• We’re going on a journey

  23/12/2013

  

  
  A couple of years ago, there was a new initiative in St Mary’s – someone suggested that we should have a crib service for children at 4 pm on Christmas Eve. We kind of expected a few children from the young church to show up. In the event there were about 50 people in the place and it was judged a great success. A year later, the turnout was just about double. I spoke to some of the people afterwards who told me that they were so pleased to find it because none of the other churches in Glasgow were doing anything for children at Christmas. I disputed this but they told me that no, they had checked online and that no-one was doing anything. More than that, someone said, some of the churches are not having Christmas services at all – you can tell, there’s nothing on their websites about Christmas at all.

  Now, there’s two things to learn from this. Firstly that churches which want younger people and children to come to them need to get on with providing services which are suitable. Secondly churches which want anyone at all to come to them need to face the reality that if they are not online then they will be perceived not to exist and if they don’t put their service details online then no matter how good the services are, people will presume that nothing at all is being done.

  There are still Episcopal churches in Glasgow who are putting out a strong message online this Christmas that they are not doing anything to celebrate it. People from those parts of town will come to the cathedral instead of going to their local church. It isn’t particularly that they like what we do – though when they get here they love it and will tend to come again. It is simply that they can’t find out about what is happening locally and draw their own conclusions.

  St Mary’s is a place where we are quite clear that Christmas is not just for children. We are not a congregation that thinks that Christmas is just a family time either – church and Christmas is for everyone. (I thought John Bell’s Thought for the Day today was particularly fine, by the way).

  I’m really pleased though that these crib services have become established here on Christmas Eve now. Tomorrow’s Crib Service starts at 4 pm and participants are asked to bring a torch if they can. We’re going on a journey and we don’t know who we are going to encounter on the way…

  Christmas, crib service, families, internet

Previous Posts

• A question of sin

  04/08/2007

  The trouble with sin, is that it creeps up on you unexpectedly. There I was doing the ironing, a virtuous task sure as anything. Then I ran out of water in the steam iron and the following sinful thought passed through my mind. “Hmm, having lost the little plastic water bottle that came with the…

• What have I been reading?

  03/08/2007

  Oh, thank you for asking. I’ve recently finished Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan. It is a dark read, but a worthwhile one. Fr David arrives in an Ayrshire Roman Catholic parish, with unresolved issues from his past which unravel with a sadness, a poignancy and an apparent inevitability. It is the inevitability which is…

• Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle

  01/08/2007

  Pausing just for a moment to remember Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle who died just over a week ago. He was a dedicated member of the Scottish Episcopal Church. [Indeed, he might even have been one of the 100 or so True Scottish Episcopalians that only exist at any one time]. I remember Lord Jauncey’s finest…

• What is a wiki?

  31/07/2007

  Now, I still think the wiki thing is going to be big, but people still don’t get it. Congregational wiki? Church unconference anyone? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see this video: [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY]