Welcome to St Marks today on this very special Celebration Sunday. We are delighted you could join us as we celebrate together the fact that Jesus Christ is alive. He has conquered death! Glory to the risen King!

The Easter story is a powerful statement of hope in difficult days. In days of recession and financial crisis we are reminded that ‘THERE IS HOPE’! In days of institutional collapse and deep despair we can confidently say that ‘THERE IS HOPE’! And in days of global warming and global disasters we can proclaim ‘THERE IS HOPE’! We believe this. That is why on April the 21st as part of the Arise Dublin network, we are putting on an Outreach event in the National Stadium called…..‘THERE IS HOPE’!

The truth of Easter is as relevant and as important today as it ever was! The truth of the cross, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and His ascension to Glory all offer us hope that there is a way, there is a truth and there is a life…His name is Jesus. In Full assurance of faith we can all cross over from sin to righteousness, from hate to love, from despair to peace, from death to life, from hell to heaven. All we have to do is commit our lives and our eternity into the hands of the triumphant King; Jesus Christ!

Our prayer today is that you have an incredible Easter, a great time with family and friends and a holy time of sacred moments spent in communion and contemplation with the risen Lord. May the resurrected Lord bless you deeply and lovingly over this season of rest.

On behalf of Susan and myself and the Church leadership, May you have a blessed and joyous Easter. To all the staff and volunteers….Get some rest!! Thank you so much for all your giving. You make serving a joy and a pleasure. Thank you.

God bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine on you!

Love in Christ,

Pastor Seán and Susan

The Novelty has worn off!  Yes, I am officially sick of the snow.  It was nice at first.  Quite Cute.  Everything looked so beautiful.  The children were having (and are still having) such fun! The schools were closed!  The snowmen were huge.  The snow fights were epic and the sliding around was pure madness!  But now I want it to go…..

There is an epic piece of scripture found in Isaiah Chapter 1 that reads, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1v18).  To those of us looking out through Irish windows these days, consider and see how the snow has covered everything……as far as the eye can see……everything is white.  Snow has covered it all with its pure white cloak!

As Christians we believe that Jesus died on the cross in our stead and on our behalf.  We believe that Jesus, the pure spotless lamb, shed His blood to cover our sins.  And we believe that such was the power and the impact of this sacrificial act that all of our sins….every single one of them-past, present and future…..are forgiven and covered so that they appear white as snow.  As far as any judgemental eye or accusing tongue can see all is white.  All is covered.  All is forgiven.

Come under the cloak of Gods provision of Righteousness this day by repenting of your sin, turning back to God and asking Jesus to be your Lord, master, forgiver and God!  If you do, you will be white as snow in His Holy sight.  Wow!  Come on!  All together Now….’Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!’

Just finished with the second of our two Carol services.  Thank God for all the new faces and the opportunity to sow ‘life’ seed into hungry hearts.  To God be the Glory and praise!  Let me share with you what I spoke on this evening.

The Gospel of Mark is amazing in the way it gets off the mark (no pun intended!).  There is no reference to what we know as the nativity story, as found in Matthew and Luke; or any mystical leanings as found in the introduction to the Gospel of John.  Mark dives straight in, quoting the Prophet Isaiah, “Prepare the way for the Lord!”  This reminds me of my favourite Carol.  ‘Joy to the world’ and the line, ‘Let every heart prepare Him ROOM!’ (I know you had the tune in your head as you read the lyric!!)

The famous Christmas story tells us that when Mary and Joseph arrived in Bethlehem, there was NO ROOM in the inn.  Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man grows up and as the world groans for a saviour Jesus begins His salvation ministry.  As he goes around a very small part of planet earth mankind and history conspire to declare that there is NO ROOM for a loving God and His message of love.  Jesus is crucified after just three years of ministry and service.  But He does not stay dead!  He is the resurrection and the life and as His Spirit of life ministers in our world this very day our crowded hearts and minds, schedules and programmes declare to God, ‘I am sorry but I have NO ROOM for you!’

My fellow travelers, time is short, life is hard and we are weary.  Let us make every effort to ‘Prepare Him ROOM’ this Christmas for He is the only one who can lead us into the freedom and ROOM we all long for.  Only He can lead us into a good and spacious land!!

God bless you and yours this Christmas and throughout 2010,

Love in Christ

Seán and Susan

We had a great Sunday yesterday!  It was just one of those days when it all worked, when the presence of God in all meetings took my breath away, when the love and unity expressed among each other was real and when the word and the Spirit combined to reach and touch many souls….including mine.

I think the ‘thought of the day’ prize went to Jeff Lucas for a powerful point made in our evening service.  Speaking from Luke 15 and what we call the ‘Parable of the prodigal son’, Jeff referred to the point in the story where the father cries, “ ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”

Jeff described a tradition at that time whereby an individual who had brought disgrace or shame upon his/her family or family name would be met on the outskirts of a the town or on the boundary lines of the homestead by a group of people whose sole purpose was to express to the returning son or daughter the fact that they did not want anything to do with that person ever again.  That ’sinner’ and ’shamer’ was dead to the family, the town and the community.  They did not want him/her in their area ever again!

The parable from Jesus though, paints an utterly different picture.  It expresses the joy of a Father at the return of a lost son.  It expresses sheer loving abandon as he runs to welcome his son and, the story, expresses immense urgency as the father cries “QUICK!”  Why?  Because the father wanted to make sure that grace reached his returning son before judgment!  Wow!  The father wanted grace to win the race.  As ever, grace won!  Isn’t it amazing!

You know, if you turn toward home tonight and come back to trusting Jesus the Christ, the Father will make sure that grace gets to you before judgment comes to cut you off and send you away!  The Father wants you to hear one word tonight: “QUICK!”

Luv Seán