What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • In just three days…

    Every year I make a promise to people. I say that if they keep the triduum with me at St Mary’s then it will change their life and change their faith. I think that keeping the Triduum helps make sense of all that we do in church for the rest of the year. In just three days, you can learn things about the faith and why Christians believe the things that they do that are much harder to learn during the rest of the year.

    The Triduum is the three days from Maundy Thursday to Easter Day. Although the various services take place over several days, it is really one big feast, which is what makes it so extraordinary when you keep it in one place and experience the whole thing. It really is life changing stuff.

    A few years ago, I blogged about it, and it might be worth pointing people to those blog posts. There’s a few things we do a bit differently and I’ve changed my mind about one or two things too, but these blog posts do capture the essence of what we are up to.

    Maundy Thursday
    Veneration of the Cross
    Three Hour Devotions
    Good Friday Evening
    Holy Saturday – all hands on deck!
    The Vigil

    I’d say you’d kept the Triduum with me if you come to the Maundy Thursday evening service, two of the three services on Good Friday (try for the three hours if you can), the clean and polish on Saturday and the early fire Vigil and the main Festival Mass on Sunday.

    On Good Friday in the evening there will be a simple sung service of Night Prayer called Compline. On the Saturday evening we’re going to try something completely new. My colleague Maggie McTernan and I often go to a folk singaround in a local pub. We’re going to be leading a session of singing on the Saturday evening of Songs of Hope and Lament. People can bring a song to sing or simply come and listen to the singers and join in the choruses. (Only rule – no alleluias until Easter Day).

    This year we are having a revival on Easter Sunday and there will be a number of people who will be baptised at the Easter Fire Vigil.

    This is all open to anyone. You are just as welcome to participate if you have been at St Mary’s all your life or if you’ve never been. Some people come to keep these days here with us because their own church isn’t keeping them like this and they’ll be going back to their own church once Holy Week is done. That’s fine too. I’m also happy to answer questions as we go through these days about what it is all for. (The Saturday morning is a good time to talk).

    It really is life-changing if you do it all and there are people around who will testify to just that.

    , , , , , ,

6 responses to “The Scottish Episcopal Church and the "Listening Process"”

  1. Brian (from Australia) Avatar
    Brian (from Australia)

    The Scottish and Australian churches have in common that most of their efforts (commendable in themselves) have been directed to talking through theological documents about gays and lesbians rather than listening to gay and lesbian people themselves. The Australian statement acknowledges, moreover, that attempts by some dioceses and parishes to conduct ‘listening’ have more often than not resulted in acrimonious arguments between opinionated participants.

    Reply
  2. kennedy Avatar
    kennedy

    I don’t know who wrote it but according to the ACNS, +Idris approved it.

    http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/42/50/acns4270.cfm

    says
    Each of the summaries has been compiled in cooperation with the Primate of that Province. “The summaries have drawn upon public statements and further research,” said the Listening Process facilitator Canon Phil Groves of the Anglican Communion Office. “Each Primate has approved the final text.”

    Each Province has submitted reports, statements and papers. In addition, Groves has taken time to speak with Primates and their representatives from each of the Provinces in order to produce these summaries. The Primates asked for the summaries to be “made more fully available across the Communion for study and reflection.”

    Reply
  3. Roddy Avatar
    Roddy

    I get a bit confused as to what the process of ‘listening’, in any sphere of modern life, means. What it so often seems to mean is, “We don’t really want to get involved or change, but we’d like to appear as if we care, even though we don’t.”

    I find the whole concept of being listened to a wee bit patronising, as it has overtones of being regarded as a bit of a nuisance but given a short period of attention to keep you quiet.

    I’m not gay but the whole debate about gays and lesbians in the Anglican Communion appears to be about control of a rather large minority in the church more than anything religious or spiritual. A much more daring approach for the SEC would have been to say the subject is a matter of disinterest to the Church; that is the argument of someone’s sexuality is now of minimal relevance to church life for either gays or straights and that there are better and more important things to do.

    Or have I got this hopelessly wrong?

    Reply
  4. kennedy Avatar
    kennedy

    Roddy said:
    ‘that is the argument of someone’s sexuality is now of minimal relevance to church life for either gays or straights and that there are better and more important things to do.’

    I think, and I hope, that that is what the American Episcopal Church is starting to say.

    Kennedy

    Reply
  5. vicky Avatar
    vicky

    I’m with Roddy on this one…it almost seems as if the Anglican Communion has become a one issue Church…and that issue is sexuality. it would be nice to have this level of debate going on about the beatitudes rather than sexual-attitudes………..

    Reply
  6. steg Avatar
    steg

    I’m not a church goer, but was brought up one and can’t understand why the church – or anyone for that matter – gets so wound up about homosexuality. Dorothy L Sayers had it right when she wrote:

    ‘As I grow older and older, And totter toward the tomb, I find that I care less and less, Who goes to bed with whom.’

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Christmas in St Mary’s (with a twist at the end)

    Christmas is a time of joy and celebration, and there is perhaps no better place to experience the magic of the season than at St Mary’s Cathedral in the Scottish Episcopal Church. With its stunning architecture and rich history, this beautiful space offers a truly special and meaningful way to celebrate the birth of Jesus.…

  • Reparations, the Churches and LGBT communities

    For one reason or another, I’ve been thinking about the idea of reparations for some time over the last year. I’m one of the chaplains at the University of Glasgow and it made me think a bit when the University started to implement concrete policies in recent times by way of trying to make reparations…

  • The English Heresy

    A long time ago and in a land far away, by which I mean Fife, I was a theological student. It was a good time in my life. By and large I was in the company of clever people, learning clever things from clever people. Theological education can be exciting and that was an exciting…

  • Turning Up and Being Counted

    I’m currently going through a strange time. I’m away from my congregation on sabbatical. It is a good thing to do and I’m having a great time, meeting fantastic people and learning a thing or two by stopping for a while to breathe. There’s always things that you miss when you are away from the…