Beside The Burn
This week we begin the Journey of Lent, a journey of 40 days through the Wilderness with Jesus Christ towards Easter. We will discover that Wilderness is a much more positive experience than we might imagine and we pray that we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
Babel

PCI Podcast with PW (40 minute audio)
Presbyterian Women have been taking part in this twenty ninth episode of PCI's Podcasts.
It is entitled,  STORIES OF GOD’S WAYS AMONG US . 
The creativity and courage of congregations and individuals is encouraging in stories of life and witness from across PCI including recipe books, a drive-in cinema and the hope of sunflowers. These are some of the examples told by Neil Harrison and Pauline Kennedy along with guests Flo Houston (Conor) and Andrew Dawson (Second Dromara), as we hear good news stories of God’s ways among us, near and far, throughout the pandemic. Click on the link to Listen Now ?: 
​
https://audioboom.com/posts/7807625-029-stories-of-god-s-ways-among-us

Jigsaw
The times for yesterday’s Jigsaw

​Derek 3:00
Jean 3:00

Play the "Christmas Tree Thursday" puzzle!
https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=1b6028742cf3

Beside The Burn
This week we begin the Journey of Lent, a journey of 40 days through the Wilderness with Jesus Christ towards Easter. We will discover that Wilderness is a much more positive experience than we might imagine and we pray that we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
Abraham

“Hope is borrowing the joy of tomorrow, today.”
I heard this quote this week and thought it deserves some thought to appreciate the depth.
Jason Cook delivered a message at The Gospel Coalition Carolinas Regional Conference called “Groaning til Glory.” From Romans 8:18–25, Cook addressed the manner in which Christians must anchor themselves through storms and suffering, building from the thesis, “Suffering exists as a divine tool to wean us off the lower pleasures of this world and to encourage us to persevere, because we have hope.”
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/podcasts/tgc-podcast/future-liberation-present-pain/

Chasing The Dragon
Many of you may have read Jackie Pullinger’s hard hitting book, Chasing the Dragon (first published in 1980). In this video Nicky Gumbel (HTB at Home, Alpha Course) is with Jackie Pullinger MBE, author of 'Chasing the Dragon', who has been working in Hong Kong for over 50 years and has seen God bring real change to families and communities. 
*Please note, this interview discusses issues related to substance use and sexual exploitation which some people may find distressing.

Covid-19
Portstewart has the 5th lowest number of cases of Covid-19 in Ireland this week.

Jigsaw
The times for yesterday’s Jigsaw

​Jean 2:44
​Derek 3:00

A little bit tricky for the end of the week.
Play the "Sunset Friday" puzzle!
https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=1c49ed771ab8

Beside The Burn
This week we begin the Journey of Lent, a journey of 40 days through the Wilderness with Jesus Christ towards Easter. We will discover that Wilderness is a much more positive experience than we might imagine and we pray that we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

You Lead Us Through the Wilderness
This is the song from the service on Sunday, if you want to listen again.

THE LATEST INFORMATION ON THE CLOSURE OF CHURCH BUILDING FOR WORSHIP
This information was received in an email from the Moderator and the Clerk of the General Assembly at 9:00am this morning.

In-person gatherings for worship in Northern Ireland
 
Following on from the Northern Ireland Executive’s decision to extend the current Covid restrictions to Thursday 1st April 2021, the Clerk of Assembly and senior leaders from other churches met again on Monday 22nd February with Ministers from the Executive Office, the Minister of Health and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO). At that meeting the CMO stressed that it would make a significant difference, and be of huge public benefit, if churches were willing to continue at this time not to gather in person for services and other meetings.
 
In the light of the Executive’s extension of the current restrictions, and on the basis of the clear and unequivocal public health advice that people should continue to stay at home, the General Council Standing Committee, acting with the delegated authority of the General Council and General Assembly, has directed that all in-person Sunday gatherings for worship, along with all other in person church gatherings, should remain suspended in all PCI congregations in Northern Ireland until Thursday 1st April 2021 - with the exception of weddings, funerals, arrangements for recording and/or live-streaming, drive-in services and private prayer (as permitted by regulations). 
 
The Standing Committee also decided that it would further assess the situation immediately after the next NI Executive review on Thursday 18thMarch 2021, in the cautious anticipation that, from Friday 2nd April (Good Friday) onwards, Presbyterian congregations in Northern Ireland could begin to meet again for in-person gatherings for worship, with all necessary precautions and mitigations in place. This recognises the importance of Easter, which was acknowledged by both the Ministers and the CMO at Monday’s meeting.

We again welcome that this same approach is also being taken by the Methodist Church, the Church of Ireland and, in a slightly different form, by the Roman Catholic Church.
 
Vaccinations
 
At its meeting, the General Council Standing Committee also considered the issue of vaccination. The Committee were aware that a few groups are actively discouraging the take-up of vaccines and were informed that this is a significant cause of concern to the public health authorities. Following discussion the Standing Commission authorised the following statement for distribution to all active ministers in Northern Ireland and in Ireland, with the request that this be shared with our congregations:
 
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland (PCI) encourages all of its members to actively consider receiving vaccination against Covid-19 when it is offered to them. While recognising that this is ultimately a matter of personal judgement, PCI neither discourages its members from taking up the vaccine offer nor is it supportive of those who seek to discourage the take-up of the vaccine.
 

We continue to hold all of our PCI congregations in our thoughts and prayers, asking God to graciously bless the ongoing life and witness of His people in these challenging times. We live in the hope that comes through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus - a hope that is sure and steadfast and which we look forward to celebrating in the Easter season which lies ahead.
 
Yours in His Service,
Rt Rev Dr David Bruce  (Moderator or the General Assembly)
Rev Trevor Gribben  (Clerk of the General Assembly)

24/7 Prayer Course
This week we continue the 24/7 Prayer Course with Pete Greig - a course which we took part in a couple of years ago on Wednesday evenings. The videos have been re-recorded and a couple more sessions have been added since then so even if you attended the course they are well worth watching. Here is a link to the week 3 resource guide.
https://prayercourse.org/session/petition/

Open Doors - World Watch List
Open Doors has released the World Watch List. The list of countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian in 2021. 
The full list can be found here
https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/

This week the focus is on Eritrea the sixth most dangerous country in the world to be a Christian. Read about Eritrea here 
https://www.opendoorsuk.org/persecution/world-watch-list/eritrea/

Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
Rainbow

Jigsaw
The times for yesterday’s Jigsaw​

Jean 2:14
Derek 2:42
​
Play the "Big Fish Wednesday" puzzle!
https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=3f39ed9a04a6

Beside The Burn
This week we begin the Journey of Lent, a journey of 40 days through the Wilderness with Jesus Christ towards Easter. We will discover that Wilderness is a much more positive experience than we might imagine and we pray that we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

I Cannot Tell
Stephen McNie shared this song yesterday with his Tides devotional.

J.John
Facing the Canon this week is Bishop Graham Tomlin, the Bishop of Kensington. Together, they discuss Bishop Graham's new book 'Why Being Yourself is a Bad Idea'.

New City Catechism
What is Idolatry?
Idolatry is trusting in created things rather than the Creator for our hope and happiness, significance and security.
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/new-city-catechism/what-is-idolatry/

Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
Olive Branch

FOR NOW 
As restrictions on church life continue, how can we share our faith with others in a pandemic?
Neil Harrison shares some thoughts as part of the For Now resource.

The New Jerusalem - Being Human Podcast (30 minute audio)
Join Peter Lynas and Jo Frosty as we wrap up season two's journey through the God story. We turn our attention to judgment and paradise, to the New Jerusalem and garden city, and to resurrected life with our King Jesus, here and now and what's to come.​

https://t.co/GWGHRNdFjc

Jigsaw
The times for yesterday’s Jigsaw

Jean 2:50
Derek 3:06
​
Play the "Portstewart Harbour Tuesday" puzzle!
https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=3bbed7ff1137

Beside The Burn
This week we begin the Journey of Lent, a journey of 40 days through the Wilderness with Jesus Christ towards Easter. We will discover that Wilderness is a much more positive experience than we might imagine and we pray that we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Sunday Service
Below is Burnside At Home from Sunday.

Getty Family Hymn Sing
Yesterday after Burnside At Home we had the little extra of the Getty Family Hymn Sing, if you missed it or want to watch again, here it is.

Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
Forty Days And Forty Night

Lent - Journey To The Cross (9 minute video)
The Ballymena Ministers' Fellowship have been preparing a series of short reflections for Lent – it is called "Journey to the Cross".  The first reflection is below

Jigsaw
The times for yesterday’s Jigsaw

Derek 11:38
Jean 13:23
​
Play the "Balintoy Storm Monday" puzzle!
https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&pid=3347cb1b83fe

Beside The Burn
This week we begin the Journey of Lent, a journey of 40 days through the Wilderness with Jesus Christ towards Easter. We will discover that Wilderness is a much more positive experience than we might imagine and we pray that we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
Two by Two

Covid-19 Cases
Portstewart is no longer the place with the least number of Covid-19 cases in Ireland, but is still very near the bottom of the table. (4th)

Beside The Burn
This week we begin the Journey of Lent, a journey of 40 days through the Wilderness with Jesus Christ towards Easter. We will discover that Wilderness is a much more positive experience than we might imagine and we pray that we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Why keep Lent? by J.John
Also at the end of the Blog today is an article by J.John about why we should keep Lent.

WIlma Devenney
Today Christian Aid Ireland have featured our own Wilma on their facebook page as a #lockdownhero

Finding Out About Other Churches
Today Matt What are Evangelicals trying to do?

Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
Noah

Loving Kindness - New Hymn
Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” (Psalm 63:3)
Some truths are so rich, so wonderful and expansive, they call for a special word. Take the covenant love of God for his people. Throughout Scripture, God reveals himself as slow to anger, full of mercy, and faithful in steadfast affection to those he has redeemed. The King James Version uses a beautiful word to translate this idea, one that still resonates deeply today: lovingkindness. 
In this new hymn by Matt Redman, Matt Boswell, and Matt Papa, we celebrate the never-failing, awe-inspiring, undeserved lovingkindness of God. Combining an upbeat energy with truths worth singing over and over again, this song was written to help us wonder at the character of God: “How great your lovingkindness, O God of goodness, our joy forever to sing the glad refrain!”

Why keep Lent? by J.John

Lent, the forty days before Easter (not counting Sundays), is a somewhat curious period in the church’s calendar. Most events in the church’s year are festivals and we happily talk about celebrating them. Lent is very different: it is a minor-key period which is never ‘celebrated’ but only ‘kept’. Some churches and Christians treat Lent very seriously, while others ignore it entirely.

Even among those who keep Lent, there is no agreement on how it should be kept. Many Christians try to give up something: for instance, chocolate, social media or television. It’s even become a period for us to try to break bad habits, almost as if Lent gives us another opportunity to retake those New Year’s resolutions!

Now what exactly is Lent about?

Lent is about three ‘preparations’.

Lent is a preparation for Easter. Easter, with its message of Christ destroying sin and death through his death and resurrection, is the most exciting moment in the church’s year. Yet we can undercut this note of victory by being so occupied that, amid the frantic busyness of our lives, we carelessly stumble upon Easter. Lent provides us with forty days’ build-up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday that forces us to prayerfully ponder the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. As the best way to appreciate a sunrise is to be there in the darkness before dawn, so the only way to appreciate Easter is to have come to it through Lent. We as Christians are, of course, an Easter people living in a Good Friday world.

Secondly, Lent is a preparation for Existence. A fatal flaw in our culture today is that people do not know how to say ‘no’ to bad things. It is now almost a virtue to give in to every desire that comes upon us. Yet a great element in Christian morality is to be able to say ‘no’to wrong desires. Paul, in Titus 2:11–12 (NIV), says, ‘For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives.’ Lent gives us the opportunity to practise resisting harmful and hurtful desires that will continue for life. Trivial as it may appear, a battle won over chocolate, coffee or cake at Lent may help us win a battle over lust, lying or laziness shortly afterwards.

Finally, Lent is a preparation for Eternity. If you take Lent seriously, then these forty days can seem to be a long and often wearying season in which we never get our own way. Here, for a time, pleasures are put to one side and joys are postponed. But Lent doesn’t last. The darkness is broken by the joyful light of the glorious triumph of Easter Day. Here there is a splendid parallel with our lives. For many of us, much of our life seems to take place in what we might call ‘Lent mode’: things do not go as we hope, we do not get what we want and our joys are absentor at best short-lived. Yet, for the Christian, there is that wonderful and certain hope that however deep and hard the darkness is in our lives, it will ultimately be lifted and replaced by an indestructible joy. For those who love Christ, life’s long Lent will end one day in an eternal Easter in which death and sin are destroyed for ever. Whether or not you keep Lent (which starts on Wednesday 17th February), and in what way you keep it, is your choice. But to keep Lent, thoughtfully and prayerfully, is to come into a rich and lasting inheritance.
Be blessed this Lent and bless others.

J.John
www.canonjjohn.com

Beside The Burn
This week we begin the Journey of Lent, a journey of 40 days through the Wilderness with Jesus Christ towards Easter. We will discover that Wilderness is a much more positive experience than we might imagine and we pray that we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Finding Out About Other Churches
Today Matt asks what are evangelicals trying to do?

Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
Methuselah.
A message from Glen about how to live even longer than Methuselah and avoid death.

24/7 Prayer Course
This week we continue the 24/7 Prayer Course with Pete Greig - a course which we took part in a couple of years ago on Wednesday evenings. The videos have been re-recorded and a couple more sessions have been added since then. Here is a link to the week 2 resource guide.
https://prayercourse.org/session/adoration/

Beside The Burn
This week we begin the Journey of Lent, a journey of 40 days through the Wilderness with Jesus Christ towards Easter. We will discover that Wilderness is a much more positive experience than we might imagine and we pray that we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

Finding Out About Other Churches
Today Matt asks What is an Evangelical?

Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
Begat

Ordinary Heroes
As the pandemic continues, @pcimoderator Dr David Bruce, writing in the @News_Letter, looks at the ordinary everyday heroes who keep on keeping on, and how even in these continuing dark days – there is hope. https://t.co/fRG82TtFFD

The Lent Encounter
This Lent Encounter starts Wednesday 17th February. Join the Bible Society on this brand new 40-day experience in the lead up to Easter. It's completely free – all you have to do is sign up. 
FIND OUT MORE -
https://t.co/qVRQubq89r

Boaty McBoatface
You may remember recently when a competition was held to name a new Artic Research vessel and the internet came up with Boaty McBoatface. The result of the competition was set aside and the vessel was named the  Sir David Attenborough. Yesterday the boat was moored in the West Bay Portrush as it carried out sea trials.

Beside The Burn
This week we begin the Journey of Lent, a journey of 40 days through the Wilderness with Jesus Christ towards Easter. We will discover that Wilderness is a much more positive experience than we might imagine and we pray that we will be drawn into a deeper relationship with Jesus.

J.John
J.John interviews Dr John Kirkby CBE, founder of Christians Against Poverty UK, and unpacks how God called him to help others with significant financial burdens in the UK and internationally.

Finding Out About Other Churches
Today Matt asks, What is assemblies of God?

Glen Scrivener
“Reading Between The Lines” a series working through the bible looking at the well known phrases.
The Land Of Nod

Dan Walker
An interview with Dan Walker about his new book.

Corporate Worship (A New Book)
Worship Isn't Just a "Me-and-Jesus" Moment
When you worship God on Sundays, isn't it primarily a moment for you and for God—or for you, God, and those around you? 
In this new Building Healthy Churches book, Matt Merker explores the Bible’s teaching about corporate worship. It's an activity in which God gathers the church by his grace, unto his glory, for his people’s mutual good, and before the world’s gaze. Corporate Worship: How the Church Gathers as God's People will help Christians view worship as God-centered and mutually edifying, rather than as mere self-fulfillment.
Watch an interview with the Author and Keith Getty.

Lent Devotional
Laurie McClure has written a Lent devotional she writes - 
Growing up in a non-denominational church, I didn’t learn to celebrate Lent like people worshipping in the High Church did, but it definitely fascinated me. My friends skipped bread, sugar, or television for forty days and I wondered what the point of it was.
As I got older, I realized that the purpose was to eliminate something for the period before Easter replicating Jesus’ fast in the desert (Matthew 4:2). Fasting during Lent is a spiritual discipline to hone hearts and souls more towards the Lord. A very worthy season, indeed.
https://www.studygateway.com/download/10404/?utm_source=fgfree&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fgfree20210212_40daysdecrease&utm_term=fgfree