This weekend's bulletin, with notices and dates to save

 

Sanctuary Sunday

22nd June 2025 

Bulletin for the Aughaval Parishes

- Westport-Dugort Union, Castlebar, Turlough

Hymns

325 - Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One, is here 

606 - As the deer pants for the water 

522 - In Christ there is no east or west 

514 - We cannot measure how you heal 

Collect Two

God, the strength of all those who put their trust in you: Mercifully accept our prayers and, because through the weakness of our mortal nature we can do no good thing without you, grant us the help of your grace, that in the keeping of your commandments we may please you, both in will and deed; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The First Reading 1 Kings 19: 1-4, (5-7), 8-15a

Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.’ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, ‘Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.’ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’

He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

The Psalm Psalms 42, 43

 The Second Reading Galatians 3: 23-29

Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Luke 8: 26- 39

Then they arrived at the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. As he stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he fell down before him and shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’— for Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many times it had seized him; he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.) Jesus then asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He said, ‘Legion’; for many demons had entered him. They begged him not to order them to go back into the abyss.

Now there on the hillside a large herd of swine was feeding; and the demons begged Jesus to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. When the swineherds saw what had happened, they ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came out to see what had happened, and when they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Those who had seen it told them how the one who had been possessed by demons had been healed. 

Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them; for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him; but Jesus sent him away, saying, ‘Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.’ So he went away, proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him.

Post Communion Prayer

Eternal Father, we thank you for nourishing us with these heavenly gifts. 

May our communion strengthen us in faith, build us up in hope, 

and make us grow in love; 

for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect Of The Word

Pour out upon us, O God, the power and wisdom of your Spirit, so that we, who have been baptised into Christ and made your children through faith, may know your Son’s power to heal, and, being made one in him, may overcome all barriers that divide us; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for evermore. 

Summer Dates and Service Patterns

Saturday 20 June Holiday Family Club, 2-5pm at Turlough Community Centre

This is for everyone in the grouped parishes, with special fun activities for the children. 

Sunday 21 June Summer Sunday Evening Friendship Walk, meeting at 7pm at Turlough Country Park gates, in Turlough village.

Friday 18 July Summer Evening Prayer and Praise at Knappagh, gathering in the churchyard at 7pm, with music by James Kilbane. 

Sunday 20 July Mini-pilgrimage on Achill, starting at St Thomas’s Church, Dugort, at 3pm. This event is being run under the Spiritual Tourism (Pioneer Ministry) banner for this (TLK) diocese, with the help of Valerie Raitt. More details to follow.

Saturday 26 July Return to Inishbiggle. Details to follow.

Sunday 27 July        Reek Sunday

Communion on the Mountain 

This year our Church of Ireland parishes have been invited, most kindly, by our ecumenical friends from the Roman Catholic Church and Diocese to avail of the Oratory on Croagh Patrick to hold a service in our own church tradition. We are grateful for their thoughtfulness and generosity, a reflection of the hospitality and welcome of God. We hope to avail of the offer. Details to follow shortly.

2.30pm   Gentle walk-and-talk-and-pray

For those who wish to enter in to the spirit and joy of the day but are unable to make the climb, there will be the opportunity to gather in the Murrisk carpark and with a few others at the St Patrick statue at the foot of the mountain for prayer and reflection.

Regular Service Pattern

Turlough Parish Church: Saturdays weekly at 7pm. Holy Communion on 2nd and 4th of month; Morning Prayer on 1st and 3rd Sundays.

Christ Church Castlebar: Sundays weekly at 10am – Holy Communion on 1st and 3rd of month; Morning Prayer, 2nd and 4th, followed by tea.

Holy Trinity Westport: Sundays weekly, currently in St Mary's Church, South Mall, at 12 noon, followed by tea/coffee in Carrowbeg House.

St Thomas's Dugort, Achill: Sundays weekly (April to Sept incl.) at 3pm

Midweek Holy Communion, Wednesdays at 10.30am in St Mary’s Church. S. Mall, followed by coffee in Clew Bay Hotel (from 11.05 am). 

Open Church Weekly Drop-in, Christ Church Castlebar, Fridays 11am -1pm

Pastoral care and enquiries:  

Revd Suzanne Cousins  

Phone 083 800 3233       

Email aughaval@tuam.anglican.org  

Website   aughaval.tlk.ie      

 

Please see also the Aughaval Parishes Facebook page.

Sanctuary Sunday 2025

“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”   (Matthew 25: 35-36) 

Paddington

by Zara, Christ Church, Castlebar

2024