The book of Jonah is about the relationship between a rebellious prophet and a relentless God. It’s one of the most famous stories in the Old Testament perhaps because of the miraculous moment when Jonah is swallowed by a whale. The message of Jonah, however, takes us beyond the miraculous to ask deep questions of all of us about God’s calling and our response. In the belly of the whale Jonah prays and the way that he pray provides considerable food for thought. The ultimate message of Jonah may be that God’s will is not easily subverted, but our God is nothing if not both persistent and compassionate in seeking us out and bringing us home.

Come and join us as we consider all of this in a series of three Advent Study sessions on Thursdays: 30^th Nov, 7^th Dec and 14^th Dec from 2:00-3:30pm, followed by refreshments. The sessions will take place at James and Anna’s house in Spinningdale.

The Kyiv Classic Accordion Duo are making their tenth visit to St Finnbarr’s on Wednesday 26th July.  Their concert will start at 7:30pm and there will be a retiring collection for the charity HIPPOKRAT.

About the Kyiv Classical Accordion Duo:

In 2006 Igor and Oleksiy finished studying in the National Music Academy of Ukraine in Kiev. However they began to perform professionally from 2002. Oleksiy plays in the Orchestra of the National Radio of Ukraine; Igor works in the National Philharmonic of Ukraine. They decided to give the name Kyiv Duo Classic to the duo. However this does not mean that Igor and Oleksiy perform only classical music; programmes of their concerts include music of Bach, Grieg, Vivaldi, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov as well as traditional Ukrainian and Russian music. Two contemporary button accordions make it possible to produce a sound like a small squeezebox and at the same time, like big church organ, a string quartet and even an orchestra.

About their charity – HIPPOKRAT:

One of the main purposes of the Kyiv Classic Accordion Duo 2009 UK tour is to raise money for the HIPPOKRAT Society of Mothers of Disabled Children who suffered as a result of the explosion in 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Energy Plant. The Chernigiv region suffered most from the radiation fall out and since 1986 a large number of children have been born with mental and physical problems. Many of these children are now young adults.

As Oleksiy explains:

“There are at least 1000 invalid children in Chernigiv which has a total population of around 320,000 and unfortunately, these children get no real support from the state. The mother of a disabled child usually needs to be with the child all the time, so she cannot earn money. That is why the Society of Mothers of Disabled Children, HIPPOKRAT, was founded more than 15 years ago”.

“The task of HIPPOKRAT is to provide families with invalid children with food, medicine and money. HIPPOKRAT also organises different events and parties with presents for children. It is not a commercial organisation. It is run by 10 women led by Valentina Frol. They do not receive any money for their job and all of them have disabled children”.