• Predictions for 2022

    1. Boris Johnson will be replaced with a Prime Minister who is more competent, more right wing and more difficult to beat.
    2. A good year for Michael Gove (who is almost invisible at the moment).
    3. Church of Scotland General Assembly votes to allow same-sex couples to be married in church. More significantly, almost no-one leaves in a huff.
    4. No progress for those seeking marriage equality in the Church of England.
    5. US Republican Party do well at the November midterms.
    6. Midnight Mass will happen at St Mary’s Cathedral, Glasgow – some people will still be wearing masks but it won’t be mandatory.
    7. Lots of people discover that cryptocurrency is not the sure thing that they thought. (Losses will disproportionately affect young people).
    8. Nicola Sturgeon will be forced to announce a proposed date for an Independence Referendum against her better judgement.
    9. Lambeth Conference will take place but some people forced to participate virtually due to continued pandemic in developing world. (No new sanctions against pro-gay provinces).
    10. Working from home/hybrid working becomes normalised for big companies. Consequent increase in ransomware demands.

8 responses to “We love you, American Episcopalians!”

  1. June Butler Avatar

    The dear Scottish bishops who consecrated Samuel Seabury have my gratitude forever, and our Prayer Book is greatly enriched by the inclusion of the Epiclesis from the Scottish Rite.

  2. Bro David Avatar
    Bro David

    And the heritage was passed on as my home church, the la Iglasia Anglicana de Mexico, being a daughter of TEC basically uses the Spanish language TEC prayerbook (with epiclesis), apropriately modified, as our church’s liturgy.

    I think that the US church was not trying to be THE Episcopal Church, but, the generic Episcopal Church in the short name, as opposed to the Protestant Episocopal Church of the United States of America, which is the legal title. And TEC was trying to represent the church’s full constituency, which is not as a national Anglican church, as is the Anglican Church of Canada, or a regional Anglican church, as is la Iglesia Anglicana de la Region Central de America, but a multinational church with dioceses in many countries. I’m sure that you would squirm a bit to be called the Scotland-based Episcopal Church. It’s not cool or comfortable to say.

    Are there Scottish Episcopal churches that aren’t technically part of Scotland geo-politically?

    1. Kelvin Avatar

      There are no Scottish Episcopal Churches that are not in Scotland. (Though I’d dearly love to invade a well known local provincial neighbour).

      It may be a bit squirmy to refer to it as the US-based Episcopal Church but it is quite hard to simply use The Episcopal Church on a blog read in Scotland. That name just doesn’t make any sense here as it is what many people here would call the Scottish Episcopal Church.

      Unfortunately, the Protestant Episcopal Church’s renaming of itself which was for good reason to avoid being seen as US-centric and imperial reads rather badly over here.

      1. Bro David Avatar
        Bro David

        Since I don’t much understand the relationship of all the tiny islands around Great Britain and Ireland I wasn’t sure.

        Too bad we aren’t in the day when it was just the Church.

  3. Father Ron Smith Avatar

    Thank you, Father Kelvin, for this reminder of an historic event of some special note. In the present climate of unrest in the Anglican world, it is good to note that Scotland and the U.S.A. have a precious link through their shared episcopal provenance that is not directly originated (by their own default) by the mother Church of England. This spirit of independence emphasizes the infinite variety of our shared Anglican reformed catholicity. A Unity in Diversity!

  4. AnnaMarie Hoos Avatar
    AnnaMarie Hoos

    Thank you, Kelvin, for remembering us. May the bonds of affection always flow both ways.

    Those reading this thread might enjoy seeing the full de Rosen mural from which Kelvin took the detail above, which is on the north wall of the Nave in Grace Cathedral, San Francisco:

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/brycewgarner/8964371666/

    Y’all come visit.

  5. Ann Fontaine Avatar
    Ann Fontaine

    Thank you Thank you. That point in the Eucharist is the most important for me as a priest – I feel like I am standing in the center of time — all before and all after flowing through those of us gathered at that moment.

  6. Eamonn Avatar

    The Scottish Episcopal Church did not invent the epiclesis, but adopted it from various ancient Eastern rites. So both the Scottish and American Churches could be said to be more in touch with the liturgical roots of eucharistic worship than those churches who use variants of the Reformation prayer-books.

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