Our Trip Blog

The Events of Sunday, May 15, 2011

                This is our first non-travel Sunday since Easter. Abby rightly planned for us a day of rest. And what better way to begin a day of rest than to enjoy a hot breakfast of scrambled eggs and pancakes? Special weekend breakfasts are my specialty, but today’s attempt revealed how out of practice I am. The pancake batter was far too thin, but I did not notice for ten minutes. I produced ten oddly-shaped, wafer-like creations, which the kids good-naturedly devoured as “Irish fry bread.” Once I thickened up the batter, though, the pancakes were nearly normal and quite tasty.

                Yesterday, at the Tourist Information Center, we picked up a list of local churches. Grace Fellowship seemed like a good choice, described as “evangelical” and “all welcome.” Indeed, it was a good church experience, but it was not at all what I expected. They meet at the Killarney Cultural Centre, an old community meetinghouse. We enjoyed a warm welcome from all five adults, who were finishing the setting-up process. We met Patrick, the church patriarch, and Gordon, the guest preacher for this week. In all, there were eighteen of us, including one toddler who played (noisily) at the back of the room. Patrick opened our time with a brief prayer and guided our time of worship. Instead of the familiar “Please be seated,” he said, “Now ye can sit down for a little bit.” Pam said she could listen to him all day long, with his lilting Irish accent. He would tell us the number of a hymn or song and then read a related passage of Scripture. A woman sitting in the front row started each song off, and we all joined in, to the best of our abilities, heartily singing a capella. After eight or nine songs, Patrick transitioned us into a time of “sharing”, by which he meant people could speak out, addressing either God or the group, to share a word of thanks or a request. It was a pleasure to hear most of the adults participating, which is more evidence that this is a true community of believers.

                Then we heard from Gordon. I think he is a retired pastor, but he only mentioned that he lives near Cork, and he is a grandpa. He taught from the first chapter of Philippians, where Paul communicates how being imprisoned helped to advance the gospel. Gordon connected Paul’s situation in prison with the situations of Joseph in Egypt and Christ on the cross. Through horrible trials, these three trusted God to bring about great good.

                In closing, we sang “Amazing Grace” and then enjoyed refreshments of hot tea (or cold sparkling cider) and bread with butter and jam. While sipping my tea, I had a conversation with Patrick and Gordon. Patrick said he was raised Catholic and encountered Christ, radically and personally, in early adulthood. He shared how hard it was to leave the Catholic Church, because Catholicism and nationalism are so closely linked here in Ireland. He loves Ireland, and he longs to see his family and friends freed from the blinding “death grip” of the Catholic Church. When I asked if there were any Catholic churches that encouraged genuine Christian faith, he laughed sadly and said no. Yet both he and Gordon acknowledged that, in the past thirty years, things indeed have improved in the Catholic Church. The Church demonstrates a new openness to criticism, a willingness to discuss the Church’s faults, and sometimes an honest questioning of long-held prejudices.

                We said goodbye and drove half a block to the Killarney Outlet Centre. Our Killarney host wrote that we could find free WiFi there. Indeed we did, and we spent an hour updating our website and writing emails. Those who were not online also did a little bit of window shopping. (My white tennis shoes are wearing out, so I sought, but did not find, a good replacement pair.)

                With a cloudy sky and a cold wind, we went home and cooked up a special hot lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches and hot vegetable soup. Then we spent a lovely, relaxing afternoon reading, blogging, and photo-editing. (I’m afraid our precious laptop rarely gets a day of rest.)

                At six o’clock, we started a DVD called “The Van”. The summary on the back jacket said, “Two fast friends cook up a get-rich-quick scheme that may be a dream come true or a living nightmare.” After visiting non-English-speaking countries for two months, we looked forward to an English movie with English dialogue. Alas, it was an Irish movie with Irish actors and Irish accents. So we sometimes finished a scene with absolutely no idea of what they had just said, because it was so full of Irish brogue and foreign idioms. It’s an odd flick, intended for an adult audience. But it was another peek into Irish culture.