Weekly Article

For the last several days Facebook has been reminding me what I was doing seven years ago and last year. Seven years ago, I visited Scotland for the first time and fell in love with the country, culture, and history. We visited Edinburgh, St, Andrews, Glasgow, Iona, Skye, Loch Ness, and more. The trip helped pique my curiosity of the world and my love of travel. Last year, I was in Ireland at this time, exploring the country and learning more about reconciliation and living well together. 

I love Scotland and Ireland. I love the landscape and the legends, and yes even the food: Sainsburys grocery stores are the best! I enjoyed the historical sites and appreciated discovering the roots of Presbyterianism, and in many ways the roots of America. 

I’m looking forward to returning to Northern Ireland and Scotland next spring with more than 40 friends from Derry Church. I hope they fall in love with these countries as I did, but more importantly come away with a greater appreciation of Celtic spirituality, the roots of Presbyterianism, and the complicated history of the Scots Irish in the British Isles and in America. As a congregation, we’ll explore more about Celtic spirituality next spring during Lent leading up to the trip.

I think the Derry 300th Heritage trip will be an educational, fun, and memorable trip for all. Courtney and I will be leading some classes for the participants leading up to the class about Scottish and Irish history, but anyone can come who may be interested in learning more. 

While I’m excited about the April 2024 trip, I may be even more excited about taking our youth and college aged students to Northern Ireland in June next year. We’ll spend a week at Corrymeela where they will lead us in a program about peace, reconciliation, and living well with difference. We’ll take a day trip to Belfast and learn the history of the Troubles as told by both an Irish Republican and a British Loyalist. We’ll spend a day in Derry and worship at First Derry Presbyterian Church, tour the city, and learn more about the Troubles and the peace process. We’ll also have time for some fun, like visiting Giant’s Causeway, Rathlin Island, and Carrickfergus Castle. 

This will be a once-in-a-lifetime — and hopefully a life-changing opportunity — for our youth. They’ll not only get to explore a new part of the world, they’ll learn about the history of the Scots-Irish and the difficult societal divisions in Ireland and how they began to heal. They will be given tools by one of the most respected reconciliation ministries on how to live well within a world of difference and be peacemakers themselves.

Youth who are attending will participate in educational classes before the trip so they can get the most out of it, and will need to complete 25 hours of mission work through the church. 

This is one way they can more deeply connect with our 300th anniversary next year as they learn the history and visit places like Derry, Northern Ireland. 

We hope to significantly offset the cost of this trip so it’s possible for as many youth and college students to attend as possible. If you would like to donate to help make this youth trip possible, please reach out to me or donate to our Empower Youth Fund or through checks notated Empower Youth.  

2024 will be a special year for Derry, and not only because of these trips. We will be looking back and looking forward all year with special music, guests, classes, and worship. Even if you won’t be taking one of these trips, you can keep up with the travelers through pictures and stories, and you can participate in all the classes and our Celtic Spirituality worship series next Lent. 

As I see the old pictures I took on Facebook, I am filled with anticipation for my next trip and the experiences we will have together.