I wrote a few days ago about the greatness of my Sundays these days – well I’ve just had the best Sunday EVER!  Bookended by great times this morning with the Methodists (hi East Belfast Mission!) and this evening with the Anglicans (hi Willowfield!), we had surely the ultimate Dock Walk this afternoon…

After all, in what other church service do you get to see a classic Ford Escort club holding tyre-screeching time trials around the Drawing Office car park, or finish the service with a massive fireworks display at the Odyssey Arena?!  When you’re stuck inside a building, what are the chances that you’ll see a ship pull away from harbour under a sudden burning sunset while you worship?

And I can honestly confess that if I’d been preaching on today’s Bible passage in a traditional pulpit-based “I-speak-you-sit-and-listen”-type way, we wouldn’t have got our teeth into the passage a fraction as much.  In the chat and interaction as we walked (with, I noticed, a proper shared medley of church backgrounds – it makes a big difference), each insight and comment felt like windows opening to bring new light and understanding on Jesus’ words and the disciples’ actions.

As the icing on the cake, it was fantastic to see the Titanic Quarter bunged as people arrived in droves for the fireworks display – cars parked the entire length of Queen’s Island, squeezed into every nook and cranny.  It was a brilliant, huge, crowd-pleasing event; I’m not especially big on celebrating Halloween, but it’s just so exciting to see Belfast buzzing and thriving with people having a great time.

What a great day!