What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • We’re going on a journey

    Crib Service starts at 4 pm – bring a torch

    A couple of years ago, there was a new initiative in St Mary’s – someone suggested that we should have a crib service for children at 4 pm on Christmas Eve. We kind of expected a few children from the young church to show up. In the event there were about 50 people in the place and it was judged a great success. A year later, the turnout was just about double. I spoke to some of the people afterwards who told me that they were so pleased to find it because none of the other churches in Glasgow were doing anything for children at Christmas. I disputed this but they told me that no, they had checked online and that no-one was doing anything. More than that, someone said, some of the churches are not having Christmas services at all – you can tell, there’s nothing on their websites about Christmas at all.

    Now, there’s two things to learn from this. Firstly that churches which want younger people and children to come to them need to get on with providing services which are suitable. Secondly churches which want anyone at all to come to them need to face the reality that if they are not online then they will be perceived not to exist and if they don’t put their service details online then no matter how good the services are, people will presume that nothing at all is being done.

    There are still Episcopal churches in Glasgow who are putting out a strong message online this Christmas that they are not doing anything to celebrate it. People from those parts of town will come to the cathedral instead of going to their local church. It isn’t particularly that they like what we do – though when they get here they love it and will tend to come again. It is simply that they can’t find out about what is happening locally and draw their own conclusions.

    St Mary’s is a place where we are quite clear that Christmas is not just for children. We are not a congregation that thinks that Christmas is just a family time either – church and Christmas is for everyone. (I thought John Bell’s Thought for the Day today was particularly fine, by the way).

    I’m really pleased though that these crib services have become established here on Christmas Eve now. Tomorrow’s Crib Service starts at 4 pm and participants are asked to bring a torch if they can. We’re going on a journey and we don’t know who we are going to encounter on the way…

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One response to “Sermon – Pigs Might Fly”

  1. Michael Kalmuk Avatar
    Michael Kalmuk

    On May 28, 2003 my partner Kelly Montfort and I were the first same-sex couple in the world Anglican communion to have a legally sanctioned same-sex blessing and literally two months later, two men in Ontario won their legal battle to be legally married. A few years have passed (10 to be exact) and now same-sex marriage is legal in Canada, many of the United States and various other countries. The pigs are flying and the world has not yet come to an end as the result of this scandalous news! Be true to your hearts and bless this change of attitude. It is all part of our never-ending quest to be tolerant of our differences and to try to love one another a little more. Our ancestors would probably not understood why this is so important. Our children’s children will wonder why there was so much anxiety over people loving one another.

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