• Dedication Sunday Sermon

    This time last year, I was away in the United States on sabbatical. I was travelling about from place to place and particularly from church to church. And I was looking for something

    I realised afterwards that I was looking for what is over the rainbow. There’s something about the New World and particularly the West Coast of the new world that makes people a bit like that.

    I was looking for the next best thing in the church. Looking for what was new, exciting, fresh. So much of what happens in that part of the world comes to us in the end. I was looking to get ahead of the curve.

    As I went from congregation to congregation I started to see patterns in what I was finding and gradually, particularly since I’ve come back, I’ve been making sense of all I saw.

    One particular pattern emerged. (more…)

3 responses to “Thurible Spotting”

  1.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Re: Thurible Spotting
    Just a small correction – Big Aggie came from Glasgow's Catholic Apostolic Church, not Edinburgh.  But who has the Edinburgh o­ne?

  2.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Re: Thurible Spotting
    Thanks for the correction Ruth – I have no idea who has the Edinburgh o­ne. Wouldn't it be wonderful to get them all together for a service? Is the Glasgow CA church building still extant? I don't even know where it was.
    There is a rather odd offshoot of the CA Church called the New Apostolic Church which exists in Scotland in Dunfermline, but they do not seem to have taken o­n the powerful aesthetic of the Catholic Apostolic church. It is wonderful that the two thuribles from Glasgow and Dundee are different – no mass production in those days.

  3.  Avatar
    Anonymous

    Re: Thurible Spotting
    The Catholic Apostolic Church in Glasgow was in McAslan St in Townhead. The building was apparently designed by AWN Pugin but was demolished in 1970. There’s a photograph of the interior in The City that Disappeared by Frank Worsdall

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