• Christmas in St Mary’s (with a twist at the end)

    Christmas is a time of joy and celebration, and there is perhaps no better place to experience the magic of the season than at St Mary’s Cathedral in the Scottish Episcopal Church. With its stunning architecture and rich history, this beautiful space offers a truly special and meaningful way to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

    One of the highlights of a Christmas service at St Mary’s Cathedral is the music. The cathedral’s choir is known for their beautiful voices and their ability to bring the festive carols to life. The church also features a grand organ, which adds a sense of grandeur and majesty to the service. Whether you’re a fan of traditional carols or more modern hymns, you’re sure to be moved by the beautiful music at St Mary’s Cathedral.

    Another highlight of a Christmas service at St Mary’s Cathedral is the sense of history and tradition. The cathedral dates back to the 19th century and is known for its stunning Gothic architecture. The service itself is filled with rich traditions, such as the lighting of the Advent wreath and the reading of the Christmas story from the Bible. These traditions help to create a sense of awe and wonder that is so fitting for the holiday season.

    But perhaps the most special aspect of a Christmas service at St Mary’s Cathedral is the sense of community and togetherness. As people from all walks of life come together to celebrate the birth of Jesus, there is a feeling of unity and love that is truly special. Whether you’re a lifelong member of the cathedral or a newcomer to the community, you’ll feel welcome and included in the celebration.

    In short, Christmas services at St Mary’s Cathedral in the Scottish Episcopal Church are a truly special and meaningful way to celebrate the holiday season. With their beautiful music, rich traditions, and sense of community, these services offer a chance to experience the magic and wonder of Christmas in a truly special and meaningful way.

    If you’ve made it through this blog post this far and you have a slight sense that there’s something odd about it the you’d be correct. The post above, not in italics wasn’t written by me. It was written by a machine – specifically the ChatGPT bot that has recently been released to the world. You tell  it what you want it to write and it does it.

    This one was generated by the prompt, “Write a blog post about how wonderful Christmas services are at St Mary’s Cathedral in the Scottish Episcopal Church”.

    Now, it doesn’t sound quite like me and it isn’t the most exciting writing there is. Perhaps it is even slightly stilted. But it is a fairly convincing attempt at the problem I gave it to do.

    This technology is going to make all things new. Academia in particular is going to have to change very quickly in the way it assesses students.

    This is disruptive technology. It can be used to do funny things – I could just have easily got it to write the above post in the voice of Donald Trump.

    Thus: “Let me tell you, folks, this place is amazing. The music is absolutely incredible, with the choir singing all of your favorite carols in the most beautiful way. And the organ! Wow, what a sound. It’s truly something to behold…”

    But this isn’t just entertainment. It is something completely and utterly new. Nothing you ever read again comes with a guarantee that it was written by a human being.

    The world is changed. As someone once sent with a telegraph key, “What hath God wrought”?

6 responses to “Hung!”

  1. Tim Avatar

    All very well saying Labour have “lost their mandate to govern” when he’s not actually gained one either…

    I guess a hung parliament has been most likely for the past few weeks, much as one might wish for a happier colour. I’ll bear the rest of your predictions in mind for later though 🙂

  2. Aaron Avatar
    Aaron

    Here in Canada we’ve had a minority government for five years now, with little sign of it falling. The Conservative PM is pretty bland, but the Liberals have the least inspiring leader you could imagine and the NDP are lead by a nutter. (And the Bloc isn’t national.) The opposition parties don’t want to trigger an election, because they fear that the voters would blame them for having to trudge to the polls. That and they’re even less popular than our lackluster PM.

    I think a minority government works, actually, simply because the governing party has to seek consensus. (And, in our case, the opposition parties have to as well.) Then again, I’m from the States where the President needs Congress and the voters often elect them from opposite parties.

  3. David | Dah•veed Avatar
    David | Dah•veed

    Off Topic –

    I am surprised that you have not said anything at MadPriest’s post about you. Especially since it has such a large photo.

  4. ryan Avatar
    ryan

    I saw that photo too! Kelvin does look a bit camp in it.

    1. kelvin Avatar
  5. ryan Avatar

    Well, it’s not as butch as the Italian Vanity Fair photos 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…