Category: Blog Entry

Race against poverty

I’m watching the unfolding story of the xenophobic violence in South Africa with sadness.  Like most people, I went there to have a look at the unfolding story of the rainbow nation.  But it was always obvious that the real issue is poverty – and HIV/Aids.  Some of it is the economic imbalance between black and white – and the emerging affluent black middle class.  More of it is just the unimaginable, grinding, undignified poverty of the townships.  There’s a race against time.  Children born as apartheid ended are already in their mid-teens.  They don’t know to be glad that they no longer live in the apartheid system – as if that might make poverty tolerable.  The other part of this sad story is about leadership which doesn’t act.  South Africa has made considerable economic progress.  That’s why there are power cuts.  But President Mbeki’s failure to address the Zimbabwe issue other than with ‘quiet diplomacy’ has left South Africa open to a tidal wave of immigration that can’t be sustained.

It’s an unbelievably beautiful country with wonderful people.  They deserve a bright future.

Bogstead Revisited

It’s been a long saga but today was the day.  So after some contemplation of the inner workings of the Bogstead Continuous Aeration Plant

Jock and his men were ready to roll their sleeves up and get down to it.

So by the time we came back from climbing Ben Effrey, the new tank was installed and ready to go .. as it were.

Beautiful Day

We did the walk at Acharn for the second time today.  We’ve been bad at getting out and about but a visit from friends nudged us.  Just beyond Kenmore on the southern shore of Loch Tay.  Up the hill through the woods – wonderful view of the loch and of snow on the slopes of Schiehallion on the other side.  Best of all – to hear a cuckoo.  I can’t remember when I last heard one.

Footprint

++Rowan is considering not flying for a year.  That’s fairly daunting – it rules out America, for example.  Meanwhile, back at Blogstead, we anxiously read the updates on the Blackberry from the price comparison sites for diesel prices.

I attended the Church of Scotland Assembly on six days.  I stayed for two nights – car with Brompton.  One other day with car.  Two days by train with Brompton.  But the winner is a trip by bus from the Park and Ride at the Broxden Roundabout at £9.60 return.  When they run on time, it’s unbeatable.  It is amazing that there is no train from Perth to Edinburgh between 7.14 and 8.54 am.

But the faithful Passat rolls on.  Now 161000 and around 50 mpg.  Some slight variability in the temperature gauge area – but we’re all getting on a bit.  I did suggest to the nice people at Perth Garage that the brakes didn’t seem to be just totally the best.  Not that one ever needs to use the brakes in Perthshire – other than a slight check on progress when the deer loom up in the twilight.  So they are going to replace the bits and pieces and send us out for another spell of zero depreciation and exclusively downhill travel.

Reviving?

Well I was doing just fine until we got to Article 3 of the Articles Declaratory at the Church of Scotland Assembly. Which of course is very interesting. Think of the Labour Party removing Clause 4 and you have some sense of what Article 3 means to the Church of Scotland. It’s territoriality. It means that, on whatever be-heathered hillside one stands, one can be glad that one is within the pastoral reach of the C of S.

Dorothy Neilson is quite right – all mad. Get a life, etc., etc.

Except that the Church without Walls was sort of central to what was going on. And all clergy dudes – as Dorothy calls us – know that Synods and Assemblies are getting close to the heart of things when people seem to be excited about things that would make the Telephone Directory seem controversial. So the Special Commission on Structure and Change made the daring suggestion that ‘an ecumenical outlook would be more effective in reaching all Scotland with the Gospel’. It gets interesting when you couple that with the [slightly hidden] debate about what might happen at each level of the church – particularly the regional/Presbytery level. Which seemed to be code for ‘the centre has got far too powerful and the Presbytery plans are being driven by financial criteria.’

How interesting it all is. I put my smart card in the fancy slot and suggested to them that this was the same debate as we [ought to] have in the SEC about where the church is best energised for mission – in the diocese, in the local church or at the centre. No prizes for guessing what I think is the answer. And I think I shall see if I can cajole/sweet-talk/encourage the Presbyteries in our area into some talking about shared mission.

So there we are. I have to say that I actually enjoyed it. Great networking. I was very impressed by the quality of debate, the chairmanship of the Moderator and most of all by the excellence of the Convenors of the Boards and Committees.  They also do that wonderful thing of synods at their best – no matter how obscure or arcane the matter under discussion, somebody will always stand up and display expert knowledge.   And the lady in the cloakroom now knows that when I say I have come to collect my bike I mean the folded Brompton in the corner.

Wilting

Yes the Church of Scotland General Assembly has me on my knees at this point – and there are still three days to go.  I gave the PM a miss on Saturday morning – little knowing that I could have sat up in bed and watched him on the website.  And then we did the Garden Party and then the Buffet Supper and this morning the service in St Giles Cathedral and tomorrow is still only Monday.  Of course, the rest of one’s life goes on unabated – letting Poppy in and out, the arrival of the sucker-outers and the digger-uppers for the septic tanks tomorrow and so on.  But St Giles was interesting – best Anglican chanting I’ve heard in quite a while followed by St Patrick’s Breastplate because of Trinity Sunday and I was glad I wasn’t preaching.

I still carry the kind advice of my doctrine tutor in Trinity College, Oxford, who looked at me with kindness and compassion and said [or words to this effect] ‘I think that, at your level, it would be wiser if you did not attempt to think about the doctrine of the Trinity for more than three minutes consecutively’  He didn’t say, ‘Stick to Harvest.’  But I suppose that’s what he meant.

Awaiting freshening showers

They certainly know how to pick their hymns in the Church of Scotland. This morning began with: Just as a dry and barren land/awaits a freshening shower ….

Business as usual – and business-like. Membership may have ebbed to under 500000 but income is up 21%. I’ve been enjoying trying to work out whether what they talk about in the Assembly Room is the same as what they talk about over the coffee and buns out the back. To which the intriguing answer is ‘Only partly’ I found myself involved in an interesting discussion about ‘territoriality’ – whether it makes sense for a church to continue to work on a ‘patch system’. The irony of course is that Anglican churches tend to think like that and Presbyterians don’t. Which is why we do it the opposite way round in Scotland.

And then on to the Irish Ministers’ Fraternal which was meeting the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. I hadn’t met Dr Finlay before. But then I found that I know his brother well – so that’s all right. It was great really. We just sat down and made sure that we all knew who each other’s second cousins were. We pondered the sad loss of Robert Dunlop. Could it really be eight years since Joey’s death? Actually, the mutual exploration did run beyond second cousins – I was asked if I was related to William Chillingworth, author of ‘The religion of Protestants – a safe way to salvation.’ Only time will tell on that one, I think!

Trailing bright clouds of elation

Yes the Church of Scotland General Assembly certainly started the way it means to go on – second line of the opening hymn at this morning’s worship.

It’s really interesting to be here. The Assembly is an impressive, meticulously-prepared event – the public face of a strong and self-confident church. But the underlying reality is that the Church of Scotland faces real challenges right across Scotland and is struggling with local reorganisation.  On the other hand, it does some amazing things – the Church without Walls Project for one.
Interesting things today? The church said its thanks to the outgoing Moderator, Sheila Kesting – the second woman to have filled this role and she did so with a particular grace and dignity. No woman bishop yet in Scotland or Ireland? Several of the main speakers have been lay women and the standard of all the speakers has been impressively high.

The church-state interplay is fascinating. The C of S guards jealously its ‘established church’ status in Scotland but doesn’t wear it like a glove as does the C of E.  However that relationship produced a magnificent speech from George Reid, as the Queen’s representative – Lord High Commissioner. The Chairing is much more ‘hands on’ than at the SEC General Synod – but that same ‘hands on’ style makes possible an extraordinarily high level of participation. I think there must have been 10-12 contributions to one of the debates.

A lot of detail goes by. I couldn’t help noticing a report on the appointment of ministers. I’ve been trying to develop some new patterns in this area myself. So I was amused to find recommendations that panels might do more than just interview – we’ve been trying social events with a wider representation of congregational leadership – the so-called ‘trial by fork’. They also suggested that, while interview questions might be put by a small group, a larger group might be in the room to hear what happens. Yes indeed. I’ve won that battle sometimes and lost it others. I await the clouds of elation.

Size matters?

My Irish Times headlines by e mail this morning included one about growth in the Church of Ireland from Patsy McGarry, Religious Affairs Correspondent. Since I was not prepared to invest the 2 euro needed to find out what he said, I’ll have to surmise …

I expect he’s talking about the Church of Ireland in the Republic – which is just under 3%. I’m old enough to remember points at which there was real concern for the future, particularly in parts of rural Ireland. He’s probably pointing to at least two major factors as sources of growth – the inflow of migrants who now make up 10% of the population and the problems of the Roman Catholic Church. Take a look at St George and St Thomas in Dublin where the Rector is a former colleague, Katharine Poulton. They have a Discovery Gospel Choir and a U2 Eucharist ..

Beyond that I’m still pondering the future of churches in secular societies – like modern Ireland and Scotland. ++Rowan’s recent lecture in Westminster Cathedral included the interesting line that ‘we generally prefer these days to be patrons rather than subscribers’ We tend to assume that the churches which make headway in these conditions are conservative bodies of one kind or another. +Rowan suggests that our society now sees spirituality as good and religion as bad. Maybe there’s space after all for small, liberal churches which invite people to explore.

Meanwhile I’m off tomorrow to represent the SEC at the Church of Scotland Assembly. Once I’ve got over my agoraphobia, I hope to report back on what it’s like to be a big, big church!

Another Sunday

It’s been a pretty easy-going weekend out at Blogstead.  The dead septic tanks are still a slight blot on the horizon, as it were.  But we’re promised movement in that area this week.

We set out for 11 am in Muthill this morning.  Beautiful day .. joys of spring .. faithful Passat in fine form .. temperature guage sticking to the Anglican via media.  Muthill is in the middle of beautiful countryside between Auchterarder and Crieff.  Last time I was there, the windows were boarded up.  Now the church is probably in better shape than it has been for years and the congregation seem in good heart too.  We celebrated Pentecost with admirable restraint and shared a lovely lunch in the local restaurant.

Yes there are toughish bits in what I do.  But this certainly wasn’t one of them.