The President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Rev Dr Norman Taggart, has called on people not to lose heart because of the upsurge of Northern violence.
"Peacemakers are required to be even more persistent than peace-destroyers," said Dr Taggart, who will give the sermon in the Methodist Church in Dublin's Leeson Park at 10.45 a.m. tomorrow, which will be broadcast on RTE Radio 1.
Peace is social, national, international and environmental, as well as personal, he said, but "if we want to be faithful to Biblical teaching we simply cannot internalise or `spiritualise' peace".
This meant a willingness to take risks, trusting in others, abandoning prejudiced positions, entered into after hard issues had been confronted and resolved.