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Hostage to Fortune
According to reports I see on Facebook, the Bishop of Copenhagen to said to the Church of England Synod today: “It was not the act of a gentleman when Thorkild the Tall plundered the cathedral in Canterbury and took the archbishop prisoner. I’m sorry about that.” It may not have been gentlemanly but it is…
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The end of the World
It is hard not to be cynical about the proposal to shut down the News of the World in the face of the baying of the crowd. Though there is some temptation to feel some sense of schadenfreude that the paper which has most tryed to whip up a lynch-mob mentatlity is hoist on its…
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Music at St Mary’s
For a number of different reasons, I find myself reflecting on the musical tradition that I find myself in the middle of at St Mary’s. It obviously matters to people and it obviously matters to me, but what is it? It isn’t the pure English Cathedral choral tradition though it has been deeply nourished from…
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Ordination Anniversaries
Today is the anniversary of my ordination to the diaconate. The fourth of July, marked as Independence Day by some seemed an appropriate day to be ordained. It was all about being independent and free from TISEC (the Scottish Episcopal Church’s training institution). This time of year tends to be one with quite a lot…
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What I was up to last week
Well, it was good to arrive home on Saturday after a few days gadding about in Englandshire. I’d been in Cambridge to act as a respondant to a colloquium on affirming the Jewishness of Jesus in Christian preaching which had been organised by the Centre for the Study of Jewish Christian Relations. There’s more about…
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What people are searching for
Latest interesting list of search enquiries which have led people to this blog: Lammastide sermon virgin mary knitting churches for gay people scottish episcopal tartan collective noun for midgie how to strip tease for beginners I hope that all were satisfied by what they found here. Especially the last one.
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Magna Carta
I found myself at Euston yesterday, with a spare hour to kill, so I popped into the British Library, like you do, to have a look at the Codex Sinaiticus. A couple of months ago there was the following exchange at St Mary’s LGBT group, which had made me want to go and gaze in…
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Vocational Preaching
Many blessings upon the Rev Cedric Blakey, the Cathedral’s Vice Provost whom I still think of as my new colleague, even though he has been here since the start of December. It is Cedric’s anniversary of priesting today, St Peter’s Day. Many congratuations to him on the anniversary. He was preaching about it on Sunday…
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Orchestral Evensong
Well, the Cathedral musicians certainly ended the summer term with a bang and not a whimper this time. Just when you didn’t think it could get more outrageously better, you find yourself in the middle of the most extraordinary Orchestral Evensong. 86 singers and a 50+ orchestra somehow managed to squeeze themselves into the crossing…
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More Corpus Christi Comment
Just before the last fluttering rose petal hits the floor and we move on to new glories, make sure you don’t miss Beth’s comments about Corpus Christi and indeed her experience of St Mary’s both in this festival time and through the year. You’ll find what she has to say over on a post called…