Category: Uncategorized

It’s taken me a while to get round to writing about Seamus Heaney. That’s partly because of the scale of what he represented – partly because of my failure to be well-read in poetry. And yet he created a mental landscape for Ireland.

‘Whatever you say, say nothing’ is part of how he summed up the reality of Northern Ireland life – ‘the tight gag of place and times……….. ‘. We were all complicit in sustaining the sectarianism — indeed almost needed it as a way of knowing who and where we were.

‘Where to be saved you only must save face
And whatever you say, say nothing’

The Irish Times provided an excellent obituary – a bit overheated at times

‘He turned our disgrace into grace, our petty haters into epic generosity, our dull cliches into questioning eloquence, the leaden metal of brutal inevitability into the gold of pure possibility’

Which leads to that other favourite quote:

History says, don’t hope
On this side of the grave.
But then, once in a lifetime
The longed-for tidal wave
Of justice can rise up
And hope and history rhyme’

In his Nobel lecture, he quoted a line which he had written – ‘instructing myself (and whoever else might be listening) to ‘to walk on air against your better judgement’. He deserved his Nobel prize not just for his poetry but because he managed to belong to everybody in Ireland. It was Mandela’s greatness in South Africa. Others didn’t succeed in being greater than the tribe. Heaney did and that was his gift to us.

This is Revd Trevor Hart cutting the cake after his Institution as Rector of St Andrews, St Andrews. It was a great evening for Trevor and his family, for the congregation and for all of us who were there. It’s a remarkable moment when a person like Trevor decides that his calling is to the pastoral and missional leadership of this congregation – and that he has fulfilled his vocation in academic life as Professor of Divinity at St Mary’s College in the University of St Andrews. The preacher was former Rector, Bishop Bob Gillies of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney.

One if those strange mixtures which are the everyday of ministry

First half of the day at the Cathedral for a training session for our congregational PVG (Protection of Vulnerable Groups) Officers. Our Diocesan Co-Ordinator, Robert Nelllist, works hard to ensure that all our congregations are in compliance with the Code.

And then on to Perth Methodist Church for a Welcome Service for Revd Dr David Easton as Chair of the Methodist Church in Scotland. I was there with other ecumenical partners to widen the welcome and I got to say a few words. The Methodist ‘thing’ of course is singing so it was great to be with them

In between I had 15 minutes to spare and I wandered into Waterstones. Strangely I found myself looking at Perth Heritage’s map of Roman Perth. The Roman roads are very clear of course to the south of Perth around Findo Gask. But the dotted ‘maybe’ lines lead from Guildtown up the hill and across the front of Blogstead. It’s harvest time at present so we have day and night combine harvester noise. But when that fades away, I be listening out for the tramp of the ghostly legions on their way ….

Well we had our Healing Liturgy yesterday – quietly and simply

I made some connections – the prayer blanket from St Peter’s, Kirkcaldy, was fully deployed. We mingled with our own oil some oil which Annemarie had sent me from the Catholic parish in Dunfanaghy, Co Donegal. These things are signs of prayerful love and they matter.

So we read, prayed and sat in the quietness. Then Laying on of Hands and Anointing. The Laying on of Hands is for me a sign of the prayers of people in the diocese and beyond.

Later on, I was very tired. I thought that was just as it should be.

Our season of Lay Reader licensings ended on Tuesday with the licensing of Lis Burke at St John’s Perth. Like Carol and Margaret before her, Lis has made a big commitment to her training and has developed greatly along the way.

What they all have in common is a desire to get across the boundary of church life and to engage in mission in the wider community. In that, they earn their place in the ongoing conversation in our church about the future of the permanent diaconate.

The second picture shows Lis with Carol Latimer, Sue Whyte and Canon Bob Harley, Warden of Lay Readers

In their kindness, people ask how I am. And it’s difficult to know quite what to say. I’m thinking about it a bit – I’ve stopped saying ‘I’m fine’ because Men are from Mars says that ‘I’m fine’ is what men say when they mean, ‘Don’t ask’. So policy on that is under constant review.

Meanwhile I’m thinking about the fact that there is something wrong inside me – but I can’t see it. And I’m about to have radiotherapy treatment which I can’t see either.

Fortunately the sacramental mindset says that we can do things which we can touch, taste and feel in order to express and respond to things which we can’t. So next week – just before the treatment begins – I’m going to be anointed and have the laying on of hands. I had that in the early stages after being diagnosed and it was immensely helpful in calming the fears.

But to say that ‘It works’ isn’t quite enough. I think it’s partly that it doesn’t seem quite right just to hope that ‘the doctors will fix this for me’. Surely there must be some ways in which I can make a contribution to my own healing – so we are testing out diet options and I am cycling every day.

But beyond that I have always had a very holistic attitude to healing. I can’t say that I understand the ’cause and effect’ of how anointing and laying on of hands helps. But I think it is about engendering deep spiritual and emotional changes in me – such that my body can accept the treatment and that deep inner healing will take place.

That’s why all of this will change me as a person

Last night we gathered for the licensing of Margaret Dineley as a Lay Reader at St Finnians, Lochgelly.

That’s important in all sorts of ways – not just for Margaret for whom it marks another stage on a journey. Lochgelly is an old mining community in Fife which means present-day social deprivation. It used to be listed as having the lowest house prices in Britain. So it’s important for us to be there and important to bring a diocesan service there last night.

Margaret will be working in missional development in Lochgelly and also being part of the life of the congregations in our congregations at Aberdour, Burntisland and Inverkeithing.

The second photo is of the Choir from St Margaret’s, Rosyth which came and led the music. I’m a fan. Too much of our hymn singing is slow to the point of dreary. Too many hymns have far too many verses. They deal with both issues with aplomb!

We are having a season of Lay Reader licensings at present – three in quick succession. These are all people who have committed themselves to a minimum of two years’ training in TISEC (Theological Institute of the Scottish Episcopal Church). Like many of our Lay Readers, they are all people who are prepared to step outside the ecclesiastical comfort zone in the cause of mission

The first was Carol Latimer at St Peter’s, Kirkcaldy. Carol will develop her ministry in partnership with Revd Christine Fraser, recently instituted as Rector. Members of the Prayer Group surprised me by giving me a Prayer Blanket which they had knitted for me – typical thoughtfulness from a very caring congregation. The picture is of Martine, Maria and Shirley.

Today is Poppy’s 18th birthday. That’s a remarkable achievement for a pedigree Burmese cat – the previous record was Teddy at 13.

She is well and content. We think that her hearing has gone so she speaks constantly and loudly. And of course she still has her insulin injections twice daily. She takes a stroll once or twice a day in the Blogstead gardens. She continues to travel with us to Donegal – and of course she maintains her Facebook page.

Many Happy Returns!

Well I thought I was going to carry straight on .. but a couple of days got in the way.

Our summer has been a little strange. Many of you know that I was diagnosed with prostate cancer at the end of May. There was some family history so Alison and I were alert to it. I shall be having radiotherapy in September. I’m very well at present and carrying on doing most of what I do – although glad that things are quieter during the summer.

I haven’t written about it up to now. I think it takes a while to get yourself straightened out. I’m thankful and humbled by the prayers of people right across our church and beyond – and the kindness and candle-lighting of many good friends – and laying on of hands and anointing.

I’m not going to write a sort of ‘cancer-diary’ That somehow gives it an importance which it doesn’t merit – although I said to my GP that I have seen enough to make me entirely respectful of the reality which cancer represents. But I do find myself reflecting on a couple of things which I may write about as we go.

The first is the experience of being prayed for.

The second is the need to explore the space between pastoring people who are living with cancer and having that experience yourself. I must have travelled that road with dozens if not hundreds of people in my time. But it is different.

The third is how the way in which people react to you changes. People are kind and caring – unfailingly so. But at a deeper level it’s worth thinking about what happens when somebody who has needed to express – among other things – clarity and firmness in leadership begins to express vulnerability as well. That seems to me to be about the interesting question of how – if vocation is alive – what you are and what you are becoming is shaped, expressed and put to use in ministry.