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4 Corners - 4 Stories

It's been a busy old month, due to multiple funerals, the mopping up after Haass and other reasons. As a result I haven't been on able to blog or post as regularly as I had planned... I also haven't been able to get to as many 4 Corners Festival Events as I had hoped... 

The 4 Corners Festival, established last year out of the inspired insanity of my friends and colleagues Steve Stockman and Martin Magill, consists of innovative events during and around the annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. These events are designed to entice people out of their own ‘corners’ of the city and into new places where they will encounter new perspectives, new ideas, and new friends, and so inspire people from across the city to transform it for the peace and prosperity of all. I got involved due to a casual enquiry over a coffee with Steve... 3 Hours later I was on the steering panel and hosting an event (NOTE: Coffee with either Steve Stockman or Martin Magill is a dangerous business...)

This year a recurrent theme is storytelling and the event that we are hosting is entitled "4 Corners 4 Stories, 4 Church Leaders". It is taking place tomorrow night, Monday 27th, in the Agape Centre, on the Lisburn Road, Belfast at 7.30pm.

It will be chaired by Professor John Brewer, and in it 4 church leaders of different generations from 4 different traditions and 4 corners of the city will tell their stories against the backdrop of the rhetorical question that Paul asked of the church in the City of Corinth which forms the theme of Christian Unity Week this year: “Is Christ divided?” The four speakers who will be exploring whether Christ is divided in this city are:

Bishop Harold Miller – Anglican Bishop of Down and Dromore (a resident of East Belfast)

Rev. Dr. Norman Hamilton – Minister of Ballysillan Presbyterian in North Belfast

Father Ciaran Dallat – Assistant Priest in St. Peter’s Catholic Cathedral in West Belfast

Rev. Dr. Heather Morris – President of the Methodist Church in Ireland and Director of Ministry at Edgehill Theological College in South Belfast.

Other 4 Corners events this week include:

WEDNESDAY JANUARY 29th at 7pm – SORRY FOR YOUR TROUBLES poetry reading with PÁDRAIG Ó TUAMA in AN CULTÚRLANN, Falls Road

THURSDAY JANUARY 30th at7:30pm – LISTENING TO YOUR ENEMIES with Brighton bomber PAT MAGEE and JO BERRY whose father was killed in the blast (chaired by Rev Dr LESLEY CARROLL) in SKAINOS, Newtownards Road

FRIDAY JANUARY 31st at 7:30pm – WORSHIP IN THE WEST: “THAT ALL OF THEM MAY BE ONE” VENUE to be confirmed

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 1st at 8:30am & 10:30am – 4 CORNER PRAYERS – IS CHRIST DIVIDED? at BELFAST CITY HALL and other locations across BELFAST including Windsor Presbyterian Church.

SATURDAY FEBRUARY 1st at 8pm – WHERE THERE ARE STORIES THERE ARE SONGS (AND POEMS) with ANTHONY TONER, DAVE THOMPSON and EL GRUER in 174 TRUST, Antrim Road

Admission is FREE for all events but donations to defray expenses would be welcome
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