What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Scottish Episcopal Church News for February 2015

    The following news can be reproduced on other websites and in church magazines. Sign up to have news like this delivered each month by email here: http://thurible.net/follow-blog/

    Lent Appeals

    The Scottish Episcopal Church is having a co-ordinated Lent Appeal in each of its dioceses this year in aid of the Scottish Episcopal Institute. The Institute is a relatively new training body which was formed last year following an inspection of its predecessor, TISEC – the Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church. (The inspectors indicated that they had no confidence in several aspects of TISEC including its ability to engage in formation with candidates for ministry). Unlike the Train a Priest fund in England, this appeal appears to be to support the institution rather than aiding candidates for ministry directly with grants. A leaflet has been published and it being customised for each diocese – the Brechin one is available online here: http://www.thedioceseofbrechin.org/media/resources/Brechin_Lent_Appeal.pdf

    Liturdi Albannach 1982 (Gaelic Liturgy 1982)

    A new online resource has been made available by The Gaelic Society of the Scottish Episcopal Church. It consists of a parallel English-Gaelic text of the 1982 liturgy and sound recordings to help Gaelic learners. The texts and recordings can be found on the website of the Diocese of Argyll and The Isles.

    People

    Tribute to Ivor Guild

    The Rt Rev Ted Luscombe, retired Bishop of Brechin has published a tribute to the late Ivor Guild CBE:

    Ivor Guild was in the long line of distinguished Scottish lawyers who have given devoted service to the Scottish Episcopal Church. He was a faithful and devoted communicant member of St Paul’s Cathedral, Dundee, where he was brought up, and then for the rest of his life “an eight o’clock man” at St Mary’s Cathedral, Edinburgh.

    Despite holding a number of high profile public offices – Procurator Fiscal of the Lyon Court; Bailie of the Palace of Holyrood House and Chairman of the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland amongst them – he was essentially a very private person.

    He gave an immense amount of his time, his legal expertise and his common sense to the Councils of the Church. For forty years he was Registrar of the Episcopal Synod where his wisdom was implicitly relied on by successive holders of the office of Primus. He served as Chancellor of the Diocese of Edinburgh for ten years and as Chancellor of St Andrews for thirteen years. For the last thirty-odd years he was a Director of Scottish Episcopal Church Nominees where his wide experience of Investment Trusts was invaluable and he was one of the five Trustees of the Episcopal Church. He was regarded – and rightly regarded – as one of the Elder Statesmen of Episcopacy.”

    Murals at St John’s Church in Edinburgh

    At the end of last year a mural was painted outside St John’s Church in Edinburgh. Like many of the previous murals, this one was controversial enough to cause some considerable comment. (A typical example of the outrage being on “Archbishop Cranmer”‘s blog.

    The Rector of St John’s, the Rev Markus Dünzkofer has now published a reflection about the various murals that have occupied the spot.

    Thirty years ago the murals were created as a response to this prophetic tradition. Not unlike Hosea and Nathan they are at times rather uncomfortable and at other times really affirming. Most of the times they are somewhere in between. And sometimes they miss the target. It all depends on the subject matter and on one’s particular viewpoint. But all the time the murals strive to set a question mark amongst the indifference and the fears of our world. And at times these question marks have to be most powerful. This is why the murals are appreciated by many.

    The full reflection can be found here: http://churchofstjohn.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/murals-and-free-speech.html

    Response of College of Bishops to letter regarding their Guidelines

    The College of Bishops has responded to a letter of concern from over 50 clergy and lay readers in response to guidelines regarding changed to marriage law published by the College in December 2014.

    Writing on behalf of the College, the Primus, The Most Rev David Chillingworth has said:

    As bishops, we are acutely aware that the issues which are part of the wider discussion of human sexuality and are touched on in the Guidance issued by the College are not abstract matters of policy. They affect deeply the lives and relationships of members of our church, both clergy and laity. It is regrettable, therefore, that some have been upset by the style and tone of our Guidance
    document; this was not our intention. We are aware that what we say should be expressed in a way which is compassionate and which honours the depth of the feelings involved.

    The full letter can be read here: http://www.changingattitudescotland.org.uk/response-college-bishops-letter-concern-50-clergy-lay-readers/

    Around the Church

    New Year Message from Bishop Gregor Duncan

    The Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway has published (on 26 January 2015) a new year message from Bishop Gregor. It can be found here: http://glasgow.anglican.org/index.php/news/entry/bishop_gregors_new_year_message/

    Moray Diocesan Anniversary Banner

    The year 2014 marked the 900th anniversary of the Diocese of Moray and the 150th anniversary of the uniting of the Diocese of Moray, Ross and Caithness. A banner has been produced to mark this event and a booklet published containing details of the banner. More here: http://moray.anglican.org/diocesan-anniversary-banner/

    New Congregation formed in Fife

    A new congregation has been formed in Fife incorporating the congregations of Aberdour, Burntisland and Inverkeithing. It meets in Inverkeithing High School.  More details here: http://www.standrews.anglican.org/news/entry/launch-of-new-congregation-at-all-souls-fife

    Vacancies

    The congregation of St John’s, Forfar seeks a Rector – closing date 6 February 2015. Full details on the Scottish Episcopal Church website: http://www.scotland.anglican.org/who-we-are/organisation/vacancies/

     

     

     

7 responses to “Whither the Kirk?”

  1. Pausing Place Avatar
    Pausing Place

    I missed last night’s programme, but I thought your comments were interesting.

    In a sense, perhaps it’s unsurprising if the SEC is inwardly more positive about itself than the CofS. My take is that in the recent past, at least, the SEC started from a lower common denominator, not being the “local” church in the same way as the Kirk, and so it doesn’t have to contend with others saying of it “look how the mighty have fallen” in quite the same way.

    As to the health of the Kirk (and the SEC for that matter), I think we need to reflect on our self-perception and to consider carefully the points and places in which a dying church (congregation or denomination) should be allowed to die gracefully, and the ways in which we might see new life emerge from the rubble.

    As a young(ish!), relatively new Christian I have seen examples of (both urban and rural) SEC and Kirk congregations where there are few signs of new growth, little to draw in younger (under 50 year olds, to pick a random-ish number) new folk, and much to sustain negative preconceptions of church as boring, irrelevant and so forth.

    We as a faith community need to get much better at stepping up to the mark in our creativity and engagement with our society. The sad truth is that most young adults do not know and have not heard about Jesus Christ, and unless we engage with them in ways culturally relevant to them, and which do not presuppose previous knowledge (too often taken for granted) they never will.

    It troubles me, but I do think it’s true to say that in the SEC and in the Kirk we have a church sustained by the traditions and cultural reference points taught to a previous generation. Culture has shifted radically, with the result that the same will not be able to be said in 20 years time.

    Our challenge is clear. Whether the Kirk and the SEC can step up to the mark to address what it means to live out the Great Commission in the 21st century is less so.

    Reply
  2. Cal Avatar
    Cal

    I didn’t really understand who this programme was aimed at, or even what its aim was.

    Yes, numbers have fallen, but perhaps the small number of people who remain are there because they actually want to be, not because it’s the done thing on a Sunday morning.

    And personally, I rather like the idea of a church “sustained by traditions”. Clearly the church has to be relevant to modern society, but in abandoning the traditions of worship then you lose the centre of why the church exists in the first place.

    There was something very Presbyterian about the programme with its “we’re doomed” mentality. I find the SEC generally more positive in outlook.

    Reply
  3. John Avatar
    John

    The only book the presenter seemed to have used in his research was ‘The Death of Christian Britain: Understanding Secularisation 1800-2000’ By Callum G Brown – indeed Callum Brown was one of the speakers. The thesis of this well argued sociological study is that “quite suddenly in 1963 something very profound ruptured the character of the nation and its people sending organised Christianity on a downward spiral to the margins of social significance”. That something he identifies as new media, new gender roles and a moral revolution which has dramatically ended people’s conception that they lived Christian lives.” It could be said to have happened as “sex began” between the end of the Chatterly ban and the Beatles first LP as the poet Philip Larkin so famously put it.”
    To balance this statistical decline the programme flagged up some of the “church without walls ” iniatives in a lame sort of way. All in all a most unsatisfactory programme that only told half the story.

    Reply
  4. Kenny Avatar
    Kenny

    Good crit Kelvin. My reflection at the end of the programme was, “Lord, we visited this stuff over 30 years ago, and have come out of it stronger and better Church in the SEC.” Hopefully, we stopped longing for ‘the good old days’ a long time ago!

    Reply
  5. MartinRitchie Avatar
    MartinRitchie

    I thinking “Pausing Place” makes a good point about needing to creatively engage with society. From my own experience of working with a CofS congregation, this creative engagement is a weak spot for many.

    As a counterpoint to the programme, interesting to note in the latest “Life and Work” a very positive article about a growing CofS congregation in Stornoway – and I mean really growing! So not all doom and gloom, and I’m sure there are many more examples of bright spots, just as there are in the SEC!

    Reply
  6. Graham Vahey Avatar
    Graham Vahey

    If the C of S disappeared completely we would be at a loss. During the dark and bleak years of Thatcher’s reign she refused to visit Scotland for 5 years. When she did she expressed shock that we had Royal Regalia and ordered it to be removed immediately for safe-keeping to England. Her ‘Sermon on the Mound’ is now historical for its condescension to the Scots. She was none too pleased to be handed two reports on poverty in Scotland by the powerful Church and Nation Committee. Indeed, it was to this Committee that the population turned to for a moral lead during Thatcherism. When James VI (‘Jamie the Saxt’) became James I in England, the population turned to senior Scottish earls for a moral lead. Unfortunately, the Piskie Church does not give a moral lead in Scotland, apart from the work of the Scottish Constitutional Convention in the recent past. The RC Church does pronounce on moral issues. Could it not be conceivable that all the major Churches could unite in a Committee to pronounce for Scotland on moral issues as the Church & Nation Committee once did?

    Reply
  7. Aldous N. Gaiters Avatar
    Aldous N. Gaiters

    Speaking as a Nonjuror myself I am sure the SEC has a right to a moral voice in Scotland. Taking the US daughter church of the SEC as a model you could see where the fissures would appear. There is room for a modern liberal Christian voice, but even I an old Liberal myself, would have to fear that such a voice might appeal to only a select few.

    Reply

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