In his service, Dr Bruce looks at Ephesians 2:6-10, which he says, “includes some of the best-known and loved verses in the Bible that take us to very central heart-beat of the gospel – the understanding that we are saved by grace.
“Today we will look at the relationship between grace and faith as God reaches out to save us. We will also see how revolutionary Paul’s teaching about the motivation to do good in society actually is.”
As in previous weeks, members of PCI’s 19 presbyteries will take part in the service. Joining the Moderator this week is the turn of the Presbytery of Derry & Donegal. During the service, Rev Tommy Bruce will introduce it to us. He is the minister of Letterkenny and Trenta Presbyterian Churches, and is the Moderator of the Presbytery for this year.
Presbytery of Derry & Donegal
The Presbytery stretches from Ballykelly, in its north eastern part, to Donegal Town in the south west, Dunfanaghy in the north west and out to Sion Mills to the south east. Reaching across three counties in the north western corner of the island, the cross-border presbytery is made up of 48 congregations – 30 are located in Donegal with 18 in Northern Ireland, making up a Presbyterian family of over 14,600 people. Most of the congregations are centred around the City of Londonderry and the eastern half of County Donegal, with a number of them established in the 1640s.
Rev Gordy McCracken, minister of Newtowncunningham and Ray, will lead prayers for other people.
Songs included this week are:
- Amazing Grace (instrumental version)
- Your Grace is enough
- Only by grace; Softly and Tenderly
- Wonderful Grace.
The Moderator explained that he will continue through August into September with his weekly online service of worship, “while congregations across the country make their preparations for a return to worship in their own buildings.”
Dr Bruce continued, “Already, it’s clear how challenging this has been as we try to ensure the safety of our people as we meet – and I’m sure you will be patient while we put these measures in place. In the meantime, we can meet online, and thank you to those who have written, texted and got in touch by other means to tell us how you are doing.”
Next week…
In next week’s service the Moderator will be joined by members of the Presbytery of Newry when he will explore how this living, risen Church is a Church at peace.