First Sunday in Dublin

Had a great day yesterday, meeting lots of people and getting familiar with the areas of Dublin we’re looking in for a home. We started out the morning attending the Trinity Church service in the centre of Dublin. It was a lively modern/contemporary service of about 150+ people and the Trinity Church network is doing some great things in the Dublin area. (Click here to check them out on their website.)

After the service, I had a chance to meet Fergus Ryan (whom I blogged about a few weeks back. He had written a brilliant article on how European Catholicism hijacked Irish Christianity in a struggle for power.) I really hope to be able to connect with Fergus again to learn from him about Irish culture and what God is doing in the Irish church. He’s well-connected and a profound thinker regarding issues facing the Body of Christ. He seemed keen on getting together for lunch or coffee once we’ve had a chance to settle in.

We dropped by the Irish National Gallery for lunch (brilliant food, though a little on the spendy side) and on the way in, I spoke with an artist who was selling his paintings across the street from the gallery. He had some beautiful work leaning up against a park fence and I asked him if he’d had opportunity to show his work in any galleries in Dublin. He told me that it was just too expensive to show his stuff in a gallery and that he seemed to have great success just showing his work on the streets. I shared with him part of my dream of opening up an art house to showcase local artists and linking it to cyberspace and he seemed quite interested. People had experienced trouble finding him since he isn’t really based anywhere and doesn’t have a web site.

After lunch, we drove south out of the town centre and looked at various estate areas along the Luas tram line. In the evening, we dropped by Alan and Sheryl McElwee’s home who work with Christian Associates International and have developed the Serve the City project in Dublin. It was such a blessing to hear stories of what God is doing through their efforts and we’re really looking forward to collaborating with them in the future.

Today, it’s off to have a look at a 2002 Volkswagen Passat and then to view a rental home this evening.

Categories: life, Ireland