The Blog of the Provost of St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow
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The first couple of weeks of July are a very particular time to be in Belfast. Coming from Glasgow is a reasonable preparation for this. You know instinctively that the bonfire being built out of pallets next to your hotel is a symbol of celebration for some local people but not at all for others. […] You can leave a comment on this post here: ACC-19 – The Anglican Consultative Council in Belfast…
“And lo, after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse of Decline had ravaged the Church of God, there appeared on the horizon the Four Horsemen of Growth. They stalked the land offering terrifying hope, and succour to the needy”. There are only a limited number of ways that a church can grow. These apply both […] You can leave a comment on this post here: The Four Horsemen of Growth – their names and…
Someone asked me to share the note that we put in our service sheets in St Mary’s about antisemitism. This has evolved over the last few years but the statement below is what it looks like at the moment. We’ve also changed the pattern of readings we use at St Mary’s. In particular, we no […] You can leave a comment on this post here: The Antisemitism Notice This post appeared first on What is in…
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. From time to time, every couple of years or so, someone decides that it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good cathedral, must be in want of a man. Now, I am […] You can leave a comment on this post here: “God swipes right” – a sermon for Lent 4, 2026 This post appeared first on What is in…
The time has come to admit it. I’ve changed my mind about assisted dying. As a priest, the presumption is generally made that I’m against it for religious reasons. Recent aggressive campaigning by those in favour of allowing doctors to help people to end their lives has been relentlessly dismissive of religious reasons for being […] You can leave a comment on this post here: Assisted Dying – Why…
A rocky road to the enthronement of the next Archbishop of Canterbury. Further turmoil and scandal in the Anglican Episcopates of the United Kingdom. No progress for those hoping for Equal Marriage in the Church of England. More talk about the Quiet Revival which will continue not to show up in denominational statistics. Success for […] You can leave a comment on this post here: Predictions 2026…
Here’s a run down of how I did at last year’s predictions. Good results for Nigel Farage following the English local elections in May. Terrible results for Conservative Party. Exactly what happened. YES No progress towards the marriage of same-sex couples in the Church of England Exactly what happened. Indeed, I think things may have […] You can leave a comment on this post here: How did I do with…
The first time that I encountered ChatGPT was three years ago when I was staying in a seminary in the USA. It was a place dedicated to teaching theology and particularly to training Episcopal clergy. The ChatGPT preview release was let loose on the world on 30 November 2022, so I must have discovered it […] You can leave a comment on this post here: AI Ethics Questions for Preachers This post…
A long time ago, back in the mists of nearly twenty years ago, I started to think that it was important that there was a liturgical celebration of creation. I thought long and hard about it and decided that instead of celebrating that modern invention the Harvest Festival, we would celebrate Creation instead, rolling a […] You can leave a comment on this post here: We are not stewards This post…
This Quiet Revival thing is real you know. At least, it feels real around here. For a number of years, I’ve been aware that young adults now seem to have different attitudes to religion to young adults of perhaps 20 years ago. Specifically, young adults of today do not seem as negative towards religion, and […] You can leave a comment on this post here: Listening to the Quiet Revival This post…
