St Mary's Pro-Cathedral, Carden Place, Aberdeen

Pro-Cathedral of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney

Nichola Mills

Report from the General Synod – 5th December 2020

by

General Synod was postponed this year from its usual June two and a half day session in Edinburgh to a one-day Zoom meeting on 5th. December.  The technology, already tested at the General Assembly, allowed all the participants (around 130 of us) to raise questions, make comments, and vote, just as we would at St. Paul’s & St. George’s, where this time only the General Synod Office staff and a few others were gathered. Mostly the technology worked, though there were inevitably a few glitches.

The meeting began not with coffee and chat but with a refresher on the new way of doing things. Then we had the Synod Eucharist with the Primus officiating and his charge to Synod, which concentrated chiefly on fighting bullying within the church, something highlighted by a clergy welfare survey last year.

The usual elections followed, allowing us plenty of practice with the voting buttons. Then Standing Committee presented the annual report and accounts and the unfamiliar news that quota this year, the amount of money that each diocese pays to the province, was to be reduced significantly to allow some leeway to churches struggling in the current circumstances. This was following by group discussions on what we had found particularly valuable during lockdown, and how the church could be resourced to enhance or improve that for the future.

There was a generous lunch break to allow us time away from the screen, and this was followed by a review of the process of reforming Canon 4, concerning the election of bishops. The committee working on this would like input from everyone who has an involvement in these elections or who has had in the past. The afternoon session also looked at the revised Safeguarding Policy for the church, and at conditions for the clergy – stipend, time off, and again bullying.

Standing Committee returned to report on ethical investment, an ongoing revision of where the church’s money is used, and this was linked to the next topic of debate, Church in Society’s motion concerning climate change and the church’s reaction to it. It was felt that the church should be leading, not simply following, in this matter. Again this topic had echoes in the Provincial Youth presentation that followed, which covered reactions to lockdown, climate change and the Black Lives Matter movement.

Evening prayer closed the meeting, which like so many other things this year had notes of the familiar and layers of the strange. So little chance to socialise with our friends across the Province, or to greet visitors from other denominations and faiths; so strange to see everyone in gilets and thick jumpers when we usually meet in June; so odd to have synod business in the middle of one’s own home. But on the plus side, as someone remarked, at least we didn’t have to queue for the ladies’ loo!

Nicola Mills

Lay Representive

Report from Diocesan Synod, February 2021

by

Last year Diocesan Synod was one of the last big events before lockdown, and this year we were online, using the same platforms as General Synod. As with General Synod business was confined to the essentials. The Bishop’s charge reviewed how the pandemic had affected us and our worship across the diocese, and talked of the maintenance of our physical bodies and the body of Christ, trusting in God for maintenance now and for readiness to act and face a post-pandemic world with all its questions. This theme continued in break-out groups where we shared what we wanted to bring with us from our experience in the last year, what we missed most, and what we most wanted to leave behind. After the usual elections (though with a noted lack of lay volunteers for a number of positions) we broke for lunch.
After the break, we voted to extinguish the charge of St. Mary’s Cove Bay, at the request of their vestry. This is always a sad duty on the rare occasions when it happens, but the vestry felt that their Episcopal story in that place had come to a natural end. In this case there is the consolation of knowing that the building will continue to be used as a church by the other congregation that has shared it for a number of years.
Discussion on the revision of Canon 4 followed, in break-out groups. This is the canon that deals with the election of bishops, and a large number of people have expressed their dissatisfaction with the current shape of the Canon, particularly as regards the very restricted timetable, issues of confidentiality for candidates, and the insistence that there should be a short list of 3-5 candidates for an election to take place. Because the revision of the canon is particularly complicated, a review group at provincial level has put together two preliminary choices of general paths to take when rewriting the canon, and it was these choices that were being discussed: should we continue with the electoral synod style of election where a large number of representatives across the diocese are involved, or should we choose an electoral college where a smaller number of trained people make the choice. Synod voted to retain the first option, and this response will be returned to the review group.
To facilitate the meeting, any questions were submitted by email and responses were returned to all synod members a few days later.
Nicola Mills
Lay Representive

“Walls” by Margaret McKinnon

by

I thank you for the invitation to write for the new Quarterly Magazine.  Instantly I had a topic in mind because my Granddaughter and I have been working on a storyline with a topical theme.

Walls have a dual purpose.  Some might argue they are built for the benefit of an individual, or the good and wellbeing of many.  The height of the wall depends on the situation and how much one wishes to seal themselves in or keep others out.  I believe, many of us have recently had to familiarise ourselves with the restrictions of ‘walls’ these last few months and I hope and pray those walls have not been too destructive.

I would like to add another wall for consideration and that comes from the Book of Joshua Chapter 2 where Rehab uses the window in her wall to allow the two spies Joshua sent to Jericho to escape.  We now develop our wall into something lifesaving: “So she let them down by a rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall.” (Joshua 2:15)

Most people will also associate Jericho with marching and the carrying of the Ark of the Covenant around the walls, in silence for the first six days until the seventh day when they were allowed to shout and make loud noises until the city wall fell. Rest assured Rehab and her family were safe and taken care of – and it was decreed that the Jericho city wall was to never be built again and it never was.   

My Granddaughter and I based our story loosely around Frozen II (which actually wasn’t a wall but a dam).  Within our storyline of walls and dams our palace became so neglected and run down we held such sadness because they had no water or visitors.  We made boulders but they weren’t strong enough to break down the walls. We got a stoneman to help but he couldn’t break down the wall so we put on our thinking caps and created steps to climb up and over the wall.  Wonderfully this worked and the palace was freed and new life grew again. 

Yes, all who wanted to gain access to the palace had to climb up and down the stairs, but surely this is a price worth paying to have freedom!  We think it is.  Remember if you can’t get round your wall there will surely be a way over it, or indeed perhaps there is a window in your wall and you haven’t yet been able to open it.

Blessings

Margaret McKinnon

Our Favourite Hymns

by

I heard the voice of Jesus say,
‘Come unto me and rest.
Lay down O weary one,
Lay down your head upon my breast.’
I came to Jesus as I was,
So weary, worn, and sad.
I found in him a resting place,
And he has made me glad.

Definitely a hymn intended to comfort, these lyrics are Scottish in origin. Horatius Bonar was born in Edinburgh in 1808 and was educated there at the High School and the university. At the age of twenty-nine he was ordained and invited to Kelso parish, which is where he wrote this hymn, one of over 600 hymns he produced. Though this is probably his best known, he wrote hymns for every season of the church year and every eventuality, from mission stations to burial at sea. He was very fond of children, and keen to bring to life for them particularly the metrical psalms sung in the established church of those days. At the Disruption of 1743 he moved to the Free Church, remaining in Kelso, and three years later this hymn was first published in his Hymns Original and Selected. He also wrote a great number of poems and tracts, and translated poems from Greek and Latin, all said to be distinguished by good taste and deep faith. His achievements were recognised with a Doctorate of Divinity from King’s College, University of Aberdeen in 1853, and in the 1860s he returned to Edinburgh to minister there. He died in Edinburgh in 1889 and a further volume of his hymns was published by his son, also a Free Church minister, in 1904.
The tune to which we usually sing this hymn is Kingsfold, thought to have English mediaeval origins, but it was not published as a hymn tune until Ralph Vaughan Williams paired it with I heard the voice of Jesus say in 1906. An earlier tune, published in 1868, was Vox Dilecti by John Bacchus Dykes, an English clergyman and musical prodigy. Both tunes use a minor key for the first half of the verses and a major key for the second half, forming a pattern of invitation and response which develops a positive feeling through the hymn. Not a bad hymn for our times!

Book Review: Tom Wright, God and the Pandemic

by

A fairly short read, written in the first British lockdown. Wright examines the various dilemmas facing Christians in the time of pandemic, comparing it with previous times of crisis. Not all his conclusions are firm – why would they be? – and I particularly liked his discussion of whether or not places of worship should be closed, which is a thorny topic with many strong arguments on both sides. The parallels with the disciples’ experience just after the Crucifixion – fear, locked rooms and doubt – was a very interesting one, well explored, and his decision that the correct, basic Christian response to a crisis should be lament, prayer and action was a comforting one (taking into account Martin Luther’s caution that one ought not to rush in if it’s going to make matters worse, for example by spreading disease further). A good and thoughtful book.