June 20th, 2025 | Rev. Dr. Mark Charles

On Tuesday evening, Margaret and I returned home to Fernandina Beach after a great trip to Ireland with our amazing group of fellow travelers. We had a wonderful week that involved covering 1250 miles in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland as we traveled from place to place taking in some of the very best sights that the island of Ireland has to offer – Rock of Cashel: an historic seat of political and ecclesial power in Ireland whose buildings date back as far as the 4th century, the Book of Kells: a 9th Century manuscript of the gospels, and Gracehill: a 17th Century Moravian settlement outside Ballymena in Northern Ireland. 

Each place was stunning and majestic in its own right, and as I walked around them I could not help but be reminded of the resilient nature of the gospel and of the enduring legacy of the teachings of Jesus. In the best and worst of times since the introduction of Christian faith on the island of Ireland, those teachings have offered hope and help shape communities and wider society.

They still do.

The times we are living in are fraught with distress and difficulty on many levels. It is easy to look around ourselves and wonder what we ought to do and how we ought to be if we are to bear faithful and effective witness to the enduring hope and resiliency of the gospel. It is our adherence to the  teachings of Jesus that will help us in our task, which is why we have shaped our latest series of sermons on Luke’s telling of those teachings better known (from Matthew’s Gospel) as the Sermon on the Mount. As Christ followers, it does us good to listen to Christ’s teachings and allow them to shapes us as Christ’s people who will bear faithful witness in our community and world.

I hope you will take some time to read through these teachings as we find them in Luke 6, and that you will make a point of listening to the sermons Pastor Rachel and I will be preaching in the weeks ahead. They have so much to say about who Christ calls us to be in todays world.

See you Sunday!

Blessings,

Pastor Charlie