaker.

SIDESMEN —SEPTEMBER—

Morning Prayer—The Churchwardens, Messrs.

Cranfield, J. Gee, Geo. Wilson, D. F. Stoops.

Evening Prayer—Messrs. J. Walker, D. Allen,

R. M'Murray, A. Kirke, W. H. Best, G. Nixon.

OCTOBER: -

Morning Prayer—The Churchwardens, Messrs.

T. Martin, C. S. A. Twinem, W. R. Sherman, W. G. Best.

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

R. T. Hewitt, H. Ellis, Wm. Neill, J. M'Laughlin.

RECTORY BUILDING FUND.

The Hon. Treasurer for the above gratefully acknowledges

the receipt of the following subscriptions:

Mr. Wm. Simpson, Carne £0 2 0

Mr. T. H. Gordon, Ballinacor 0 2 6

Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Costello, Carne 0 10 0

Mrs. Jos. M'Laughlin, Lower Seagoe 0 10 0

Mrs. Geo. Simpson, Lower Seagoe 0 5 0

Mr. Henry Sinnamon, Levaghery 1 10 0

Miss R. Calvert, Breagh 5 0 0

£7 19 6

Already acknowledged 647 10 7

Total £655 10 1

HARVEST FESTIVAL DATES.

The following is a provisional list of dates for the

above mentioned annual Services: —

Sunday, Sept. 29th, at 3.30 p.m. Hacknahay

Monday, Sept. 30th, at 8 p.m. ,, ,,

Sunday, Oct. 6th, at 3.30 p.m. Bocombra

Monday, Oct. 7th, at 8 p.m. Carne

Sunday, Oct. 13th, at 3.30 p.m. Drumgor

Monday, Oct. 14th, at 8 p.m. Levaghery

Sunday, Oct. 20th, 11.30 a.m. Parish Church

and 7 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 21st, 8 p.m. ,, ,,

Sunday, Oct. 27th, at 3.30 p.m. Edenderry

Monday, Oct. 28th, at 8 p.m. Parochial Hall

In accordance with our usual custom at all the district

Harvest Services, the Sunday afternoon collections will

be in aid of the Hall or Sunday School concerned. The

Monday night collections will be in aid of the South

American Missionary Society at each respective Service.

MR. HARRY KANE.

We very much regret to learn that Mr. Harry Kane

has been posted as missing while on active service.

As far as we know, he is the first Seagoe casualty in

the present war. During the last war he served in

the Royal Navy, and was serving in a similar capacity

in the present war. He was a well-known figure in

Edenderry, where he had a host of friends; while

on active service he was very highly thought of by his

superiors, who appreciated fully his skill, courage and

devotion to duty. To his wife and family, we extend

our sympathy and pray that God may sustain them

in their anxiety.

WHAT WILL YOU SAY?

What will you say?' " This is a fairly ordinary

question to crop up when you are discussing some

emergency with a friend, and it is an important

question, because on what you say depends the

impression other people get of the business in hand,

and of your attitude and reactions towards it. And if

we get down behind the immediate business which

such a conversation with a friend may concern, what

you or I say is as a matter of fact always of far

greater importance than we are sometimes inclined to

think.

“We have got so used to that power of being able

to talk which is possessed by ourselves and by most

people, that we are apt to give very little attention to

the purpose of our having it. What is it for really?

The answer is, of course, that it is our principal

means of conveying ideas from one person to another.

We have other methods—we take our hat off to a

lady, or punch someone on the nose, or shake hands

with people, but our principal method is by the use

of words, spoken or written.

“Every word we use conveys an idea to the mind

of someone, and so leaves its mark on the life of

whoever may hear. Every word hits, as it were, a

target, and the shot is recorded in the hearer's

character. Think back over the things you have heard

other people say, and you will see that it has all had

its effect on you, sometimes of encouragement and

the warming of friendship, sometimes of unhappiness

and boredom, sometimes of active dislike and resentment,

but always some effect. Each arrow has found

its mark. Well, so it is with whatever you and I say

to-day. Never mind about to-morrow for the moment;

let's just keep to to-day. It is this responsibility which

I personally, and you personally, have for shaping the

lives and opinions of our fellow-men and women

which we tend so often to forget. For myself, I do

my best to remember it when I stand in a pulpit, or

sit here before the microphone talking to you for these

few minutes, but in my more casual conversations I

find myself so often appallingly careless about the

result of chance expressions of what I happen to feel

at the moment. And so, I ask you to pause with me

for just a very short moment before we set out on

the remainder of today, while we ask ourselves:

“What sort of ideas have you and I conveyed to

other people's minds? Can we make a better job of

this business to-day?" Because talking is a grave

responsibility, and we shall certainly have to give

account of our use of it—of lies, for instance, which

deliberately convey a false idea, and which only

succeed because the other person trusts us; of running

other people down, either directly, or more often

indirectly, the sort of conversation where we "don't

wish them any harm, but. . .” Only, quite apart

from noteworthy bad conversation like that and the

various other extreme forms which bad conversation

can take, there is general atmosphere which we

create by our usual line of talk. What is that like?

It is fussy and full of self-pity and complaint? Because

they can only make other people jumpy and unhappy,

or else—which is better—very angry with us. Or can

we, ourselves with our house built firmly on the rock,

be just a little bit at all times, and most of all in any

moment of grave emergency, refreshing and courage

giving, as Christ our Master was, like the shadow of

a great rock in a weary land? " What will you say?”

(The above talk was given by a well-known preacher

recently in "A thought for to-day" broadcast. These

five-minute talks are given each day at 7.55 a.m., and

are very helpful.)

BAPTISMS.

“Suffer little children to come unto Me, and forbid

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

August 4th—William Ronald, son of Henry and Edna

Phyllis Sinnamon, The Bungalow, Levaghery.

August 4th—Frederick Joseph, son of Joseph and

Margaret King, 17, James St., Portadown.

August 4th—Margaret, daughter of Robert and Agnes

Magee, 19, James St., Portadown.

August 4th—Received into the congregation, Noel

Francis, son of William and Ellen Gertrude

Dickie, 23, Florence Court, Portadown. (Baptized

privately, 29th December, 1939.)

MARRIAGES.

"Those whom God hath joined together let no man

put asunder."

10th August—Edward Thompson, Drumgor, and

Amelia Anna Laverty, George Street, Portadown.

10th August—Walter Stewart Currie, Seagoe Lower,

Portadown, and Edith Emily Lowe, Omeath,

Co. Louth.

21st August—Thomas Moore, 10, Alexandra Gardens

Portadown, and Roberta May Best, 141, Bridge

Street, Portadown.

26th August—John Hobbs, Drumgor, and Jane (Jean)

Watters, 2, Goban Street, Portadown.

28th August—Marlow Stevenson, The Bungalow,

Knock, Portadown, and Mary England,

Knock, Portadown.

SERVICES—THE PARISH CHURCH.

HOLY COMMUNION—1st Sunday after Morning

Prayer; 3rd Sunday at 8 a.m., and on the Chief Festivals

HOLY BAPTISM—1st Sunday of each Month at 4 p.m.,

and during any Service in the Parish Church, notice to be

given; Two Sponsors at least are required. The father and

mother must be present. Churchings are held at each Baptism.

Mothers are expected to bring a thank offering. (See Book of

Common Prayer.)

MORNING PRAYER—Sundays and Chief Festivals,

11.30 a.m.

EVENING PRAYER—Sundays, 7 p.m.

DISTRICT SERVICES.

Hacknahay—Last Sunday of Month at 3.30 p.m.

Drumgor—Second Sunday of Month at 3 p.m.

Edenderry—Wednesdays at 8 p.m., Oct—Easter.

CLASSES &c.

BIBLE CLASSES FOR MEN in Edenderry on Sundays at 10.15 a.m.

SUNDAY SCHOOLS—10.15 a.m. Edenderry Parochial

Hall and Seagoe School. 3 p.m. Seagoe, Edenderry

Parochial Hall, Levaghery, Hacknahay, Carne, Drumgor, Bocombra

MOTHERS' UNION—2nd Tuesday of each month at 7.30 p.m.

CHURCH LADS' BRIGADE in the Parochial Hall on Tuesdays.

GIRLS' FRIENDLY SOCIETY in Seagoe School on Mondays at 8 p.m. as announced

G.F.S. Candidates - Oct. – Easter, Edenderry Parochial Hall, Saturdays at 3 p.m.

SEAGO CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR SOCIETY – Mondays, Orange Hall, at 8 p.m.

SEAGOE P.E. SCHOOL—9.15 a.m. Principal—Mr. R. Scott.

MARRIAGES must be performed between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Licences are issued by Ven. Archdeacon Hannon, the Rectory, Lurgan. Due notice (48 hours) must be given to the Rector of intended weddings. FEES—BY License—Labourers 5/-, Tradesmen 10/-, Merchants and Farmers £1, Professional £l. By Banns 5/-.

FUNERALS will be attended by the Clergy if proper notice be given. SICK CASES should be notified to the Clergy without delay. FEES FOR CERTIFICATES—BAPTISM 3/7, Children (Factory) 1/- and 2/- (non-residents); MARRIAGE 3/7. An extra Search Fee is chargeable in certain cases. It will be a help to the Clergy if they are notified of the arrival of new Church families in the Parish.

A copy of the Magazine will be sent by post to any subscriber for 3/- per annum.