Category: Blog Entry

We had the usual Hallowe’en phone call from a journalist today.  How did we feel about the Vatican’s condemnation of Hallowe’en as anti-Christian?  Do we think it is based on a sinister and dangerous ‘undercurrent of occultism’?  Or do we think that it is all harmless and traditional stuff?  And we decided that we wouldn’t get drawn into commenting on other people’s comments ….

So here are a few of the things which might be part of a more serious exploration of the issues.

Yes the soul of a child matters and we are probably over-careless about the influences to which they are exposed.  Children do need to acquire what it takes to live in a very mixed-up kind of world but the spiritual nurture task is more important than we admit – probably because it is hard to define.  After all, the Gospel constantly prioritises children – ‘Whoever does not receive the kingdom like a child ..’

So the Hallowe’en question takes its place there – alongside the internet questions and the war toys and the ‘shoot ‘m up’ video games.  But the most insidious of all?  I think it’s what children see us adults doing.

That means the effect of relentless consumerism – that what we want we must have whether we need it or not.  And inability to manage relationships, to forgive and to live and let live.  It’s easy negativity about all sorts of things.  It’s discouragement when we should be offering encouragement.  It’s lack of values and moral compass.

It’s all those things which are fine for us because we can choose them and live with the consequences.  But not fine for children.

I’ve been a bit ‘all over the place’ in every sense these last few days.

Yesterday I did the magnificent journey to Oban for the first meeting of the Preparatory Committee in the electoral process for the new Bishop of Argyll and the Isles.  Canon 4 is beginning to dominate my life – I soon won’t know what to do next unless Canon 4 is telling me that I have 120 days in which to do it.  But, for obvious reasons, I am an admirer of it.  The electoral process is extraordinarily open at the outset – the task is then to provide for the Electoral Synod the best possible choice of candidates.  It is incredibly demanding for the candidate.  I speak from experience.

Meanwhile, Thinking Anglicans points us to this interesting reflection by Hans Kung in the Grauniad – dealing with the current Roman-Anglican issues.  He doesn’t use the word – but he explains why there may in the end be a Trojan Horse dimension to all this.

We're mourning today the passing of Dean Hamilton Leckey.

He was the second Rector with whom I served as Curate.
I was six years ordained at that point
and not finding the appointment system easy.
He took a risk - as others have since -
and we enjoyed our ministry together.

Hammie was visiting one afternoon in Kilcooley Estate, Bangor.
He knocked on a door which didn't open - and while standing there was savaged by a random dog.
Next door flew open, 'Better step inside for a moment, your reverence'
And he did.

He then realised that next door was fighting drunk.
'Just need to go and take a leak, your reverence
And if the phone rings, it's my brother in Australia
Could you answer it and talk to him until I come back.?'

And the phone did ring.
And Hammie did answer it
And it was a long leak.

Requiescat in pace

Sorry.  I know I should.  But I can’t bring myself to watch Nick Griffin on Question Time tonight.  I’ve heard enough in my life of what he represents – fears fed, divisions widened, issues manufactured, integrity questioned.  I’ll do without it for now.

This was my Thought for the Day yesterday on BBC Radio Scotland.  I defend the right to free speech.  But it is much more impressive when it is a right which is used to defend the weak or to speak words of healing and reconciliation.

It’s good to be home again.  I did some catching up on my sleep during The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at Pitlochry Theatre on Thursday evening.  It was very good. I’d forgotten how dark it is – the play of course – tho’ dark theatres are good for a quiet snooze.  I’m grounded now until the New Year.

So, after the opulence of the Scandinavian Churches, it’s back to the rather more threadbare charms of the Scottish Episcopal Church.  And of course, while it’s good to see how the other half live, I firmly believe that churches are healthier when they are disconnected from the state – and when they are lean and hungry.  No problem with the SEC in that department at the moment!

Talking about disconnection …. I ran an eye over the reports of the SNP Conference in the Sundays.  The release of the Lockerbie bomber loomed large, of course.  Certainly no other action by the Scottish Government has had similar international impact.  So had they noticed that the Scottish Churches had weighed in in support of their actions?  Not at all.  Gandhi – yes.  Scottish Episcopal and Church of Scotland – no.  That’s a secular society for you.

I’ve been here in Porvoo for the last three days – at a meeting of the Primates of the churches of the Communion.  It’s a very beautiful place – about 50 km from Helsinki.

I preached at the closing Eucharist in the Cathedral [above].  The [slightly remarkable]  picture is with the Bishop of Porvoo and the Dean.

The Lutheran Churches are fascinating.  The founding documents of the Lutheran Federation state that ‘This Federation is a Communion’.  So they deal with the same issues as beset Anglicans.  They also have stresses and strains around sexuality issues.

And then there are the eye-watering amounts of money which come from church tax.  Porvoo is much smaller than Perth.  The parish has 25000 people and 10 priests.  Could it really be that the income of the Finnish Lutheran Church is 800 m euro per year and it has 21000 staff?

More like passing through, I’m afraid.   We spent yesterday in Dublin celebrating the marriage of my godson, Owen, to Raffaella.  They both work for the International Red Cross in challenging places.  One sits with the older generation in the shadows of the celebrations muttering that the new generation isn’t really so bad after all.

Tomorrow I’m off to Porvoo for a Primates’ meeting and will be back Wednesday evening.  Tim the Geek now has the Netbook fully plumbed in to the office server back in Perth.  So normal service continues.  I suspect that life was simpler for everybody when that wasn’t possible.

I’m quite looking forward to learning more about the Porvoo Communion and the chuches of Scandanavia.  I have the northern European programming that the only direction in which one heads is South.  It comes as a pleasant surprise to find that there is rather a lot of Europe to the north of Calais.

It was strange to fly into the Isle of Man yesterday.  Last here in 1968 with the City of Belfast Youth Orchestra.  They talked a lot about birching then.  I vowed never to return.  So here we are.

Actually my heart softened a bit because over the summer I re-read Jonathan Raban’s lovely book ‘Coasting’.  Coasting expressed his attitude to life and his journey round the British Isles in Gosfield Maid.  A wonderful book for armchair sailors – Amazon has it for 1 p.  In his early navigational struggles in the Irish Sea, he describes searching for the Isle of Man to starboard – only to find it steaming by on his port bow.   That’s rather how it seems to be – centre of the British Isles but not quite sure where it is.  Beautiful day yesterday – but this morning there was the cloak of mist called the Simmerdim which is reputed to hide the island from invaders.

Sorry – forgot to say why I am here.  Meeting of the Celtic Bishops.  Like the Walrus and the Carpenter, we talk of many things.  I am interested in testing whether there might be a common Celtic approach to the issues of the day.  We are not England, nor America nor anywhere else.  But of course that doesn’t mean that we know who we are or indeed where we are.

I spent today in the Kingdom of Fife. A beautiful day and a paradise for cyclists – criss-crossed with marked cycle routes. I visited our church in Cupar in the morning. It seemed like ages since I had been there – but they seem to be getting on just fine without me. In the afternoon, I went to our church in Ladybank – where the railway line from Perth meets the line from Dundee.  I love going there because it reminds me of St Patrick’s Hall in Killicomaine – the only place I’ve ever been where it was possible to take a break for a chat in the middle of the liturgy.  When I first went to Ladybank, the neighbours would hand a bucket of water over the fence so that they could make tea. Today marked the end of a massive building project which gives them a kitchen and a toilet. It’s clean, neat and efficient – the water heater is movement-activated. But the previous arrangements had charm and an outreach dimension which has been lost.

Spent quite a bit of my week at a meeting of our bishops at Scottish Churches House – the ecumenical study centre which sits in the shadow of the beautiful Dunblane Cathedral.  One of the sides of the Memorial for the 1996 tragedy reads, ‘”If there is anything that will endure the eye of God, because it is pure, it is the spirit of a little child.” – from The Children’s Prayer by R H Stoddard (1825-1903).  A long meeting provides much opportunity to ponder these things.

Clean sweep refers to a slight problem with the wipers on the Passat – now 183000 miles.  They have acquired a life of their own and stop and start at will.  Google tells me that I may need a new motor if the ‘stop’ switch can’t be replaced on its own.  For now, the only way of stopping the front wipers is to operate the rear one.