The Pointer Online only July and August 2020
Rector The Rt Rev Darren McCartney 028 4175 3497 suffragan1@gmail.com
The Magazine of the Church of Ireland Parishes of Clonallon & Warrenpoint with Kilbroney in the Diocese of Down and Dromore Contact the editor, Elizabeth, if you would like a pdf sent to your email. hannamanor15@btinternet.com
You may not be aware that I have a love for bushcraft. What is bushcraft I hear some of you asking? It is the knowledge and skills needed to live in the Bush/ Wilderness. I have always had a bit of a love for this subject and it has only increased over the years, quite fortunate and important if you are to live in isolated locations, something Karen, Liam and I have done in the past. A couple of years back I happened to be over in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in Canada. On this side of the Diocese of the Arctic there are trees and it afforded me an opportunity to test and refresh some of the knowledge and skills that I hadn’t used for some time. It is important to practice these skills, or they can be easily forgotten. It was January and we had a daytime temperature of minus 18 degrees during the day and dropping to minus 30 degrees at night. You can imagine a heat source and shelter are pretty crucial. I was well prepared and felt that I had everything I needed to survive with plenty of contingencies factored in. When I eventually picked my camp site it was getting close to dark, there isn’t much daylight at that time of year. So, I set about making a fire. The temperature was dropping, and it was very difficult to get a flame. The severe cold seemed to swallow and put out any hint of a flame. After a number of attempts with different wood and special fire lighting materials, I was starting to wonder would I be successful. It is at this point that I was forced to call upon one of these contingencies and pulled out this little wood burning stove. My plan was to see if I could get something to light in it and then transfer the flame across to the larger in the firepit I had prepared. The little stove has a battery charger attached to the
side which charges when a fire is in the stove. Crucially, for me, it also has a small blower that blows air into the stove to help fan the spark or ember. With the small stove and blower working I managed to get a good fire lit and was able to transfer the fire across to the firepit. It was a lifesaver that night, if it had not been for the small blower fanning the small flame in an environment that was hostile, the flame would certainly not have got going. The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy chapter 1 which I feel speaks to the life of our parishes. I would love both young and old to reflect on these beautiful words of encouragement and determine for themselves how each can respond: 3
I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4 Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5 I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 6 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7 For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:3-7
Paul as an older Christian and removed to a degree from the circumstances of Timothy does a number of things which I think encourages those of you, who perhaps are removed from things, whether by illness or the increase of years to do a couple of things: 1. Give thanks and constantly remember those you know and love in the Lord. Bring them to God and ask Him to pour out His Spirit. 2. Encourage your younger brothers and sisters in the Lord. Tell them of your experiences, tell them of