• 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.

10 responses to “Keeping the Feast”

  1. Stewart Avatar

    Having looked at the pcitures and read the blog, there is only one response – WOW!!!!

    Looking forward to next year when I hope to be present.

  2. Rosemary Hannah Avatar
    Rosemary Hannah

    It really was very very good. And you are so right about the ‘easy to over do the gloomy events’ thing – I found myself thinking ‘and when one gets home after an evening service, late, tired, one fasts’ only to realise that no, actually, one feasts!

  3. chris Avatar

    Glad to have some good pics of the event. It was the the assurance that God was in the midst of it all that was so overpowering – ritual can be a very liberating element, as I’m always rediscovering!

  4. Stewart Avatar

    Put your date the diary – 7 July 2012

  5. MadPriest Avatar

    It all seems tickety-boo, Father, except for the fact that you should have used only red rose petals, liberated by the priest from various municipal gardens shortly before dawn on the day of the service, as is traditional. Also, I would have dragged a few urchins in off the street to accompany the priest as he scatters the petals. This is always a crowd pleaser.

  6. ryan Avatar
    ryan

    Glasgow’s West End is too posh to have urchins… 😉

    NB love the monstrance and humeral veil! 😀

  7. Elizabeth Avatar
    Elizabeth

    So disappointed to have missed it. Alas, the wee one was not up for rose petals yesterday evening. I do hope there will be a repeat next year.

  8. Brother David Avatar
    Brother David

    OFF TOPIC –
    Padre Kelvin, I shared your post and the link to the glorious photos with Padre Bosco in New Zealand. And was reminded that St Mary’s has a connection. I thought that you may not have heard that Christchurch suffered more serious quakes earlier this week and the cathedral, with many other churches, businesses and homes, suffered much more damage. She lost her Rose window and large sections of walls with this last set of temblors. And although certainly no decisions have been taken, it is looking more like St Mary’s will loose her twin and some other type of building may rise in its place.

    1. kelvin Avatar

      Thanks Brother David – I was aware of what’s been happening in Christchurch this week and have been remembering the people from there and specifically from the Cathedral there in my prayers.

  9. Rosemary Hannah Avatar
    Rosemary Hannah

    Elizabeth, we may just have to go for doing it again and different – but still glorious.

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