New links in the chain Trinity 4 2026

In the Gospel of Matthew, he attributes these words to Jesus “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me…..” It was the custom, in that time, that to speak to someone’s representative was to communicate with the source itself. Jesus was saying that there is a continuity in discipleship, a sense of sending out, in which Christian life participates in a chain of mission; as the Father sent the Son, so the Son sent the original disciples, and they sent those to whom they passed on the Gospel, and so on and so on, to each new generation. Each time another link is added to the chain, and now, the chain extends to us; we are all links forged for our time. And we, in our turn, are charged with forging new links for the future – for the chain to be unbroken, to extend into the future beyond measure. To be light when it might be more comfortable to remain out of sight and out of mind. To sometimes be disrupting, disturbing, challenging and unsettling, in our time, just as Jesus and Matthew’s community were in their day. This is the daily stuff of our church life; the choices that we face every day, to fit in, to go along - to get along, or to stand up and stand out. This is what it means to be a link in the chain. Part of the Church of Ireland, St Nicholas Church, Adare and its fellow churches teaches and ministers within the progressive Christianity tradition, with influences from the scholars who built on the work of the Jesus Seminar. It seeks to be a church that is welcoming and inclusive, affirming and open in its liberal theology; and whilst we don’t claim to have all the answers, we are most certainly committed to ‘living the questions’. We have influences of Celtic spirituality in our worship and view of the natural world, living as we do in the beauty of County Limerick. The Church of Ireland also forms part of the Anglican communion which is an association of Anglican churches from 38 provinces, including the Church of England, the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Church in Wales, the Episcopal Church in the USA (otherwise known as the Episcopalians) and churches across the globe. With 80 million members, it is the third largest Christian body in the world, after the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. Hymn: 'When all your mercies, Lord' - www.smallchurchmusic.com Music: 'Fragment' - Ever So Blue - www.epidemicsound.com