Month: September 2012

Ah …. ministry in Scotland. This is the Falls of Bruar today on a beautiful autumn afternoon.

And yesterday as a group of clergy we spent the day considering vocation – revisiting the fires of vocation which brought to to where we are – considering the ways in which ministry has changed for us. We discussed with our Provincial Director of Ordinands the way in which our church is attempting to bring a new focus to full time training for a younger group of ‘whole of life’ clergy – the kind of people who will do the thinking about where our church is going – the kind of group from whom future leadership may come.

I find it hard to work out how I have – if I have – negotiated the changes myself. My reflection is that I was ordained to be a visiting machine in a community not yet secular. Indeed the sectarianism both latent and overt of Northern Ireland in the ’70’s ensured that secularisation was kept at bay. In that sense, apart from the pain of the violence and the challenge of reconciliation, ministry did not have to be thought out as it does today.

My other reflection has been shaped by the difficult times through which we have been passing recently, it seems to me that there are three strands to ‘what makes a priest’. One is vocational – that means spiritual connectedness and spiritual formation. Another is the need to be bright – today’s priests need to be able to reflect and think creatively. The third is temperament and character. That third element seems to me to be the one about which we know least. But it is to do with having a vessel or holding structure which can carry vocation. Without it there is a risk that ministry will crash and burn,

We decided to do our Casting the Net Gathering rather differently this year. Instead of clearing the Cathedral and bringing everybody to Perth, we decided to hold two smaller events. The first was today at All Saints, St Andrews, and the second will be in two weeks at Holy Trinity, Stirling.

It’s workshops and music and ‘let’s try some new things’. But it’s really about getting people from our diverse and scattered congregations into one place and giving them the chance to encourage each other. I was running a workshop which I called – for want of anything better – ‘Netcasting for Beginners’. By the time I was doing it for the third time, we had achieved what I hoped for – which was people talking with depth and passion about how faith can be shared and congregations grow. One doesn’t ask for much more than that.

We had some good ‘bang, rattle and shake – with reverence’ worship at the end and I offered this homily

For reasons too complicated to explain …. I found myself last Friday on the hour-long train journey from Edinburgh to Dundee. It must surely be one of the great railway journeys of the world. It threads its way among the approach lights at the end of the main runway at Edinburgh Airport so that you can reach up and touch an approaching Easyjet flight. It crosses the Forth Bridge and as a finale picks its way rather gingerly across the immensity of the Tay Bridge

Which led me to reflect on how relatively isolated the end of Fife must have been before the building of the Forth and Tay road bridges. Part of the charm of Tayport is that it has never quite lost that charm. It is quite a substantial community – obviously a warm and friendly place where people are very happy to live. And if they feel they need to, the shops and Ninewells Hospital and all the other facilities are just minutes away in Dundee..

This is St. Margaret of Scotland, our little church in Tayport. It’s beautifully kept and they build a little meeting room round the back which is widely used by the community. When I was there on Sunday, there were 18 adult communicants and four children. It’s interregnum time again for them and they carry on – using their own resources and ministry and the support of local clergy.

If you want to know about the SEC, this is typical. Alison and I went away cheered.

Well you would expect me to say it was good and it was. A beautiful villa through the kindness of friends. Beautiful weather. Even the cancellation of the return flight didn’t altogether take the good of it away!

It goes without saying that Eve – now nine months old – is a significant advance in human development. Happy to be read to – Spot the Dog, Hairy MacClairy and the others. She joins in with rapt attention, happily turning pages. It seemed to me almost quasi-liturgical – repetition of rhythms and sounds in a loving relationship. That seems to me to be akin to liturgy. Who knows where it will lead!

We’re doing the inter-generational family holiday – the Independent says that it is becoming increasingly common. Since Eve arrived, Alison and i have become very much the ‘older generation’. I’m getting quite good at it. I nod and smile. I feel no need to express significant views on anything – whether important or unimportant. Meanwhile Eve herself, like most of her generation, seems to have arrived ‘half-reared’. Indeed the only blot on the landscape is her chickenpox. That was so startling that the cabin staff of Jet2 were brought up short. But as you would expect we had a doctor’s letter, a printout of their policy and a paediatrician in the party. It’s the old rule – never get taken by surprise by anything

So a good time is being had by all …