Join CMH:I and NBSI as we reflect together on the well known Psalm, drawing upon its rich meaning for then and now – online, Tuesday 1st April, 7-8.30pm. 

Psalm 23 has wisdom and meaning for every season of our lives.

Led by NBSI facilitor and Biblical scholar Dr Julie McKinley, we will be invited to look at the Psalm with fresh eyes.

Julie will explore the Psalm in its context in the Judean wildnerness and with a knowledge of the Biblical Hebrew, which can help us reflect on what the scripture might have meant for the Psalmist and what it might mean for us today.

Remember, scripture is a living word, and as we open our minds and hearts and experience to it, it becomes nourishment to us.’

For example, when the Psalmist declares, ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’, we might pause to ask ourselves “What shepherds me? What or who do I turn towards for guidance, protection and nourishment? How or where in my life can I turn more towards being shepherded by God?”

Book via Eventbrite by clicking HERE. When you donate to join a session you are supporting a ministry, rather than paying to attend a session. So if you can’t donate, simply email us, and we will gladly book you in. You can support the ministry through attending, praying for us or telling someone else about a session they might enjoy. Lydia from CMH:I is your point of contact for any queries before, during or after and she’s always happy to hear from people: lydia.cmhi@gmail.com

The Church’s Ministry of Healing Dublin and Glendalough Annual Quiet Day 2025 will take place on Saturday 22^nd March, in Newcastle Parish Centre (Church Lane, Newcastle, Greystones, Co Wicklow A63 X782). Join us for a day of resting in God’s unfailing love and turning towards ourselves with compassion. The CMH Quiet Day was extremely popular last year, and attendees experienced it as a source of encouragement, creativity and peace, as we gathered in the presence of the Lord, our Healer. If you would like to join us for this special day, please email Jeanne at healing.dgdc@gmail.com

Our facilitator is Lydia Monds, Ministry Leader with the Church’s Ministry of Healing: Ireland. It promises to be a time of renewed connection with God, leaning upon His strength, provision, and promises, as we navigate the hills and valleys of life. Sessions will include contemplative story-telling, where the Psalm will be shared on sand, and a deeper look at different phrases in the Psalm that might prompt us to view it with fresh eyes. There will also be times of facilitated meditative prayer, as well as time and space to respond to what you have heart through personal prayer or art spaces. We will be leaning into the gift of silence, and allowing Love to speak, as we are supported to be still before God.

You are warmly invited to join CMHI’s new online Lenten Series, Invitation into Wholeness, over four Wednesdays in March and April. It takes place at 7.30pm on the following dates:

• March 19th
• March 26th
• April 2nd
• April 9th

These will be gentle, reflective and nourishing sessions exploring the concept of wholeness in new ways. The sessions are intentionally short but brimming with visual beauty and gentle challenges to our perceptions of wholeness. There is time every week to settle, to rest and to pray, there is time for learning and wondering, and time for journaling or doodling. The course is specifically welcoming of people living with illness and open to all.

Sign up via Eventbrite.

Sample Itinerary

• Welcome & Settling in Practise
• Introduction of theme
• Opening prayer
• Meditative Presentation – slides with artwork, reflection & wondering questions
• Time to sit with questions, pray, journal, doodle
• Time to share
• Pray together prayer on screen to close

Week 1: Brokenness and Newness

Week 2: Trees, Stone, Seas (notions of wholeness in nature)

Week 3: Sounding out the Heart and Trusting our Voice

Week 4: Joy & Sorrow on the Same Page

Main Facilitator:

Having studied literature and spiritual formation, Dr. Jessica Brown is a second-year ordinand in the Church of Ireland.

She also works in the creative writing field as a poet, novelist, singer-songwriter, teacher, mentor, and narrative practitioner.

She has led writing workshops at schools, prisons, festivals, and community events. Beyond academic publications and shorter works, Jessica has published two collections of poetry and two novels for children.

“Jessica was a guest contributor on our Advent Series. She showed photographs of ordinary spaces in an ordinary house and talked about grace to receive the given moment and the given day exactly as it is. When we did, we could see there was beauty in the ordinary and in the things undone and half done. Her reflection has stayed with me, and continued to teach me when I’m resisting how I am in the moment and how I think I should be. The fact that God’s grace is sufficient to meet me where I am and as I am has allowed me (when I remember!) to let go of the striving and grasping and unhelpful beliefs. I am learning to receive the gift of right now and the gift of God’s grace for me in the here and now.”

(reflection on Jessica’s facilitation by Lydia, CMH:I)

We are delighted to have been invited to facilitate a Vocations Event in Cork, Cloyne and Ross on Saturday 25th Jan in Carraigrohane parish hall, from 10am-1pm. This is a gentle, sensitive, morning session for anyone who is exploring a potential call to ministry in the Church of Ireland, whether that’s lay, ordained, or perhaps you’re not quite sure! If, like Samuel, you hear a voice calling you, but are not sure where that call might lead you, then this session may be for you, as Lydia, CMHI Ministry Leader, will suggest ways to still the turmoil of our minds and let God’s voice be truly heard. And as Eli told Samuel, “If He calls you, then you must say, “Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears”.

Email abbeystrewryunion@gmail.com to ask about booking a place!