• Scotland says “I do!”

    News is just getting to me regarding the news that the Scottish Government has said that it will indeed legislate for gay couples to get hitched.

    I can’t help but feel immensely proud of all those who have come on board and made this the most positive campaign that I’ve ever been a part of.

    Scotland’s head can be proudly held up high.

    Several years ago, I took the decision that campaigning  on these issues within the church was not a terribly productive pursuit. Generally speaking most of my work in this area in recent years has been looking towards a change in the law. Quite a few of my friends thought I was mad. Many people thought it would come but not in my lifetime. I always believed this was possible within the lifetime of this Scottish parliament.

    The focus will turn to the churches soon. They will each have their own decision making process to follow. The key thing for me is that no-one in the Scottish Episcopal Church should be forced to act against their conscience – one way or the other. We’ve lived with different views on the marriage of divorcees for long enough now to know pretty well how we might proceed peaceably.

    There’s a lot more that I will say about all this later but for now, a great well done to all concerned.

    (oh, and by the way, Vacancy: Husband. All reasonable offers considered).

4 responses to “Prayers at a time of tragedy”

  1. Linda Watson Avatar
    Linda Watson

    It’s hard to imagine that only a few hours ago I was in your beautiful church in that wonderful city that sometimes I think of as mine. My heart and my prayers go out to all the families of the bereaved and injured tonight.
    “Rest eternal Lord, grant unto them and may light perpetual shine upon them”

  2. Diane Avatar
    Diane

    Amen. And yet again the people of Glasgow showed themsleves at their warm-hearted best, with unsolicited offers of practical help.

  3. The Revd Tom Green Avatar
    The Revd Tom Green

    Thank you for this prayer Kelvin.
    Here in Australia the week before last, a guy dressed as a Muslim (and was in fact one) held a lot of people hostage in a very posh but well-patronised cafe in the business/law precinct the city of Sydney. He had a lot of irrational demands. It was a very well-planned and he held up the people and the city in terror for 12+ hours. He was actually a bully and unhinged mentally. In the end the police broke in and in the ensuing gun battle 2 people were killed by the gunmman then the gunman himself.
    We lie quietly here in Australia with relatively little racial violence (but lots of domestic violence -the gunman had heaps of charges)
    We understand this incident does not equate with what happened in your city
    or to the schhool-children in Pakistan but it stunned us.

    So I thank you for your skill to put this simple prayer together.
    Tom

    1. Kelvin Avatar

      Thanks Tom – we were all watching and praying along with those in Sydney last week. These events are world events. Paradoxically they bring us together.

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