- Generative artificial intelligence will become significantly disruptive of many sectors this year. Education practices will change quickly as a result of this but education will be but one of many areas of life to be affected.
- No progress for those seeking marriage equality in the Church of England. There will be a lot of talk about moving towards some form of official blessings for same-sex couples which would have the effect of thwarting those seeking actual equality, making it more difficult to achieve. Further division amongst pro-gay activists in the Church of England.
- Indyref 2 will not happen on 19 October 2023 as Nicola Sturgeon had hoped, which is a shame for those seeking to separate Scotland from the rest of the UK as the autumn will be the high water mark for the Indepedence movement. It will be downhill into the next General Election after that.
- Trump and Biden will both declare that they intend to run for the US presidency in 2024 and American politics will continue to be all about Donald Trump.
- Covid recovery remains bumpy, particularly through supply-chain problems due to mismanagement of Covid in China.
- No conclusive end to the war in Ukraine this year.
- Governments in Westminster and Holyrood will announce some kind of “new deal” for the National Heath Service.
- UK Government will not succeed in blocking Scottish Gender Recognition Reform.
- Liam McArthur’s bill in the Scottish Parliamant to allow doctors to participate in the killing of terminally ill patients will fail to receive parliamentary approval but will receive more support than similar proposals have before.
- Changes announced to the UK honours system, perhaps at the time of the Coronation, to remove references to empire. OBE becomes Order of British Excellence.
16 responses to “St Andrew's Day 2008”
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On a related theme, was there not a year recently when we had to move the assumption because it fell on Ash Wednesday? I don’t remember Christmas being delayed, but of course, can’t comment on the delay of the second coming.
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And I know I meant “annunciation” before you point it out to me.
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Is there a reason that the two celebrations cant be held on the same day? Do you really think that Christ would object to sharing a day with one of his disciples. I think not!
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I think that it is more about giving the church the full opportunity to concentrate on both.
The themes that we remember at Christ the King (ie how Jesus undermines all our expectations of monarchy and power) don’t fit terribly well with theme we think about on St Andrew’s Day (thinking about missions and spreading faith in the world and also praying for Scotland). Advent 1 is something else altogether and also does not make a good fit.
I quite like the way the calendar works as it is a good reminder to us that being God’s people is something that happens daily, not weekly.
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Im feel sure that your congregation would manage to digest more than one message on any particular day. The fact is that St Andrews Day is on the 30 November each year – every 7 or so years this will fall on a Sunday. I cant remember it ever being moved before and see no reason to start in 2009.
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St Andrews Day is on 1 December this year in the Scottish Episcopal Calendar as it is every year when 30 November falls on a Sunday.
It is the way the Ecclesiastical calendar works.
To quote fully from the published Calendar:
Each Holy and Saint’s Day listed in the Calendar has been assigned a number which indicates its category.
It is intended that feasts in categories 1 – 4 (below) should be kept by the whole Church. Days in categories 5 and
6 may be kept according to diocesan or local discretion. Commemorations not included in this Calendar may be
observed with the approval of the Bishop.
When two celebrations fall on the same day, the following table indicates which takes precedence.
1 Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday;
Easter Day (and the weekdays following);
Pentecost;
Ash Wednesday; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Holy Week; Ascension Day;
Christmas Day ; Epiphany;
Sundays of Advent, Lent and Easter.
2 Feasts of The Lord (Naming, Presentation, Annunciation, Transfiguration);
Trinity Sunday; All Saints’ Day;
Dedication and Patronal Festivals;
Eves of Christmas and Pentecost;
First Sunday after Christmas;
First Sunday after Epiphany (the Baptism of the Lord).
3 Sundays after Christmas (except Christmas 1);
Sundays after Epiphany (except Epiphany 1);
Sundays after Pentecost (except Pentecost 1);
Weekdays in Lent.
4 Feasts of the Apostles and Evangelists;
Saint Mary the Virgin, the Visit to Elizabeth;
Joseph, John the Baptist (Birth, Beheading);
Mary Magdalene; Michael and All Angels;
Stephen, the Holy Innocents;
Kentigern, Patrick, Columba, Ninian, Margaret of Scotland.
5 All Souls’ Day; Holy Cross Day;
Conception and Birth of Mary, Mother of the Lord;
Thanksgiving for the Institution of the Holy Communion (Corpus Christi);
Thanksgiving for Harvest.
6 Other commemorations.
Notes:
(i) Epiphany may be kept on the Sunday following 1 January, and the Ascension on the Seventh Sunday of
Easter.
(ii) Feasts in Category 2, falling on a weekday, may be kept on the nearest Sunday, except Sundays in
Categories 1 and 2.
(iii) Feasts in Category 4, falling on a day of higher category (other than a weekday in Lent), should be
transferred (in chronological order) to the next available weekday.
(iv) Where feasts in Category 4 fall on a Sunday (other than a Sunday in Categories 1 and 2), they may, if local
circumstances require, be kept on that day.
(v) The weekdays of Advent and Easter may be given special weighting.
(vi) When days in Category 6 coincide with a day of higher category, they should be omitted that year.
(vii) Thanksgiving for the Institution of Holy Communion is particularly associated with the Thursday after
Trinity Sunday.
(viii) Thanksgiving for the Harvest may take place on any appropriate Sunday.The full thing can be found within this zip file:
http://www.scotland.anglican.org/media/liturgy/liturgy/calendar_and_lectionary_pdf.zip
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