As I write this entry I am sitting on the seawall at Kinvarra, a small village on the south side of Galway Bay. I have been in Galway for just over two weeks now, where I am volunteering as a fill-in pastor for a congregation whose pastor just left to take another charge. This is the fifth time I have had the privilege of sharing in an Irish congregation for an extended period, and it is another blessing to me. And I hope it is helpful to the church…

While I am here Nancy is working in Vietnam as an English Language Specialist under the State Department’s Fulbright program. She will be there for the two months I am in Galway, then I go back to Greensboro and she goes on to volunteer as an English Language teacher trainer for Project Mercy, in Yetebon, Ethiopia. She gets back to Greensboro in early October, and I leave late that month to teach in Albania for several weeks. Life is interesting!

The ministry in Galway is probably the most unusual I have ever had. That is because the church is a Methodist-Presbyterian African Irish church. Some years ago the Methodist church and the Presbyterian church in Galway, each of which had an historic presence in the city, decided to join forces. Each was quite small and it made sense to unify. So they did, and every eight years there is a change in pastoral leadership and the new pastor comes from the other denomination. The African presence is partly because some Africans came to Ireland when the Celtic tiger was roaring, but mostly as a result of Ireland’s open policy regarding asylum seekers. That policy may be changing because of the changes in the economy of the nation, but for years people fleeing persecution could land on Ireland’s shores, formally seek asylum, and they would be kept, fed and housed until their claim could be adjudicated—a process which takes years.

Because of this mix of peoples and traditions the worship is lively, exceptionally diverse, and somewhat chaotic. There are thirty or forty adults in worship, which for a Protestant church in the Republic of Ireland is substantial, and about 60% are African. There are lots of children, all from African families, plus a smattering of tourists. The regulars mix remarkably well, and each adds to the whole. The church sponsors and member staff a Wednesday informal gathering of people, which usually means asylum seekers and their children. There is playing, drumming lessons, and tea and biscuits. Three days a week the doors are open for six hours and a member of the church is there for drop-ins who just want to talk or pray with someone. And there is the mid-week Bible study which I lead.


The net result of this is that while my responsibilities at the church are clear and important—Sunday mornings, Wednesday evenings, and any other pastoral needs, there is actually a lot of free time. And with Nancy half a world away that defaults to cycling jaunts. So, even though the weather is usually pretty damp, I have explored the Galway area, the Donegal area, and the area south of Galway, the Burren. Living in the church manse as a home base, I expect that the west of Ireland will become pretty well known to me and my bike by the time I leave.

The other day I was musing about the Ackles family—a wife in a time zone six hours ahead of me, one daughter and family five hours behind and another eight hours behind. Conference calls would be pretty hard to maintain, but with Skype and internet an amazing amount of communication is possible. And that is nice…I also was thinking about this season of life, and thanking God for the health and resources to live and serve him as we do now. As The Preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes, There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven…(Ecclesiastes 3:1) I believe that one of the keys to life in Christ is discerning the season we are in and the activity which is fitting for that season. It does no good to look back on another season and long for it again, or to look ahead to a season that may or may not be. Life is a series of seasons, and in each we have a unique call and unique opportunity. That uniqueness is a gift from God and something we need to recognize and engage in fully. We do not live in the was or the will be, but we live in the are—and God has a plan for us right there…