We installed a new Chaplain for Mission to Seafarers in Scotland last night – in Grangemouth.   Rev Tim Tunley will spend part of his time working with other Chaplains in Grangemouth and the rest building up a team of people who will do ship-visiting in the ports around the Scottish coast.  Dream job, don’t you think?

As I did what I do – and reminded people that this kind of ministry can be lonely – I thought about the day or two I spent with John Hopper visiting ships in Leith and elsewhere.  I loved it – wouldn’t necessarily want to do it every day.  Clambering around on the gantries at Hounds Point tanker terminal just below the Forth Bridge on a dark night in December isn’t everybody’s idea of ministry …  It reminded me of the purity of ministry which is in all chaplaincy.  The distinction between ‘people who belong and people who don’t’ just disappears.  Most of the people you meet are strangers whom you will never meet again.  So you go up the side of the ship with no idea what you will meet at the top – welcome, indifference, hostility.  You either rejoice in that or you don’t.

If you want to find out what Sally Magnusson and I had to say to each other this morning, her Sally on Sunday programme is available on BBC iPlayer here

Our meeting was a little warmer than our last encounter – during which I was stuck in a snowdrift in Dunblane.  Sounds like a cue for a song?

In my Remembrance Sunday Sermon, I revisited the War Poets – and Archbishop Rowan Williams’ sermon at the recent Iraq War Commemoration.

Ireland is a wonderful country.    Take a look at this report from the Irish Times

Some weeks just have everything in them.  I’ve been to the Synagogue in Edinburgh for an interfaith meeting of religious leaders .. been to the final meeting of one of our own committees [yes – one less] … met the Church of England and the Church of Scotland at Dunblane .. gone to the Scottish Parliament with church leaders to meet the First Minister.  Four trips to Edinburgh and one to Glasgow and it’s only Thursday!  Today offered an interesting mix.  I was the guest with Sally Magnusson for ‘Sally on Sunday’ which was recorded today.  Having tested the resources of the BBC by turning up at Pacific Quay on the Brompton folding bike, we talked of many things and I found myself emotional about Remembrance Sunday.  Always happens and I don’t really know why.  This evening I went to the installation of a new East of Scotland Divisional Commander for the Salvation Army.  Great hymns sung quickly and much else besides.  I struggle a bit with uniforms but then reflect that I’m not averse to a bit of more exotic plumage myself.  Most interesting of course is the practice of installing a married couple together in ministry – welcome to Alan and Alison.

And in the midst of all that, I’ve been taming a new mobile phone.  Farewell to the Blackberry.  We never got on.  It was devised by somebody whose mind works on some principle different from mine.  So I’m now in a relationship with an HTC Magic and Google Android.  We’ve had a struggle or two.  But it did download my entire diary and contacts list in the time it took to travel between the Forth Bridge and Haymarket and connected to my e mail without protest.  I think I belong to the now generation inasmuch as I expect to be able to make things work without reading the instructions.  Sermon in there, I think.

My visit to Oban this week deprived me of my usual fix of The Independent – had to settle for Murdoch and the Scottish edition of The Times. The second leader commented on the election of Rev John Cairns Christie as Moderator Designate of the Church of Scotland.  I look forward to working with him – and the one after that, if I’m spared.  Because the point they were making is that one year is not enough ..

It’s very encouraging to see The Times reflecting on the potential of church leadership in this way – ‘time to build a relationship with the outside world’ and ‘time to explain what may be a complex series of moral messages’.  I don’t know who wrote that.  But their words demonstrate a better grasp of the potential contribution of churches in the public square than I have seen in the press thus far.

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.