What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • The Beatitudes of Livestreaming

    Blessed are they who livestream their church services
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs to share with others and they know it.

    Blessed are the sick and the dying in churches which livestream
    for they shall be comforted by still being able to be part of their congregations
    in addition to receiving the personal and pastoral care of their friends and clergy.

    Blessed are those who are meek enough to know that audio matters more than video
    for they will inherit the online audience.

    Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for life-changing worship both online and in-person
    for their love of God will be counted as righteousness.

    Blessed are the joyful
    for their joy online will light up the world.

    Blessed are the purposeful
    for they will make their livestreaming easy to find and they will ensure that
    no-one needs to download a hymnsheet, a liturgy book and a pdf version of the notices.

    Blessed are the livestream makers
    for they are counted amongst the evangelists of today.

    Blessed are the congregations who rejoice in the technical and digital skills of those who are often overlooked
    for they shall reap a harvest of plenty.

    Blessed are those who know that their worship would be better not livestreamed yet
    for they know that they need to concentrate on renewing their in-person worship first.

    Blessed are you when people make snarky comments about your livestream
    for they are telling you they want it to be better for the honour and the glory of the Lord our God.

    , , ,

8 responses to “I seem to have been spared”

  1. Erp Avatar
    Erp

    Glad to hear you are feeling better. May you have a good illness free Advent for you and your congregation. (Is blue or purple the Advent colour at St. Mary’s?)

    Reply
  2. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    The colour is purple, though sadly we don’t have a full high mass set for this time of the year.

    In my former congregation, we kept what people called “sarum colours” – blue in advent, unbleached linen in Lent.

    I believe the term sarum colours to be historically incorrect, but I rather liked the distinction between the two seasons.

    Reply
  3. Marion Conn Avatar
    Marion Conn

    Hi Kelvin, glad to hear you are feeling better. In respect to “sarum colours” may i suggest this website, http://anglicanhistory.org/essays/wright/sarum.pdf

    Reply
  4. Erp Avatar
    Erp

    Thanks for the distinction. One of the local churches (non-denominational university with one episcopal priest out of three ministers) here uses blue but I seem to have recalled purple from other places. I’m not sure where they got the blue candles though, they are a very odd shade.

    Reply
  5. Ritualist Robert Avatar
    Ritualist Robert

    Speaking of Sarum, were there medieval uses peculiar to Scotland, Fr Kelvin? Presumably there may have been something like a St Andrews Use.

    Reply
  6. ryan Avatar
    ryan

    Yeah, I think the Sarum rite sounds fabulous, but Advent candles should obviously be purple and pink :-).

    Reply
  7. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    I presume that there was a St Andrews Use, though I’m no medievalist and there may be people better qualified to comment about it than I am.

    There certainly seems to have been a very spectacular Use at the collegiate church of St Mary and St Anne in Glasgow. There is some speculation that St Mary’s (with its side chapel dedicated to St Anne) might have some significant roots in that congregation, which met in a church where the Tron theatre now is.

    The ceremonies (and endowments) of this church were lavish. There is a little about it on wikipedia.

    Reply
  8. Fr Dougal Avatar
    Fr Dougal

    Use of Aberdeen is very well recorded in FC Eels book on King’s College Chapel, rather like Sarum and Bangor.

    Reply

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