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Triduum #2 – Veneration of the Cross
At St Mary’s we have a service of Veneration of the Cross on Good Friday morning at 0930. Its a very simple service – a few prayers and an opportunity again to reflect on the Passion readings. Here we use the Passion from the gospel of the year on Palm Sunday and John’s Passion on…
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Triduum #1 – The Maundy Thursday
Every year I make the promise to people that if you keep the Triduum at St Mary’s (or any church that keeps it) then it will change your life and change your faith. Indeed, I usually say that it is like a lens through which we should see everything else that we do in church…
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St Mary’s Newsletter
Just this weekend I’ve installed some new software in order to make it easier to send newsletters to the congregation. There was a working system up until about six months ago, but it failed when I moved servers and it has been one of the longstanding entries on my to-do list to reinstate some kind…
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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…