VOX July 2019

ISSUE 43 / JULY - SEPTEMBER 2019

FREE

Finding Faith Caution: God at Work

God’s Masterpiece

“I have the best relationship with God when I see other people spread their wings and fly.”

What does inclusive Bible teaching look like?

What can people with disabilities bring to your church?

a good Elife xplored!

Sat 12 October 2019

A conference exploring the life + faith of people and their families with intellectual disabilities.

Be inspired by this thought provoking, experience based conference that will equip you with knowlege that is of practical use.

During the conference sessions you will learn from a wide variety of professionals about policy and practice around ensuring a good life for people with intellectual disabilities.

Who is it for? For parents and carers, churches and faith communities, teaching and care professionals, and anyone with a desire to learn more. For our delegates with intellectual disability we have a parallel accessibile programme.

Where?

YWCA Coolnagreina, Greystones, Co. Wicklow Overnight B&B in this lovely comfortable venue from €35 pp Sharing.

Programme?

9.30am - 4.30pm 4 concurrent streams to choose from (Registration from 8.30am)

Cost?

Fee: €50 (Early Bird Rate: €40) (see online) Includes Refreshments & Light Lunch

// dignity // belonging // spirituality

Dr. Ian Dickson

Donna Jennings

Dr. Ivan Bankhead

// opportunity

TIOASSOCIATES.ORG 02

inspiring 12 sessions passionate 6presenters

4 streams

BELONGING SPIRITUALITY OPPORTUNITY ACCESSIBILITY

Dr. Jill Harshaw

Rachael Mackarel

Gillian Carlisle

agoodlife@yourevent.ie

Please drop us an email if you could help distribute our main conference brochure.

FOR MORE INFORMATION and to BOOK: www.yourevent.ie

VOX.IE JUL - SEP 2019

EDITORIAL

Of Symbols & Stained Glass t was breathtaking. Light from the setting sun streamed through the stained-glass window in St. Patrick’s Church in Ballina, Co. Mayo, splashing patches of colour across the wooden pews.

This experience, combined as it was with a conversation a few days previously, came to symbolise this year’s VOX magazine Finding Faith Tour. Shortly before setting out, a friend shared that she was intending to use the illustration of “stained glass” in an up-coming sermon.

Differing fragments of coloured glass are fitted into a work of art but it is only when light shines through, that the true beauty is revealed.

As I encountered the stories of individuals, groups and church communities across Ireland, it was as if they were being pieced together into a stunning mosaic. When the light of God’s grace shines through His people, they are beautified and the effect spreads out across their communities, across our land and beyond.

I

When the light of God’s grace shines through His people, they are beautified It is breathtaking to look back over story after story from this year’s tour and to realise that this is just a taste, just a snapshot of all that God is doing in Ireland.

Read how an encounter with Jesus Christ transformed the lives of people in different parts of the country (Living Faith, page 12), enjoy stories of what is happening (Caution: God at Work, page 20) and be inspired (Honeysuckle, Herbs and Wild Honey, page 26 and The Sam Maguire Community Bells, page 28).

There is much to question and challenge within the Christian community in Ireland, and VOX will never shy away from that. But there is also much to celebrate, reasons for gratitude and opportunities to build one another up!

May this summer issue be a source of joy and inspiration in your own journey of faith!

Ruth Garvey-Williams Editor (editor@vox.ie)

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Join our motivated team and be part of this exciting project!

Find out more at www.vox.ie/volunteer * Average 6 hours per week, busier as each issue comes out

CONTENTS Cover Story

ISSN: 2009-2253

EDITOR Ruth Garvey-Williams editor@vox.ie

Finding Faith: Caution God at Work God’s Masterpiece - “I have the best relationship with God when I see other people spread their wings and fly.”

Features and Interviews

Finding Faith: Living Faith - inspiring stories from across Ireland.

A Place of Retreat - visiting Ballyards Castle and Galilee House.

My Story - “I fell on my knees and cried out, ‘God help me!’”

Honeysuckle, Herbs and Wild Honey - creating beauty from bare earth in Charis Garden.

The Sam Maguire Community Bells - weaving together history, community and faith in west Cork.

A Grateful Life - Ana Mullan continues her series.

Finding Faith: Beauty in Diversity - God in action in churches and Christian communities across the island.

Take Heed What You Hear - Linda de Courcy continues her series on nutrition.

Christianity and Economics - part three of our series looks at how the rules governing economic activity skew the outcomes from the start

Regular Features VOX: Shorts

Music Reviews

VOX: World News

Event Listing

Your VOX: Inbox

Book Reviews

Musings with Patrick Mitchell

VOX: PS with Seán Mullan

Confessions of a Feint Saint

July - September 2019 Issue 43

LAYOUT, ADVERTISING & DISTRIBUTION Jonny Lindsay jonny@vox.ie SUBSCRIPTIONS Ireland & UK: Min. €12 for four issues Overseas: Min. €20 for four issues Subscribe online at www.vox.ie.

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VOX Magazine Ulysses House 22 - 24 Foley Street Dublin 1 Tel: 089 415 4507 info@vox.ie www.vox.ie DISCLAIMER The views expressed in letters and articles are those of the respective authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the VOX Team or our partners. The acceptance of advertising does not indicate P32 endorsement.

PRINT Ross Print, Greystones, Co. Wicklow VOX magazine is a quarterly publication, brought to you by a passionate team of volunteers.

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JULY - SEP 2019 VOX.IE

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VOX SHORTS

THE POOR CLARES IN BELFAST

A new book by Fr. Martin Magill, who spoke so powerfully at the funeral of Lyra McKee, explores the story of a small order of nuns in Belfast. In 1924, five nuns accepted the challenge to move to a deeply wounded city following the deaths of almost 500 people during two years of civil strife. For the next 88 years, they prayed day and night for the people of Belfast. This book follows the community through their time in the city right up until their last day, including how they lived through the Belfast Blitz. Letters written by nuns within a few days of the air raids are published for the first time and add to the record of eyewitness accounts of the Blitz. Despite being enclosed and ‘away from the world’ for over eight decades the Poor Clares won the hearts and minds of many people in North Belfast. In their latter years, they made a valiant attempt to survive in a world of declining religious vocations, but finally closed their monastery in 2012 to a wave of sympathy and sadness.

APRIL FOOLED Although there is little doubt that Bono is an avid VOX reader, not everyone caught on to our April Fool’s joke on social media.

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SLIGO 19 SUMMER CONFERENCE

14 - 19 July in Sligo IT, Sligo New Wine Ireland exists to enthuse, equip and resource the local church across Ireland for radical mission that will change this nation. At the New Wine Ireland summer conference - Sligo 19 - Christians join together for a week of worship, ministry and teaching. The week provides something for all ages, with fun-filled programmes for children and young people as well as Bible teaching and worship, seminars and workshops for adults. There are also plenty of opportunities for fellowship, catching up with old friends and making new ones!

The inspirational line-up of speakers includes Amy Orr-Ewing, Krish Kandiah, John and Annie Hughes, Charlie Cleverley and others from across Ireland and beyond. To find out more or to book your place (day passes are also available) visit www.newwineireland.org.

NEW HORIZON

3 - 9 August 2019, Ulster University Coleraine This year’s theme for the New Horizon conference in Coleraine is “Radical Hospitality - Belonging to Christ.�

Radical hospitality demonstrates Jesus’ power, shining through His community in word and deed. It begins with God’s extravagant hospitality towards us and flows out to those around us. Speakers Rosaria Butterfield, Gilbert Lennox and Tim Chester will speak at the evening celebrations. In the familiar Big Top, thousands will gather to worship led by New Irish Arts, Stuart Townend, Rebecca Wright and Ian Vennard. Thirty years after the first New Horizon event, people from across Northern Ireland and beyond find inspiration, encouragement and fellowship at this gathering. Find out more at www.newhorizon.org.uk.

HOLY GHOST RALLY

Ireland’s third largest Christian denomination, the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) will hold the “Holy Ghost Rally� at Luttrelstown Castle Resort, Castleknock, Dublin 15 on Friday 25 October (at 7pm). This dynamic annual gathering of worship, prayer, testimony and preaching attracts thousands of Christians from across Ireland. It is one of the highlights of the year for RCCG churches.

VOX MAGAZINE

ARTIST HELPS CHURCH EXPLORE PENTECOST

“Doves, flames and wind: are the familiar symbols to mark Pentecost.

Abbey Presbyterian Church Dublin had a bus stop! Not your average Christian iconography I grant, so a little explanation is required,” writes Rev. Alan Boal.

“This was our first major collaboration with our church Artist-in-Residence.

Over the course of one week, Bethany Garvey-Williams took us through two contemplative workshops as part of our monthly Oasis (Retreat) Days.

Come Pentecost Sunday we had a huge collage, multiple glass paintings and clay models and... a bus stop. The theme: ‘Waiting for the Spirit.’

“Members of the congregation would have been invited to graffiti the bus stop, but the children got there first. They spent the whole service busily covering the panels in words and pictures. As adults went about the serious business of worship, the children went about the playful business of enjoying God. “Christian worship and the Arts have long gone hand in hand. The Arts are a valid vocation for Christians. We want to encourage and explore such an approach further, thanks to Bethany’s gifts, expertise, guidance and sheer boldness.”

CHURCH IN CHAINS ANNUAL CONFERENCE

Saturday 14 September from 11am to 4pm at the Clayton Hotel, Liffey Valley Dublin.

Thirty years after scenes from Tiananmen Square shocked the world, Christians in China are experiencing a new wave of persecution. At least 5,000 Chinese Christians were detained and over five hundred pastors were imprisoned in 2018. This year’s Church in Chains Annual Conference will welcome special guest speaker Bob Fu speaking on “China’s Crackdown on Christians.” Bob, who was himself imprisoned in China, is founder of China Aid and one of the world’s leading advocates for persecuted Christians in the world’s largest nation. Join others for this free conference to find out more and to stand together with those who are suffering for their faith around the world. All welcome.

WOMEN IN THE CHURCH

A full report on the in-depth findings from VOX magazine’s “3:28 Churches?” survey is now available in PDF form. Exploring the experience of women and attitudes towards women in Irish churches, the report also looks at issues of violence, abuse and prostitution with comment from leading experts. For your digital copy, write to editor@vox.ie or visit www.vox.ie/research.

DUBLIN STREET PASTORS

In the inspiring surrounds of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Street Pastors was launched on 15 May. While this is a new initiative to Dublin, it has already been running in Cork and various parts of Northern Ireland.

Originally pioneered by Rev. Les Isaac in London in 2003, teams from a wide variety of churches are now heading out on Saturday nights to offer nonjudgmental care and a listening ear to people enjoying a night out on the town. Teams are equipped to sweep up broken glass, supply minor first aid, bottled water and flip-flops for those whose high heels are no longer practical. They will also be on the lookout for those who are vulnerable, unwell or having difficulty getting home. Find out more: www. streetpastors.org/locations/dublin or on Facebook.

JULY - SEP 2019 VOX.IE

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WORLD NEWS

WHEN LOVE STARTS TO HURT

G

rowing concern about overseas orphanages and the potentially harmful effect of volunteering in them, has led to a new report from Comhlámh that calls for a move away from the focus on orphanage care. Tearfund Ireland was part of the working group that produced the report “Children First - a global perspective on volunteering in orphanages and transforming care” based on international research. It was launched in May 2019 and is available to download from the Tearfund website. Here, Tearfund Ireland’s Emma Lynch explores the implications for Christians seeking to provide help and support to the most vulnerable people: We are acutely aware that this is

8 million children currently living in residential institutions – at least 80 per cent, according to Save the Children – have at least one living parent or family member who could care for them given the right support.

All too often, the reason children are placed in residential care is poverty.

Relatives may believe that an orphanage or care home will provide their children with a better education, food and a roof over their head.

But ongoing research by the Better Care Network has shown that long-term institutional care is not in children’s best interests. Children who have grown up in orphanages often have significant cognitive and developmental delays, attachment disorders and mental health issues. What’s more, they often lack the social and life skills they need to become healthy functioning members of society.

Rethink Orphanages, puts it bluntly: “Young adults leaving institutional care are more likely to become victims of trafficking, exploitation, unemployment and homelessness and are at increased risk of suicide.”

Sadly, well-meaning support for orphanages – through donations, volunteering, tourist trips and mission work – could end up perpetrating a harmful cycle. In the worst cases, orphanages have been established to generate income from donations and volunteers, and children have been exploited and trafficked from poor communities to pose as orphans.

Attachment issues are a significant

SADLY, WELL-MEANING SUPPORT FOR ORPHANAGES – THROUGH DONATIONS, VOLUNTEERING, TOURIST TRIPS AND MISSION WORK – COULD END UP PERPETRATING A HARMFUL CYCLE. a painful and distressing issue for Christians who have volunteered and supported orphanages out of genuine love and compassion but evidence is emerging that our well-intentioned visits to help vulnerable children might be perpetuating an outdated and potentially harmful system of child care.

In the Bible, James encourages Christians to express our faith in caring for the orphan and the widow (James 1:26–27) and the Christian church has a long history of making orphan care a priority. But many children living in overseas orphanages today are not actually orphans. Most of the estimated 08

VOX.IE JUL - SEP 2019

problem. Well-meaning, unskilled volunteers are intensely loving towards the children in orphanages over a short period of time and then disappear out of the lives. This may then be repeated over and over again with profound implications for the young person.

The Bible talks about God’s compassion for the fatherless and His desire to place ‘the solitary in families’ Psalm 68:6. Tearfund Ireland has long supported programmes overseas, which help reintegrate children from institutional care back into families and communities – including through our current partners in Cambodia, Nepal and Zimbabwe.

We recognise that, to make orphanages a thing of the past and keep families together, there needs to be a significant shift in how individuals, organisations, corporations and governments support development overseas, including how we volunteer our gifts and time.

We want to encourage churches to support intiatives that keep families together and to familiarise themselves with the research about the impact of institutional care. We are not advocating knee-jerk reactions - the most important thing is to ensure the wellbeing of the children. Tearfund Ireland is able to provide tools to help with this process of careful and loving reevaluation of current models of care.

To find out more about the negative effects of orphanage volunteering and to find out how to be part of the solution go to www.loveyougive.org and watch the campaign video.

At the New Wine Ireland Sligo ’19 summer conference, Tearfund Ireland will be giving a seminar entitled “Loving Responsibly” to explore this issue in greater detail.

JULY - SEP 2019 VOX.IE

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YOUR VOX

Star Prize of VOX we In each issue of a €25 ize pr a d awar r for our he uc One4all vo email r, tte le ite ur favo ent. It m m co or online u! yo be d ul co

SUPPORT VOX AND GET YOUR COPY DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR LETTERBOX. VOX is a ministry run by a passionate team of volunteers and relys on donations to cover 50% of our costs. Donate as little as €12 and get VOX delivered to your home (islandwide) for a year for free!

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VOX.IE JUL - SEP 2019

Think Again About Meat Consumption

Thanks for another thought-provoking issue. The article “You Can Eat Meat Whenever You Want” particularly caught my attention. As someone who is a meat eater and works in the international development sector, I agree that meat can play a part in a healthy diet. However, I think that any ethical or moral argument around meat consumption in our 21st century interconnected world must consider the colossal strain that current levels of meat consumption put on our planet.

There is strong evidence, most recently from the Lancet report this year that we need to be reducing our meat consumption, particularly those of us from wealthy nations. The production of animal feed consumes large amounts of land, which could be more efficiently used if it was growing human rather than animal food. Additionally, meat and dairy (including in Ireland) have a much larger carbon footprint than pulses and grains, which is contributing to global warming and climatic changes.

Climate change is a justice issue because it is hitting hardest those who contribute the least to the problem. As a Christian, I believe we are called to lead the way in modelling actions, which promote rather than inhibit justice, and to steward the earth’s resources wisely and fairly. And that means that far from having a license to “eat meat whenever you want”, we need to see meat as a treat.

Helen Lane Maynooth, Co. Kildare

SEND YOUR LETTERS TO EDITOR@VOX.IE OR YOUR VOX, ULYSSES HOUSE, 22-24 FOLEY STREET, DUBLIN 1

CAN OVERSEAS VOLUNTEERING DO MORE HARM THAN GOOD? Growing concern about overseas orphanages and the potentially harmful effect of volunteering in them prompts Tearfund Church and Supporters Coordinator Emma Lynch to ask: how do we love responsibly?

Emma will be leading a seminar at New Wine – Sligo 19, Monday July 15th at 2:45

To find out more call Emma Lynch 01 878 3200 /tearfundireland

@TearfundIreland

tearfund ireland

Photo: Harrison Macharia, grew up in a orphanage in Kenya and is now campaigning to stop the use of orphanages for children in poverty.

Since leaving the orphanage Harrison has been reunited with his father. Credit: Better Care Network. Tearfund Ireland registered Charity No. CHY 8600

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Faith

Inspiring stories from across Ireland VOX magazine’s annual Finding Faith Tour is a journey of discovery to find out what God is doing on the island of Ireland. During this week’s tour, editor Ruth Garvey-Williams spoke to many people who were eager to share their own journey to faith. Here are a few of those stories!

FROM ZERO TO HERO Dave Kelly, Coleraine, Co. Derry

I

grew up in a dysfunctional home with an alcoholic father. One night, I was taken to a man’s home and he abused me.

That was awful but what happened next was a nightmare. Rumour and slander began circulating and people were calling me unspeakable names. Graffiti appeared and I got a couple of beatings.

My life fell apart. I was desperate.

At that time, someone invited me to a church. I had seen the change in their life so I was curious. In the church, I sensed the presence of God. Somebody

invited me to pray and give my life to Jesus. I prayed and some things changed.

The rumours dried up but I was still very broken. I drifted away from church and instead went to “party central” but it was like God pulled the rug from under my feet. In a short time, I lost my job, my place in university, my girlfriend and was going to lose my home. There was only one open door left! I had turned my back on Jesus but He hadn’t given up on me.

He has been rebuilding my life ever since.

I got a job in the prison service

where I had a bit of a reputation as a numpty (I kept making mistakes). They called me “What day is it Davey?” One night, I got this uneasy feeling. I found myself checking each of the cells. At the final one, there was the silhouette of a man hanging. I hit the alarm but I couldn’t speak because I was so shocked.

The place filled with people and they sent me to get his ID card. When I got back someone said, “Well done!” I asked, “Well done what?” They answered, “He is alive. You got him just in time.” That incident took me from zero to hero. I received the highest award in the prison service.

Since then my life has been a journey. I’ve needed a lot of healing so I can connect with Jesus. I have bad days still but I’m on the right road. He is my rescuer and my friend. He has forgiven me so much. It was almost like He said, “I’m going to give you double for your trouble.”

"I had turned my back on Jesus but He hadn’t given up on me."

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VOX MAGAZINE

“I JUST COULD NOT STOP READING MY BIBLE!” David Lamberton, Fahan, Co. Donegal

W

hen I was 12 years old, the Faith Mission had six weeks of meetings in our church. The Holy Spirit began to speak to me. Every day, I thought, “David you are not going to heaven.” But I left it to the very last night to respond.

That night I got right with God. They offered us a booklet and I told my sister, Christine, “I’m going to ask for one, do you want to come too?” And she did. It is amazing how your life can draw others to Christ by a simple word!

My father and mother were waiting outside. My father said, “You know now

you are Christians you shouldn’t fight anymore.” I remember thinking, “What have I done?!” (We used to fight a lot.)

But I can’t remember ever fighting with my sister again! When I looked back, the Holy Spirit was definitely working in my life. I could not stop reading my Bible. As a farmer, I seek to honour God through my work. Farming is the job that God has given me to do. It is His farm. Each morning I pray that He will help me to make good decisions and that I will be able to show people I meet something of the love of Jesus.

“THE MORE I READ ABOUT THE LORD JESUS, THE MORE I LOVED HIM.” Noel McAuley, Longford

I

was in business as the Managing Director of a company supplying sporting firearms, ammunition and fishing tackle. It was a prosperous life visiting towns all around Ireland with my salespeople. When I was 38 years old, I stayed in a hotel in Ennis. After a late night having a few drinks, I thought

I’d just go and crash out but the Lord had other plans for me. I couldn’t sleep so I read through the newspaper and all travel brochures in the room and then went back to bed at 2am. But I still couldn’t sleep.

In frustration, I pulled the drawer open and inside was a Gideon’s Bible.

I thought, “If anything is going to put you to sleep then this is it. This has to be the most boring book every written.”

Famous last words!

It was a “double-edged sword” that cut through this hard heart. I started to read about Jesus. My background was pretty rotten in terms of business ethics.

I was travelling abroad and bringing back the sort of literature that you couldn’t buy in Ireland in those days. I really was an “out and out” sinner. I thought if there were such a thing as a hereafter then I was already assured of my place in hell. But then I started to read that it was for people like me that Jesus died. I could not wait for this whole trip to be over so I could buy myself a Bible. At that stage, I hadn’t been involved with any Christians. I spent most of my spare time reading the Scriptures and getting to know Jesus. The more I read about the Lord Jesus, the more I loved him. Kate, my wife asked, “What has happened to you?”

It was three years before I found out that there were other people just like me who had had that same re-awakening.

I joined what is now Swords Baptist Church and later moved to Mullingar where I was involved with Mullingar Christian Fellowship. In 2012, we moved down to Longford. I’m now 71 years of age. I’m not in a state to do heavy work in the church but I play whatever role I can.

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THERE IS ROOM FOR ONE MORE Dorothy Hall, Limerick

I "I thought, 'Wouldn’t that be something if He really was a friend'."

had a broken and dysfunctional background. Our family struggled for generations with alcoholism, mental illness and drugs. I dropped out of school when my brother took his own life. I wanted out of it all so I attempted suicide and was ill for about six weeks.

Our landlady’s granddaughter was a Christian and I couldn’t’ stand her because she seemed so perfect. She found out that I was in the hospital and she asked the 40 young people in her church youth group to pray for me. “You will have to fast, and pray because it will take a miracle,” she told them.

She came to see me. I saw her standing over me, crying. I shouted, “Who let you in here? Get out.” She just kept weeping and said, “Dorothy, please

don’t be upset, I asked your mum if I could stand by your bed. We are fasting and praying for you. When you get better, we’d like to invite you to church.”

I really lit into her. I didn’t understand what “fasting” was so I said, “You can pray as fast as you want because it won’t do anything.”

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But a miracle happened because eventually I said, I’d think about it.

On Sunday morning, I tried to find something to wear but when I saw myself in the mirror I burst into tears.

There was no way I could walk into church looking like that. My clothes didn’t fit and my hair was tied up with a strip of cloth torn from a tea towel.

The horn honked and she was outside along with some friends all wearing their Sunday clothes. So I went out to tell her I wasn’t going but they got me to sit in the back of the car and then one of them reached over and pulled the door shut. As we drove, the girls sang, “Jesus in me” in three-part harmony.

It was the most beautiful music I had ever heard. They sang, “Jesus in me for each tomorrow, every heartache and every sorrow.” And I thought, “Wouldn’t that be something if He really was a friend.”

The whole youth group had turned out to see whether their miracle had arrived. They literally threw their arms around me and welcomed me. We all crammed together in one long pew. The pastor spoke about being born again and the message made such sense but I couldn’t respond because I didn’t want anybody to see my clothes. A woman got up to sing, “Though millions have come, there is still room for one.” I looked around. Everyone was praying. The song seemed to be saying that there was only room for one more and I thought, “Somebody is going to beat me to it.” So I stepped on everybody’s feet in my rush to get to the front. No one could see my outfit because I ran so fast down the aisle and dropped to my knees. I heard weeping behind me and there were the 40 kids all gathered around me at the altar. So I said to the pastor, “Do you think God will let them come too?” He laughed and said, “They’ve already made this trip.” They just wanted to be there to support me.

That became my church. I went on to study at Bible College and continued my education with God’s help. I was ordained in 1987 after I came to serve in Ireland. And I’ve been here ever since.

VOX MAGAZINE

PURSUED BY THE HOUND OF HEAVEN Trevor Slattery, Thurles, Co. Tipperary

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t 15, I remember hearing a Gospel message in church and coming to the realisation that if I died I would not be going to heaven. The preacher said, “Go home. Lock your door. And get right with God.” So I thought that was what I had to do. I remember the drive home saying, “Dad, drive carefully. Don’t crash now!” I went into my room, got down on my knees, told God I was so sorry and asked Jesus to save me. I knelt down feeling a wretched sinner and stood up knowing that my sins were forgiven.

Things were fine until I got to college and then it all went pear shaped. I was a Christian but I was a pathetic excuse for a Christian. For ten years I tried to get away from God and it was horrible.

In His grace and love, the Hound of

"Jesus is the focal point of everything that I am, everything that I do and everything that I want to do."

Heaven pursued me. Through a series of events, I came back to Him. Eventually, I would come in from work and run to read the word of God. It came before food and everything. For a while I wondered how I could show my face in church again but everyone was delighted to welcome me back. Today Jesus is the focal point of everything that I am, everything that I do and everything that I want to do. He is the driving force of my life.

HE RESTORED EVERYTHING I LOST Pauline Haughney, Kilkenny‑

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was brought up in the Catholic Church and it was a very positive experience. My uncle was a young priest who was very much alive. He gave us our first family Bible and wrote on it, “Hope it will be well used.” Little did he know that as a young teenager I read that Bible until it fell apart. It had a huge impact on my life.

At 11, we came to live in Ireland (although my family was Irish, we had been living in England) and I embraced the charismatic movement. I met people who were on fire for God; enthusiastic in worship and speaking about how God impacted their lives. But my mum died on my 21st birthday when I was a student nurse. I felt so alone. I met the man who

later became my husband and I became pregnant.

When the baby was born, I gave him up for adoption because neither of us could keep a child. I remember I didn’t go to my graduation because I was pregnant. That was a time of such shame and grief.

Eventually I trained as a midwife and ended up working in the maternity unit just three weeks after leaving my child. I closed down emotionally and I just wasn’t coping. My child’s father, Paddy, still loved me and we got married and had two beautiful children. Working in maternity was a healing place for me as I cared for mothers in labour.

One day, I arrived home and a social worker was waiting to tell us that our oldest son (the one who was adopted) had been killed in Thailand ten days before his 21st birthday. We spent the night in shock and grief. His family kindly gave us the opportunity to see our son in the funeral home and we had a mass in my home with my uncle.

I remember thinking, “This is amazing grace that God has provided all this support for me.”

My son’s death became a

breakthrough. People who had encountered God in a deep and real way came across my path. I started attending a life group at Kilkenny Community Church. I remember a sense of the Holy Spirit saying, “This is where I want you to stay.” Someone was talking about Revelation 3:20 and asking, “Did you ever invite God into your life?” I thought, “He was always in it.” But then I said to God, “I never asked you before so let’s make this clear. I invite you into my life.” My husband preferred to stay in the Catholic Church but he also did the same.

Suddenly God had taken a story that seemed to be shameful, sad, dark and painful and transformed it. I had read God’s word as a teenager but now it was coming alive.

Paddy died of a sudden heart attack two years after our son but this time I had Christians around me that would pray with me. There was an incredible sense of support.

The day that I received my MA in Applied Spirituality Studies in Waterford, I recalled the time when I was finishing my nursing training when I stood on the other side of the river feeling such blackness, shame and grief.

Here I was returning to a graduation ceremony at the age of 59. The Lord remembered me and restored everything that I lost.

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FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT Stephen Mawhinney, Dublin

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y dad (who is now 86) founded The Christian Assembly, an independent evangelical church in Middle Abbey Street in the centre of Dublin. I loved the Lord as a young fella but when I started secondary school and began playing rugby, the lads kept inviting me out for a drink to celebrate our wins. Eventually I joined them. I remember my first glass of shandy. I was painfully shy but after just one glass, I had this amazing confidence. It wasn’t long before I progressed to beer. I hate hypocrisy so I stopped going to church and I told my dad, “I don’t want to be a Christian anymore.”

Eventually I packed my bags, got on the bus to Dun Laoghaire and caught the ferry to England. In London, I booked into the Regent Palace Hotel. I was 17 years old and my money ran out after a week so I ended up sleeping rough or in hostels and squats.

Water finds its own level so I fell in with lads who were signing on in multiple welfare offices to keep them in drink.

We were drinking all day and living off burgers.

My parents didn’t even know where I was.

At one point, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The police were tipped off about something and took a load of people in for questioning, including me. That was when the whole story came out. This policeman gave me a real ticking off. “You mean to say you left Ireland and you didn’t tell your parents. You are a disgrace!” They made contact with my parents.

Out of pride and shame, I didn’t want to come home but I agreed to stay with my uncle and later came back to Ireland to work on a building site. Seeing an ad for the prison service, I decided

to go for an interview just for the craic.

Back in the day, you’d didn’t have to have a lot of qualifications and I got the job with take-home pay of around 500 pound a week. That was big money in 1980. Alcohol was getting more of a hold of me. I sat on a high stool seven nights a week. I bought my house in 1986 but it is only by the grace of God that I managed to hold on to it. I lived on dry cornflakes and I even went out and stole a bucket of coal from a neighbour’s bunker. I needed money for alcohol and cigarettes. Food and fuel were at the bottom of the list.

My life was a shambles. I was a mess and empty inside. I had everything and yet I had nothing.

I rented out my house to four Christian lads. They paid the rent on time and didn’t give any trouble. After a while, I wanted to move back home so I gave them six months notice but they didn’t want to leave. Eventually I said, “You can stay on one condition, if you promise you will never ever talk to me about the Lord. I’m sick of it.”

I moved into the downstairs room.

I would come home much the worse for wear. One night, I could hear them singing, “He is Lord.” And I remember thinking, “A man shouldn’t have to listen to that in his own home.”

One day, one of the lads, started telling me how he met the Lord. I was bored stupid so I whipped out my prison

“Oh God, if there is any hope for me, pierce through the darkness.”

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baton and said, “If you don’t stop talking about Jesus, I’ll play a drum solo on your head.” He ran up the stairs. But I got carried away and shouted up after him, “And you can stay in that room until you learn to stop talking about Jesus.”

That nervous lad poked his head out and called back, “Stephen, that will never work. He still loves you. He will still forgive you and He will still take you back.”

All through that next week, those words kept going round and round in my head. “He still loves you. He will still forgive you. He will still take you back.”

A week later, I had a terrible compulsion to go to church. I sat in the back row and heard them singing “Shine Jesus Shine.”

One of the lines talks about piercing through the darkness and I said, “Oh God, if there is any hope for me, pierce through the darkness.”

On 3 September 1989 I couldn’t sleep.

There was a battle going on in my mind.

At 2am, I came into the living room and one of the lads was up. “ Peter, I just can’t go on anymore. I can’t fight against God. Do you think he’d take me back?”

“I promise you, he’ll take you back,” Peter replied.

I knelt in that corner and I prayed, “I’m ashamed. I made a mess of my life.

There are too many sins to mention.

Please forgive me.”

I remember standing up and for a split second, I was in a terrible panic because I didn’t feel any different. Then suddenly it hit me; this amazing sense of peace and forgiveness. I just knew, that I knew, that I knew, that I had been forgiven. A weight was lifted off my shoulders.

Musings...

VOX MAGAZINE

on Post-Church Christianity?

With Patrick Mitchel

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while back I had a conversation with a friend. He’d had enough of church. Involved in local church life for years, engaged in all the activities that go on in the life of a local community he’d slowly become disillusioned.

The source of his frustration was not that the church was inactive - often local churches are incredibly busy places - but rather the focus of that activity. The church, he said, is too much like a club for its members. So much time and effort goes into maintaining the community that the needs of the world outside are largely ignored.

So he had decided to get on with his Christian life of serving Jesus and loving others the best he could without the time-consuming distraction of day-to-day church involvement.

I imagine that you have had similar conversations, or perhaps you are, like my friend, a ‘postchurch’ Christian? It isn’t that you have lost your faith, or even become cynical, it just seems that too much of what goes on is irrelevant to real issues of life that we face in our complex modern world. There seem to be much more significant and immediate challenges to give ourselves to – like helping those in need and fixing social injustices. Ireland is one of the most unequal societies in Europe.

And so we leave the church behind to get on with God’s work in the world. After all, is not ‘kingdom work’ done wherever disciples of Jesus look after the needs of the hungry and thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned (Matthew 25:31-46)?

I have to admit that there have been times in my life when I’ve felt like taking the same route as my friend, especially being part of a wider denominational organisation that can be slow-moving and bureaucratic! But I can’t and here’s why.

There is a profoundly surprising twist in the way God has chosen to heal this broken world. At the core of the Bible story is His creation of a community, the people of God. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, it is through His people that God has chosen to redeem the world. Israel’s vocation was to be a light to the nations. The New Testament church, made up of believers in Jesus the risen Lord and empowered by His Spirit is called to be a kingdom community, displaying God’s new creation in this fallen world.

This is why, throughout the Bible, the emphasis is on

God’s people living up to their calling. Pretty much all the love commands in the Bible are about God’s people loving one another. There is virtually no emphasis on loving the surrounding world. At best, love within the community overflows to outsiders, and even enemies. But generally, what is going on in the wider Roman world is simply of little concern to the writers of the New Testament. Their overriding concern is that the church is to be the church. As people look at it, they are to see the kingdom of God. The church’s God-given mission is to invite people to join that kingdom.

Crazy as it sounds, God works with imperfect people to heal the world. He creates Israel, a tiny nation amongst powerful empires. They are to trust and obey Him rather than in false gods or political alliances (they failed most of the time).

New Testament churches were also far from perfect. Paul reminds the divided and sexually immoral Corinthians that they are not wise, rich or well connected but are recipients of God’s grace. They are not to trust in power or eloquent words, but are ‘simply’ to love one another (1 Corinthians 13). Christian love for one another seems to be God’s prime ‘weapon’ in the battle to redeem the world.

If this is the case, then dare we, in effect, take matters into our own hands and say we have a superior strategy for making the world a better place? While I respect my friend and understand his frustrations at the shortcomings of church life, I can’t go with him in divorcing kingdom work from the church because you can’t have one without the other. What about you?

It is through His people that God has chosen to redeem the world.

Dr. Patrick Mitchel is Senior Lecturer in Theology at the Irish Bible Institute. You can follow his blog at www.faithinireland.wordpress.com.

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FAITH

A PLACE OF RETREAT

“But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” Luke 5:16

In

our hectic lives, it is so important to take time to be still and know that He is God. Prayer, contemplation and retreat can play an important part in our spiritual lives as we tune out of the constant interruptions of our media driven world and tune in to the “unforced rhythms of grace.”

During this year’s Finding Faith Tour, VOX editor Ruth Garvey-Williams called in on two of Ireland’s many centres of prayer and retreat.

BALLYARDS CASTLE, ARMAGH, CO. ARMAGH

A beautiful 19th Century building owned by the Ballyards Charitable Trust, Ballyards Castle is the HQ of Northern Irish charity Drop Inn but it has also been developed as a house of prayer and a centre for retreat and renewal. Set in beautiful grounds, just outside Armagh, the building provides dormitory-style accommodation for groups along with conference facilities. Find out more at www.ballyards.org.

GALILEE HOUSE, BOYLE, CO. ROSCOMMON

Galilee House, close to Boyle is home to a small Christian community that also provides a place of warmth, welcome, retreat, sanctuary and spiritual refreshment for individuals and small groups. There is exquisite attention to detail in the works of art displayed throughout this lovely home.

At the top of the house, the chapel looks out over stunning views of the Roscommon countryside. In this place of prayer, the sense of peace is palpable. Regular community times of worship, prayer and Bible study are open to visitors, while there are opportunities for people to seek spiritual direction as well as time in silence and solitude in the Quiet Garden and poustinia (cabin). Find out more at www.galilee.ie.

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CONFESSIONS OF A FEINT SAINT

VOX MAGAZINE

A hero’s journey (wanna come?)

By Annmarie Miles

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t a writers’ weekend recently, we were challenged to give ourselves a hero’s name and go on an epic journey. I had just been on one. Six hours in the car to get to this thing. I was epic-journeyedout-of-it!

But in for a penny and all that, I gave myself the name, ‘Amo, the Incredulous’ and off I went. I used what was left of my waning energy to write the journey from my chair to the picture window three paces away, to look at the sun setting over the Yorkshire Dales. When I say sun, I mean a vague brightness behind lots of cloud, but it was still beautiful.

Some of us stayed in the room, others went outside the building, but none of us went very far. If they were like me, they discovered a lot in that short distance. This was the point. It wasn’t about how far we went, the journey just had to be epic.

I looked at every mark on every tile as I walked to the window. I looked at the window’s frame. Then I watched people on their own epic journeys, the birds that landed on the bird table, the short argument between two swifts, the gravel border to the long driveway. I looked higher and spotted a red car travelling on a road I could not see.

Soon, we were called to order, but I could have gone on writing for hours. There was so much to see.

And it occurs to me as I read about our intrepid editor’s tour, that though she has travelled the country to find faith, we don’t all have to. Though, it’s not the worst idea! (How about hiring a charabanc next year Ruth, and taking us all with you…?)

For now, let’s all give ourselves a hero’s name and go on our own epic journey. Taking a slow, close look at the faith nearest us. Our own. Stopping to ponder the small, wonderful things about our corner of God’s church, even if everyone else’s is bigger, fuller and “funner.”

I’d love to hear your hero’s name and about your epic journey. Come and find me on social media - amowriting.

I, Amo the Incredulous, must sign off now for the next adventure. There’s a washing machine to empty.

“It wasn’t about how far we went, the journey just had to be epic.”

Annmarie Miles is originally from Tallaght and now lives in her husband Richard’s homeland, Wales. As well as VOX articles, she writes short stories, and is working on a book about her journey with food, weight gain, weight loss and God. Visit her blog at www.auntyamo. com. On Twitter she is @amowriting.

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God at Work Stories of transformation from across Ireland In all four corners of Ireland, individual Christians, churches and Christian ministries are reaching out to their local communities with the love of Jesus. And great things are happening. Here are just a few of the stories we heard during this year’s Finding Faith Tour.

FRESH START Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo

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We see all the brokenness of life, but God is making something beautiful.

e believe that everyone needs a fresh start in their lives at some point,” said Paul Maloney.

Along with two other volunteers (Joe and Donna), Paul and his wife Lynn have opened a second-hand shop in Ballinrobe. Called Fresh Start, the shop serves the community by providing low cost second-hand items but it has also become a place of help and healing. People call into the shop struggling with all kinds of challenges in their lives from loneliness to domestic violence to suicidal thoughts.

“We are inundated with donations. I get emotional because of the love that we’ve been shown,” Paul shared. “We are trying to show Christ’s love to this community and they are loving us back.”

The small “Fresh Start” team is in the process of applying for charitable status but already the profits go to support local charities and the shop itself employs two people with intellectual disabilities from the nearby Day Centre.

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“Our first customer through the door was a lady who had been notorious in the town. When she first came in there were two bandages on her wrist [from a suicide attempt],” Paul recounted. “I sat down with her and made her a cup of tea and of course the conversation turned to the Lord. She accepted Christ in the shop and since then she has not made any further attempts on her life. She has told her doctors that we are her support.”

This woman needed a new bed so Paul was able to find her a brand new bed and they took it around to her house. Her old bed was covered in blood from the suicide attempt so they were able to take that away - symbolically removing a place of painful memories and replacing that with a beautiful new bed!

“Our motivation is to build relationship,” Paul added.

“Ballinrobe has the highest population of widows per capita of any town in Ireland. The shop becomes a haven for many of these women, along with others who have suffered domestic violence and abuse.

“I think of an artist taking broken pieces of glass and putting them together into a stained glass window. And then the sun shines through! We see all the brokenness of life, but God is making something beautiful.”

VOX MAGAZINE

MESSAGE ON A PAPER BAG Drumcliffe, Co. Sligo

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here has been a Christian witness in Drumcliffe for over 1,400 years since St. Columba established a monastery on the site. The 9th century high cross and the ruins of a high tower are all that remains from those Celtic times, but today thousands of tourists visit St. Columba’s church and its graveyard (the final resting place of poet W.B. Yeats).

Working together with the Church Army, Drumcliffe Centre of Mission has become a focal point for outreach both to visitors and to people in the west of Ireland. Tourist Chaplain Malcolm Young has many opportunities to weave together the story of the site with God’s story and frequently has the opportunity to pray with people.

One day, he was handed a note scribbled on the back of a paper bag. A family had returned to visit Drumcliffe

hoping to see him but sadly he had been away that day. He writes, “After contacting them via the email address given on the paper bag an amazing story of God’s blessing emerged. The American family in question visited in March 2018 and as a result the lady had (in her words) 'made a connection with God'. The email explained that the daughter and her husband who were also present had been having fertility problems. They did not mention this during their visit but after receiving a family blessing and prayer they felt they had been” touched” by God. Shortly after returning home, they discovered that the daughter was pregnant. One of the reasons for their return visit was to bring their baby to Drumcliffe.”

LIFE SAVING Derry, Co. Derry

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FOOD FOR THE SOUL

ou never know what opportunities God will provide or the people He will bring across your path,” smiles Trevor Fergusson. Walking across the Foyle Bridge in Derry, Trevor spotted a young man perched on the edge of the parapet. After a quick call to the police, he approached the man. “Even as I walked towards him, I handed the whole thing over to God and God gave me the words,” Trevor says.

“The young man was deeply troubled.

I had the privilege of praying with him and waited until the police arrived and got him to safety.” Although he doesn’t know what happened next, Trevor continues to pray for this young man.

Hope Café, Monaghan

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rown Jesus Ministries runs Hope Café in Monaghan in partnership with local churches. Over the last year, the small team has seen exciting things happening as they reach out to the local community through a food bank, a drop-in youth centre and the Alpha Course. Last year, one man called in to the food bank and received an invitation to the Alpha Course. He started attending and during the course, his life was transformed as he heard about Jesus and why He came.

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SERVING THEIR COMMUNITY Dunmanway, Co. Cork

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oncerned about falling membership in their Mothers’ Union group in St Mary’s Church in Dunmanway, West Cork, the local ladies could have bemoaned the changing times.

Instead, they looked around at needs within their community and took the courageous step of launching a crosscommunity Mammies and Toddlers’ Group in the church hall. Every week, they welcome up to 30 mammies with their children, providing cups of tea, fun activities for the children and a space for friendship and support, in line with the Mothers’ Union mission to transform communities by strengthening families.

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MAINLY MUSIC Dundrum Methodist Church

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team at Dundrum Methodist Church has launched a fun music and movement programme for pre-school children and their parents and carers called Mainly Music. Developed in New Zealand in 1990, the programme teaches simple songs and rhymes with actions, which encourage the children and adults to join in.

The programme is educational children learn counting skills with songs like Five Little Ladybirds and Five Hats and coordination skills using scarves and other props. It helps parents and carers to develop a closer relationship with their child or children by playing and interacting together. And it also provides opportunities to make new friends and interact with others over a healthy snack (for the children) and a cuppa (for the adults).

It is easy for some parents to become isolated, especially when there is a language barrier. The Mainly Music programme at Dundrum Methodist has become a place of welcome and inclusion for families from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

Two other Dublin churches run Mainly Music and there are a host of resources available online for others churches interested in running the programme as a way to serve and connect with their local community (visit www.mainlymusic.org).

VOX MAGAZINE

CHRISTIANS AGAINST POVERTY Coleraine, Co. Derry and Greenisland, Co. Antrim

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cross Northern Ireland, churches from different denominations are hosting CAP (Christians Against Poverty) centres that reach out to people who are overwhelmed with the burden of unmanageable debt. For many years, Dave Kelly has worked with CAP in Causeway Coast Vineyard Church in Coleraine. He explained, “During that first visit you can see that they have the world upon their shoulders. The minute you say, ‘We are going to get this sorted for you’ their body language changes. You see the relief on their faces as you take the bag full of bills and final demands. And over the course of time, you then have the privilege of watching them being set free.”

Recognising the complex causes of poverty and debt, CAP centres provide help with life skills such as budgeting and support clients as they tackle underlying problems such as mental illness, domestic violence and family breakdown.

“We know a lot of these people haven’t had a holiday in years,” Dave said. “We had a wonderful idea of taking

them away on a residential (holiday). We do gentle meaningful talks on subjects such as self worth and forgiveness.

There are pampering sessions, walks and kids programmes so the adults can get some ‘me’ time. What we find is that God shows up. Each time we do these, people often say ‘Yes’ to Jesus.”

When Greenisland Baptist Church heard about CAP in 2009, the elders appointed Jacqueline Robb as their centre manager. “I went over to Bradford for training and saw my first client in November. It was a lady from our church but no one knew she was struggling,” Jacqueline said. “At first she wouldn’t let me in until I reassured her that it was totally confidential.

She had had a job but when her sister was diagnosed with cancer she used her credit card to fly to England to see her. After her sister’s death, she underestimated the impact of grief on her life. Unable to return to work, she found herself in a desperate situation with mounting credit card debt.”

On the first visit, CAP workers always make sure people have enough

food in the house and top up electricity or gas. They intercede with banks and credit card companies to create a plan for people to pay off their debt, bit by bit.

Over time, Dave and Jacqueline have seen hundreds of clients become debtfree! And through their encounters with local Christians, many have also found new life in Jesus Christ.

A HOME-COOKED MEAL Tullamore Presbyterian Church

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any people have heard stories of homeless families who have to stay in hotels and B&Bs for months or years on end, but few understand the full impact on family life. Offaly Travellers Movement approached Tullamore Presbyterian Church with a practical and innovative solution to one of the problems that homeless families encounter - lack of cooking facilities. Now, families gather in the church kitchen once a week to make healthy, low cost home-cooked meals.

Sitting down to eat the meal together provides a wonderful opportunity for connection and acceptance for people who are often stressed and isolated. And extra portions of the meal are divided up into take-away containers so that the families can heat them up during the following week. This loving, practical ministry, in partnership with a local community group, could easily be replicated in other churches around the country.

ALWAYS PREPARED? Thurles, Co. Tipperary

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hen a parcel addressed to Lola was delivered to his office by mistake, Trevor Slattery received a phone call from Mary in Nenagh. An hour later, Mary’s husband Gunter arrived to collect the parcel and began complaining about religion and saying that the Bible was false. A week earlier, Trevor had finished reading, Who Chose the Gospels and so he began chatting with Gunter. As the conversation came to an end, Trevor reached into his bag hoping to find a Gospel tract that he could give to Gunter but there were none left. “I’m the worst Christian in the world!” Trevor thought. He reached into the outside pocket of his bag and inside was one tract but it was in Spanish. Suddenly, he remembered the name on the parcel and asked, “Who is Lola?” Gunter answered, “She is a Spanish student who is staying with us for the week.” Trevor handed Gunter the tract and said, “Can you give her this please?”

“You just don’t know what God is doing,” Trevor smiled. “What are the chances that FedEx would lose the parcel addressed to a Spanish student? And then Catholic Mary sends her Atheist German husband over to Baptist Trevor who just happens to have a Spanish tract in his bag!”

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MY STORY “My Story” is an opportunity for ordinary people living in Ireland to talk about their journey to faith or the impact God has in their daily lives.

MEET JACQUELINE ROBB “It has been an amazing journey. I’ve always had a real love for people. And especially people who are going through really difficult times. I know what God can do with a broken life. I know that with God there is hope.”

BY RUTH GARVEY-WILLIAMS

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orn in Belfast in 1963, Jacqueline Robb grew up in the midst of the Troubles when bomb explosions were “the most normal thing in the world.” She recalls when the garage behind her home blew up and the back wall of the house came in. “All I could think of was the dog,” Jacqueline said (thankfully he was unhurt although covered in debris).

The violence and trauma in her community was reflected in family life.

“I grew up with domestic abuse. We were always frightened of my dad and I thought that was what dads were like, I thought that was normal.

“My family were not churchgoers but they did send us to Sunday School.

I grew up feeling rejected and unloved but I remember sitting on a wooden bench singing ‘Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.’”

When Jacqueline’s parents finally separated, her mum had to go out to work to support the children and Jacqueline was left in the care of relatives. This was to have devastating consequences. “I was sexually abused by my uncle and my grandfather and that went on for years,” Jacqueline shared.

The family suffered further trauma when in 1976 her mum’s fiancé, Desi, was murdered in a paramilitary shooting. A few weeks later, a 17-yearold and 23-year-old were arrested for the murder. “I was only 12 and I wasn’t

THEY DIDN’T JUDGE ME AND NEVER GAVE UP ON ME.

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a Christian but I remember praying for those boys, ‘Father forgive them, they didn’t know what they were doing.’”

SEARCHING FOR LOVE

As a teenager, Jacqueline turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism, “While my friends were having a sip, I was downing the whole bottle.” Desperate for love, she starting sleeping around but soon discovered that sex doesn’t equal love.

In 1979, Jacqueline remembers watching the film Jesus of Nazareth and seeing Jesus reaching out to sinners.

Remembering those early Sunday School lessons, she wondered, “Maybe God could love me?”

The next day she went into the local Baptist church and asked, “How can I become a Christian?” Giving her life to Jesus, Jacqueline felt clean for the first time, but she soon began to struggle again. “I came to God with a lot of baggage and nobody talked about how I could off-load my baggage. I still had all these issues and after 18 months I felt that I wasn’t a good enough Christian and I walked away from God.” Marrying the first guy who offered, Jacqueline found that history was repeating itself. “The first time [my husband] hit me was when we were on our honeymoon. That was the start of on-going abuse that continued for years.”

Things became so desperate that she tried to take her own life. When she woke up in hospital, she clearly remembers the feeling of sadness and disappointment that she had not died.

In 1986, Jacqueline was watching

television and saw a clip of a car riddled with bullet holes. One of the two young men who had murdered her mother’s fiancé was about to be released from prison. She was amazed to hear that he had found faith in Jesus while inside.

God had answered her prayers.

Jacqueline went on to have two beautiful children but the domestic abuse continued and once again she turned to alcohol. “That was how I survived.” Things went from bad to worse until the pain grew so bad that she began contemplating suicide once again.

HITTING ROCK BOTTOM

“I made a plan. I would put the kids to bed and then end it,” she said. “That night I fell on my knees (I was too drunk to stand up) and cried out, ‘God help me!’ Thank God that He heard the prayer of a drunk woman! He started to send Christians across my path. I’m sure the smell of drink would have knocked them over but they didn’t judge me and never gave up on me. I went back to church and, in September 1995, I recommitted my life to Jesus.”

For the first 11 months, Jacqueline stayed sober but she remembers pacing the floor every night, battling the cravings, until the pubs and off licenses closed. Then a friend took his own life and she started drinking again in secret to deal with the loss. Eventually, in desperation, she went to the pastor’s wife for help, “I can’t walk away from God again. I really need God to help me.”

This woman prayed for her, anointed her with oil and asked the

Holy Spirit to break the addition. “That was over 22 years ago and I haven’t had a drink since. The difference was, God really set me free and took away the desire. When God healed me from that addiction, it was amazing,” Jacqueline smiled.

Recognising the affect that domestic abuse was having on her children, Jacqueline realised that she needed to separate from her husband but she was told it might take up to three months to re-house the family. “I prayed, ‘I want a house within a week.’ Six days later, I got a phone call offering us a house. We knew God’s peace and His provision.”

LEARNING TO FORGIVE

One of the biggest challenges was forgiveness. “I remember the Lord challenging me about forgiveness from the Lord’s Prayer. I cried out, ‘Lord, you know what they did to me... my uncle, my grandfather and my husband. You are going to have to help me.’” It was not about letting them off the hook.

When I look back, that was when my own healing started. Now God has helped me to use my story to help others.”

The couple were eventually divorced in 2009 but Jacqueline found the grace and strength to forgive all those years of violence and abuse. “My ex-husband was diagnosed with terminal cancer in December 2017 and since then I’ve been his carer. God has enabled me to be there for him and has given me a real love for him, not as a husband but in the way that you can love another person.”

As God worked miracles of healing

and restoration in Jacqueline’s life, He was also laying the foundation for the work that she does today. In 2009, the elders of her church in Greenisland near Carrickfergus, decided to set up a CAP centre (Christians Against Poverty) to help people in the area who were struggling with unmanageable debt. Soon afterwards they approached Jacqueline and asked her to head up the new centre.

“It has been an amazing journey.

I’ve always had a real love for people;and especially people who are going through really difficult times. We are working with people that society doesn’t want to bother with. I’ve had clients who have been involved in paramilitaries. Some people wash their hands of these folks but their only hope is in Christ.”

BEAUTY FROM BROKENNESS

During a CAP conference in England in 2016, Jacqueline experienced another miraculous “coincidence.” Exactly 40 years to the day after she had begun to pray for the young men arrested for the murder of her mother’s fiancé, someone at the conference mentioned a Northern Irish pastor working with a church in Liverpool. This pastor was the man convicted of Desi’s murder who had given his life to Jesus while in prison.

“I got to meet Billy and his wife,” Jacqueline shared. “That day, we both reached out our hands and the next moment I was giving him a hug. When you pray for someone for so many years, there is no hatred. He has spent his life going into prisons and schools

WHEN YOU PRAY FOR SOMEONE FOR SO MANY YEARS, THERE IS NO HATRED.

warning young people not to get involved in gangs.

“I had a million questions for him. I found out that his father had been murdered by the IRA when he was just 12 years old and after that his family was consumed with hatred. He was 17 when he shot Desi.

He’d been told (wrongly) that Dessie was a police informant.”

The most difficult thing for Jacqueline was telling her mum about meeting Billy. “Desi was the love of her life and yet she was so gracious. ‘Back in them days, the wee fellas did what they were told,’ she told me.”

The problem of debt, so prevalent among the people Jacqueline is seeking to support, is often just a symptom of deeper issues such as sexual abuse, domestic violence, addiction, mental illness and depression. “My story is not unusual. The stuff I have been through is all too common in our society, even though it is often the best-kept secret.

“I love Jesus because He first loved me. My mum told me that I was conceived when my dad came home from the pub one night and raped her.

My mum might have thought I was a mistake. My dad may have rejected me.

But God’s word says, ‘I saw you when you were knit together in your mother’s womb.’

That gives me hope. I am not a mistake.

I’m not unloved. We are living in such a broken world but He has a good plan for each of us.”

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LIFE

Honeysuckle, Herbs and Wild Honey i

i

A visit to Charis Garden

BY RUTH GARVEY-WILLIAMS

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he early evening sun illuminates the 15th Century ruins of Ballyadams Castle as I navigate winding country lanes on the Laois/ Kildare border en route to visit Claire and Jeremy Haworth. An impressive driveway leads up to a 200-acre family farm where this young couple have converted a disused part of the farmhouse into a cosy family home.

Together they are creating “Charis Garden” from a once-overgrown corner of land.

It seems no accident that in a place named grace I receive such gracious hospitality. Enjoying a wholesome and delicious family meal, I’m fascinated to hear more of the journey that led Claire and Jeremy to this point.

“Jeremy was involved in full time Christian ministry with IFES (now CUI) and after I finished my drama arts degree, I volunteered with 24-7 Prayer setting up prayer rooms and doing interdenominational prayer walks. We always had a vision to do something together but we did not know what,” Claire told me. “I had a heart to come back here [to my parents’ farm] but after we got married I ended up moving to Dublin.

Jeremy is from Bray so I knew it would only work if we both wanted it.”

Thinking he was destined for ordination, Jeremy did an apprenticeship with a church in Dublin but travelling together and visiting Christian communities in other parts of the world created a hunger for something deeper.

“I did my Masters in theology looking at the resurrection and the ramifications of that for our relationship with creation,” Jeremy explains. “The biblical narrative begins in a garden and ends in a garden city. Jesus’ bodily resurrection is a snapshot of what He will do in creation.

“I always had an interest in growing things and that joined hands

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with theology creating a desire to do something with my hands.”

Five years ago, the seed of an idea began to take root. Why not ask Claire’s parents for an unused plot of land where they could create an organic community garden?

So began a journey of exploration, transformation and restoration that, in many ways, is only just beginning.

Identifying a plot of land (once a vegetable patch and orchard) that has been completely overgrown for the last decade Claire and Jeremy began the task of clearing the ground of dead trees and 15 foot bamboo plants.

It has been a huge undertaking involving months of backbreaking work but there is a sense of excitement and anticipation as they lead me along a well-worn mud path, through a small patch of woodland carpeted in wild garlic to a small wooden gate.

Before me, a wide stretch of furrowed earth is covered in a haze of tiny green shoots, green “manure” that will be ploughed into the soil before it is planted with hopeful rows of potatoes, kale and broccoli.

A walk-in poly tunnel is home to tomato plants and salad leaves while in a homemade mini version, herbs are springing up.

“One of the challenges is that there is no prototype,” Jeremy shares. “This type of ministry has to be context specific, so we are feeling our way into something. A lot of people question what we are doing. We don’t always have all the answers. We’re taking one step at a time and each step of faith is a restorative act. There is something powerful about it. For us, it is an act of worship.”

“Environmentalism isn’t something that belongs to New Age hippies,” adds Claire.

“We are breathing new life and heat into the building and working the land. From bare earth, we are creating beauty and that is an end in itself. We are planting banks of marigolds and wild flowers that will be a wash of colour as well as food for our bees. From the wilderness, we are growing organic vegetables that will be food for people too,” says Jeremy.

“I haven’t left behind theology and Christian ministry. Instead, this ministry of the soil seems to bring everything together. It is a culmination of my studies. Life is always uncertain.

There are loads of questions: What is all this going to look like? But we have a sense of contentment here.”

Wandering through the garden, spotting walls draped with honeysuckle and watching in fascination as Jeremy and his father-in-law tend to their three bee hives (their first swarm moved in when Jeremy put out a bait box using an old piece of honeycomb), I’m struck with a sense of awe at the living parables being enacted.

I savour the taste of new honey, the evening stillness and the earthy scents.

And I find a deeper sense of gratitude and shalom. This is a place to linger, to breathe deeply and experience the gentle, unhurried rhythms of nature.

Here eternal mysteries are unearthed and illuminated, lifting a veil on biblical themes of creation and new creation, of life and death and resurrection.

While it is not yet all it will be, Charis Garden lives up to its beautiful name! Find out more at www. charisgardenlaois.ie.

FROM BARE EARTH, WE ARE CREATING BEAUTY AND THAT IS AN END IN ITSELF.

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LIFE

The Sam Maguire

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n a bright morning in May, a diverse group of people eagerly climb the bell tower at St. Mary’s church in Dunmanway, West Cork. An observer might be forgiven for wondering what they could possibly have in common - old and young, men and women, from different faith traditions and different nationalities, these enthusiasts are united by an ancient, and rather uncommon skill; they are all bell ringers.

For 20 minutes each Sunday, the Sam Maguire Community Bells ring out over Dunmanway. They have become a beautiful symbol of peace and reconciliation in an area that suffered much violence and pain during the Irish War of Independence.

The final resting place of Sam Maguire lies just below the bell tower. Best known today for the cup named in his honour, Sam Maguire was an Irish republican and Gaelic football player who was born in Dunmanway to a local Protestant family.

S am sp ent much of his working life in London, where he was a prominent member of the GAA and captained the London Hibernians. In the 1920s, he returned to Ireland at a time of great turmoil and pain in Irish politics. Falling

out of favour with his superiors in the newly-formed Irish Civil Service, he returned to West Cork where he died, in poverty, from malnutrition and TB in 1927, aged 49.

After his death, a group of friends raised funds for a permanent commemoration in his name. The Sam Maguire Cup, modelled on the design of the 8th Century Ardagh Chalice, was presented to the GAA in 1928. While the original cup now resides in the GAA museum in Croke Park, an exact replica is awarded each year to the winners of the all-Ireland Gaelic Football Championship.

[Ed note: Created by a local knitting club, a life-size knitted replica of the cup sits in the window of St. Mary’s bell tower!]

As minister of St. Mary’s church, Rev. Cliff Jeffers wanted to find an appropriate way to tell the Sam Maguire story but also to bring the local community together in a reconciliation project. An experienced bell ringer himself, Cliff came up with the idea for the Sam Maguire Community Bells. Sponsorship from the GAA helped to install the eight bells in 2017: six from a church in Wales that had closed and another two that were newly cast.

People from across the community came together to form the bell ringing team from children (one of

WE ARE DEVELOPING WAYS TO WEAVE THE STORY OF SAM MAGUIRE, OUR CHURCH COMMUNITY AND THE CHRISTIAN STORY TOGETHER.

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Community Bells whom has to stand on a box to reach the bell rope) to pensioners. It took months of training and preparation but now they ring for Sunday services in St. Mary’s as well as for weddings and funerals in both the Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland parishes and special occasions like New Year.

“Each of the eight bells has a theme relating to the story of Sam Maguire and the history of the local area. The colour of the sally (handgrip) on the bell rope is green and white - the local GAA club colours,” explained Margaret and Marja, two of the bell ringers.

“We practice every Wednesday night. When we are ringing, the conductor calls out instructions to change the order in which the bells are rung, which changes the tune.”

In April, the Sam Maguire Community Bells project was honoured with an award for tourism in the West Cork Community Awards Ceremony. One reason for developing the bells and telling Sam Maguire’s story is to attract visitors to the town using the Sam Maguire Passport Trail. St. Mary’s church is the last of seven stops.

Rev Cliff explained, “We are developing ways to weave the story of Sam Maguire, our church community and the Christian story together for the locals and visitors who come to explore Sam’s fascinating but tragic story.”

The Celtic cross on Sam’s grave has the inscription IHS representing the Latin words Iesus Hominum Salvator - “Jesus, the saver of humankind”. His epitaph also reads - Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h’anam. This translates “May his soul be at God’s right hand side”. On Sam’s Celtic Cross these two motifs come together. For those who believe that ‘IHS’ is true, then Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h’anam is promised in the Scriptures. (Acts 16:31) JULY - SEP 2019 VOX.IE

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FAITH

A GRATEFUL LIFE

BY ANA MULLAN

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I like

cooking and I love cookbooks. I like the idea of having a nice meal with a well-set table and enjoying a relaxed evening with family, friends or by ourselves. If I have people coming for dinner, I like to look at some recipes that are not the usual everyday dishes.

This requires some organisation, like doing some shopping for specific things that I might not have in the cupboard.

But there are days, when we are just the two of us, and for one reason or another, I don’t know what we are going to eat until pretty late in the afternoon. When that happens, I open the fridge and I look at what is in it. I start to take things out and see what I can create from that. Once it is made and we sit down to eat, I feel a deep sense of accomplishment that I have managed to put together something nice out of those bits and pieces.

As I reflect on this, I realise that life is a bit like that. There are days when everything goes according to plan and according to our timetable.

As a result, we feel great; we feel in control and we might even feel thankful.

But there are other days when life is like opening the fridge and trying to find something to be able to cook with. Life just happens, bits and pieces here and there, going from one thing to the next. On those days, we might feel a bit deflated and not exactly thankful.

Our western society pushes us all the time to think that if we are always in control the outcome is will be good. As a society, we are not good at facing the unexpected. Voices tell us that if we want to live a better life, we need certain things.

However, the main effect of those voices, like the ones in advertisements, is to give us a feeling of discontent. We end up wanting the next new thing to make us happy or fulfilled. We have become a society of entitlement, of “I deserve this.”

Those voices whispering in our ears are not exclusive to the 21st Century. There was a couple who were created out of love, to be in relationship with God and with one another, in total harmony.

They were given all of creation to look after and manage, to enjoy,

“THE SECRET OF DAILY LIFE IS THIS: THERE ARE NO LEFTOVERS! THERE IS NOTHING - NO THING, NO PERSON, NO EXPERIENCE, NO THOUGHT, NO JOY OR PAIN - THAT CANNOT BE HARVESTED AND USED FOR NOURISHMENT ON OUR JOURNEY TO GOD.” MACRINA WIEDERKEHR

to work without feeling it was toil and to respect nature. However, a voice told them they were missing out on something more and they listened to it. You may know who that couple is: Adam and Eve. Read their story in Genesis 1-3.

The late Francis Schaeffer in his commentary on the book of Genesis, writes that the main reason why Adam and Eve paid attention to the voice was their lack of gratitude. They did not appreciate what they had been given and so they disobeyed.

The other day, I was talking to someone about the importance of gratitude when I thought of another person, whom I have been following for many years, whom I encountered for the first time at the age of four while looking at a sculpture of his crucifixion. He has walked with me for most of my life and I have learned never to assume that I fully know him. He continues to surprise me.

He is the perfect example of somebody for whom most events just happened to him. Like after a day of teaching and wanting to have a rest with his disciples, they go across the Sea of Galilee for a bit of a break and end up with 5,000 unexpected visitors! And they were hungry!

What was on offer? Five small barley loaves and two fish. Not exactly a feast. But the author of the gospel says: “Jesus then took the loaves, GAVE THANKS, and distributed to those who were seated as much as they wanted. He did the same with the fish.”

Jesus could have used other methods. He had the ability. Instead he chose to teach his disciples and us to be thankful. Thankfulness or gratitude has nothing to do with how well everything goes, how much things went our way or how much we have, but with the orientation of our hearts.

In Spanish and Italian, the word used for saying “thank you” is the same as the word used for the “grace” of God. So when I say “Gracias” or “Grazie”, I am saying I have received grace from others. Gratitude reminds us that as human beings we are utterly dependent on a generous God. We can produce and invent lots of things, but ultimately God is the source of everything.

The more we practice gratitude, the more joyful we will become.

I invite you to open the fridge of your life and see what things big and small you could give thanks for. There will be hard things that you will find it difficult to give thanks for. There are situations that are difficult to comprehend, but we can still give thanks for the fact that God and His kingdom were and are always at hand.

Ana Mullan is from Argentina but has lived in Ireland for 35 years, the last 18 in Dublin. She is an artist, a spiritual director, retreat facilitator and an enthusiastic grandmother.

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GOD’S MASTERPIECE

The inspiring story of one of Dublin’s newest churches

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n a run-down industrial estate in Glasnevin, Dublin 11, a remarkable faith story has been unfolding over the last 12 months.

Across Dublin, there are several large and thriving Romanian congregations. But like many immigrant populations, they face a serious challenge when it comes to the second generation of “new Irish”.

Caught between two cultures, young people with Romanian parents who have grown up in Ireland and attended Irish schools feel they don’t entirely fit in either world. The same is true in church (many congregations are 100% Irish or 100% Romanian in language, style and traditions). “We were not able to find a church where we felt accepted for the combination of everything that we are,” one young person explained.

Recognising the problem, a group of young leaders began to pray and to dream of a new congregation to meet the needs of these young people and to provide a safe haven for those who are wrestling to find their identity.

With the full support, blessing and encouragement of three visionary church elders, these young leaders established Peniel Church and began to look around for a building where they could meet.

“I’m incredibly grateful that the elders realised the problem. They knew that

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we needed to do things a little differently. A lot of people are afraid of the unknown but our leaders are okay to walk in faith. They are just supporting us,” Debbie explained.

Rather than appoint a pastor as sole leader of the new church, the young adults formed a leadership team with each person playing their part. “God is truly amazing. He works in people’s lives separately and then puts them together and it just becomes a big masterpiece,” said Rebecca. “It is taking shape now with all of us coming into Peniel and working together for God.” “In some churches, it seems as if one leader is like a pillar supporting the whole structure - this leads to burnout for the leader. Here it is more like scaffolding. We are all supporting each other. Even if one part is broken, the others can be a support,” explained Sammy.

were no windows and no ceiling. A lot of people in our community are builders and everyone pitched in. We saw miracles every single day. People would come in and say, ‘I heard this

“I HAVE THE BEST RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD WHEN I SEE OTHER PEOPLE SPREAD THEIR WINGS AND FLY!”

SEEING MIRACLES

Finding a derelict warehouse in Dublin Industrial Estate, Glasnevin, the team began with the tough task of convincing the owner to take a chance on some “weird” Romanians with big dreams. Eventually they were able to secure a 10-year lease and began work on renovations.

“The building was a complete mess,” Debbie explained. “There

CHURCH ELDER, PENIEL CHURCH, DUBLIN is a church, what do you need help with?’”

One person turned up with a donation of €10,000 while others took time off work and donated their labour for free. When the windows needed to be put in, so many people turned up to help that they accomplished the task in a single day!

“Today we owe nothing on this building. Everything we needed was donated,” Debbie said.

Turning up at a carpet warehouse, they asked whether the owner had any carpet on sale. “I’ve been keeping a roll of carpet in my warehouse because nobody wants to buy it.

I’ll give it to you cheap if it fits,” he said. When they went to fit the carpet, it was a perfect fit for the new sanctuary - that single roll of carpet was the exact size that was required.

The salesman couldn’t believe it!

“God is definitely moving. He is

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doing something. We don’t yet know what. Everybody feels something is going to happen, just watch this space!” Debbie smiled. “We are a bunch of broken people but we are making it work.”

David (Debbie’s husband) added, “I think God has great plans for this generation and for the next generation. All it needs is a bit of faith to step into something new,

what God has taught me and with all that I’ve been through.

I can tell them how God has helped me,” explained 26-year-old Rebecca.

Tabitha’s ministry is in hospitality as part of the welcome team in the church. “This feels like a home,” she smiled. “We finally belong. The church wasn’t meant to stop within its walls and that is what we are trying to achieve here. We are discovering a new way to walk with the Lord!”

Bogdan is part of the worship team. “I decided to learn to play the guitar because I thought nobody knows when the church will need a guy who plays the guitar. God was preparing me. When God said, ‘Now is the moment,’ I was so stressed but at the same time I was really happy [to use my gift].”

The church has implemented a “big brother, big sister” mentoring programme to support each individual and ensure that people are cared for. Miriam, who is 18, remembers how she felt in a previous youth group, where she was desperate to be liked. “As a youth leader myself, I want to extend to people the love that I wish I had found when I was younger. I want to help them find a relationship with God.”

“I THINK GOD HAS GREAT PLANS FOR THIS GENERATION AND FOR THE NEXT GENERATION. ALL IT NEEDS IS A BIT OF FAITH TO STEP INTO SOMETHING NEW." trusting that God will take care of everything. And then, every day becomes a blessing!”

FROM ONE GENERATION TO THE NEXT

In January 2019, there was standingroom only in the sanctuary for the first Sunday morning meeting of Peniel Church. Supported by the elders, the young leaders are ministering to a large and thriving youth group of (mainly) Romanian-Irish young people.

“It feels like I can help the youth with

“I’ve realised that the young people are like copies of us,” Sammy explained. “They take us as their role models. The gospel is spread not only through hearing but most powerfully through our lives. If I show my love by helping people, that will encourage others to do the same.”

Tabitha recalls planning a programme for International Women’s Day but at 10pm the night before, God challenged her, “You are teaching the girls that their worth is in themselves, but they need to know that their worth and their value is in Me.” Tabitha worked through the night to change the programme, sharing examples such as Elizabeth Elliot and Corrie ten Boom. “We wanted the girls to know that their worth is in Christ and that God calls women to a greater purpose. It got really emotional. Everyone started crying. It was a beautiful mess!”

John, one of the church elders, sat watching and listening as the younger leaders shared their passion and vision. Instead of being threatened by their enthusiasm, he has found a deep sense of joy in releasing them, ““You know when I have the best relationship with God?” he asked.

“It is when I see other people spread their wings and fly!”

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in Diversity

God in action in churches and Christian communities All over this island different denominations, churches and Christian communities gather for worship and seek to serve God in their local area. Here is just a glimpse of what is happening in different faith communities in Ireland.

FAHAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Fahan, Co. Donegal

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n the small, rural village of Fahan, close to the border with Northern Ireland, the Presbyterian Church is celebrating its 300th anniversary in 2019. Choosing Psalm 115:1 as their theme for the year, the church elders expressed a deep sense of gratitude at God’s faithfulness to generations of Christians in this close-knit farming community, “Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”

“I’ve been sent to preach the Gospel to the people of Fahan,” wrote the Rev Cochrane the first minister in February 1719. Three hundred years later, 30 families still meet for Sunday worship and reach out to their community in a variety of ways.

To mark the anniversary, the congregation published a compilation of 200 hymns including a new hymn written for the occasion by their minister Rev Knox Jones - “Fahan’s Call” is set to the tune of Ireland’s Call and is based on Psalm 115:1.

Their anniversary celebrations have had an outward focus with events to honour and support local community organisations and many opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Throughout the year, 50% of all donations and fundraising events are being give to “Romania Ministries” - a charity involved in poverty relief, hospice care and Christian work in Romania.

As they celebrate God’s faithfulness, it is also evident that the health and vibrancy of this rural congregation owes much to the quiet, faithful work of its leaders and members down

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through the generations.

The five church elders (or Session) all use a prayer diary enabling them to pray for five families every day. From the youngest baby to the oldest pensioner, every member of the congregation is prayed for every week of the year!

“We are blessed as a congregation to have the leadership we have,” commented church member Trevor Fergusson. “They will be too modest to say it, but a huge amount of prayer has gone into our 300th anniversary and God has made it a success.

Our leaders trusted God to help us in reaching out to our community and that has been really well received.”

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THE BIG BLUE BUS

TALLAGHT FAMILY CHURCH

Ballina Churches Together, Co. Mayo

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dynamic partnership of the Church of Ireland, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches in Ballina, together with the Church Army, helped to launch the Big Blue Bus. This mobile ministry visits communities around the town as a drop-in centre for adults, and community venue for children’s clubs and youth programmes.

Emma Rodrigues and Marian

Tallaght, Dublin Edwards are the Church Army workers who run the Big Blue Bus. A converted library bus that Emma found on Done Deal, the bus was launched last year and has become a welcome visitor to local housing estates. Just back from a weekly children’s club, Emma and Marian display the children’s artwork on the bus windows and smile at a beautiful hand-made “thank you” card from one of the children.

A Sunday night drop-in café is a haven for people feeling isolated and alone, while youth programmes include use of the Scripture Union “Nua” film series to stimulate discussion about faith.

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he growing and vibrant congregation at Tallaght Family Church distributes food parcels to needy families in their community. This “Messages Ministry” with its strapline “with love from above” provides on-going support for those experiencing food poverty. The project is run in partnership with local supermarkets that donate surplus items and food that is close to its sell-by date.

As part of the leadership team in Tallaght for a number of years, Stephen Mawhinney is excited about getting his teeth into a new challenge over the coming year. “The Lord gave us a tremendous heart for Kimmage in Dublin 12. We love starting from scratch, and we are hoping to start a church in that area. I turned 60 last November and rather than just sitting around looking at Margaret (my wife), I’m looking forward to launching out in a new area.

“Traditionally, Kimmage would be a very working class area but in the last couple of years, as a result of its proximity to the city centre, a number of professionals have been buying houses there, so there is a real mix of people. I was really touched just sitting in a coffee shop and listening to people. I’ve got at least another seven good years in me to get things off the ground!”

KILDRUMFERTON GROUP OF PARISHES Co. Cavan

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aking care of four very different Church of Ireland congregations in rural Cavan, Rev Simon Scott has put his horticultural training to good use to build relationships with the farming community. “In this part of Ireland, people have learnt to keep their heads down and the churches have quietly blended into the landscape,” Simon said.

“There are a huge number of newcomers who don’t even know the churches exist. We’re finding opportunities to build confidence and to talk about faith in the language the local people can understand. You pop into a hay shed, pile some bales and talk about the grass and the weather. And you read the fragments of faith being described in between the realities of farming life.”

Launching “Plough Sunday” - to pray for the farming community at the start of the year - gave people greater

confidence to see the connection between their faith and their daily lives.

And in rapidly growing Ballyjamesduff (it has gone from 1,000 to 3,000 residents in three years), the church is seeking to build a community centre to provide much-needed facilities for the area. Inside the church building itself, the choir stalls have been replaced by a vibrant children’s area complete with foam mats and a colourful mural of Bible stories. “With a little bit of imagination and creativity, an obsolete area has become useful again.”

That creativity led to a Palm Sunday parade through the centre of Ballyjamesduff with people waving branches and shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David” - church members

apologised to Simon that they had not been able to find a donkey in time for the procession!

In the porch of the Rectory in Kilnaleck, rows of green shoots are testament to Simon’s love of gardening and perhaps symbolic of the signs of life springing up in this part of Co. Cavan.

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HOPE COMMUNITY CHURCH Longford

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n St. Patrick’s Day 2018, a small group of Christians launched Hope Community Church in Longford, under the leadership of Pastor Ludie Creech.

With a strong emphasis on community, church members volunteer with Tidy Towns, support local fundraising initiatives and help out at the Longford marathon.

“We are made for community. That is why pubs are so popular and we believe that church is the highest expression of that sense of community,” Ludie said.

“My wife Barbara and I have enjoyed inviting our neighbours into our home. Around Halloween we had a party and everybody we invited came by. Many of them kept saying, ‘We don’t do this anymore.’”

Looking for ways to bless and encourage teachers in local schools, the church has started taking scones into staff rooms at break time. The relationship with one school has developed further. In December, they had the opportunity to do a Christmas assembly and more recently the principal contacted Ludie to say, “I was in RE class and the students started rattling off questions about creation and evolution and so on. This is a bit out of my pay grade so the students themselves suggested I ask you to come in.” The class listed out 15 questions and Ludie went into the school for a Q and A session!

“In this town, the wider area and our nation where lots of people feel there is no hope, we want to share a message of hope and Jesus is that message. Apart from Jesus, I have nothing to say that is of any value.” Ludie shared.

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REDEEMED CHRISTIAN CHURCH OF GOD Galway

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he congregation of Bethel Parish in Galway celebrated their 16th anniversary in June with a weekend conference. The focus was on giving thanks to God for all He has done. “We are still standing and we give praise for what God has done in the ministry.

People can testify to God’s goodness and blessing,” said Pastor Kola Oworu.

Like many ministers in RCCG (the third largest denomination in the Republic of Ireland), Pastor Kola has to work a full time job (with An Post) in addition to leading the Galway congregation. “We are saved to serve! There is no retirement in this job. Our vision is to keep on serving until the trumpet sounds,” he smiled.

“I always encourage my congregation to find something to do to serve God, not just sitting in the pews but using the gifts that God has given them for God’s Kingdom.

“This is a growing church today but we’ve seen many changes over the last 16 years. When we started, the economy was booming and there was a lot of immigration. After the economic crash many migrated to the UK and elsewhere.

“Pastors from a number of churches in Galway meet together each month to pray and to foster unity. We are serving the same God and we are all seeking to do the same thing. We are praying for God to deliver people. A vision is burning in my heart for God to touch the hearts of people in this city and this nation. Nothing is too hard for God!” This passion for prayer characterises Pastor Kola’s congregation. “Nothing happens without prayer,” he said. “Jesus said, ‘Ask and you shall receive.’ We believe all things are possible with God, so we pray to Him and He answers. We have seen the evidence of answered prayer in our congregation.”

"A vision is burning in my heart for God to touch the hearts of people in this city and this nation.

Nothing is too hard for God!” THURLES BAPTIST CHURCH Thurles, Co. Tipperary

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hurles Baptist Church was first started by Dick Keogh as a house church before the small congregation began to ask God for an acre of land for a church building (in fact God gave them two acres). In 1976, the current church building was opened just outside of Thurles. One of the church elders, Trevor Slattery shares that the church has been without a pastor for the last two years but people “stepped into the gap.”

“At our members meeting, it was a joy to highlight how people have been getting involved,” Trevor said. “We need everybody to play their part in the body of Christ.

There is a sense of eagerness to see what God can do with us as a unified group of people.”

Passionate about sharing the Good News of Jesus with others, the church hosted a team from Newtownards Baptist Church along with some American volunteers last summer. They helped to run a children’s holiday club and also visited eight housing estates, knocking on doors and handing out leaflets. It took three days to visit each of the 45 houses on one particular estate. At every single door, the conversation lasted 30 minutes or more!

“You see it in so many people, this deep rooted need to be loved,” Trevor said.

“They are hurting and we need to love them with a Gospel-centred love. We need to love them enough to tell them about Jesus.”

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LIBERTY CHURCH Limerick Christian Centre

T

he remarkable story of Liberty Church - an Assemblies of God congregation that meets in Limerick Christian Centre - began with a small house meeting in Limerick. Pastor Dorothy Hall had been visiting Ireland on speaking tours during the early 1980s, and she moved from the USA to Limerick permanently in 1984 to lead the congregation (and she has been here ever since!)

“I saw there was such hunger here for the Word of God,” Dorothy said. “The weekly meetings grew so large (up to 100 people) that we needed to find another place to meet. At first we rented a coffee shop and then various places, but we needed to find a permanent home.”

Dorothy had been speaking at an event in Northern Ireland and was inspired by the faith of folks there.

“On the train home to Limerick, I was praying, ‘Lord if You can do it in the north, You can do it in the south. I’m not going to look anymore. There is only one place and I want You to show me where it is and give me the faith to believe You for it.’”

“I’m a very practical Christian and I don’t get “touchy feely” experiences. But that night I went to sleep praying and when I woke up, I was lying on my back and as I looked, the word “Mungret” appeared across the ceiling. I wondered if I was still sleeping. As I looked, the word fell down and landed on my chest.”

Dorothy was sharing a house with local Christian Ann Fitgerald, so she woke up her housemate to ask, “What is a ‘mungret’?” Ann remembered that Mungret College was an abandoned, derelict Jesuit college on the outskirts of Limerick.

“When we drove through the gates I thought, ‘Oh no, Lord. I shot my mouth off on the train, but this is ridiculous!’”

Dorothy smiled. The building had been up for sale for 17 years (priced at 350,000 punts) but nobody was interested.

Calling a board meeting, Dorothy encouraged her leaders to fast and pray.

When they gathered together, William (a businessman) said, “It is crazy but I feel like this is what God wants. Everything

in me says it doesn’t make business sense but I believe God is saying to go for it.”

Dorothy contacted the owner and he asked, “Do you have the money?” She replied, “We have 1,132 punts but if it is what God wants, we’ll have the money.”

Within a few days, the church was able to pay a deposit of 10,000 punts.

There began an incredible journey. Over the last 25 years, the huge building has been completely transformed. “It was totally derelict. There was no electricity, no running water. It cost us every hour we had in voluntary labour and every spare penny we could scrape together.”

Limerick Christian Centre is home to Liberty Church, which meets in what once was a chapel.

Dorothy also started Liberty Christian School in 2004 and the building now houses a community coffee shop and an art gallery (featuring work by Ann Fitzgerald who is a professional artist) as well as accommodation for up to 48 people, which has been used for youth group retreats and visiting teams.

Part of the vision was to be able to serve the local community. A local school uses the chapel for big assemblies. The historical society holds lectures four times a year and there is a community Christmas craft fair in the centre.

Today the church is thriving with a congregation of 100 people, a growing youth group and a weekly Bible study that attracts over 50 people. “We stand in awe as we look back,” Dorothy shared. “Today we are debt free. God has provided every step of the way!”

JULY - SEP 2019 VOX.IE

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LIFE

Take heed what you hear

Our series on nutrition and faith continues with nutritionist Linda de Courcy.

Linda de Courcy MSc., is a Dublin based nutritional therapist and certified pilates instructor who is passionate about empowering people to take control of their health.

For more information or to contact Linda visit her website at www.nutritionforlifeireland.com, on Twitter @ LindadeCourcy or Instagram @nutritionforlifeireland.

VOX MAGAZINE

O

ne of the challenges that arise when trying to figure out what to eat or not to eat is that pretty much everyone has an opinion on the subject.

Some people are well qualified, others are not; some are genuinely trying to do their best for their patients/ clients, others are being paid to promote this, that or the other – though they’re unlikely to want you to know that.

Jesus said, “Everything that is now hidden or secret will eventually be brought to light. Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand. And be sure to pay attention to what you hear. The more you do this the more you will understand – and even more besides. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening even what they have will be taken away from them.” (Mark 5:23-25 NLT) I pretty much went with the flow of conventional dietary advice until I read The Maker’s Diet. Diagnosed with Crohn’s disease in his teens, Jordan Rubin almost died despite seeing “70 health practitioners from seven different countries, including medical doctors, naturopaths, chiropractors, immunologists, acupuncturists, homeopaths, herbalists, colon therapists, nutritionists and dietitians” (p.14). As a last resort he followed the advice of an “eccentric nutritionist” who said he was ill because he wasn’t “eating the diet of the Bible” (p.24). Reading his truly amazing story of recovery from an incurable disease led to a paradigm shift in how I approached health. I began to understand I needed to start putting the Bible first place if I wanted true understanding about nutrition and health.

For example, when Jesus says, “Salt is good” (Luke 14:34) and most nutritional advice says salt is bad, I choose to believe Jesus. You may think yes, but… and therein lies a major barrier to health and longevity. We simply don’t believe what the Bible says, not even the words written in red. This is not an uncommon occurrence, even some of the disciples didn’t believe Jesus had risen AFTER seeing him (Matthew 28:17.

Think about that for a while!). John tells us “He tells us what He has seen and heard, but how few believe what He tells them!” (John 1:32 NLT). The Word works in those who choose to believe it, not in those who don’t (I Thes 2:13 NLT). Believing the Word is a choice.

Our challenge (and it is a challenge) is to pay attention to what we hear, so that when we’re told sunshine is bad/dangerous and we look at Genesis 1:3 when God said the light He made was good, we make a choice to believe the Word. We may not (and most likely won’t) fully understand the why but that’s OK, God does. When we choose to believe and stay open to His teaching the understanding will come.

When you read an advertisement about the cholesterol lowering properties of some highly processed yoghurt remind yourself God made all your innermost parts. When your mind says “yes, but…” remind it you are fearfully and wonderfully made and God knows more than every “expert” on the planet.

I’m in no way advocating ignoring professional advice; I’m suggesting we do as Jesus said, pay attention to what we hear, tune our hearts and minds to His Word, then we will receive understanding, more understanding and even more whenever we need it. Sounds like a win-win to me!

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07/05/2019 20:47

FAITH

VOX MAGAZINE

Christianity&Economics Part Three: Structures: how the rules governing economic activity skew outcomes from the start

BY AARON HANSON

A

ccording to one strand of thought, no ambition is inaccessible to a person as long as they have the drive to make it a reality. In economics, variants of this view are often cited to justify what might otherwise be the troubling gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’, attributed to the hard work and entrepreneurship of the former, and the absence of these qualities in the latter.

At the extreme, such a view is clearly false. All sorts of circumstances – from accidents to natural disasters – influence people’s lives while being completely outside their control. More specifically, the institutions that determine the economic ‘rules of play’ in societies also have a deep impact on people’s lives, for better or worse.

As mentioned in the previous article, some economic problems can be traced back to our aggregate behaviour but often there is no clear-cut connection. We may attribute the pollution of the earth’s seas to everyone’s over-use of plastic but it is critical to step back and ask why our economy is so plastic-based in the first place. As consumers, we implicitly accept this state of affairs by ‘voting’ with our money but we did not bring it about.

Rather, the choices of key decision-makers can unleash forces that may work wonders or create unforeseen catastrophes.

Further examples abound. Take the 2007-08 financial crisis, which plunged Western countries into recessions, currency crises and political upheavals. Or we could point to the increasing automation of economic activity – from automatic check-out tills to driverless vehicles – removing the necessity for tedious work while simultaneously making it harder to get work at all. The key point is that the forces that drive economies – competition, technological change, etc. – do not operate on societies independently or inevitably but are shaped and to some extent controlled by government policies. For example, the 2007-08 financial crisis resulted

“IN A RATIONAL WORLD, THINGS WOULD BE MADE BECAUSE THEY WERE WANTED; IN THE ACTUAL WORLD, WANTS HAVE TO BE CREATED IN ORDER THAT PEOPLE MAY RECEIVE MONEY FOR MAKING THE THINGS.”

not only from the greed of borrowers and excessive risktaking by financial institutions, but also from government regulations, which encouraged risky speculation and allowed banks to – C.S. LEWIS, GOOD WORK become ‘too big to fail’.

AND GOOD WORKS Old Testament law was strongly concerned with establishing rules to ensure that economic forces operated for the benefit of everyone, and while the restrictions on interest, gleaning laws for the benefit of the socially marginalised, and prohibition on selling land outside ancestral families may seem antiquated, the Jubilee Centre (www.jubilee-centre.org/aftercapitalism-rethinking-economic-relationships) has produced insightful papers demonstrating that such an economy can teach us important lessons today. In a nutshell, Biblical law prioritises an inclusive economy, rather than one ‘which does with such efficiency so much that never really needed doing’ (CS Lewis).

So where does this leave us? To begin with, we must remember that our obligation to love our neighbours extends beyond merely leaving them alone to include our political behaviour. We must take everyone’s wellbeing into account when voting or lobbying politicians instead of treating political activity as a ‘marketplace’ where each person seeks to get the best deal. Instead of just leaving the economic ‘game’ to its own devices and then charitably helping those who lose, we must, to echo Desmond Tutu, step back, find out why the rules of the game create so many losers in the first place, and do what we can to change them for the better.

This article was written by Aaron Hanson, with input from Jordan Maly-Preuss and Matt Williams. Aaron and Matt are founding directors of Jubilee, an agri-environmental organisation based in Larne, Co. Antrim.

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When a client meets with us, we carry out an assessment, review their current pension and discuss in detail their expected retirement objectives. Once we have a clear picture of our client’s retirement fund, tax liability and retirement goals, we can determine which type of pension is best suited to achieve those goals. The desired outcome is to have a financial plan that outlines the appropriate steps for the client and serves to guide them towards a financially secure retirement.

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MUSIC REVIEWS

The first months of any new year see the release of a plethora of new music. The big hitters always grab the spotlight, and often some really great music releases by other artists fall between the cracks.

This year I am determined to ensure that no music is missed. I am keen on promoting Irish talent, so if you or your church are producing and recording your own music, I’d love to hear from you.

Email me vincent@ucbradio.ie

Hidden Kingdom DAVE BILBROUGH

I am a New Creation, Let There be Love, Abba Father, All Hail the Lamb, were just a few of the songs written

by Dave Bilbrough which were sung in churches all over this island during the 80s and 90s.

Dave continues to write brilliant worship songs, as evidenced by his sublime new album Hidden Kingdom. It opens with My Deliverer, which starts out with Bilbrough’s trademark stripped-back acoustic sound, before being filled out with strings and a choral accompaniment that is quite breathtaking. Love That Never Dies, written in the wake of the Grenfell Fire disaster and featuring the beautiful vocals of Lou Fellingham, is congregational worship at its very best.

Hidden Kingdom contains ten beautifully crafted songs. Played individually, each song will enhance your prayer time or time of worship, but played as a whole album the listener will experience a deep sense of the unmistakable presence of God. Hidden Kingdom is as near a perfect praise and worship album as you are ever likely to find. www. davebilbrough.com

Amen

GREEN PASTURES Green Pastures Church in Ballymena released their debut EP Your Church in 2018 to great acclaim.

This five track mini-album set the bar very high for the fledgling Christian recording scene here in Ireland. Amen is the second EP from Green Pastures. They have raised the

VOX MAGAZINE

bar several notches more with their latest offering. The EP bursts into life with the opening track Come Alive, featuring Jonathon Clements on vocals. This is anthemic praise and worship at its best.

You are Faithful is more laid back and melodic. Ashleigh Kilgore gives us For Me, a worship song of exquisite beauty.

The piano, Ashleigh’s voice and the powerful lyrics make this the standout track for me. I absolutely love this song.

Amen is a brilliant EP and is a testimony to the incredible work of pastor Jonny Mullan and the worship team at Green Pastures. www.gpastures.co.uk

A Thousand More THRIVE WORSHIP

On Friday 3 May I took my weekly look at the Christian album charts and discovered an album at number one that wasn’t even in the charts a week previously.

I had never heard of Thrive Worship before. It is a music ministry birthed out of Bayside Church in Northern California. This was a community response to two teenage copycat suicides when a faithful group of people began to pray for restoration of their hurting community.

Called A Thousand More the album deserves its position atop the Christian album charts. Eleven upbeat, up tempo Christian pop songs are just perfect for the car, your headphones, or an empty house with the volume turned up loud.

Great melodies, encouraging, affirming, scriptural lyrics and production quality second to none, A Thousand More is the perfect soundtrack to a summer’s day. www.thriveworship.band

Bloom

SARAH KROGER Sarah Kroger is a worship leader and songwriter.

In her debut album Bloom, she has drawn from a painful and difficult period in her life to write the songs. When she was 10 years old, her parents divorced, creating a divide in the family as well as the church she grew up in, as they were worship pastors. Kroger

moved with her mother and siblings and found herself adrift in a new and unfriendly environment. The experience resulted in a long and difficult battle with depression and anxiety. Sarah describes this as the lowest point in her life. “Suffering has made me who I am,” she shares. “Society tried to define me in a million ways but I had to cling to what God thinks of me. It comes out in the way I lead worship and prayer and how I talk about God and think about God.” I believe that the most authentic and honest songs come from the personal experiences of the songwriters, and this is very much the case with Sarah’s album Bloom. It is a beautiful collection of songs that inspire, and remind the listener of who they are in God and the freedom found in Christ’s love. The album also features a stunning cover version of Amanda Lindsey Cook’s Pieces. Sarah’s songs have touched me deeply. www. sarahkroger.com

Made for You LOU FELLINGHAM

If you have been listening to Christian music for as long as I have, you will be familiar with the name Lou Fellingham - the front person for the successful Christian music group Phatfish.

Lou’s re-emergence came last year with the release of This Changes Everything recorded in front of a live audience. It was such a success that she has recorded another. Made For You captures Lou in her element: worshipping with a full band using new songs to communicate timeless truths. There are eleven tracks, inspiring melodies wrapped around God-exalting lyrics that will remind you of who He is and who He has made us to be. Get hold of a copy now. www.loufellingham.com

Albums reviewed by UCB Ireland Radio producer/presenter Vincent Hughes. Listen to his programme 123pm Monday to Friday and 11am3pm on Saturdays on Virgin Media Channel 918, on Sky Channel 0214 or via the smartphone app.

You can contact Vincent at vhughes@ucbireland.ie | www.ucbireland.com.

JULY - SEP 2019 VOX.IE

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WHAT’S HAPPENING AROUND IRELAND?

EVENTS

Sligo 19 New Wine 14 - 19 July Sliogo IT www.newwineireland. org

Pulse Youth Fest 22 - 26 July Drewstown House, Co. Meath www.ccireland.ie/pulse

European Leaders Alliance 29 - 31 July Bradford, UK www.ela2019.org

New Horizon 3 - 9 August Ulster University, Coleraine www.newhorizon.org.uk

MOVE Youth Event

EQUIP Student Festival 26 - 30 August Castlewellan Forest Park, Co. Down www.cui.ie/equip

Church in Chains Conference Saturday, 14 September Clayton Hotel, Liffey Valley www.churchinchains.ie

Fearless Women's Event 11 - 12 October The Helix, Dublin www.fearlesswomen.ie

Tio Conference Saturday, 12 October YWCA Coolnagreina, Greystones, Co. Wicklow www.yourevent.ie

RCCG Holy Ghost Rally Friday, 25 October Castleknock, Dublin 15 www.rccgireland.org

For all event details and how your event can be listed here: www.vox.ie/events

5 - 9 August Clane, Co. Kildare www.ciy.com/ireland

CHURCH IN CHAINS CONFERENCE

Bride’s Glen Farmhouse Shankill, Co. Dublin

China’s Crackdown on Christians Guest speaker Bob Fu is a former prisoner in China, the founder of China Aid and one of the world’s leading advocates for persecuted Christians in China.

Bed and Breakfast

www.bridesglenhouse.com Convenient for visiting Dublin city and County Wicklow

Bethany at Bride’s Glen

All welcome – Admission Free

Saturday 14 September 11am – 4pm Clayton Hotel, Liffey Valley, Dublin Info: www.churchinchains.ie or 01-2825393

Self-catering accommodation and conference centre for small retreat groups. www.bethanyatbridesglen.com Residential and Non-Residential

These facilities can be booked together or separately.

Contact us and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Betty Stevenson | 01-2822510 |bettystevenson2014@outlook.com

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BOOK REVIEWS

VOX MAGAZINE

To illumine your journey: Celtic Daily Prayer Book One – The Journey Begins Book Two – Farther up and Farther in

At first, I didn’t think these books were for me, being part of a church community that doesn’t use many written prayers.

But of course we often pray Scripture, the written Word of God. On further investigation, there is far more in these than prayers. There are also stories, illustrations and meditations to light up our walk with God. Many of the prayers are short but surprisingly challenging. Most contributions have references to Scriptures, which have inspired them or to which they allude.

They were compiled gradually, and reflect the journey of the Northumbria Community centred on the island of Lindisfarne. In order to understand their own journey, these modern men and women explored ‘the old paths’ of the Celtic saints. They researched the testimonies of these remarkable believers who loved God and followed Jesus wherever the Spirit sent them. They lit a fire in the Dark Ages that brought faith to vast numbers of people, as well as warmth, culture and learning.

‘As we researched and studied these saints (and the Desert Fathers and Mothers, who were their spiritual predecessors), we found that many of the lessons they taught gave us hope and coherence on our own journey: that people matter more than things, and relationships more than reputation; that prayer and action, contemplation and involvement, all belong together. While resisting the temptation to hark back to some mythical golden age (which probably never existed), we have attempted to be true to what we have learned … some of the prayers, stories and illustrations in these books are very old; others are more current. We make no apologies for this mix. If the early Celtic saints … have much to say to us in our own generation and culture, then it must be interpreted in a more contemporary idiom where necessary.’

There are many ways to use these books, and they each contain different sections, many but not all with a dated portion suggested for each day. Some people work their way day by day through one or more sections at a time. Others dip in an out. Some start with Book One, and others are drawn to Book Two. But be assured that however you use these volumes, your own journey will be enriched.

For the start of the journey: The Baby Box, The Baby Dedication Box, and The Christening Box I’m glad the days have passed when those attending a baby dedication, baptism or christening insisted on a black leather Bible as their gift. I often tried to point out how long it would be before the infant would appreciate their generosity. But nowadays there are many acceptable alternatives, and this is one of the best.

This is actually three little books inside a beautiful box.

It closes with Velcro, and has a carry handle, so suitable for little ones. The box comes in three different versions, suitable for families of different church traditions or none.

Simply to celebrate the birth, there is The Baby Box, and for a church ceremony, either The Baby Dedication Box or The Christening Box. No matter what the title, the contents of the books are the same: MY BABY RECORD BOOK – a beautiful book for the family to fill in as a keepsake. There are spaces for the obvious milestones, as well as some slightly quirky ones.

I especially love the family trees. Interspersed among the special moments and illustrations are some lovely prayers, like this one: ‘Father God, maker of all that is good, this new baby fills us with wonder and awe. Thank You for giving us this precious new life to protect and nurture. Help us through all the joys and struggles ahead to love and care for our new baby, this special gift from You.’ BABY’S FIRST PRAYERS – filled with simple prayers but full of meaning. Some are based on Scripture and others on well-known prayers. They are grouped in themes such as Thank You, God, Sorry and Prayers at bedtime. I love this one: ‘Thank You for my friends, Lord. Thank You for time to play together. Thank You for storytime and books to look at.

Help me to be ready to share, and ready to say sorry if things go wrong.’

BABY’S BIBLE STORIES – simple but profound accounts of stories from both Old and New Testaments, from ‘God made the world’ to ‘Plots and plans and lions’, and from ‘A long way to Bethlehem’ to ‘Breakfast by the lake’.

Book reviews by Julie Carvill of christianbooks.ie, from where you can order these and other inspiring titles: info@christianbooks.ie or +353 (0)86 839 1870

JULY - SEP 2019 VOX.IE

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VOX PS

RO CK ‘N’ ROLL, RELIGION AND MISSING THE P OINT

BY SEÁN MULLAN

I

n our frequent but random conversations, Jim and I cover everything from the big issues of justice or life beyond death to politics and the football results. He has an interest in faith and in religious leaders like Jesus but is suspicious of contemporary organised religion.

A while back we were discussing football – the ball on the ground type – and he mentioned a well-known club manager who heads a rival team to the one Jim supports. He talked admiringly about the man’s qualities as a manager and then added, “And I’d say he’s some kind of a Christian.” A few weeks later, he sent me a text with a link to an interview with said football manager where the man speaks about the central importance of Jesus as a world figure and in his own life.

“I knew it!!!” proclaimed Jim’s text.

“Interesting!” I replied. “Remind me what made you suspect that.”

“Just the way he was talking about football - he has an interesting life philosophy. He smokes and drinks and curses too, so he’s rock n roll about it, lol” “Rock n roll about it.” I knew what he meant. The man in question, constantly in the media, wasn’t consistently beating a big Jesus drum but when asked, he was happy to talk about why following Jesus mattered to him.

The video clip and comment reminded me of another conversation I read about recently. It’s centuries old but perhaps surprisingly relevant. Again Jesus figures but he is in the background. A man who has been blind from

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birth but can now see claims that Jesus is responsible for his healing.

If you’re sceptical about that kind of claim then don’t worry, you’ve got plenty of company. In this case, a group of religious leaders become involved. Far from being “rock n roll” about a good thing that’s happened to a poor man, they start an immediate interrogation. In the right hands the whole story, as it’s recorded in one of the gospels, could be turned into a brilliant comedy skit. But it’s also a bit tragic.

The healing is a big problem for these religious leaders. First they refuse to believe the man was ever blind. They interrogate him and then his parents and then him again. They end up accepting that perhaps something unusual has happened, but have a problem that the healing took place on the Sabbath – Saturday in Irish terms but the holy day for them. Eventually they become so indignant at the man and his replies that they throw him out on the street.

As an exercise in missing the point, it’s a classic. Politics and power plays are a significant part of the backstory. But the main point is this. They are with a man who, by his own account, is able to see for the first time in his life.

There are faces to look at, skies and trees, streets and gardens waiting to be seen for the first time. There are his parents and siblings whose voices he knows but whose faces are undiscovered artistic masterpieces.

Of course the religious crowd can

choose to believe him or not, but to make him spend that first seeing day answering their “who, what, when and how” questions is unforgivable. And all because they fear the religious apple cart is being upset.

Religious leaders are not alone in their talent for missing the point because they don’t know what it is to be “rock n roll” about anything.

Shortly after our text exchange, I caught the end of a football match featuring that manager’s team. They had just won an extraordinary victory.

Team and back room staff stood, shoulder to shoulder, in front of the home fans as they sang their hearts out. It was one of those spine tingling moments, even for people who have no interest in football. And the TV reporter on the pitch never stopped talking through it all. The camera zoomed in on him while he tried to analyse the game and interrogate the players - another classic example of completely missing the point.

There are times in life when analysis and understanding need to take a back seat while we make time to savour a moment, to recognise that something extraordinary has happened. If help is needed, find a child and watch. Wonder comes naturally to them. Follow their example. You may be amazed at what you see.

RELIGIOUS LEADERS ARE NOT ALONE IN THEIR TALENT FOR MISSING THE POINT.

Seán Mullan has been working in church leadership for many years. He has developed a project in Dublin City Centre called “Third Space”.

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