What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Sermon preached for St Mungo – 13 January 2013

    I have to confess that for most of my life I did not give St Mungo much of passing thought. I certainly encountered him when I was in primary school up the road in that I remember a wonderful Primary 5 teacher in Bearsden making us do a project on the great urban conurbation that we were living so close by. The topic was Glasgow and thus we all had to draw our own version of the city crest – the bird, the tree, the bell and the fish – each representative of miracles in the lives of our patron saint.

    After that I didn’t think of him again until a couple of years ago. During the time after Bishop Idris had retired and before Bishop Gregor started, there was a period of time when there was no bishop around to go to civic events. These ended up being divvied up between the Dean and the Provost and perhaps the Synod Clerk, to ensure that the Episcopal Church was represented at events which needed a bigwig.

    I don’t know what I expected when I entered the ordained ministry of the church. I certainly didn’t expect to be a stand-in part-time bigwig going to events like that.

    However, it can be fun – so long as you learn to smile and nod a lot you go far (more…)

5 responses to “Back to School”

  1. william Avatar
    william

    I note your reference to “in straight lines ” when you were at Bearsden PS.
    Were you not taught about tautologies in these former days, when education would have been more content based than you would have found on your recent visit?

    Reply
  2. Kelvin Holdsworth Avatar
    Kelvin Holdsworth

    Er, yes I was and no, it isn’t.

    Reply
  3. PamB Avatar
    PamB

    Ah yes, the staffroom etiquette. I’ve done the cup thing, the chair thing, and, possibly worst faux-pas of all, the crossword thing in my time. Nowadays there are no staff rooms, just bases, a whole new minefield of unwelcoming stares.

    Reply
  4. Jaye Richards-Hill Avatar
    Jaye Richards-Hill

    Sorry to hear about the torrid time in P7 you had with the belting teacher…as a teacher myself, I’m not in favour of such tactics. I find a cold silent stare always used to work better than any cane or belt…such activities should be reserved for consenting adults only ;-/

    Reply
    1. kelvin Avatar
      kelvin

      Thanks Jaye.

      The same teacher spent a quarter of each day on religious instruction and was, as I said, quite mad.

      One one occasion I was belted for humming. On another, simply, I suspect for being me.

      There are probably those reading this who have some sympathy with her.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

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

Previous Posts

  • Magnatune

    There were news reports yesterday saying that the Creative Commons licence is about to be ported to UK law.So far, so dull. I hear you!Yet take a trip over to Magnatune to see what a difference such a copyright licence can make. Its a record label which uses the strapline “We are not evil” o­n…

  • Concert on Saturday

    This weekend is a busy one at the church. The Scottish Vienna Horns are joining us on Saturday and Sunday. The choir is singing on Saturday evening too. Last night was spent rehearsing. The choir itself is doing well at the moment – so much better than a year ago. One of the distinctive features…

  • Carpet Fitting

    Oh the upheaval of having a carpet fitted. The whole house is in turmoil. My filing cabinets are at the foot of the stairs, one desk is in pieces in the dining room, another is in front of the television, the piano is in the hall, the old carpet takes up the rest of the…

  • Windsor Report

    One of the things which has taken a bit of time over the last couple of days has been reading the Windsor Report. This is the report o­n how the Anglican Communion is supposed to live together through its present difficulties.  My guess is that a lot of people will not bother reading hte whole…