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Brexit – Five First Quick Thoughts
My first thoughts on waking to the news of the result of the referendum on membership of the EU are not with the markets nor about sovereignty but with individuals. In particular, my thoughts are with the considerable numbers of members of my own congregation who have come from the rest of the EU to…
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It’s not enough to #PrayForOrlando. People of faith must fight homophobia
This article appeared earlier today on the STV website. As I stand outside St Mary’s Cathedral every Sunday in Glasgow I often witness a curious thing. As people walk down Great Western Road towards me, I notice that some of the gay couples who belong to the congregation reach out to one another as they…
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Our Lady of Pride – Our Lady of Sorrows
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Scottish Episcopalians Do It Together
One of the things that I’ve been saying for a while is that the Scottish Episcopal Church is developing some answers for how Christians should deal with questions about human sexuality that caused so much trouble throughout the world. Yesterday we saw some of that at work in the General Synod meeting in Edinburgh. When…
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On Being Threatened
At the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church one seldom gets that many surprises. Very occasionally you get a vote that is closer than you expect but most of the things you hear are what you expect to hear. However, today I have to confess that I heard things that were genuinely surprising. As…
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The Scottish Episcopal Church and the biblical case for changing Canon 31
Over the next couple of days, the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church will be meeting in Edinburgh. There’s a huge amount of business to get through over the three days. I’ll be there as a member of synod thinking through how I will vote on all the motions. Even though there’s a very…
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The Columba Declaration – where are we now?
I was present this morning at the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for the Church of Scotland’s acceptance of the Columba Declaration – the agreement that has been made between the Church of Scotland and the Church of England which has cause a huge amount of concern to Scottish Episcopalians. It was good…
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We worship a non-binary God. Don’t we?
Just over a week ago there was something called the Scottish Church Census. Churches all over Scotland were asked to count how many people were present and to account for the gender diversity, ethnic diversity, age profile etc of the congregation. Those organising the census helpfully provided a brief form which people could use to…
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How to write the intercessions
This coming Sunday, I’m going to be doing the intercessions on Sunday morning. That’s unusual, as for no particular reason, the normal pattern is that clergy here pray at Choral Evensong and lay members of the congregation normally pray at the Sung Eucharist in the morning. So, as I sit down to think about the…
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The Seven Actual Marks of Mission
The Anglican Communion website tells us that the Five Marks of Mission are an “important statement on mission which expresses the Anglican Communion’s common commitment to, and understanding of, God’s holistic/integral mission”. The were first set out at an Anglican Consultative Council in 1984. The Five Marks of Mission are: To proclaim the Good News…