May 11, 2007 by Dottie Byers.

We have met some very interesting and hard-working people in the last few days. It has been a blessing and a privilege to meet those who work in the trenches each day of their lives. Father Jerry Reynolds of the Clonard Monastery has been for many years one of the most influential people in the peace and reconciliation movement here. We met him yesterday after a novena mass at the beautiful church that is part of the monastery. He is a Redemptorist priest and his uncle was a pioneer in reconciliation efforts in the late 1940’s and 1950’s. In fact, when he met Ian Paisley a few weeks ago for the first time the Reverend Paisley mistook him for Father Jerry’s uncle! He told us about beginning the prayer and bereavement work with Methodist minister Reverend Sam Burns where they work as a team to visit the families of the bereaved on both sides. He indicated that it was depressing work that for a time was taking place five or six times a week. Harry and Maura work with him as part of a Catholic reconciliation organization who visit Protestant churches. Harry brought tears to all of our eyes when he told us the story of being called from work to his home to find his wife Maura badly beaten and his daughter having barely escaped being murdered by gun. Two of their Catholic neighbors, angry that they were trying to work with Protestants had knocked on the door and demanded to see him. When he was not there, they prepared to murder a teenage daughter with a shot in the head. Still, despite these experiences, they are happy and optimistic people who consider Tuesday’s new government a “miracle” and are looking forward, forgiving and forgetting the past.

In the evening we met with members of Springfield Methodist Church and friends of the church in the community. We all told stories and listened to there’s. We were impressed with these older folks who continued to come to the church even when others were scared away. These people would walk in the midst of a riot to rescue a fellow women’s group member and get them to the church. They served us tea and biscuits afterwards and I even got a lift home with one of the women.

Yesterday we all got to listen to a history of the troubles in Ireland that go back to the 1100’s discussed by the Reverend Dr. Dennis Cooke, who is a retired president of the Methodist Theological College, a superintendent of the Methodist Church in Ireland and the author of a book on Ian Paisley. He, too, feels optimistic for the future.

This morning we planned a church service for the congregation on Sunday morning. We are doing the whole service. Fancy that! It is our gift to the congregation.

Today we are continuing to hear more guest speakers from the community, finish up some work in the building, and will be attending a crafts class conducted by the good sisters of the Curraugh Community next door. Then we are going out for an evening of Irish pub music.

We are well-taken care of and welcomed everywhere we go. It will be hard to leave these people next week. We already feel a bond, an attachment.

Time to move on and start this day. I hope it lightens up weather-wise. Not raining, but a bit overcast.

Peace, Dottie

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May 9, 2007 by Dottie Byers.

Life went smoothly with the arrival of our team of 12 in Belfast city. We were on information overload most of the day as we were all tired from lack of sleep. Pastor John met us at the airport and brought us to the Community Center where we had breakfast in the Cafe Chat. We got an overview of the programs going on here, of the history of the church, and what we might do while we were here. The sanctuary of the church sits on the “peace line”. The line and the wall are not continuous but a good bit of it exists in these two separate communities of Protestant and Catholic. John was quite excited about it being a historic occaision and cause for rejoicing because it was the day of the formation of the new government that they have been working on for 10 years. All of the talk shows had callers discussing this and whether it would make a difference. The workers in the community such as at the Forthspring Community project where we are working didn’t think the ordinary person would notice much of a difference but they are skeptical of politicians. The Forthspring Community Center has many programs - youth, pensioners, pre-schoolers, after-school care. The youth director does most of her work out in the neighborhoods having found that makes more of a difference than forcing kids to come to the Center. The Springfield Methodist Church, one of two that John serves, has been the victim of arson several times by both Protestant and Catholic groups. Part of the Baptismal fount was burned and only partially restored so that they can be constantly reminded of their past.

In the mid-afternoon we went downtown. The city center is bustling and quite lively. Then we had dinner at the oldest pub in Belfast, McHugh’s. It was built in 1711.

Our accommodations are at a small, spare hotel two blocks from the center. There is a pond with ducks in the back of the building that is part of a nature preserve. Bed felt good last night!

Today we got down to work. Part of us worked on prepping one of the youth rooms for painting - sanding, washing, spackling, sanding again, and then a primer coat. I went outside and helped weed, rake, and sweep around the concrete areas and the parking lot in front. We broke at 12:30 pm to participate with the pensioners in a weekly prayer meeting. About three-quarters Catholic and one-quarter Protestant, the pensioners had been taking a ballroom dancing class. We met one of the founders of the Cornerstone project which was started by Catholic and Protestant clergy together to reach out to those mourning deaths resulting from the “troubles” - families of policemen, soldiers, Loyalists, Nationalists - wherever there was pain. They are one of the sponsors of Forthspring.

We had a lunch with the pensioners and had a good time getting to know them and they us. We’ll see them again at the Barn Dance on Saturday evening and at the Celebration dinner on Tuesday evening.

The staff of this center work tirelessly and are helped by student volunteers. There are several here, college-age, with the Youth with a Mission program from several countries. One of our students, Mike, just recently graduated from the University of Edinburg, and is doing a month here prior to going to the United States along with 29 other students to participate in a program for older youth of both Catholic and Protestant backgrounds. They each have an assignment and Mike will be interning at the World Bank. I am hoping to hook up with him sometime while he is here although the program will keep him busy. He has been asking me lots of questions about DC. I would love for some youth from our church to meet him and get to know him.

We got quite a bit of work done today and are all a bit tired at this point.

I am quite excited to be meeting the people who have been working for years to bring about what happened yesterday. Tomorrow we will meet the Catholic priest who has worked tirelessly with both political sides and has influenced these leaders. Even the pensioners told us that they met Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams and prayed for them regularly!

It is one thing to know about the politics of this divided place from afar. It is quite another to be in the midst of it. It is sad to know that people who live across the street from each other literally have been for many years living apart from each other, never leaving the neighborhoods to know people so close by. The Methodist Church of Ireland purchased a duplex behind the church. It is now occupied by two Catholic nuns who wanted to live in the Protestant neighborhood and work in that community. I saw a house in that neighborhood that had a “Shalom” sign on the front of it. That touched me. Little bits of peacemaking going on trying to penetrate the walls that separate. Physical walls with barbed wire at the top and houses with bricked up windows and doors.

So much too tell even after two days. But I have to get moving. I am being called to dinner with the group.

More another time.

Peace, Dottie

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May 6, 2007 by Larry Resch.

Welcome to the Glen Mar United Methodist Church mission blog.  God depends on all of us to be servants in the world. Our families and our community depend on the gifts that we willingly share outside the walls of the church. We understand that while some ministry necessarily takes place within the church building, most ministry is shared outside the walls of the church.

This blog will hopefully provide you with some information about the various mission opportunities at Glen Mar and also with updates on some of our mission trips outside of our local area.

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