• A Preface for Ash Wednesday

  13/02/2021

  The following preface was written to mark the beginning of Lent and reflects the language and character of the Lenten material in the Scottish Liturgy 1982 and Daily Prayer of the Scottish Episcopal Church

  Dear Friends in Christ, it is the custom of Christian people to prepare to mark the time of Christ’s passion and resurrection by a season of penitence and fasting.

  The church calls each of us during these forty days to repent of all that causes harm to ourselves, harm to our earthly dwelling place and harm to our relationship with God.

  By carefully keeping these days, Christians take to heart the call to repentance and the assurance of forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel, and so grow in faith and devotion. In turning our hearts towards God, we discover anew the boundless grace of God.

  For God will help us to create beauty even within the turmoil of this chaotic world and will help us to gather a harvest of joy and gladness from lives of sorrow and care. Today and every day, God calls the wandering exile home.

  We are invited therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observance of a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy word.

Previous Posts

• Forum with John Curtice

  12/04/2015

  I was in conversation with Prof John Curtice about the General Election after the Sung Eucharist this morning. We touched on what might happen at the election, how a UK government is actually formed, will proportional representation ever happen, will the SNP propose another referendum next year and what it is like being John Curtice…

• It’s Time to End Tax Breaks for Anti-Gay Charities – including churches

  10/04/2015

  There is no underestimating the difference that a change in the law can make to people who happen to be gay or lesbian. Civil Partnerships gave a level of legal protection that changed people’s lives forever. Equal marriage extended that protection by giving people the chance of being able to be regarded as equally fit…

• Jenůfa – Scottish Opera – Review

  09/04/2015

  This review should appear in due course at Opera Britannia Rating: Scottish Opera have managed to present a very confident production of Janáček’s rather gloomy opera. It allows three fabulous female singers to shine brightly and makes a strong case for what might be regarded as a rather tricky original work. In what must have…

• We should be wary of declaring martyrs

  08/04/2015

  One of the themes that has been emerging over the last few weeks is the desire to recognise people who have been killed by terrorists as martyrs. However, we should pause and ask whether that’s really the most appropriate language to be using. The Archbishop of Canterbury was eager to do this in his Easter…