Can we change? - 14th Sunday after Trinity 2024

Is there a tendency, within the church, to revert to the Pharisee, to retreat into rules and constraints and the sanctuary of the few, the exclusive club, that cares more for law than the suffering of humanity?
Do we allow the practice of our religion to smother and obscure with rules and regulations and prejudices of the past that which should be simple and uplifting and liberating?
We must ask ourselves are we even hypocrites, actors who enact rituals and a certain religious theatre, who utter words of piety and devotion, yet do not take them to heart and demonstrate in our lives that they have made a true home there, that we have been changed inside as a result?

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.

Music: 'Intimate Acoustics' - Mid Knight - www.epidemicsound.com
Hymn: 'All my hope on God is founded' - www.smallchurchmusic.com