• A Preface for Ash Wednesday

    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.

3 responses to “Not in my name. Not in my city.”

  1. Bro David Avatar
    Bro David

    I wondered how you were fairing in the city that’s reported to have voted Yes.

    Just to let you know, you can best guage what it means in your neck o’ the woods, but that form of salute is still used in a number of countries in the world and isn’t associated in any respect with Nazism. That salute is common in Mexico, as it was in the US before WW2.
    http://rationalrevolution.net/images/salute2.jpg

    However, they have since opted for the right hand flat over the heart and we get flack from our northern neighbors for our “Nazi” salute to our flag.
    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/Civil_Salute_Mexican_Flag.jpg/477px-Civil_Salute_Mexican_Flag.jpg

    1. Kelvin Avatar

      The gesture they were making here is entirely associated in local minds with the nazis.

  2. Seph Avatar
    Seph

    I gather that there were EDL/SDL members present, in addition to the usual Lodge suspects. This may go some way to explaining the Nazi salutes.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Posts

  • Forum with John Curtice

    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

    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

    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

    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…