They had been in Lincoln for a week singing the services in Lincoln Cathedral and then were going to Edinburgh for this week.

So, why were they so keen to come across and sing in St Mary’s?

Well, it seems that the connection was about more than just music. You see, as I found out on Sunday morning, St Paul’s, Norwalk is another church which is blessed with paintings by Gwyneth Leech, the artist whose murals bring so much joy to St Mary’s.

Gwyneth painted a set of Stations of the Cross for them which now hang permanently in the church. Also, if you go to their web-page and watch through the cycle of pictures, you can see adorning their west wall, a familiar scene. Well, familiar if you know either Kelvingrove Park or the magnificent tryptich in St Anne’s Chapel here in the Cathedral in Glasgow.

A little bit of Glasgow in CT.

Who knew?

That’s such a good use of a Primus’s blog. I hope he gets plenty of comments.

Commentary is a bit intrusive. Watch out for the brilliant catch and swirl movement by the chief tiraboleiro as it is brought to rest at the end.

There is a simulation of how it works here, which I’ve a feeling I posted once before.

Anyway, the article can be found here. There’s a pic of me taken yesterday in St Mary’s. (No, that’s not a crown I’m wearing, its just the altarpiece behind me!)

There is an interesting allusion to a poll conducted by the Scottish Green Party:

A poll of 1000 Scottish adults conducted on behalf of the Scottish Green Party in April found that 58% agreed that same sex couples should have the right to marry, while 19% disagreed.

The bits quoting me are as follows:

The Very Rev Kelvin Holdsworth, provost of St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow, said he was strongly supportive of the idea. He said: “Anyone who can marry a couple currently should be able to marry same sex-couples.

“This is about justice for everyone. Civil partnerships have been a wonderful thing, but they are not equal; being separate isn’t being equal and the Government would be wise to move towards equality as soon as possible.”

He said the argument that allowing gay marriage could threaten the institution of marriage, was “a silly idea”. “I don’t think any gay couple have ever made a married couple feel less married,” he said.

There is also an editorial

Equality of treatment under the law is a much-vaunted bedrock of British society. So is marriage. Those who argue that the concept of marriage is weakened by extending it to gay and lesbian couples should consider whether the opposite might be true and that allowing same-sex couples to marry would be a public statement of support for the values they rightly cherish.

So, we’ve done just about all we can to advertise the position in appropriate places. What I’m wondering now is whether readers of this blog can help me find just the person we need.

Perhaps think you are that person – in which case, if you have not already sent in an application, please do so. Those who don’t apply don’t get anywhere.

Perhaps you are not sure and want more details about St Mary’s. Well, take a look around the website. If you’ve any enquiries about the post, I’d be happy to try to answer them. You might also take a look at what one of my colleagues has written about being at St Mary’s and what its like working with me. AKMA has brought a kindness and a graciousness to St Mary’s which we are all enjoying and I’m grateful to him for using his own blog to get the message out about this appointment.

Perhaps you’re are not interested in being the new Vice-Provost of St Mary’s but you know someone whom you think would be ideal. If that’s the case, now is the very moment you can help the cause. Could you have a chat with that person and point them towards the details and persuade them to apply. There is a week to go until the closing date.

St Mary’s is an exciting place to work and the time has come to find the right person to join in and take a share in leadership as we move forward together.

If you know that person – please let them know.

I know that promises have been given that we will have tripartite conversations on things in the future, but that still does not excuse this border-crossing behaviour by the C of E. The willingness of the Church of Scotland’s official ecumenical bods to ignore the Scottish Episcopal Church in all of this is no credit to them either.

One wonders where the C of E goes next with these kinds of talks. Into Ireland to negotiate with the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland on the grounds that it is a national church (well in part at least) with a parish-based territorial ministry, perhaps? Into Wales to do deals with the free churches?

Anyway, the report which was produced for debate at the General Assembly and the English Synod is available online. Note that the history is, well, a wee bit lacking.

The audio of the debate in York is also available, complete with warm applause for English Anglicans proclaiming that their right place in Scotland is within C of S parishes. I’d wish bon chance to any Church of Scotland congregations that attract them but that’s the kind of thing that makes piskies fizz, all the same.

AKMA has already had a bit of a blog about this – read what he said over here.

However, we are also being treated to a commentary on Rowan Williams’s temper and the suggestion that he personally vetoed Jeffrey John’s nomination. I don’t even know whether that is possible. In any case, I’d prefer not to believe it, I think. It was bad enough that +Rowan laid down his friend for his life the first time around when Jeffrey was nominated to be suffragen bishop of Reading. If he really has become someone who would lay down the same friend for his life twice, it is too ghastly to contemplate for long.

Now, its straight off to General Synod for the Archbishop, where he is sponsoring an amendment to the measure allowing women to be nominated for the Episcopate which would make them second-class bishops forever.

I hope the English Synod says no to this and does so clearly and decisively.

With regard to who gets to choose who is on the list to become Bishop of Southwark, we need to remember that it is David Cameron, who appears to be a good Anglican (ie one who turns up sometimes) and may know a thing or two about the Church of England which some Prime Ministers have not. It could still be that whatever names are suggested to him are rejected in favour of a fresh list. This one could run on for a bit, I’d say.

I’d like to talk this morning about rivers. In the first reading today, which we listened to in two parts, we heard the story of Naaman the mighty warrior being brought down to earth by being made to wallow in the river Jordan, even though he knew that his local rivers were much better than the Jordan river in Israel.

Of course, Naaman was from Damascus, which is North of Israel as Glaswegians worshipping on the edge of the leafy west end, we know that he was not making a comment about the respective holiness of the rivers in question – he was just cracking the first recorded joke in human history about living on the South Side.

Here in this part of this great city, we have two great rivers right on our doorstep. The glorious River Kelvin and its tributary the River Clyde. (At least, that’s how I do my geography). However, I want to begin today by spiriting you away to a holiday scene that I remember from a few years ago.

I was on holiday in my friends’ yacht up near Skye. Indeed it was one of those special yachting holidays for which Scotland is famous. Although we went around Skye, it was shrouded in mist and fog the whole time and I never saw anything of it. Indeed, it was a surprise to go back a couple of years later and find that there were mountains.

However there was one good day – one clear day. One day when the mist had cleared, and as luck would have it we have decided to spend that day on the mainland in the little bay where Gavin Maxwell the naturalist wrote his books about otters, the most famous of which is the Ring of Bright Water.

And I remember, having got ourselves onto the beach, seeing for myself what that book title meant. The ring of bright water was exactly that, a burn curving around the place where the house had once stood. Sparkling. Dazzling. A ring, a shining ring reflecting the sun which had just appeared from nowhere.

We scampered off up the burn, following the watercourse and suddenly came upon a high waterfall where the cold chilly waters of the hillside cascaded down into a wonderful pool.

In no time at all, clothes had been shrugged off and we had each jumped in – to splash about and wallow and play.

(Can I suggest by the way that you don’t try to emulate this story on the way home – sadly Glasgow is not ready yet for the Episcopalians collectively stripping off and leaping into the Kelvin and I’m not sure how safe it would be either).

Now, I love water. I love swimming and that afternoon was perfect – well almost perfect. All it needed was an otter to appear and it would have been the most perfect holiday afternoon ever.

Anyway, I tell that story to encourage you to think about whether you have bathed in a river and what it is like to do so.

River swimming has largely gone out of fashion through for a great many people in human history it was the only way to bathe.

We need to remember that when we approach Naaman’s story.

His is just one of the stories in the Bible where grace and wholeness and healing and growth are consequent on being drenched in water.

Water is one of the great themes of the bible. Take a glance up here when you come up for communion and you can see God’s hands plunging into the great splashy chaos to begin creation. And there is Noah’s ark bob, bob bobbing along. And the rainbow – a sign of God’s promise and a symbol of our diversity. And what’s it made of – light playing through water.

And water goes on being a powerful symbol. Whereas once the people of Israel were slaves trapped in the Nile delta area working for the Egyptians so their freedom was symbolised by the parting of the red sea. And later when they got to grumbling and moaning in the desert, remember the water coming from the rock when Moses struck it to ease their thirst.

Then in the waters of Jordan, that same river that Naaman had to come to terms with, John the Baptist was eventually to begin that great sacrament of baptism which we continue to this day.

Every drop of water that we baptise in, is River Jordan water and for us that means gathering around the font over there.

There are many things that I really like about baptising here – especially the way we gather around with candles, each lighting up the world with our own special gifts and talents as we recognise the gifts and talents of those being baptised and hand over their own light to them that they can shine in the world.

However, I do sometimes wonder whether we Anglicans have domesticated the sacrament a little by having the Jordan River swirl around in pieces of indoor furniture – albeit glorious pieces of furniture.

As it happens, I was not baptised like that myself – I was baptised by full immersion with a great splash – such that those nearby got drenched too.

There is something about that experience which is powerful too for those around us should get splashed with the grace of God in which we have been submerged.

Being a Christian is about being drenched in something. Its about being soaked to the skin in the love and grace and mercy of God.

One of the themes of my preaching is that God’s grace is not shallow or dry or just a trickle. God’s grace spashes around this world and drenches all who are in its path with glorious goodness.

Sometimes in the church it can seem as though grace is scarce – as though there is a drought or a water shortage.

It can seem as though there is just a trickle of grace if you are grown up enough to appreciate it, or British enough not to get too excited about it, or straight enough not to frighten the horses, or male enough not to want to share power, or polite enough to experience salvation by good taste.

Let us have none of that. The grace of God is like a mighty river splashing through a watercourse. Bright, clean and wholesome and with water enough for all to bathe in it and play in it.

Glorious goodness!

Let me close by taking you back to the beach near Skye. My friends and I climbed out of the chilly burn and sat down on the beach to enjoy the clear light on the silver water. We made a fire to warm ourselves.

We sat back and watched the boat bob around calmly at anchor.

And two heads appeared in the water – two heads each with a set of whiskers; a pair of otters swimming towards the beach where they proceeded to tumble and play as we watched.

If you are going on holiday this month, I hope you have moments as glorious and full of goodness as that one.

And if you have any inkling that you want to begin to know God better then may you be healed and blessed and plunged, …deep into God’s love and grace. Amen