Goodness – Thursday evening already. The week has gone in a whirl. Mainly because of the Clergy Conference. And then there is all the other stuff which keeps coming anyway.
It was a good conference – exploring liturgy and worship. I was interested to be told recently by someone – who remembered the SEC in childhood as ‘conservative catholic’ in practice and doctrine – how much it has changed. One of our clergy described it to me in my early stages as ‘warm catholic’.
Those conversations do tie in with the way in which we seem to be searching for – or developing – a style of worship. I first met it at the General Synod Service 2008 – very congregational, very alive, very reflective of the world church. Stuart Muir of St Paul’s Cathedral, Dundee, was in charge of the music at Synod and he was with us for our Clergy Conference. The reaction of our clergy was remarkably positive. This is good music but you don’t have to be a cathedral to do it – very good quality material and absolutely rooted in the liturgy. There is hope.