What is in Kelvin's Head?

The Triduum Promise

02/04/2015
Over the next couple of days, I will be entering into a different time zone.

It is one thing to put the clock forward to British Summer Time but it is quite another to step into the triduum zone.

The Triduum is the set of services that begin with the Maundy Thursday communion service tonight and which culminate (if Jesus rises) with a great feast on Sunday morning.

When I say that it is like stepping into a timezone, people might presume that it is like stepping back 2000 years but in fact it feels different to that. It is more as though the events surrounding the crucifixion step into our time than that we are looking backwards.

Every year I make the same promise – if you come and keep the Triduum here in St Mary’s it will change your life and change the way you think about Christianity forever. I’ve never had anyone say that my promise wasn’t kept.

What I’m talking about is coming to all of the following:
- The Maundy Thursday service followed by as much of the Watch as possible. (The Watch will be kept until Midnight and some people go away after the communion and return for some of the Watch later in the evening).
- The Good Friday Three Hour devotions and at least one of the other services (either Veneration of the Cross at 9.30 am or Stations of the Cross at 7.30 pm)
- The clean and polish on Holy Saturday – (Yes, this really is part of the triduum experience).
- The Fire Vigil at 7 am on Easter Day.
- High Mass on Easter Day.
It seems like a lot. It is a lot.

But it is a big promise and I’ve found that there’s always one or two who try it out every year. They tend to come back and repeat the experience and yes, they describe it as life changing.

There’s at least one description of what it is like from someone who tested the promise out online, but there’s plenty more accounts circulating in the congregation.

[The previous links in the post above all point to previous descriptions I’ve written on this blog about those services – a couple of years out of date, 2000 years up to date – I don’t know)/

8 responses to “Why Billy Graham’s legacy is complex”

Catherine Mooney

21/02/2018

We went to see Billy Graham the last time he came to Glasgow. The bank manager gave us tickets! It was my first time at Parkhead. Never had I seen so many Burberry raincoats. It was a hugely choreographed occasion. The intensity of the occasion passed me by, I had never been any where with so many people before. However his effect was clear, people were very moved. r

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Meg Rosenfeld

21/02/2018

Kelvin, I take my hat off to you (or, as a dear, sadly departed Portuguese friend of mine used to say, “I take my head off to you”) for being able to sort out 1) your deep respect for Billy Graham the man, and 2) your wholly justified condemnation of some of his beliefs and their unfortunate consequences, and to come up with your conclusion (which I share) that he is awaking in glory–to some surprises!

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ukviewer

21/02/2018

I never heard of Billy Graham, until I became an Anglican. I was raised as a Catholic and when I was young, only who the Pope was, and perhaps saw Arch Bishop Fisher on TV and being told that he was a Non-Catholic and I shouldn’t watch him or read about him.

When I became an Anglican, I met some Evangelicals who t raced their history back to his Crusades and extolled his virtues. When I did research for Essays that I was writing for my training, I read about the darker side of his ministry, particularly those you ably describe. I revised my opinion of him, to one of someone who was given a Gift to proclaim the good news, but somewhere mixed it up with bad theology and missed the bit about us all being Children of God, who loves each and every one of us, not a select few.

I’ve seen the headlines and eulogies for him and have say, that with due respect that his ministry was misused and misdirected down a tangent that has had consequences for many who are victimized daily as a result.

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Christina Mackay

22/02/2018

Hi Kelvin,

I’m a producer on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Saturday. We are planning to do an item about Billy Graham and were interested in what you said in your blog and wondered if you’re around to come on the programme. Could you give me a call on 0141 422 7711. Many thanks.

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p hall-ropberts

23/02/2018

I think billy was a great preachr but he did not accept that god made gay people as well as straight & I couldn’t accept that

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Rebecca van Pelt

25/02/2018

Billy Graham refused to conduct his meetings in stadiums that were segregated. He understood that we all stood equal before God. He sought crusade support across denominational lines. He ministered to our presidents, regardless of political ties or denominational ties. His sole text book was the Bible. He sole message was the salvation of the individual man through faith in Jesus Christ.

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1. Kelvin
  
  25/02/2018
  
  Well, Rebecca, I think Billy Graham’s life leaves a very complex legacy.
  
  Here’s what Malcolm X thought of him: http://religiondispatches.org/billy-graham-and-the-gospel-of-american-nationalistic-christianity/
  
  On the other hand, here’s what Mel White thought about him: https://www.melwhite.org/remembering-billy-graham/
  
  Here’s a CNN piece which quotes Billy Graham criticising Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/02/22/us/billy-graham-mlk-civil-rights/index.html
  
  “Only when Christ comes again will the little white children of Alabama walk hand in hand with little black children.”
  
  I’m prepared to stand by my assessment that I benefited from Billy Graham’s ministry and also that there are some things about his ministry which have caused harm, to me and to others. Life really is as complex as that.
  
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Dalton Mackenzie

12/09/2019

For me, Billy was exceptional. He lived a life to please no man but his creator

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