What's in Kelvin's Head

The Scottish Episcopal Church has entered into a new ecumenical partnership with the Methodist Church in Scotland and the United Reformed Church in Scotland. This marks the culmination (the end?) of what has been called the EMU (Episcopalian, Methodist and URC) talks which came about when the Church of Scotland pulled the plug on the Scottish Churches Initiative for Uion (SCIFU) venture, which the Scottish Episcopal Church had initiated.

The new agreement was signed in Perth this weekend and so far as I can tell, has been met with almost universal silence in the press and with almost complete ignorance by thosemost of those who come to our churches.

I’ve been trying to find the text online, but all I can find is on this page on the URC website, and I can’t work out whether the document has been modified since then.

The text I have is this:

STATEMENT OF PARTNERSHIP BETWEEN
THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH
NATIONAL SYNOD OF SCOTLAND
THE METHODIST CHURCH IN SCOTLAND

We, the General Synod of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Synod of the Scotland District of the Methodist Church and the National Synod of Scotland of the United Reformed Church, in recognition of our developing relationships, instigate this statement of partnership. We solemnly declare that we will work for ever closer co-operation in serving Christ. We are glad of the partnerships that have already been established between us and commit ourselves to strengthening these relationships and building new ones. By regular meetings between our various officers, and encouragement to our congregations, we shall work to identify, explore and develop opportunities to share in mission and ministry by continuing to forge stronger ties between us. Specifically we shall explore together ways of:

Being Church and serving God together; (1)
Increasing the confidence of our members to speak of God and faith in ways that make sense to others; (2)
Cooperating in teaching and learning about Jesus Christ, and our mission together; (3)
Cooperating on Church and Society issues, supporting community development and taking action together for justice, especially among the most deprived and poor in Scotland; (4)
Sharing in the provision and deployment of both lay and ordained ministries of all the people of God; (5)
Sharing our resources across Scotland to fulfil our shared Christian mission to spread the Gospel (6)
We shall seek to widen our Ecumenical engagement within this Partnership and with other denominations, wherever possible, so that our working together may be as wide as possible and our diversity not hindered by ongoing dis-union and rivalry. (7)
Progress in this partnership will be formally reviewed on a 5 yearly basis from the date of signature.

In signing this statement we affirm our commitment to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and trust in God’s power for the implementation of this partnership.

Here is what I think of the points listed above:

1 – guff
2 – quite hard to achieve and difficult to measure meaningfully
3 – probably not specific enough to mean much.
4 – really good idea – lets hope this one works.
5 – why are we considering sharing in deployment with churches we are not in communion with? In what sense are we to provide or deploy lay ministries to the Methodists or the URC?
6 – not remotely serious – no budget I’ve ever seen in our church makes any provision for this. Not one single line. Not one single pound.
7 – Is there any risk that the broader this gets, the less it will mean?

I know I’m supposed to be enthusiastic about this. I’m not really though. There is a frightening ecumentical correctness at synods which makes it hard to express any belief in one’s own Orders sometimes. I don’t buy the idea that the SEC and the URC and the Methodists have particularly been treating one another as rivals. Nor do I feel that we have been living in any disunity that is somehow made less by this agreement.

Anyway, here’s hoping that number 4 works well.

Anyone else want to chime in with what they think these 7 points mean? If I’ve got the wrong text, will someone put me right?

The particular Epiphany moment, the showing forth of Jesus the light of the world, that we have to think about today is one that is quite easy to image.

Many times, preachers have to paint exotic pictures in order to get their congregations to be able to imagine what is going on in the biblical passage under consideration.

However, this morning’s gospel reading paints its own picture and is easy to imagine.

People are gathered in a synagogue for Sabbath worship. The young preacher about whom much conversation and gossip has been focussed appears and takes up a scroll and begins to read.

The reason that we can imagine this relatively easily is, of course, because the first part of our worship every week derives very precisely from the worship of the Jewish Synagogue.

There is singing. Scriptures are read aloud. Psalms are chanted. Someone tries to elucidate the text with a sermon. The gospel today is very familiar indeed. It is what we do every week.

Inevitably, preachers tend to reflect on the very act of preaching when faced with a gospel like this and the image of Jesus the preacher.

I noticed in one of the papers this week that it was being reported that someone had done some research (CODEC based in Durham, reported in the Times) on what different kinds of congregations expected from their preachers.

It was quite illuminating. Read more »

Anyone coming to St Mary’s tomorrow might note that there are temporary traffic lights at the junction of Great Western Road and Napiershall Street.

This has been causing some congestion today. Presumably it will not be as bad tomorrow, but forewarned is forearmed, or whatever the expression is.

And here is the final one of the batch of Prayer for the Day scripts that have been going out on Radio 4 every day this week:

Good Morning

Someone asked me the other day what is the first memory that I have. I was able to tell them and to date it exactly. I’m a child of the time of the space race, and my first memory is of being taken outside on a dark night to look at the moon. “Look,” I was told, “there are people there”.

I was three years old and was probably more excited at staying up late and being taken outside into the mysterious darkness than I was at being told that there were men on the moon.

Today happens to be the anniversary of the launch of Apollo 5 – the first time the lunar module was tested in space flight. It was just one part of the process that allowed human beings to reach for the moon and come back safely.

Exploration seems somehow to be built into our psychology. Most people probably always want to stay at home and live a quiet life in safety and security. But human life consistently seems to throw up adventurers in every generation who want to go where no-one has gone before, see things that no-one has seen before and experience things that no-one has ever previously known.

Perhaps that means that there is also an inner adventurer in each of us. For even those of us who stay at home have new things to face with each day that dawns. As new challenges come our way, let us pray that we may accept them graciously, tackle them boldly and be kind to all we encounter on the pathways of our own adventures.

Guiding God, as this day unfolds, inspire us with fresh insights, challenge us with new experiences and reassure us that your love never changes. Amen.

You can listen again for seven days by going to this page.

Here’s what I said to the nation this morning on Radio 4 at 0543:

Good Morning

It is fifty-one years ago today since the death of Cecil B DeMille – film producer extraordinaire, showman and master of monumental movie experiences.

Cecil B DeMille was responsible for giving us epic expectations in the cinema and epic expectations when reading the Bible.

It was Mr DeMille who provided the visual backdrop that many will have when they read the biblical stories. Those scenes are hard to forget. Hurtling chariots, fiercely contested battle scenes and smouldering temptresses like Delilah. And when we think of large crowds we describe them as being of “biblical proportions” – no small testament to the success of Cecil B DeMille’s expansive vision.

Of course, it is easier to portray narratives and stories on the big screen than it is to convey the quieter moments of spirituality – the deep breath we take when we look ahead to what it coming later in the day, thoughtful words which will not let us go and jangle around in our minds as the day goes on, the hope of thanksgiving when the day comes to an end and all is still.

All through today, our comings and goings will be played out on the wide-screen of everyday life. Whether humdrum or epic, we each have stories to tell and we each have insights into the world that are ours alone. Let us give thanks for the excitement and drama that life provides us. And give thanks too for the still small voice of God that we can sometimes perceive when all the drama stops.

God most holy,
we give thanks for bringing us out of the shadow of night
into the light of morning;
and we ask you for the joy of spending this day well,
so that when evening comes, we may once more give you thanks. Amen.

You can listen again for 7 days by going to this page.

I note that that so-called “Christian Institute”, has a report on the Episcopal election.

Apart from the fact that the headline seem unable to recognise the priesthood of (at least) one of the candidates, it begins, “The Scottish Episcopal Church has voted against electing Britain’s first female Bishop.”

That statement is not true. The Scottish Episcopal Church has done no such thing.

Never believe anything the Christian Institute says. There is no wonder some people are beginning to think of them as the Nasty Party of the Christian faith.

This is what I said today on Radio 4 at 0543:

Good Morning

It is a year today since Barak Obama became President of the United States of America. When power changed hands peacefully in America a year ago, the world had its first Black leader of a super-power. It was a moment of US tradition and yet also a time when change seemed utterly tangible.

It is difficult not to call to mind the vast crowds, maybe one and a half million people who braved the January cold to welcome their new president and to celebrate amidst America’s own red, white and blue banners and rosettes. It was one of the world’s biggest meetings of people that has ever been held and the eyes of the globe were focussed in one place at one time.

Those large crowds carried more than just the hopes of the American people. It was a moment when many around the world stopped to hope for a better world. Peace and prosperity. Promises kept and integrity for all in public life.

A year later, there has been the Nobel Prize for President Obama and no doubt, the daily realisation that you can’t govern a country on hope alone. You need careful, thoughtful decision making every day.

Its worth pausing to remember decision makers today. All those who have to make choices which will affect the life of others. Those who have been elected, those who hold office and those who hope that the people will trust them in the future. Alongside them, we remember those who campaign, those who seek to bring about change, those who dream new dreams and those who are inspired to think through things in new ways that have never been tried before.

God of all our hopes, help us build into today, time to plan for a better tomorrow. And let all the people say: Amen.

You can listen to the broadcast on the iPlayer for 7 days.

Good morning.

I once won a scholarship to go exploring – finding out about what faith was like in a far off land.

I chose to go to Egypt to spend time with the Desert Fathers – monks who live in monasteries far off the beaten track in the Egyptian desert.

There I found vibrant communities and the strange combination of lives being lived according to ancient patterns of prayer but with some unexpected modern incursions too. Monks who by this time of the morning would have already completed several hours of chanted prayer would greet me later with the wave of a mobile phone or an invitation to sip a cool coca-cola in the heat of the day.

I remember things that seemed exotic to me amidst the dust and the dryness of desert life. The smell of incense as dawn was breaking. A line of monks chanting in the evening as the huge disk of the sun set more suddenly than I was expecting. The sight of the desert stretching away for thousands of miles, towards Libya and on and on for what seemed like forever.

St Anthony’s Feast day falls this week. He was the father of that kind of monasticism. Someone who lived his life in response to a single verse from the Bible he once heard read in church – If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasures in heaven: and come, follow Me. (Matthew 19:21)

Anthony regarded boredom and laziness as great temptations – things to work to overcome and things to pray about too.

Knowing God,
whether this day is mundane
or whether it has a touch of the exotic about it,
help us to find ways to use every moment of our time well. Amen

You can hear it on the iPlayer for seven days.

This is what I said on Radio 4 at 0543 this morning:

Good morning.

Today is the anniversary of the birth of AA Milne. That makes it the birthday of Winnie the Pooh as well.

Later on today, I’ll be marking this as Winnie the Pooh Day. I’ll pour myself a cup of tea and reach for a dusty and slightly battered copy of the House at Pooh Corner. The pages are yellowing now and some are in danger of dropping out and scattering all over the floor. Those of course are the best loved pages – the ones I’ll want to read most. Pages that remind me that tiggers don’t climb trees and that breakfast is best if it begins and ends with a honey pot.

I’ll also cast a glance in the direction of my own bear. He is looking slightly battered by the passage of time too. But there he sits on a high shelf and looks down at me on many a day when I forget that he is there.

It is a strange custom, making models of bears and giving them to children for comfort. The wildest and most dangerous animals of the forest being given in love. They provide comfort and security and offer small hands something to grasp hold of.

All the best bears are given with love, tenderness and delight. Gifts given like that remind us of all that is good about being human.

If Pooh and Piglet, Eeyore and Kanga and all the rest remind us of that, then Pooh Bear’s birthday is definitely worth celebrating.

Somewhere in an “enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be playing” And in some enchanted place deep with us, we all need to know that we are already loved.

Loving God,
hold us and comfort us though all that this day brings.
Help us to find enchanted places
and people to love. Amen.

You can hear it on the iPlayer for 7 days.

Today has been quite a busy day at St Mary’s. The Cathedral hosted the election of the new bishop. The vote was over quickly and decisively when The Very Rev Gregor Duncan was chosen to be the next bishop of the Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway in the first ballot. (Canon 4 allows up to four votes to be held by the synod and the person who is elected is whoever can first command a greater than 50% majority in the house of clergy and the house of laity.

There was no small sense of excitement in the air as the voting took place and was announced.

On these occassions, one is left in awe of anyone who puts themselves into the process of election. We ended up with three candidates who were publicly known. There will be others who were nominated and who did not end up on the final ballot paper. Inevitably, those electing today were concerned for all the candidates and everyone involved.

There has been rather a lot of press interest in this election, which made today considerably busier than it might otherwise have been.

Gregor will be consecrated as our new bishop fairly soon – Canon 4 specifies that it has to be within 100 days.