More from Shetland

The visit to Shetland was to join in the 150th Anniversary of our congregation at St Magnus on Lerwick.

Anniversaries of churches are wonderful moments and I enjoyed this one. This is part of what I said:

Many of you will have come to this service with memories and maybe with photos. Those memories will be of ways in which your story – the important moments of your life – are interwoven with the story of this church. You’ll think of baptisms, weddings and funerals – of Christmas, Easter and Harvest. You may think of people who are no longer with us – but no less deeply loved in our memories and our hearts.

And here is the full script

I also took part in a Confirmation Service at Burravoe on the Island of Yell – it’s the most northerly Anglican Church in the British Isles. The scale of the scenery is wonderful and the light is extraordinary – particularly at this time of year. Here we are – Bishop Bob, Revd Neil Brice and Reverend Mother from the Community of Our Lady of the Isles on Fetlar. If you think we might have centered the photo better, we were just making room for the majesty of God’s creation over my left shoulder

This is part of what I said:

For me this Confirmation Service is about the growth of the church. It’s the church doing what it is called to do – adding to the community of the believers. It’s the church testing that it has at its heart the ability to kindle living faith in the hearts of people. It’s each generation of faith making sure that they are not the last. For if the church loses the will or the ability to bring people to faith, it will die.

Here is the rest of it