Dear Friends,

 

A new year, a new decade indeed! It seems only a blink when we were worrying over the Y2K bug, which would halt the world as we knew it and the scramble for 00 car plates, as 2000 came around. Since then much has changed. The decade of decadence gave way to Make and Mend. The Celtic Tiger was hunted to the verge of extinction and Ireland became a global destination, not only for tourists but newcomers to our shores. The Parish too has changed. Physically a new school, a refurbished church and Parish Centre and a renovated Rectory were all completed in the “noughties”. The Parish is peopled by a wider variety of Parishioners from Europe, Africa and Asia and a kaleidoscope of different Christian traditions. In terms of age profile, the Parish population has got younger over the decade, but what next?

 

The only certain thing, as we enter a new decade, is change. The Psalmist adds a promise, The righteous flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon, in old age they still produce fruit (Psalm 92:12-14). Kill is a church that has been rooted in Christ for centuries. The fruit of the tree represents the superabundance of life or the spirituality found in Christ. Fruitfulness signifies both character, and numerical replication: in other words quality and quantity. Churches like Kill, with a long history, must stand not simply as monuments to the past, but as fruit producers for the future. God is the Faithful One and amid all the changes that await us in 2010 we look to Him, the author of life, and bear fruit accordingly.

 

 

Yours sincerely,