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

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

Around the Congregation

Preparation for Harvest

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In the beginning the Word said ‘It is good’

Recently I have been awakened afresh to the suggestion that the seed must die to grow, in other words, things do not always have to remain the way they are just because that’s how things have been planted or how they once were. God has showed us and is showing us daily that growth and change can be beneficial not only to us but to all His Creation – from the beginning of the Bible that which was ‘normal’ became a new ‘normal’ for our benefit, yesterday and today:

  • Day 1: God separated light from darkness giving us day and night. (Genesis 1:3–5)
  • Day 2: God separated water from water, the upper water was called sky. (Genesis 1:6–8)
  • Day 3: With the water under the sky God gathered it together and created ground (land) (Genesis 1:9–13)
  • Day 4: God used light in the sky to shine upon the earth. He also sprinkled stars in the sky to mark the difference between night and day.   (Genesis 1:14–19)
  • Day 5: God did not settle for empty skies or empty waters, He filled both with livestock, creatures that would roam the land and birds that would fly and enjoy the sky. (Genesis 1:20–23)
  • Day 6: God deemed that all creatures, Adam and Eve, animals, birds alike would multiply and fill the land with colour and sounds. (Genesis 1:24-25)
  • Day 7: God made it known from the beginning that the occupants of His earth were to rest on the 7th day.  He did not expect them to labour all day and every day. (Genesis 2:1–3)

(Paraphrased from NIV Bible)

This harvesting of the World has never taken place since and will never take place again.  God is right: It was Good and is still Good today.

Julian of Norwich said, ‘All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.’

I wonder what words we use when we plant, cultivate and water our own seed(s) of thoughts, sayings or actions. For example, my granddaughter planted sunflower seeds and beetroot seeds – her thinking was for a tall, strong colourful sunflower. However, nature hasn’t robbed her of this, it has just altered the appearance of the sunflower to show the flower’s resilience. It may not have the leaves associated with sunflowers, but the leaves provided food for the snails and maybe helped birth many ‘baby’ snails. They’ve kindly left a head on the plant that may flower! The beetroot is showing positivity in that the leaves are turning purple and beets are forming under the soil – although not quite ready to harvest yet. 

Currently, all around us we had the signs that the seasons were changing from summer into autumn, leaves were changing colour and some falling off, then suddenly the week beginning 17th September we have glorious hot sunny days, a robin red breast has returned to our garden and plants that were dormant are bursting back into life again!  We humans have had to take out the sun hats and sandals again, whereas in many countries they are suffering severe flooding. Yes, we live in a world that is constantly changing – however, its structure remains the same. How we adapt is, in part, down to our attitude to change – can we be resolute like Julian of Norwich and hold firm in trusting all will be well, or will we cling on to the seed(s) of change and not let them grow?

My son brought me back mustard seeds from the Holy Land in March 2007.  They are beautifully held in a container and I still don’t have the heart to open or plant them – why, if I plant them I won’t have the reminder of his gift and his trip to the Holy Land nor will I have the reminder of how small a mustard seed actually is.

I’m quite confident we all hold close ‘things’ that could grow, but for one reason or another we don’t let go, we don’t allow them to grow. Thank you, God, that collectively you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, planned from ‘the beginning’ to let go and allow the seed that became Jesus to die and be born again. This harvest we give gratitude to all seeds that have died, become new life in and through this death, and especially to those whose appearance (like the sunflowers) are not as was expected, but have provided enjoyment and nourishment to humans and creatures alike!

God’s Blessings upon all His Creation

Margaret McKinnon 

(Magnified by the camera)

Gratitude

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“In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

Proverbs 16:9 NIV

I wonder just how many hearts have, over the years, helped plan the course for St Mary’s?  From the above verse from Proverbs 16:9 I would like to draw your attention to “the Lord establishes their steps”.  Those words are the focus of this article.  Gratitude for the Lord’s guiding steps and pathways.

There have been many footprints left in the ‘sands of time’ during St Mary’s history.  My own ‘steps’ began with family members before I was born and my own steps into St Mary’s began with my Confirmation (whilst being a member at St Clements). At a young age I saw St Mary’s as a Church that gathered children from other Churches and brought union at a very significant time not only in their lives but the beginning of new footstep pathways in their own Church.  Gratitude to all those who have and are continuing to encourage children’s growth and footsteps.

We were recently on a trip to Haddo and came across these large foot imprints on the ground.  My granddaughter’s feet certainly didn’t fill the imprint, nor did ours.  This got me thinking, how do we know when we are walking in Jesus’ steps?  It would be easy to say ‘yes’, I am but how truly are you and how truly were the generations before you walking in Jesus’ steps?  I believe they were, otherwise, we wouldn’t be celebrating the 160th Anniversary of St Mary’s.  Surely, there was and is in the Church a union of the many parts of the body of Christ: for unity, union, putting Christ at the head and of course the Church as the bride stepping forward in faith following Jesus’ steps to bring us to this milestone. Gratitude to those past and present.

The rebuilding of and continued maintenance of St Mary’s would be just one example of following Jesus as He too rebuilt the Church when it was torn down.  Jesus through His suffering established the resurrection steps that would reassure everyone that there is a New Heaven when they depart this earthly heaven.  But firstly, before this journey they would be led in the footsteps of Jesus to establish their lives both in and outside of the Church building.  ’Love thy Neighbour’ springs to mind – we can’t and shouldn’t restrict our Love within Church walls but allow it to flow everywhere we go.  After all, we found the footsteps in the picture in a garden amongst long grass, so I guess the question for myself and for you is where would your footprints be found inside and outside of the Church?  Gratitude for all walking Jesus’ steps in the world yesterday and today.

God’s Blessings upon this day and the memories it will evoke.  Jesus blesses little children … plan your course with loving childlike hearts and Jesus’ steps will be your pathway.  Gratitude to Georgia for showing us how she shares her happiness and Love with others in the world and Gratitude to Georgia’s parents for allowing me to share her pictures.

God Bless

Margaret McKinnon 

P.S. I recommend a visit to the sensory garden at Haddo – it is a wonderful experience for all your senses and for all ages (you will have to look elsewhere for the foot imprint).

St Mary’s Swim Team (not Olympic)

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The Olympics will be over by the time you read this. We will have watched humans reaching their highest physical achievements ever and marvelled at their speed, fortitude and courage. Spare a thought for two members of our group who show similar attributes as they brave the North Sea for minutes at a time in the pursuit of the most enjoyable way to justify a hot drink.

Where is the speed, fortitude and courage you may ask? Well, the courage is obvious, just dip your toe in the sea anywhere along our lovely coast and you will know it takes a certain sort of strength and determination to let that water above your thighs. Peeling off all our outer garments except our woolly hats, gloves, shoes and swimming costumes requires fortitude and some would say stupidity, but the same could be said of a lot of sports. The sea is there, so why not swim in it? This seems as reasonable as choosing to loop the loop with a bike or hit a ball back and forwards over a net.

There is drama too: it is quite a spectacle watching ladies of a certain age arrive in their quilted coats, laughing and chatting determinedly as they leave their belongings on the shore and wade into the North Sea clutching their flotation devices.

Yet it is all worth it, as we swim in the cold but supporting waters of Stonehaven Harbour. The sun glints over the cliff and birds come surprisingly close. We feel at peace with the world and exhilaration as our bodies respond to the cold.

Our new rule is to only stay in the water for approximately the same number of minutes as the sea temperature, so swimming is pretty determined as we are only in for an optimistic 20 minutes! Then, it is the super speedy exit into the fresh coastal air to our lovely coats and the delight of hot chocolate from our Thermos flasks.

Sea swimming helps us appreciate our beautiful coast and leads us into swimming in rivers and lochs whenever we can. It makes us notice the need for litter collection and protection of bodies of water and to love the detail of the sea animals and plants on the beach.

Courage, speed and fortitude are definitely required for this activity, so l propose this as a new Olympic sport from start to finish, including the hot drink.

We would also encourage you to put Aberdeen Beach Clean dates in your diary, then you can watch the dolphins and seals close to our city without even getting wet, but with similar appreciation of woolly hats and hot drinks.

Julia House

MCS Aberdeen Beach Clean:

21 Sept            North End City Beach            10.00

8 Dec               Donmouth north                     13.00

Carbon Literacy

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Rather to my surprise I was sent in March on a two day (Zoom) carbon literacy course with a number of clergy and laity across the province. This course was less to do with cutting down plastic use and more to do with our carbon emissions, for example from our heating (by using insulation or changing power supply), or our food waste, or indeed how we buy our food and how far it comes to reach us. It would be difficult to sum up the course here, but instead I’ll offer a few facts and thoughts I took away from it aside from the general statistics of global warming.

A kilogram of tomatoes produces a certain amount of CO2 equivalent, which varies depending on the tomatoes:

If they’re grown locally, in season, and are a variety that is appropriate for our climate – 1.3kg

If they’re grown in UK summer or Spanish winter and are a variety that needs more heat/light, e.g. baby plum tomatoes – 4.9kg

If they’re brought out of season from heated greenhouses – 28.2kg.

It’s worth checking to see if your bank and pension funds are still investing in fossil fuels.

One person travelling from Glasgow to London will travel most efficiently by coach. After that, the modes of transport we looked at are ranked as train, then small electric car, then efficient small petrol car, then plane, then worst of all an SUV.

Some churches have cut down their meat consumption (cows and sheep are particularly bad producers of methane) by having default vegetarian meals on their social occasions – that is, vegetarian unless meat is specifically asked for.

Hierarchies of waste and carbon:

Best

Waste prevention                                            Avoid emissions

Preparation for reuse                                      Reduce emissions

Recycling                                                        Substitute with low-carbon alternatives

Recovery                                                         Sequester emissions

Disposal                                                          Offset emissions

Worst

Some places to find information:

Tearfund Climate Emergency Toolkit (www.climateemergencytoolkit.com)

Centre for Alternative Technology (Wales) (www.cat.org.uk)

Ecodrive.org – hints and tips on how to drive more ecologically, also with information on courses.

Some books:

Mike Berners-Lee: How Bad are Bananas? The Carbon Footprint of Everything

Ruth Valerio: Saying Yes to Life

Nicolas Holtam: Sleepers Wake – Getting Serious about Climate Change

Nicola Mills