Grace

Holy Week is a time of looking back and looking ahead. Looking back at what Jesus sacrificed for us. Looking ahead to the way we can live our lives, sacrificed to God. When we take Holy Communion on Maundy Thursday, we remember Christ and “proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.” As the church slowly darkens on Good Friday, we think of the love flowing from Jesus on the cross with each drop of blood. And each of those remembrances calls us to a life lived anew, a life given over to the love and joy and peace of God.

In broad scope, this is what Kilmakee Presbyterian has been doing over the past 7 weeks. This year marks the church’s 50^th anniversary, and so the 50 days leading up to Easter were dedicated as the official celebration time. Previous ministers and others associated with the church came to preach on Sunday mornings. We had an evening service dedicated to praising God for the work of Kilmakee over the past half-century. The focus was on both remembering God’s movements in the past, and rededicating the church to God’s use in the future. There have been some amazing memories shared. I’m only now starting to understand the significance of this church’s history. It was the first congregtion in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland to call a female minister. It was one of the frontrunners in creating cross-community links with Catholic churches during the height of the Troubles. The people of Kilmakee are brave, passionate, and called by God. Their future promises to be just as exciting as their past.

Before he was arrested, Jesus prayed for his disciples: “I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:22-23) To mark the sacrifice of Good Friday, the Clonnard Monastery in Belfast holds an annual peace walk through the heart of sectarian areas. A group from Kilmakee, mostly youth, went along on the walk this year. We started at the monastery and walked down the Falls Road, the famous Catholic/Republican stronghold. Then we walked along the “peace wall,” which separates Republican and Loyalist areas, and crossed onto the Shankill Road, which is the Protestant/Loyalist equivalent of the Falls Road. We walked along the Shankill and then came back through the peace wall to finish in the Falls Road area. A crowd of 100 or so people, Catholic and Protestant, walked together. We each wore a cross made of a palm frond, and there were three crosses inscribed with “Peace be with you” carried by people in the crowd.

The separation in Belfast still surprises me. I’ll say more about the walls next week, but the psychological separation is just as strong. We drove from the church to the monastery, and when we crossed into the Falls Road area, the girls in the back-seat started making nervous comments. “Lock your doors. Just kidding. Actually, I’m not.” “Are we safe here? (nervous laughter)” Even the adults were checking in with each other at the monastery, looking concerned and out-of-place. “Are you okay?” “Yeah, I’m fine. Are you okay?” The area was far out of their comfort zone – the sort of place that was so strange, anything at all could happen.

We all know that Good Friday is not the end of the story. The finality of death gives way, on Sunday, to the renewal of life. Christ is alive, and hope reigns with him. Hope lives in every step we take together with other people, carrying crosses and praying for peace.

The peace walk, in front of Republican murals painted on a "peace wall." The walk, in front of a "peace wall." The chapel of the Clonnard Monastery.

Word of the Week: Yo. It's usually spoken long and drawn out, more like "yeooooooh," and it's Belfast slang. It's kind of a filler word, with no real meaning, but it's often used to draw attention to something. If you're feeling rowdy, you might roll down the car window window and yell, "yeooo!" You can also yell "yeooo!" at people to make fun of them, as some kids did to the peace walk. Or you can just say "yeooo" when you don't have anything else to say. And these are just some of the word's many uses.