What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Sermon preached on 4 August 2013

    I used to work in a church with murals. Well one mural. It wasn’t this church and it wasn’t these glorious murals. It was somewhere else entirely.

    (By which I mean Edinburgh).

    Throughout the late fifties, the sixties and early seventies, a sustained period of liturgical reform had happened. The altar had been pulled away from the wall. The priest now faced the people. The peace was shared and communion started to happen every Sunday. Those of you who have been around for a bit might remember that story from all kinds of contexts. Those who are new to Episcopal worship might be surprised to learn that how we do things is not in fact as old as the hills at all.

    Anyway, these liturgical reforms in this church had left a big space to fill. Somewhere along the way, the East Window had been bricked up and whitewashed over and now there was a giant wall to fill.

    And, of course, just as we can be sure that someone was heartily trying to encourage the congregation to sing Kum By Yah. so, inevitably, someone got to paint a mural.

    Unlike Gwyneth Leech’s paintings, which surround me here in this church. this was a rather less successful piece. (more…)

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2 responses to “Sermon on 10 August 2003”

  1. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Re: Sermon on 10 August 2003
    Hi Kelvin – like the blog. Are you going to be posting all your sermons to the blog or just selected o­nes? Lots of people post them in advance – there are a couple of sites that i read every week before writing my sermon, but I have not heard of anyone else posting them for comments after they have been preached. I'm surprised that members of your congregation have not taken the chance to comment o­n this o­ne of yours – it is worthy of comment! Did anyone object to it?

    SIMON

    Reply
  2. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Re: Sermon on 10 August 2003
    Simon – thanks for the comment – the first o­ne o­ne to be made. You should try this blogging yourself, you would like it. You always used to keep a journal, I seem to remember. I think that I will probably be posting most sermons. There are just a few occasions in the year when I do something else rather than preach in a straightforward way (eg singing and then commenting o­n the song).  It will be interesting to see whether people do take advantage of the chance to comment. No-one objected to it o­n Sunday, and quite a few made encouraging comments. It feels good to be in a church where I can preach that kind of sermon. I could not do so everywhere, as you yourself know well!

    Reply

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