What is in Kelvin's Head?

Christmas Day Sermon 2012

25/12/2012

Many of you will be aware that I recently have returned from a big sabbatical trip to churches in Canada and the United States.

I was there to learn and reflect and grow and I did that by making contact with the most interesting folk I could find in church life on the other side of the North Atlantic.

Inevitably I spent quite a lot of time poking around churches over there and coming from this cathedral, I was interested in what cathedrals over there were up to.

Which is how I found myself in the National Cathedral in Washington DC just a day or two after the American Election in November.

It is a mighty building. Far bigger than we are but when I saw it, it was not looking its best. Still recovering from an earthquake which wobbled all its stonework, they have netting strung all across the nave to catch falling fragments. So you stand in this enormous church unable to look up and appreciate the great spaces.

Unable to look up, instead I went down. For underneath the nave is a maze of twisty passages which lead (more…)

7 responses to “Eucharistic Prayer”

Stewart

04/08/2008

Another great clip Kelvin – The singing is great.

I found myself singing along with the Santus and Benedictus.

Please more of the service. The cathedral always sounds great when the a large congregation is being supported by the organ. The snippet of “All people that on earth do dwell” to the tune of Jerusalem on the BBC website leaves me wanting more.

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ryan

04/08/2008

Yeah, I think ours are the best (although I heard New Zealand’s are lovely too). Who actually writes these things? The then-bishops themselves? Artistic clergy? I can see why they would want them to be written in house but (personally) I think it would be great , in the future, to approach notable writers/poets to do them (Edwin Morgan!) irrespective of belief, and have them checked for theological accuracy by someone appropriate.

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Caron

04/08/2008

Do you know, I always thought the 1970 Liturgy was best and I couldn’t come to terms with the modern stuff. I might be more open to persuasion than I thought.

The atmosphere at the service must have been wonderful and it does come across in the video clip.

As for the angel – thank you so much for having that attitude to a baby. Others are not so tolerant.

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John Penman

05/08/2008

Totally agree on the excellence of the modern Scottish Liturgy. Having had to suffer the Roman Rite and the ASB when working in Englandshire and occassional exposure to Common Worship (which is both), it was nice to come back to what was/is “simply the best”. Being picky tho, we took a wee while to get there: 1982 was the 1st Eucharistic Prayer – the other 4 were authorised in 1990! Like Caron I was a 1970 fan, but exposure to the Blue Book has made it much more “home” for me.

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Eamonn

05/08/2008

I agree that the 1982 Liturgy is unbeatable. Every time I visit the C of E or the C of I, the liturgies used seem (with respect) to have yawning gaps in them.

Caron, the 1970 Liturgy has strengths if you want the underlying theology spelt out in propositional statements. The 1982 service more often expresses the theology through imagery, which to some of us speaks more eloquently. As it happens, a bishop who is a published poet was involved in the drafting.

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MadPriest

05/08/2008

“Now, what do you want next”
Have you got any Simpsons, or maybe an early Torchwood episode?

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Thomas L W Graham

10/08/2008

Just visiting these sites for the first time. What a wonderful innovation to include all these video’s and sermons etc on the web. Hope the enclosed donation is of some assistance.

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