Dear Friends, As the bombers went into the hotels and churches in Sri Lanka and detonated their packages of death, what was in their minds? Was it hatred for the people who would be there? Was it hatred for what they believed, although that would not account for the hotels? Was it cultural hatred; the root cause of…
Dear Friends, What’s the connection between a witch, a snowman and a rabbit? Answer: sadly, these have all become the identifying icons of Hallowe’en, Christmas and Easter. “Hallowe’en is the evening before the Christian holy days of All Hallows’ Day on 1st November and All Souls’ Day on 2nd November. It originated with the…
Dear Friends, “Kilmount Presbyterian Church is situated in rural Co. Cavan about five miles from Cootehill. Like all rural communities, demographics fluctuate. Having had just one child of Sunday school age a decade ago, the last ten years have seen a significant increase in numbers, with over twenty children due to be at Sunday School…
Dear Friends, Recently at New Horizon, the Rev. Sam Allberry said that, ‘Some think they can be Christians and not serve but that is not to be a Christian at all.’ The other side of the coin of course is that some think they can serve without following Christ, but that is just ‘dogoodery’ from…
Dear Friends, Over the last couple of weeks, I have been reading a book by Sinclair Ferguson called By Grace Alone: How the Grace of God Amazes Me. In the opening chapter titled, ‘My Chains Fell Off’, Ferguson talks about Charles Wesley and his brother John. Both brothers had been devout Godly men, especially…
Dear Friends, In his book ‘The Passion’, Mike McKinley writes, ‘The cross of Christ is the reality that gives shape to the way Christians should think about every detail of our lives right now, from our marriages to our money, from our suffering to our success…. The cross is all we will need, and all…
Dear Friends, On Sunday 22nd April, the Moderator of the General Assembly, Noble McNeely preached at Legacurry on John 21. He talked about how seasoned fishermen had caught nothing all night but, in the morning, when a stranger on the shore told them to cast their net on the other side of the boat,…
Dear Friends, It was special to watch as the folks at our recent weekend away at Castlewellan, chatted over coffee and at meal times. Sometimes they chatted with folks they knew well and at other times with people they had just met – even after sharing the same worship space for years! Such times are…
Dear Friends, So, we enter the 175th anniversary year of laying the foundation stone of Legacurry Presbyterian Church in 1843. The actual congregation was constituted some two years beforehand and met without a building. The current meeting house was begun in 1843 and completed for worship in 1844. We thought we would use 2018 as…
Dear Friends, I always look forward to Christmas Day! One side of me loves the family service at Legacurry which is such a happy time; the family gathering for turkey dinner and puddings (plural!); gifts and chat, a bit of TV and maybe a game or two. On the other hand, with Christmas visiting and…