• Church of Scotland rejects biblicist position on sex and marriage

    It is going to be important not to underestimate the significance of the votes in the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland today. A last ditch attempt was made to get that church to commit to the idea that sex belongs only between a married heterosexual couple. That idea was comprehensively rejected.

    People with widely differing opinions never thought we would see this day. Though the legislation that the Church of Scotland is now consulting on accepting is a dreadful mess, and a long way from equality for LGBT people, today was a huge and historic boost for those who reject the ideas of those who claim the Christian tradition to be by definition narrow and anti-gay in character.

    It seemed to me, as I watched the debate, as though those seeking to promote an anti-gay view had made a huge strategic mistake by going for an all or nothing approach and trying to get the Assembly to affirm only their view.

    Generosity won the day in Edinburgh today. Generosity that has divine fingerprints all over it.

6 responses to “Carol Service”

  1. Ritualist Robert Avatar
    Ritualist Robert

    Fr Kelvin, is there a link to a pdf of the order of service so we can all see it?

  2. Kelvin Avatar
    Kelvin

    I’ll try to post a pdf later today. I need to pick it up from the office and then bring it home to change it to pdf format. I also need to correct a couple of mistakes before I forget what they were.

    I can’t post everything that was in the people’s hands for copyright reasons, but I’ll see what I can include.

  3. Kelvin Avatar
    Kelvin

    It was something like this, Robert.

    Carol Service pdf file

  4. Layclerk Avatar

    In the service sheet, verse 3 of In the Bleak Midwinter has the wrong words.

    The words as used by Harold Darke, and as sung as a tenor solo last night, from memory are:

    Enough for Him whom Cherubim worship night and day,
    A breast full of milk, and a manger full of hay,
    Enough for Him, whom angels fall down before,
    the ox and ass and camel which adore

    OK, I shall remove my anorak now!

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