In the name of the Father and of the Son and the liberating, loving, life-enhancing Holy Spirit. Amen.
Many of you will be aware that I’ve recently been on holiday and that this is my first Sunday back following several away relaxing by the Mediterranean. I enjoyed reading and chilling-out by the pool. In all my prayers and devotions each evening, I prayed that the Good Lord would transpose the sublime sunshine from the Med up here to Glasgow.
And lo! See the power of prayer. (more…)
Almost everybody I meet on a regular basis, except my family and one educated friend, were voting out. and that in Scotland. I am shattered but unsurprised. My partner reports that, in her office, those with a degree and under 35 all intended to vote remain, and those without and over 35 to leave.
Some people I know didn’t vote at all because they were annoyed that their ‘first ever in their fairly long lives’ voting experience (Independence) didn’t go the correct way. Strangely two friends who spend half the year living in Europe (and benefit from the reciprocal healthcare arrangements) voted leave and I’m bewildered by a dear friend of 60 years who unexpectedly climbed angrily aboard the anti immigration juggernaut. I’d dared to hope (and ignore the signs online) because everyone else I knew seemed to be voting remain…
I fear ultimately that Brexit won in part because the EU became a rather soulless bureaucracy to which people could not emotionally attach. Financial benefit does not always secure attachment on a large-scale and if enough people start to perceive themselves to suffer and not participate in those benefits then the inevitable happens.
I fear the UK is going the same way but for different reasons. Since the 80s there has been a tendency amongst those seeking power to focus on groups and not the country as a whole; remember election night and the swingometer and the presenter saying things like “such and such an area has gone red but in order to win the Conservatives just need to win over Essex man and Worcester woman….”? Of course Labour did something similar in 1997 and in later elections.
So any uniting sentiments have been undermined which means that the problem is no longer just with politicians but with the electorates also.
I liked what Kelvin said in his referendum sermon, and more than ever the churches need to discover their ministry of reconciliation and think about what it means to try to offer everyone a spiritual home. It would be ironic if the church became the main place that differences could be dropped. but I have to confess I’m rather gloomy about even that looking at the way other controversial issues within the church have been dealt with.
Tilly (the Cat) has hairball trouble. Well, I have trouble with it, she doesn't seem to care. We have been given Hairball Mixture which comes in a tube. The packaging suggests that you offer it to the cat on a spoon. Well, madam enjoyed that little charade. The alternative suggested is that you rub the…
I've started to prepare the Christmas services. Every year prior to this one, I have been caught out and ended up getting everything sorted out far too late. This year it will be different. I have a hunch that the choir are going to want to sing the Shepherd's Pipe Carol at Midnight Mass and…
I'm racing to get through From the Holy Mountain before the book club meets tonight. I last read it when I was going off to Egypt in 1997, just before I was ordained deacon and I had forgotten how rich a read it was.Part of yesterday was spent doing open heart surgery to a computer to…
I've been listening to the most amazing Armenian Chant on the web – beautiful, measured, holy. What a long way we are in the UK from the liturgical form which we need. Chant has never, ever been more popular and yet all that most people get fed in church in Scotland is the Victorian Dirge…
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