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Hustings
Congratulations to the St Mary’s Justice and Aid Network who staged last night’s Scottish Election Hustings in church. Speakers from the main political parties were present and there was a good turnout to hear them. I’ve been in the position of being an election candidate addressing a hustings meeting, so I know what it feels…
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Hand Holding and other PDAs
[UPDATE: Don’t miss the Guardian’s Kissing in Public Live Blog relating to the incident described below] As I’ve already indicated, I spent quite a bit of the past week in that London. It’s unusual for me to take a holiday just before Holy Week, but it felt like quite a while since I’ve had…
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The Royal Wedding #1
Now, take a good look at the picture above. It’s the Early Learning Centre’s Royal Wedding Set. I expect that you’ve already purchased your own set already. Taking a look at it though, what do you notice? What I notice is that there’s something missing – namely, any connection with the church. They’ve managed a…
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Mr Beamish
I was in church in London at the weekend. I chose to go to a parish on Sunday morning that I’d never been to before. Its not one that I’m going to name here, but its the kind of church that you might expect a wandering provost to go to in London. Clouds of puff,…
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Here I am
Here I Am – Reflections on the Ordained Life by Richard Giles (Canterbury Press £9.99) This is a little book about ordination that is full of glistening little gems of insight, wisdom and humour. Richard Giles will be known to many for his books on the shape of liturgical space (Repitching the Tent) and the…
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Walking the Labyrinth
Walking the Labyrinth Sally Welch (Canterbury Press – £9.99) There can be no doubt that one of the successful modern spiritual tools is the labyrinth. Meditative walking of the pathways of labyrinths has taken off and intriguingly can be found within the modern experience of high and low church folk alike. But what to make…
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New Monasticism as Fresh Expression of Church
New Monasticism as Fresh Expression of Church Edited by Graham Cray, Ian Mobsby and Aaron Kennedy. (Canterbury Press – £14.99) The truth is, you can get away with an awful lot in ecclesiastical life in Scotland by explaining away whatever mischief you are up to as being genuinely, authentically Celtic. In England, they’ve had to…
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Opera Review – Intermezzo
[This review was recently published at the Opera Britannia website and can be seen there with pictures from the show]. Strauss’s Intermezzo is seldom performed and consequently not particularly widely known. Scottish Opera’s new production (directed by Wolfgang Quetes) is an attempt to rescue the reputation of a difficult and troubling work which, though it…
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Holiday Blogging
I’m away from work for a week’s holiday – the first time I’ve managed to get away since last September. I’d had a week scheduled in January but it was lost to the ‘flu. The last couple of weeks have been rather challenging due to an extended internet outage in the Cathedral office. I’ve left…
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World Autism Awareness Day
Today is World Autism Awareness day and well worth marking. I’ve known a couple of people receive a diagnosis of being on the autistism spectrum in the last year or so, each in their forties and each with a whole new growing awareness of who they are. I know more about Asperger syndrome than other…