It’s been an interesting day – and the juxtaposition of the marking of the Solemnity of Christ the King as a Patronal Festival at St Saviour’s, Bridge of Allan, with the launch of Scottish Interfaith Week has travelled with me all day.
Our congregation in Bridge of Allan is lively and interesting. They prepare their worship with great care – so I had an interesting morning with them. I’m always very aware of whether or not congregations are used to listening to sermons – this congregation seemed more than usually attentive. So I gave them this fairly forthright sermon about what Christ the King might look like in the very difficult context of our times.
During the Service I presented Sue Horne with an RSCM Long Service Medal in recognition of 40 years as Assistant Organist at St Saviour’s. Sue began playing in the parish at Horspath, just outside Oxford, at the age of 15. By remarkable coincidence that is the church in which I first climbed into a pulpit. I still have the Sermon but won’t be publishing it here!
We then moved on to the launch of Scottish Interfaith Week in the Dynamic Earth Centre in Edinburgh – the venue marking the theme of this year’s Interfaith Week about Caring for our Environment. It’s difficult – but I felt that the theme had been overtaken by events in Paris which remind us that interfaith issues – and issues of multiculturalism – are among the most important issues of our times. I’ll be delivering a lecture in Dunfermline on Tuesday evening as part of Interfaith Week and I’ll take time to explore some of those issues further.
The picture is of Maureen Seir of Interfaith Scotland signing a Climate Change Declaration with Dr Aileen McLeod, Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform in the Scottish Government