St Columba's Church, Ennis online service - 27th September 2020

Описание: Are we converted?
The readings today present a challenge to all of us – perhaps especially to those who feel overly secure and established in our church attendance and dare I say it – perhaps a little too confident in our faith or at least taking it too much for granted. We are warned that whilst we may engage in the outward forms of religion, whilst our faith may show on the outside, we need to ask ourselves how much we have been changed, converted on the inside? How much of our life, how many of our decisions and our choices are taken because of our faith rather than despite it? Might it not be that there are those who may be judged on the surface to be less worthy, are in the eyes of God closer to his ways, closer to the paths of his son than we by comparison chose to follow. It is a question from the very beginnings of the Jewish faith, long before Christ came into the world and it continues to challenge us as we seek to follow in his ways.

Part of the Church of Ireland, St Columba’s Church teaches and ministers within the progressive Christianity tradition. 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 Clare.

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.