St Mary's hosts Church Unity Ecumenical Service

Newry District Inter-Church Forum held their annual Church Unity Ecumenical Service on Tuesday 20 January at St Mary's Church of Ireland in the city.

In his opening address Revd Capt Scott McDonald, Rector of St Patrick's and St Mary's parishes welcomed members of the Newry Inter-Church Forum as well as Canon Brown from Newry Cathedral Parish. Also present in the congregation were representatives from Newry Methodist Circuit and the German Lutheran Church.

The service included a mix of song, prayer and readings, with the congregation praying for countries torn apart by war and asking the Lord to remove the scourge of violence. Refugees and those displaced throughout the world were also prayed for.

Revd McDonald reflected on a line in the Apollo 13 film and applied it to Christian unity "there was a problem in the spacecraft and there was an explosion and they did everything they could to bring the astronauts back safely. One of the people in charge in NASA who was co-ordinating the rescue attempt had all his team together and he said 'Failure is not an option'. A very powerful moment in the film. But when we look at the words and the prayers of Jesus our Lord, we can also say with confidence Christian unity is not an option - it's something that he prayed for before he was crucified."

The service concluded with a final prayer read by Canon Brown.

Newry District Inter-Church Forum is a group of people from diverse Christian traditions sharing and working together for mutual enrichment.