Scenery, History and Sermon Preparation

Dublin & Bray

On Tuesday, I took a train to Dublin with Gillian. That afternoon, along with her family, we toured the seven-story Guinness brewhouse, which was fascinating on many levels. Then we took a bus to Trinity College. We got to see the beautiful and historic campus, but Trinity is most famous for the Book of Kells, a 3rd or 4th century manuscript of the gospels. This exhibit closed at 5:00 and we were 15 minutes late. That night, we went to Gillian's dad's local watering hole, the Graduate, on the night of its reopening after a fire forced it closed. We stayed at Gillian's sister Georgina's that night in Bray (just south of Dublin).

The next day, Georgina's (boy)friend Johnny took me up on Brayhead, a mountain/large hill/cliff overlooking Dublin, Wicklow and the sea. I liked Johnny as soon as I met him at dinner the night before. He's very authentic and willing to learn and talk about interesting things. I think Johnny and I developed a mutual admiration for one another, though we come from completely different worlds. He grew up Catholic in Belfast, Northern Ireland in the middle of "the Troubles". His house was next to a peace wall, separating it from a Protestant neighborhood; his bedroom had reinforced glass windows to protect him rocks that were thrown over. He shared with me other reasons he has to hate Protestants which I don't think he would appreciate me sharing. But he doesn't hate Protestants. It's fair to say he used to. It's for this reason that I don't wave the banner of Protestant or Presbyterian or Baptist over myself to easily. Those are easy labels, but they can hinder openness to the gospel. It is far better to talk about Jesus, thus going straight to the gospel. This is what I did with Johnny, and he was very interested in and open to what I believed. In fact, he volunteered he and Georgina to come watch my first sermon at Grace Church (which will be Sunday). Georgina also stated they would come. I'm not getting my hopes up, but I certainly developed a strong fraternal bond with Johnny as we spend several hours talking while climbing toward the cross at the summit of Brayhead (the first photo was taken from the top). We talked about Irish history, which I was very eager to hear about, Irish and American politics (Johnny is studying law and hoping to one day go into politics--he has tattoos of Che Guevara and Patsy O'Hara if that tells you anything about his political views), sports, relationships, Catholicism and Jesus.

Easter Sunday

We had a small service, no unexpected visitors and several members out of town, but the Lord showed up in power and softened hearts, at least mine. I lead the communion part of the service. After that, James and Sandra took Tom and I (see right) to lunch, then we all went to Hook Lighthouse, the oldest lighthouse in Ireland (or England), 4th oldest in the world. It was built in the 12th century when the Anglo-Normans first came to southeast Ireland. It had a beautiful view of the sea. They say you can see whales, dolphins and seals if on certain days. We didn't see any, and it was so windy it was hard to stay up there long.

Easter Monday

Today was a "bank holiday" in Ireland; most people get a four-day weekend for Easter. James and Sandra took me to Cashel, an hour or so away. The Rock of Cashel (seen below) is the castle where St. Patrick taught Christianity and baptized an Irish lord in the fifth century. It has been a part of great history through the centuries. On the way back, we passed probably a half-dozen castles that had not been preserved like Cashel. Everywhere you look in Ireland, you are reminded of the ancient past, which I love as a history-lover.

Preparing to Teach

Miles asked me to teach the Wednesday night Bible study in his stead (he usually leads via Skype). I will be looking at the idea of new birth from the first part of John 3. On Sunday, I will be preaching for the first time here. When I found out Johnny and Georgina may be coming, I had intended to preach on Ephesians 2:1-10, but have since changed my mind and will return to the gospel of Luke, in which James was preaching before Miles' coming and Easter. I will be at

the start of chapter 3 in Luke, looking at John the Baptizer preparing the way for Christ. So it looks to be a busy week of preparation. I taught the house here Friday morning about the Biblical concept of redemption. When we think of redemption, we usually think of self-redemption, how we fail and need to redeem ourselves. The Biblical definition is much different; throughout the Bible, it means to take something lacking value, give it value and escalate it to a place of loving care. We see this in the story of Boaz and Ruth, in Exodus 6:6 where God promises to redeem Israel from slavery into a land of promise and of course on the cross where Jesus redeems His people out of slavery to adoption as sons and daughters (see Galatians 4:4-7). Please pray for me as I prepare to preach God's Word.