The Church & The Forest

We checked out of hotel and attended the 11:00am service at St. Anne's Cathedral, Church of Ireland (Anglican). We sat right in the front. The choir sang throughout the service. Their voices amplified by the echo lingering in the lofty cathedral ceiling. The service was worshipful with both a majestic and contemplative feel and clearly lifted high the name of Jesus. The congregation was very friendly. After the service, the dean of the cathedral and the bishop wanted a photo with us (for the church's website). The dean personally met with us to thank us for coming and gave us some background to the cathedral. The main part of the sanctuary was built during the early 1900's. This was when Belfast was a prosperous city due to the ship building and other flourishing industries. The stone carvings took one man 12 years. The four mosaics took two women 7 years.

After a quick lunch, we headed to Castlewellen Forest Park. We were there from 2:45 to 4:30. We hiked near a lake, and mansion on the property. Then we walked through the arboretum section (of course). This was beautiful! In fact I thought the evergreen section was more picturesque than Morton Arboretum. I was literally jumping up and down with excitement when we saw the Sequoias/Redwoods that had been planted over 100 years ago. I was privately pleased with the students taking so many photos in this part of the park. We also walked through the Peace Maze, that was formed by 6000 Yew trees. What a fun time we had in God's creation. It was a bit cold with the wind but no rain.

We drove to our new lodging location, Rock Lodge in Newgrange, arriving around 6:00pm. We were excited about our accommodations for the next four nights. It is a cozy Irish-feel place. It has nice common areas with literal rock walls. After our tasty dinner of Irish stew, we met together. After a fun time with the "sharing ball", we talked about the two worship services we attended (Saturday & Sunday). We ended by reading Psalm 96 and singing Be Thou My Vision.

 

Grey Abbey and the Clonard Monastery

Our breakfast was a full breakfast buffet. Our food has been so good on this trip! We met for a 40 minute devotional time. We read & journaled from Psalm 27, prayed, and each person shared how yesterday affected them. Such a great way to start the day.

We then left for Grey Abbey in the Strangford Lough (Lake) area. After another beautiful drive through the Irish countryside, we arrived around 11:40. We explored the cemetery and found that the ancient monastery ruins of the abbey were locked. We met a young man, named Richard, who grew up in the village (just over 1,000 people). He answered questions, walked with us into town, and showed us some "wee" shops (small and dripping with quaintness). We had lunch at a restaurant called No. 14. Once again, great Irish food.

 

When we walked back to the bus, Richard met us. He talked with the "earl" that owned land next to the abbey and said that we could walk on the private property to get into the grounds of the abbey. It was kind of weird leading a group past a sign that read "private property". Once there, we were rewarded with the captivating and large scale ruins of a famous abbey from the 11th century. We had a prayer in the center of what used to be a grand sanctuary. Thank you Richard of Grey Abbey for helping us!

Once back at the hotel, we had some free time. Many, but not all, went shopping. Our dinner was early. We then attended the 7:00pm Taize service at Clonard Monastery. This place is one of the most respected houses of worship in Belfast. It was at the forefront of Christian reconciliation in Belfast during "The Troubles". The sanctuary was majestic and beautiful. The service was worshipful. They were very hospitable. One of the most well-known priests, who was instrumental to peace in Belfast, came out before the service to welcome us. During the service we were welcomed twice, once at the beginning and once at the end. Once everyone had left the sanctuary, I chanted and an usher recorded it.

 

 

A Day in Belfast

We said "good-bye" to Corrymeela. Our tour guide, Kiran, is on the right side with the burgandy scarf. Our host for two days at this beautiful place on the ocean is in the middle.

We traveled one and half hours to Belfast. We met our city guide, Jim (or Jim-Bo). He grew up in Belfast and currently works in a youth reconciliation ministry. As we toured, we saw and learned about the sights, but also heard personal stories from his life. Jim was also very good at applying lessons from Belfast to our own lives. He has traveled to "the States" twice, so he knew very well how to relate to us. Two of the places we visited was the Parliament building and the Peace Wall. Jim brought markers for us so that we could add our names to the wall. This was an area that over 20 years ago was very tense with Protestants & Catholics fighting each other.

We then went to the new Titanic museum. The presentation of the Titanic and its history was done in a very engaging manner. Through big interactive displays, creative movie presentations and even a "ride", we learned a lot.

After checking into our hotel in downtown Belfast, Jury's Inn, we had a couple of hours free time. Most went to explore the city...let me be more accurate: explore the stores.

Our dinner was at the hotel restaurant. We had the choice of three starters (soup, salad, wings), three entries (chicken, sea bass, pasta) and three desserts (apple crisp, ice cream, fruit cup). Very impessive and delectable.

The McGrath's, along with another musician, then joined us for an Irish music time. Their family are musicians and in the past have recorded a CD with our tour guide, Kiran. The CD is entilted Celtic Psalms. Dad plays guitar and mom sings. Their 19 year old daughter is majoring in music in college and their 16 year old daughter is also an amazing singer. They sang some fun songs. Taught us some Irish. We ended by singing together some of the Psalm arrangements from their CD.

 

The North Atlantic Coast

After breakfast we had devotions in the round chapel. We sang, each person shared, and I took everyone outside under trees for the Scripture reading (Psalm 121) and prayer.

Giant's Causeway is a World Heritage site and one of the most popular tourist spots in Northern Ireland. We hiked down to the ocean to see about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns–hard to explain, but amazing to see. Unlike yesterday, the sun was out. It was great to see blue sky. But the wind made this trek quite cold. The waves were high, and we had to be very careful on slippery rocks.

We ate lunch at the Causeway Hotel. We had a private, formal dining room and ordered from a menu that included some traditional Irish dishes (Irish stew, sausage & leek) but also less adventuresome eating (burger, chicken fingers).
We then headed to Dunluce Castle, also on the Atlantic coast. This castle was built in the 15th century. We had fun exploring these ancient ruins and creating some fun photo ops.

Thirteen of us were dropped off in Ballycastle (a town near where we are staying). After a brief explore we walked back on a road right along the Atlantic coast. Today's walking facts: 6.6 miles, 14,700 steps & the equivlent of 41 flights of stairs.

Ancient History

First stop: Newgrange. After spending some time in the visitors center/museum, we took a shuttle bus to the massive burial mound. It was 5000 years old (older than the pyramids!). We hiked around it. The weather was rainy and quite cold. Then a tour guide took us inside. It was a narrow, cramped tunnel leading to a central chamber. On the winter solstice at 9:02 am, the sun shines a beam of light right into the middle of the chamber. Our guide re-created what that would be like. Incredible! The stone construction, the carvings, and the plan for light made this stop truly amazing.






After a panini lunch, we headed for Monasterboice. This cemetery has the best and oldest Celtic Crosses in Ireland. Some of the crosses and the round tower date back to the 10th century. The Christian community in that area existed since the 6th century.



After a three hour bus ride, we arrived at Corrymeela. It is a fifty year old Christian community right on the Atlantic Ocean coast. When we arrived, they immediately had biscuits, fruit and tea for us. After dinner, we met together. It was a time of laughter as students were randomly paired with each other to find out three facts about the other person. Then everyone shared what they learned about the other. Everyone also had to share their name and a food that alliterated with their name.



We also prayed together and read Psalm 103 together. Kiran, our tour guide, shared about what a pilgrimage is: travel that spiritually transforms. In silence, students thought, prayed and journaled what they hoped to get out of this week. After some shared what they wrote, we had a circle prayer with each of us offering a short prayer. It was a beautiful time of worship and community building. Thanks for your prayers!

Location:Carrickmore Road,Ballycastle,United Kingdom

We're Here! (Dublin that is)

Sorry for not posting sooner. My phone had no service, but I just now figured it out. Here is my post for the start of the trip:

Once at the airport, check-in & security was uneventful (a good thing). As we waited at the gate, for about 30 minutes we had a little activity. In our notebooks we numbered 1 through 22. Then we had to talk to each person on the trip and find out something we had in common with that person. It was a good time to get to know each other better. Once complete, my wife handed out goody bags to everyone.

The flight was smooth. We had both dinner & breakfast. One of the students spilled a whole cup of coffee all over his lap (his name will remain anonymous). Our group is wonderful, full of smiles and positive attitudes. We're a little sleep deprived but excited for all that lies ahead.

Side note: as we landed at 8:00am, it was still dark outside and just starting to get light.

Another side note: as we were descending to land, all of a sudden we increased speed, rose in elevation and circled around the airport. Why? The pilot explained that plane landing before us "hit a hare" and they had to "remove the carcass" before we could land. The delay ended up lasting 15 minutes.

Location:Dublin, Ireland

One Day to Go!

After months of anticipation, we are only one day away from our adventure to Ireland. This trip, this pilgrimage rather, began years ago as only a dream. And now tomorrow it is a reality! With excitement we pack, we wonder, we pray.

The map below gives a big picture view of the itinerary. You can click on the picture to be able to read it better.