I had an out of town preaching gig last night in Dunblane, where I was preaching for the induction of the Rev Kimberly Bohan as she took up her post as Rector of St Mary’s Episcopal Church in Dunblane.

Blogging coverage of the service itself (from Rosemary, I think) is here. And here from Bishop David.

It was a lovely service with more faces than I expected to recognise – people from St Mary’s, clergy from the diocese of Dunblane, St Andrews and Dunkeld, people who used to deliver my political leaflets and folk from St Saviour’s, Bridge of Allan. All in all a treat all round. (NB some of those categories overlap).

And this is what I said:
The story is this. A young woman gathers herself up and takes herself off at some speed for a town in the hill-country. There she finds a safe and secure place to be. There she finds a place where she can sing her own special song.

The young woman Mary flew as fast as she could to the sanctuary of her cousin Elizabeth�s home in the gentle Judean hill-country. There she abided awhile and there she sang the song, the Magnificat, a hymn of praise, a hymn of justice, a hymn of putting the world to rights and a hymn that Christians find is just too good to stop singing.

And tonight we seem to be celebrating a remarkably similar event. [Read more…]