So we’re still here! The sun rose, the rain fell, the Earth turned. Which is something we normally take for granted, but has come of a bit of a disappointment to the followers of Harold Camping who was pretty sure that the world was going to end at 6pm yesterday. Wonder how he felt as he ate his cornflakes this morning…?
To be absolutely honest, I wouldn’t want to miss a thing at the moment. I’ve had such a great day! Listening to ‘Breathe On Me, Breath of God” as we stood in the rushing wind and blazing sunshine at the head of the dock. Memorising and discussing Romans 8:38-39 with a fantastic bunch of Dock Walkers. Preaching to incredibly warm, welcoming Methodist congregations in Carnlough and Craigyhill this morning; preaching to an excited, engaged Presbyterian congregation in Glengormley tonight. Cups of coffee and heart-to-hearts. Moments with God, moments with friends, time with Susan, time alone. A perfect Sunday.
And what a week!
From Larne to the TQ to Glengormley today, everyone was talking about the Queen’s Speech (and President McAleese’s response) with a little bit of a lump in their throats. Can it really be true? – words of reconciliation and healing, spoken by people with the authority to say them – grounded in complex reality, but radiant with hope. We’re living in days we barely dared to hope for a decade ago. We’re seeing answers to prayers.
If you haven’t already read or watched them, can I encourage you to connect with the full text of both speeches – you can find the Queen’s here (or watch it here) and President McAleese’s here.
These beautiful speeches (both by women – significant?!) are perhaps the most powerful statement yet that we really are living in a new era; peace isn’t just a dream or a whisper; it is possible to recognise a wounded past without being bound to it; and together is better. It resonates with the vision of the Dock, the Shared Medley, expressed with more more poetry and profundity than I can manage, worth hearing and speaking and repeating until we really start living it:
The lessons from the peace process are clear; whatever life throws at us, our individual responses will be all the stronger for working together and sharing the load.
Chris
Great comments, Chris, and i just had to see the beginning of the Queen’s speech again, esp Mary McAleese’s reaction. Words, colours of clothing, gestures eg bowing of the head; icons and symbols that mean so much. And the fact they are women? Well, i wondered too, but then again the fact that they are women and it matters not a jot, might be the point.
Hope to make the Dock Walk sometime over the summer!