Anglican Diocesan Festival August 9, 2015 |01 August 2015

The Anglican Diocese of Seychelles will be holding its annual Diocesan Festival on Sunday August 9, 2015, at the Holy Saviour’s Parish Church, Anse Royale. 

The Diocesan Festival gathers all Anglicans in one place for worship and fellowship. 

The host parish usually organises activities after the worship service to raise funds for the parish and a contribution of the amount collected goes towards the Diocesan Fund. 

This year, the theme for the Diocesan Festival set by the Diocesan Bishop is “Grounded in the Word”.  The worship service will start at 9:30am. 

The Diocesan Bishop, James Wong Yin Song, will be the preacher and all the other Diocesan clergy will robe and co-celebrate at the Holy Eucharist, while the liturgy of the word in the worship will be led by church members from the different parishes of the Diocese.

Since the re-dedication of the Holy Saviour’s Parish Church in September 2009, this will be the first major Diocesan event to be held within the parish, where all the other churches in the diocese are not holding any worship and we meet together in one place for worship and fellowship.  

It is also worth noting that the Holy Saviour's Parish Church during the past years since the re-dedication in 2009 and even during the course of this year 2015, has experienced a series of vandalism and burglary, both at the church and the rectory close to the church.

Through all this, we, the parishioners and priest, have remained faithfully committed in serving the Lord in that community.  We have in some way identified with what Paul talked about in 2 Corinthians 12:1-10, "... a torn in the flesh ..." (2 Cor, 12:7b) and our love and faithfulness hang on "But the Lord said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'" (2 Cor. 12:9).  This also reminds all of us of the theme that was used at the Church re-dedication - "The Lord is my banner." (Exo. 17:15).

The activities which will take place after the worship include bring & buy sale, sale of fruits and vegetables, cool drinks, tea & coffee, pick a straw, sale of burgers, as well as games, entertainment for kids and adult in the church compound. There will also be an exhibition in the rectory of some events and activities that have taken place since the church re-dedication to date.  There will also be activities in the fun park with live band entertainment both at the fun park and in the church compound.  Anyone wishing to get a stall in the fun park can contact 2578539.

Everyone is invited to come and join us to worship and reflect together on the theme “Grounded in the Word”.  We shall start our celebration on Thursday August 6, the Feast of the Transfiguration, the feast day of the parish.  We will have a celebration of the Holy Eucharist at 5pm, with the launch of the theme for the month of August “Commitment”.  The worship service will be followed by sale of take away and drinks so that if you come, you will not have to worry about heading home to prepare dinner.

Contributed