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The Reverend Garibaldi McFlurry
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A Deacon in the Church of God. Licensed to preach the Gospel. Sermons, book reviews, Bible studies and random happenings from his life.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'ministry'
Christmas Home Communions
Yesterday I was out doing my Home Communions for Christmas with some elderly or housebound members of the congregation who can't make it to Sunday services any more. A special time, to share in the Lord's Supper in a more personal way with someone wh...
Good News
Last night was our monthly Potty Training. Just in case you're thinking I'm a bit old to just be getting out of nappies, don't worry: it's Post Ordination Training, now known as Continuing Ministry Education. All the Curates in the first three years ...
NIMA 2009
It's Wednesday, but it feels like a Monday. Monday morning is the start of the week for me, as it's the day after the last big preach, and as far as possible from the next one on the following Sunday. Monday morning is the time for deskwork, printing...
Book Review: Preach The Word
Kent Hughes has enjoyed an immensely faithful and fruitful ministry, and so on the occasion of his retirement from College Church in Wheaton Illinois, an international group of scholars and pastor-teachers combined to author a book in Kent's honour. ...
No Rector...
One of the joys of being a Curate Assistant (among others) is the ability to say, "You'll have to talk to the Rector about that." The buck ultimately doesn't stop with me, and Tim is the one who is in charge within the parish. Overall strategy, visit...
Mind, Heart, Will
One of the kind gifts I received at the time of my ordination as a Presbyter was a book from the parish: Preach The Word. It's a collection of essays on expository preaching, and I hadn't got round to reading it after my ordination. I picked it up ea...
World War Two
Seventy years ago, Britain declared war on Germany and the Second World War began. For six years, the world would again face turmoil and suffering with armies, navies and air forces battling for supremacy. In a coincidence, it just so happens that I'...
Gospel Solos or Synthesis?
I've been doing my initial prep on the passage for next Sunday's sermon, which is Luke 9: 28-36, the Transfiguration. And as I've been reading it, I've been thinking through the words that Luke uses, seeing how it all fits together. At the same time,...
So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye
One of the worst things about pastoral ministry is when the time comes to say goodbye, either when friends and colleagues are moving on, or when you're doing the moving yourself. Just think of Paul's tearful goodbye to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20....
My First Communion
This morning I celebrated my first Lord's Supper at our traditional midweek service. An apostolic number of communicants, and all seemed to go well. It's strange, having watched others leading the service for my first 28 years, and now suddenly findi...
Book Review: The Deliberate Church
There has been a flood of books on the church in recent years. From the Purpose Driven Church, to Liquid Church, to Emerging Churches, to Contagious Churches, to Cell Church, and the Provocative Church, you can have any type of church you like, and p...
An Institution
This has been a week for big ecclesiastical gatherings. From a country Presbyterian church on Sunday night, I found myself in quite different surroundings on Monday evening, at the Institution of Adrian Dorrian as the new Rector of the Parish of St P...
Bilocation
Sadly I haven't worked out the dynamics of bilocation yet - the ability to be in two places at once. It would have come in really handy on Sunday night, as there were lots of places I could have been. As well as the Presbyterian Licensing, there was ...
Licentiate, Not Licentious
Last night I journeyed far and wide to Stewartstown in County Tyrone for a service in 1st Stewartstown Presbyterian Church. One of my good friends, Stewart Glendinning, was being Licensed as a Probationer for the Ministry in the Presbyterian Church, ...
Retreat Reading
Last weekend I had my ordination retreat down in Rostrevor. As well as eating, sleeping, chapel, and sessions with the Bishop, we had some free time for thinking and reading. So what was my retreat reading? Actually, it was the same as my reading fro...
Precious Sheep
How much are sheep worth? If you've ever listened to Good Morning Ulster or Evening Extra on BBC Radio Ulster, you'll have heard the listing of prices at the various livestock markets and marts around the province. Among them, there's always mention ...
The Ordination
Last night was my ordination to the office of Presbyter (elder), also known as Priest, alongside Adrian Green. Willowfield Parish Church seemed to be right and full, a huge congregation, with great singing, although it made for a very warm evening, e...
Ordination Retreating
The car is packed, the iPod is loaded up with teaching (Don Carson, if you're interested), the cassock is about to be put on, and then we're off to Willowfield for the ordination rehearsal. After that, it's a quick dash to the Benedictine Monastery i...
