Monday 1 June 2009

United Churches Pentecost Praise Picnic

What a day! What fun! What great fellowship with the Four Churches Pentecost Praise and Picnic in the Park. Ulsterville and Windsor Presbyterian, Belfast South Methodist and Saint Nicholas' Church of Ireland enjoyed hot sunshine for the Pentecost celebration at the Parish Halls.
We started with a short service together - all four ministers taking part. Every month we have an evening service in one of our buildings. It was a lovely experience to be able to gather on the lawn and worship in the open air.
Then the tables came out and picnics were produced as people continued to enjoy the craic over a simple meal. Helium balloons and a constantly operating bubble machine added to the atmosphere of fun and celebration.
People who have begun to get to know each other over recent years enjoyed the relaxed time together. The young people played various games, although there wasn't enough wind for the kites to fly. We'll have another go at that in the near future.
Some of us brought barbecues and the smell of cooking filled the air so that we ended up eating far too much! And one of the parishioners had brought wonderful currant squares...what a delightful way to end a meal.
I'd do this again...people are talking about it today, and even some who weren't at the picnic were able to tell me that we'd had a good time!
What did we do for music? Andrea brought both guitar and violin....though she didn't manage to play them simultaneously. The music of "Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me..." was my particular favourite and the people sang with enthusiasm.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What a great idea - the photos look fab. I can almost smell the barbies! Garth