Author Archives: Gerry Lynch

The Bright Field

Posted on May 21, 2019 by Gerry Lynch

Late on a summer evening, as I took photos from the summit of Divis (478m above sea level) the highest of the Belfast Hills towards Lough Neagh, suddenly a shaft of sunlight broke through and illuminated the fields on top … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglicanism, Christianity, Northern Ireland, Photography, Poetry, Reflection | Tagged anglican, anglicanism, belfast, belfast hills, christian, christianity, divis, photography, poetry, reflections, religion, rs thomas | Comments Off

Blogging Staggers Day Three: Sunset Skies

Posted on October 2, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

Truly spectacular sunset skies at St Stephen’s House this evening. This is, like, where I actually live and stuff. The church is St John the Evangelist, Iffley Road.

Posted in Anglicanism, Christianity, Photography | Tagged christianity, churchcrawling, photography, religion | Comments Off

Blogging Staggers Day One: Praying With the Lepers

Posted on September 30, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

The Bartlemas Chapel – a name that sounds like something out of Dickens, and the chapel felt like something from a disappeared world as well. A few hundred metres down a laneway from the noise and bustle of the Cowley … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Reflection | Tagged anglican, bible, christianity, church of england, cowley st john, history, leper chapels, oxford, prayer, psalms, worship | Comments Off

St Aldegundis, Emmerich

Posted on July 21, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

Difficult to photograph close in due to its dense inner-city site, some say that St Aldegundis is on the site of the original mission church in what later became Emmerich am Rhein, founded by St Wilibrord around 700. That is … Continue reading →

Posted in churchcrawling, Germany, Photography, Travel | 1 Comment

St Pancratius, ‘s-Heerenberg, and the ‘Gestapo Window’

Posted on July 19, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

St Pancratius (de Pancratiuskerk) in the little Dutch market town of ‘s-Heerenberg (population 8,000) and literally a ten minute stroll from the German border. At first blush – another pretty, ornate, but unexceptional post-Vatican I church in the south eastern … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe | Tagged 's-heerenberg, church, churchcrawling, gestapo, netherlands, religion, roman catholic, stained glass, Travel, war, world war 2 | Comments Off

What Is A Man? The Question Asked by a Memorial to Forgotten Wars

Posted on July 18, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

The memorial to the fallen of the 1860s Wars of German Unification in the Rheinpark in Emmerich (Kriegerdenkmal, Emmerich). Emmerich is a sleepy little river port on the Rhine, literally within a casual afternoon stroll of the Dutch border. Completed … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Germany, Travel | Tagged history, nationalism, statues, war, war memorials, western civilisation, wilhelm kreis | Comments Off

The Opioids of the People

Posted on June 11, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

Crossposted at Slugger O’Toole… The United States government has launched a new anti-opioid campaign featuring true stories of people so desperate that they inflicted gruesome injuries on themselves to get another prescription. Such stories have already been more effectively told in … Continue reading →

Posted in Global, USA, World Politics | Tagged philosophy, religion, us politics, western civilisation | Comments Off

Presbyterians, Salvation, and God

Posted on June 9, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

Cross-posted at Slugger O’Toole. We cremated my friend James on the freakishly warm Friday before St Patrick’s Day, between the two bouts of even freakier snow. We did this after a celebration of the Supper of the Lord Jesus Christ … Continue reading →

Posted in Anglicanism, Christianity, LGBT, Reflection, UK | Tagged christian, christianity, church of england, church of scotland, death, lgbt and christianity, presbyterian, reflections, religion | Comments Off

St Nicolai, Kalkar

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

St Nicolai’s Church in the town of Kalkar (115km north of Cologne, 150km SE of Amsterdam) on the German Lower Rhine – a wonderland of woodcarving from the late 15th and 16th Centuries, where a remarkable cast of woodcarvers found … Continue reading →

Posted in Europe, Germany, Photography | Tagged Art, church, churchcrawling, religion, Travel | Comments Off

A Tallinn Memorial from the Days before Nationalism

Posted on June 7, 2018 by Gerry Lynch

Our past was at times profoundly different from our present in ways we little appreciate; this memorial in an Estonian church survives from a time when nationalism was not a given, not too long ago. Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Europe | Tagged church, churchcrawling, culture, estonia, EU, history, ideas, nationalism, political history, politics, religion, tallinn, Travel | Comments Off