Last Saturday we tried something new in St Mary’s. It was the first of the diocesan pilgrimage days and Saturday’s invitation was to the churches of Renfrewshire and Ayrshire.
It was wonderful to welcome so many people into the building, many of whom had not been here before. It was also great to engage with folk in a different way to previous invitations. Some people love coming to big services and some will know the cathedral through things like the election process for a bishop. This was different – it was a day of renewal and faith development and it was great fun into the bargain.
First activity of the day was a pilgrimage around the building. I’ve done this before – rather than doing a historical tour of the building (there are others who are better qualified to do this than I am). Instead I do it thematically, starting from the font and working my way around the seven traditional sacraments of the church.
The intereesting thing about this kind of tour is that it just gets better when people ask questions on the journey and the questions on Saturday were excellent. There were also some folk present who remembered things being shifted around the building. We got to talk about nave altars and achitecture which sees God amongst us. We talked about changing patterns of confirmation and baptism, the ways in which we have seen marriage changing and all kinds of other things.
The pic at the top shows me holding forth at the font.
After the tour there was some free time, lunch, a series of optional activities and then Eucharist with Bishop Gregor and a pilgrim’s blessing at the end.
It was fantastic and I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.
Next pilgrimage is om 17 March 2012 – more details here.
Many thanks to Linda Rayner for the picture.
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