Maridi Team Blog: A threefold cord is not quickly broken
Although it has taken months of preparation and training, including interviews and training via Skype for the Albany members, the team that make up the Maridi META 2013 met for the first time yesterday in Jackson’s Hotel, Ballybofey, County Donegal. The team is a joint venture between the Dioceses of Down and Dromore and Albany Diocese in USA. Many of the team were attending the Down & Dromore Clergy Conference and so it made sense to have the act of commissioning for the team as part of the evening Communion service.
Albany Diocese had brought a special banner (pictured) with them which was used as a back–drop to the service. They plan to present it to Bishop Justin when the team arrives in Maridi, South Sudan. The banner encapsulates the concept of three cords – Albany Diocese, Down & Dromore Diocese and Maridi Diocese, quoting Ecclesiastes 4:12, ‘A threefold cord is not quickly broken.’ It depicts three different coloured cords, connecting the 3 dioceses to the Holy Spirit (dove). This reflects an experience that Jane Corbett had while praying before the Albany Convention. Jane explains:
“While in prayer I saw a three stranded cord. Kevin Steckline found the verse and his wife Donna help make it into a banner and the rest is history.”
Before the Commissioning Alison Cadden and the impromptu Conference Choir sang a new songs written by Alison and based on the Ecclesiastes verse. There was an incredible sense of unity and togetherness as the congregation laid hands and prayed over the three groups, including the Maridi team, who were being commissioned.
The ten–strong Maridi team includes Bishop Miller, Bishop Love, Kevin and Donna Steckline, Rory and Jane Corbett, Annette McGrath, John Hamilton and Trevor Buchanan and is led by CMS Ireland’s David Gough. Half of the team have visited Maridi before (on nine occasions in Jane’s case!), but this will be the first visit for Bishop Love, Rory, Donna, Annette and John.
During their 10 days in South Sudan, the team will participate in a Youth Conference, provide medical support, lead a healing service and make ministry visits to two Archdeaconries that have been affected by Lord’s Resistance Army incursion,
Please pray for the safe journey, good health for the team and may they be a blessing to all they encounter as we spend a week in Maridi Diocese.
[David Gough]