Shortly before Christmas I took a break from carol services to go to Belfast in Northern Ireland; it was hosting a meeting of the British Pharmacological Society and I was going to present some new findings from our research. I grew up in the 1970s, when the news was all of “the troubles”, the feuds between Loyalists and Republicans, conveniently badged as Protestants and Roman Catholics. The violence is now over, but this was my first visit to a place in some ways I knew well from those old broadcasts. I have to say I was very impressed with what I saw. On the journey from the airport to the city, I did see an Irish flag flying in estate in a town on the bus route, but that was the only glimpse of the past. Belfast was a very friendly, vibrant, multi-cultural city; at least in the centre, it seemed to have completely moved on. Of course, in the space of a short visit, I am sure I did not get a complete picture. But I loved the cathedral, that made me so welcome at one of their lunchtime communion services (and which manages with just two full-time clergy, unlike some places…). And I really loved the First Presbyterian Church, a Protestant church, where the guide and caretaker, so enthusiastic about it, is a Roman Catholic. Change can happen, the Kingdom of God does come.
Rev David Poyner