St. Mary’s Carden Place, in its 160th Year
As St. Mary’s now enters its seventeenth decade, some might look about and wonder where that decade will take us. For the first time in years we cannot afford a stipend for a new rector. The diocese is in an unhappy state, as we wait to hear what will happen with Bishop Anne, and learn to work with our third stand-in Bishop in a year. Attendances at almost all churches across the city and shire are low. Where are we going? What is our purpose here? Would anyone miss us if we just faded away?
The church in Ephesus might well have thought that when they received the letter we know today as Ephesians. There had been great fallings-out there, and in the world around them there were accusations of witchcraft, political strife, warfare, corruption. Their guide, Paul of Tarsus, was in prison in Rome, about to be executed, which is why he was writing them this last letter. Put on God’s armour, he told them. Pray constantly, for yourself and for others. Keep going.
The Episcopalians in Scotland might have thought that during the time of the Penal Laws. Would it be easier just to admit defeat, stop our clandestine meetings in threes and fours in someone’s attic, and give up? But they did not. Bishop John Skinner, among others, led the way in rebuilding co-operation and then friendship with the Government and the Established Church, and saw the last of the Penal Laws revoked. If he had not, we might not be here today.
The Oxford Movement, the inspiration for the foundation of St. Mary’s, was one of many new ideas that nearly split our church. Our original congregation broke away from St. John’s, causing dissension and enmity at every level. God has filled His church with humans, and we are terribly fallible, whoever we are. Yet though we still have ‘High Churches’ and ‘Low Churches’ and everything in between, the Oxford Movement no longer has the power to split our church – and who knows what other arguments will also fade into the past, leaving us wondering what all the fuss was about?
Some people come into a church for the first time to find other people, and unexpectedly encounter God. Some people come in looking for God, and unexpectedly find a community. If we do nothing else at St. Mary’s over the decades to come, let us help to bring anyone who comes to our church to both God and community, here in the west end of Aberdeen.