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Opera Review – Les Troyens
This review was first published by Opera Britannia Rating: It was a tale of two divas. And it was the best of times and it was the worst of times. The Mariinsky Opera‘s Les Troyens was a bold attempt to bring an epic work to the Edinburgh Festival which never quite achieved what it should have done. Though…
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Pictures to think about #2
There I was last week standing in the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, staring up (as you do) at the stunning mosaics high up on the walls. The pictures are astonishing and I may get round to posting some of them online later. My attention was distracted though by a small boy rushing backwards…
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Pictures to think about #1
I’ve been away from St Mary’s for the last week or so travelling, so no time to write much. However, I did take a lot of photographs and thought I would post one or two things here which made me think. As usual, comments welcome.
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Well-meaning but homophobic
A week has now passed since the Guardian published the following snippet commenting on the twitter exchange that I had with the Director of Communications for the Church of England after Vicky Beeching came out. The Church of England’s director of communications communicated himself into a corner last week, after a well-meaning but homophobic tweet…
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I nominate these guys
Can you change the world by pouring water over someone? Well, we had a go yesterday in St Mary’s with two lovely baptisms in a great service yesterday morning. In the course of the service, we were reminded of Moses being scooped from the water of the River Nile and going on to set a…
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Slow Eucharist – Teaching Mass – Lord’s Supper with FAQ
I’m doing something a bit different on Monday. It happens to be the Feast of St Bartholomew and normally we would have a celebratory Eucharist in the morning instead of morning prayer. Now, I’m the master of having all the works in less than half an hour. Clouds of smoke, a simple sung plainsong setting…
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On turning down Big Brother
This morning could have been so very different. I could have been waking in a room of sleeping pseudo-clebs and instead of writing a blog post I could have been called to the diary room. The funniest telephone call I’ve taken in the last year was from an agent looking for candidates for the Big…
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A wee homily for Derek and Nelson
Derek and Nelson – you have come here to St Mary’s today to declare your love for one another and so that we can share your joy and give thanks with you. Today is a feast day in the church. It is the Feast of St Mary – and here we all are in a…
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Calling out Homophobia in the Church of England
It is very, very rare that I accuse someone of homophobia. Those who know me in Scotland, who happen to hold different views to me will know that it simply isn’t an accusation that I throw around. However, I did make that accusation last night, against the Director of Communications of the Church of England.…
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A blessing for Vicky Beeching
I see from my twitter feed that there is a big church story in the press just breaking as I write this. Vicky Beeching has talked about being a gay woman for the first time. It is a big story because she has a strong public profile which she has worked hard to build up…