Author: Andrew Irwin
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The Silence of Holy Saturday is the Life of Faith
Easter is vital for the church, reflecting hope and identity. However, Holy Saturday’s silence symbolizes the struggles and uncertainties in our faith journeys. It challenges believers to confront their doubts and the messiness of life while emphasizing that God’s presence remains, even in confusion, as we await the hope of resurrection.
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The Agony of Triumph: The Journey of Palm Sunday (Psalm 31:9-16) | Holy Week 2026
Psalm 31:9–16 is one of the Bible’s most honest prayers, giving voice to grief, weakness, fear, and the deep sense of being overwhelmed by life. Yet in the middle of that trouble David turns to God in trust, declaring, “But I trust in you, O Lord… my times are in your hand.” This sermon explores…
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From Plagues to Covenant (Hope in The Exodus)
Freedom Formed by God’s Story 1. Introduction — Freedom Is Only the Beginning In 2009, I was travelling for the first time out of the UK/Ireland, by myself with a team, to Senegal. From start to finish over those two weeks, it was one of the most formative times of my life—the constant experience of…
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Present but Absent: Who Is the Parish For?
Many Church of Ireland parishes remain physically present in deprived urban areas while becoming socially and missionally distant from the people around them. Focusing on North Belfast, this article asks whether the parish can recover a clearer, more credible presence in the communities it is called to serve.
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1 | Grace in the Wilderness and For the Wilderness | Matthew 4: 1-11
I wonder: if you were asked what some of the challenges the Church faces in our context are, what would you say? The answer would depend a lot on our background and our desire for our own lives. We might say: declining numbers, a loss of tradition, a lack of confidence, among other things. Then,…
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5 | From the Mountain to the Ordinary (1 Peter 1:22-25)
There is something about the mountain top, the beauty of getting there after a long hike, and looking around and suddenly the breathlessness of the couple of hours it took to get to that moment feels a lot less, and the world seems a lot smaller as you look out across the views, and it…
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Atr Irwin 