Category: News

Friends,

It was a privilege to attend the General Assembly last week. Throughout my ministry I have enjoyed the friendship and support of Roman Catholic colleagues, both priests and members of religious orders such as the Franciscans, therefore it was a pleasure to hear Archbishop Leo Cushley of St. Andrews & Edinburgh address the Assembly. We went on to adopt the Declaration of Friendship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland which had already been adopted by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Scotland and is to be known as the St. Margaret Declaration. Building on our shared understanding of baptism, it says in part, “Acknowledging what separates us still, we affirm that what we hold in common is often greater than what separates us… We therefore pledge ourselves to live as sisters and brothers in Christ, in public, in private, in life and in mission”. The full text of the St. Margaret Declaration may be found on the Church of Scotland website, and this seems a positive step forward as we strive to overcome the legacy of sectarianism and bigotry which has so often in the past poisoned church life in Scotland, and in some places still does. The Lord High Commissioner this year was Lord Hodge, Deputy President of the Supreme Court, who in his closing address spoke movingly of his visit to Colston Milton Parish Church in Glasgow where the minister the Revd Christopher Rowe is well known to many of us at St. Columba’s. Lord Hodge was particularly impressed by the ecumenical work being undertaken by the Church of Scotland, The Roman Catholic Church, and the Methodist Church in Milton.

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Friends,

Every year there is much under discussion at the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, held in Edinburgh. This year’s Assembly has just concluded, with several St Columbans present and involved. One significant vote that has taken place is to allow Church of Scotland ministers and deacons to marry same-sex couples. The General Assembly voted by 274 votes to 136, to change a standing church law, to allow the right to apply to become an authorised celebrant to conduct same-sex ceremonies. The decision enables ministers and deacons to opt-in to a new scheme. It came after a majority of presbyteries – 29-12 – approved the “Solemnisation of Same Sex Marriage Overture.”

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Friends,

Last Sunday, Amy Lonsdale, an Activism & Campaigns Support Volunteer for Christian Aid spoke during the Morning Service, to promote the launch of Christian Aid Week. This is part of what she shared:

“This year, our focus lies in being a neighbour. The Bible is filled with stories about being a neighbour. Jesus’ life was the ultimate show of being a neighbour. He lived to serve God’s plans and was a neighbour to so many – tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, women, the poor – all those who were shunned and oppressed by society at the time. One of our key callings as Christians is to live as Jesus did. Our focus of being a neighbour this Christian Aid week highlights women on the frontline of the climate crisis in Zimbabwe who are becoming unable to harvest enough crops to feed their families due to increased frequency and severity of droughts. The kind of women that Jesus was a neighbour to.

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Friends,

Christian Aid (CA) was founded in 1945 by British and Irish churches to help refugees after the Second World War. From its outset, the charity worked with partner churches to alleviate suffering by raising the equivalent of £3 million plus, in today’s money. CA supported, equipped, and enabled partner churches in mainland Europe to provide what people needed. Nearly 80 years later, it does the same.

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(Left hand picture) Jean nee Markillie, with her father, Walter Markillie,
(Right hand picture)The happy couple, David and Jean Shennan;

Friends,

Some time ago, Lucy Llewellyn posted some film footage of past weddings at St Columba’s, via her introduction to the weekly e-newsletter. Rather wonderfully, this led to a recent encounter, whereby the son of the couple just married (pictured above, emerging from church) visited Pont Street and showed Lucy his parents’ wedding photos. The ceremony took place on the 3rd May 1941. A week later the church was destroyed by enemy action (10th May 1941.) So, these photos capture the last wedding that took place in the “original” St Columba’s Church.

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Friends,

George Macleod, founder of the Iona Community, famously wrote: “I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the centre of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek . . . at the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where he died. And that is what he died about.”

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Friends,

In 1550 John Knox was the first Scottish minister of note to take up a post as a preacher in St Nicholas Church, now Newcastle Anglican Cathedral. Regular “Scottish” ministry began about 1722 in the Sandgate Mission on the Quayside, roughly where the Malmaison Hotel is now. The Kirk was needed to minister to the many Scots who came to work as keelmen, working on the “keels”, (large boats), that carried the coal from the banks of the Tyne to the waiting collier ships.

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Friends,

Reverend Tom Gordon writing for this Holy Week (https://swallowsnestnet.wordpress.com/) reminisced about his student days. His sports team won an inter-university trophy. In celebration, the cup was filled with whisky several times and passed around (pre-Covid days) before the coach journey home. Between pub and bus, the team member carrying the silverware jumped on a bike, disappearing down an alleyway, “weaving dangerously and swinging the cup like a madman.” There followed shortly an almighty, cartoon-style, crash as trashcans, bike and human had an unsurprising coming-together. Undeterred, the lad soon reappeared bleeding and bruised, but waving the trophy triumphantly and shouting, “It’s OK guys. The cup is fine!”

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It is well known that when the British general, Allenby, entered the city of Jerusalem on 11 December 1917 he did so on foot, walking through Jaffa Gate, saying that he could not ride a warhorse into the city Christ entered on a donkey. The crowds were impressed by his modesty and the respect he showed for Jewish, Christian, and Islamic traditions for all of whom Jerusalem was and is central to their faith. Yet over a hundred years later we can see the horrifying consequences when political and military leaders take the view that “Might is right” and we continue to pray for peace with justice for all the people of Ukraine and this week we have also been reminded of the continuing tensions in Jerusalem and the Middle East.

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St Michael’s and All Angels, Aston Clinton – Liz Mitchell

Friends,

In recent days I received two things I wanted to share. Firstly, the photo above, sent by a church member, from her local Church of England parish – daffodil and flags. Secondly, the poem I received, written by Peter Millar, former Warden of Iona Abbey. It came with the generous advice: “There is no copyright on this poem. No quotes from others. It would be great if you could share it in these days of Lent and of Easter. Thank you and let us hold God’s amazing world in our hearts. Peter.”

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Mothering Sunday

“Can a woman forget her baby at her breast, feel no pity for the child she has borne? Even if these were to forget, I shall not forget you.” Isaiah 49:15

“As one whom a mother comforts, so I will comfort you.” Isaiah 66:13.

Friends,

As we approach Mothering Sunday reflect upon and enjoy the Litany for Biblical Mothers – a reminder of numerous key protagonists in the scriptures.

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Friends,

In the lighting of the continuing war in Ukraine, people have commented how watching the news leaves them feeling exhausted and somewhat despairing. At the same time, as people of faith, we understand that what we are seeing, hearing and feeling can be brought to God in prayer. Personally, I have found it difficult to pray about the ongoing situation, either in my own prayers, or in the public prayers of the congregation. When others can and do find words that resonate, that is something to be grateful for. The prayers that follow emerge from the Iona Community – I hope they might help our continuing prayers.

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Friends

On the western slope of the Mount of Olives, just across the Kidron Valley, sits a small chapel. It is called Dominus Flevit. The name comes from Luke’s Gospel, which contains not one, but two accounts of Jesus’ grief over that seething, sacred metropolis, we know as Jerusalem. According to tradition, it was here that Jesus wept over a city,  deaf to his warnings, cold shouldering his outstretched arms.

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Friends,

Echoing Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness, the season of Lent is set aside to prepare and deepen us for the eventual embrace and celebration of Easter. It offers the opportunity to enter profoundly into the mystery of Christ’s life, death and resurrection; a time to reassess what is important; a time to consider what Christ means to us now. Jesus’ hard road to the Cross is offered as reminder, strength, and challenge for the hard roads which we, or our loved ones, may be called onto.

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Friends,

This morning the Church of Scotland website carries the following: As Europe wakes this morning to news that Russia has launched an invasion of Ukraine, the Church of Scotland is calling on all parties to renew peace-making efforts and prepare to offer humanitarian aid to the people of that country.

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