• When you see a rainbow

    Here’s the Moment of Reflection that I gave on Radio 2 yesterday.

    There it was in the sky – clear and bright. Arching right over the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday just as gay marriage was being agreed by parliamentarians.

    Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet – a perfect rainbow stretching across the sky.

    It made me smile as rainbows always do because when I see them, I remember singing in Sunday school – “When you see a rainbow, remember God is love”.

    Of course, God doesn’t control the weather – the sun shines on the righteous and the unrighteous and rainbows appear to everyone. But when I see rainbows, I remember several things. Firstly they make me remember that the world is inherently beautiful. Then the many colours remind me of the glorious diversity that is what creation seems to be all about. And then they remind me of love because of that song I used to sing when I was little.

    After this week of storm and flooding, many are suffering. As I’m praying later today in church, I’ll be praying for compassion, comfort, hope and help. Oh yes, and for love. For all who need love most.

    You can hear it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01s0xjn

    (At time of writing, whoever is updating the BBC website seems not to be able to spell “reverend”).

21 responses to “Are there any gay friendly Episcopal churches in Edinburgh?”

  1. Ryan Avatar
    Ryan

    Didn’t a wise man once say that all clergy are camp ;-)?

    Although the wedding show photo does feature hot *female* models! It’s the sort of thing one might find in nuts or zoo (er, one would imagine) 😉

    1. kelvin Avatar

      OK.OK, I’m no more camp than any other member of the clergy who finds themselves dressed head to toe in gold on a catwalk with glamorous models.

      That’s not very camp, is it?

  2. fr dougal Avatar
    fr dougal

    Jargon explanation: “spikey” V. High Church. Incense, liturgical precision and stuff like Mass & Benediction etc.
    “boat boy” – small human being often male who carries the vessel with the incense grains in it.
    “camp” – default position of many Scots clergy, especially the spikey one’s:-)

  3. fr dougal Avatar
    fr dougal

    Re the class thing: Spikey Mikes has welcomed me in spite of my going to Beath High! Mind you, we do count a Nobel prize winner, a former Scottish Rugby international and the odd MP promoted to the Lord’s amongst our FP’s so…

  4. Robin Avatar
    Robin

    At St Columba’s this morning there was the usual welcome printed in bold on the front of the service sheet:

    “We believe God affirms all regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, background or ethnicity and we welcome any who wish to worship and share Communion with us. We welcome and support LGBT people, affirm their lives and ministries, and celebrate their relationships.”

  5. Ryan Avatar
    Ryan

    Ooh, we don’t get that at St.Silas! 😉

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