To follow Jesus - 13th Sunday after Trinity - 2024

It is all too easy to feel hesitant about the term Christian today – all too sadly, because all too often, it has been high-jacked by those who present a stern, unforgiving, judgmental and literalistic interpretation of the message of Jesus – perhaps even intentionally repelling, in order to create a culture of insiders and outsiders, the righteous ‘us’ and the wicked ‘other’.
Perhaps we might prefer to think of ourselves as ‘followers of Jesus’, with the humility to accept that we cannot fully know him, or understand him completely as he once lived, but also brave enough to say that he offers inspiration for a meaningful life, filled with purpose, honouring the world around us, our fellow human beings and other creatures, seeking to build a better world, a better life, a better kind of person – and above all, seeking to be at one with the source, the sustaining essence, the guide of all life.

Part of the Church of Ireland, St Nicholas Church, Adare and its fellow churches teaches and ministers within the progressive Christianity tradition, with influences from the scholars who built on the work of the Jesus Seminar. It seeks to be a church that is welcoming and inclusive, affirming and open in its liberal theology; and whilst we don’t claim to have all the answers, we are most certainly committed to ‘living the questions’. We have influences of Celtic spirituality in our worship and view of the natural world, living as we do in the beauty of County Limerick.

The Church of Ireland also forms part of the Anglican communion which is an association of Anglican churches from 38 provinces, including the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales, the Episcopal Church in the USA (otherwise known as the Episcopalians) and churches across the globe. With 80 million members, it is the third largest Christian body in the world, after the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches.

Hymn: "Be Thou my vision' - www.smallchurchmusic.com
Music: 'Lunassa' by Aislinn is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License. freemusicarchive.org