What a marathon yesterday turned out to be.

There were three excellent services and St Mary’s was on the go from 0700 until late, late into the night.

First off was the BBC broadcast. If you missed it, you can hear it again on the BBC website for seven days. You can also find links to the script and the Pathways to Prayer study materials here.

Having got a big crowd (over 100 in church and over a million in radio land) out for the early service I thought that the 1030 might be a bit subdued but it wasn’t. I’ll be posting something about our numbers rising sometime in the future. At the moment we are running at a rate of increase of 15% year on year. Indeed, I’m just off to a clergy day to discuss how we cope with rising numbers and sustain that growth.

I was off to the wedding show again in the afternoon and met a number of people who might be interested in a West End Wedding in St Mary’s. Did you know we are one of the few places in the west of Scotland where you can have a wedding with really good music and church bells? I do have to say that after two days at the Scottish Wedding Show being the public face of marriage in the Scottish Episcopal Church, it would not bother me if it was quite a while before I saw another wedding dress. There is something rather menacing about massed brides.

Back to base in the evening, where a huge choir had gathered to sing Bernard Porter’s choice of music at evensong as a way of marking his 80th. It was not so much St Mary’s choir as the Bernard Porter Choral Society and he had no idea who would be there. As it was, folk had flown in from the USA and come from all around the country to be there. Bernard was still partying with the choir long after I gave up at 2330. One lovely thing for me was being able to catch up with Gwyneth Leech who did the stunning murals in St Mary’s. I love them and it was a delight to walk around listening to her describe the process by which they were done.