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…

    , , ,

5 responses to “The Anglican Covenant and Communion Motions”

  1. Tim Avatar
    Tim

    A is for Anglican is for Affirming things and for Adopting things even when they’re mutually contradictory?

    Reply
  2. kelvin Avatar
    kelvin

    It will be entirely up to the synod to decide whether to adopt either of these motions. My hunch is that it will adopt one of them resoundingly.

    Reply
  3. Brother David Avatar
    Brother David

    I hope the Synod votes against the first motion and approves the second motion.

    BTW, we in Mexico thank you for the consecration of Bishop Seabury because of our TEC heritage.

    Reply
  4. kennedy fraser Avatar
    kennedy fraser

    For those who aren’t able to be present for the debate (or for any part of Synod’s business) a live audio stream will be available from the Provincial website when Synod is sitting.

    Kennedy

    Reply
  5. Tom Wilson Avatar
    Tom Wilson

    It is interesting to ponder that if an “Anglican Covenant” had existed in the 18th century, that it is distinctly possible that the SEC might have been “excluded” from the Anglican Communion for consecrating Bp Samuel Seabury, the first American Bishop, as the Church of England Bishops had refused to do so.

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.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

Previous Posts

  • A question of sin

    The trouble with sin, is that it creeps up on you unexpectedly. There I was doing the ironing, a virtuous task sure as anything. Then I ran out of water in the steam iron and the following sinful thought passed through my mind. “Hmm, having lost the little plastic water bottle that came with the…

  • What have I been reading?

    Oh, thank you for asking. I’ve recently finished Be Near Me by Andrew O’Hagan. It is a dark read, but a worthwhile one. Fr David arrives in an Ayrshire Roman Catholic parish, with unresolved issues from his past which unravel with a sadness, a poignancy and an apparent inevitability. It is the inevitability which is…

  • Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle

    Pausing just for a moment to remember Lord Jauncey of Tullichettle who died just over a week ago. He was a dedicated member of the Scottish Episcopal Church. [Indeed, he might even have been one of the 100 or so True Scottish Episcopalians that only exist at any one time]. I remember Lord Jauncey’s finest…

  • What is a wiki?

    Now, I still think the wiki thing is going to be big, but people still don’t get it. Congregational wiki? Church unconference anyone? If you don’t know what I’m talking about, see this video: [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY]