Double celebration on St Mark's Day
A double celebration took place in St Mark's Parish Church, Newtownards, on Friday 25th April.
500 local children from four of the primary schools in the Parish came along for a celebration to mark the feast of St Mark, to whom the church is dedicated. Some children read lessons about people from the Bible like Moses, David and Mary who found a way to praise God was through songs they wrote. The children were then encouraged to sing and shout their own praises to God - over 500 people making a joyful noise to the Lord nearly brought the house down.
The service was conceived by Stephen Doherty, the Parish's Youth and Family Co-ordinator. It was originally intended to be part of a series of celebrations to rededicate the newly refurbished church. When it became apparent that the work was going to take longer than expected, it was decided that this should be no reason not to celebrate St Mark's Day with the schools of the parish. Stephen, reflecting after the service, said ‘It was wonderful to look out over a full church and see and hear this many children singing God's praises. It's a high I don't want to come down from.'
Joining the children and their teachers was the Bishop of Down and Dromore, Rt Revd Harold Miller who was ordained as a Bishop on St Mark's Day in 1997. The Bishop told the children ‘When I heard that there would be this many of you in a church called St Mark's today, I said that's where I wanted to be'. The Rector, Canon Ken Smyth, encouraged the children to sing ‘Happy Anniversary Dear Bishop' at the start of the service and the Curate, Rev Adrian Dorrian used the address to remind the children that sometimes songs of praise can help us when we're not sure what to pray to God. The music was provided by Stephen Shaw, Organist and Director of Music in the parish.