Hearing: The sound of the full choir singing Howard Goodall’s Love Divine. Oh it brought on one or two more praepostorial tears, but in a good way.

Sight: The cathedral transformed by yesterday evening’s happy spinning festival. Candles, dancers and smiling faces.

Smell: The smell of the Church of Scotland building that the Diocesan Council was in on Saturday. How do they make them smell the same? Is there some special John Knox Patent Polish that they all use?

Touch: One of the regular readers of this blog (who later in the day whirled and birled me down the aisle) arrived at church yesterday wearing an item of clothing which bore the legend, “Have you hugged an Episcopalian today?” She got her wish, but I think we had better say that this did not set a precedent or who knows what will be written on her when she next turns up?

Anyone want to join in with their own five senses?

Now, if you don’t come from St Mary’s and are wondering what all this has to do with you, well, the giddy thing is that we would love you to join us. We are like that you see. Either come to Evensong and enjoy praying along and then wait for the dancing to start or go to your own evening worship and come along afterwards. I know a lot of people read this blog who belong to other churches in the area (well, one other church in the area in particular). You know who you are and you know you are invited.

All welcome. Choral Evensong at 1830, ceilidh afterwards. If you know you are coming and want to help us out by booking your place in advance (please do!) then use the contact form on this blog. Tickets are £5 for adults, children free.

Dancing is to The Last Tram tae Auchenshuggle and there will be a licensed bar. (Really).

Did anyone else who was there notice that most of us simply bore badges with our names on, some people had their title and diocese too? Yes, the bishops got the full works whereas the rest of us had stark names. Now, I don’t mind wearing a label with just my name on it. I never see my own pantomime title without having to supress a happy snort of derision anyway.

Perhaps they were their labels for Lambeth to ensure that they they get returned to the right diocese at the end of the process. I found myself wondering whether the bishops’ labels had printed on the reverse, “Please look after this bishop, thank you” in the manner of Paddington Bear.

None of this particularly bothered me though I wondered how that little decision came about.

However, it did get me thinking about other inequalities of the day and that in turn got me thinking about the way forward.

What do we do next was the cry? That the listening day was too little and too late was obvious to many (everyone?) but what comes next?

It is fairly clear to me that similar exercises might be carried out in localities around Scotland. Similar listening days in dioceses, areas/regions , congregations. Of course, we need to be clear that these days come at a high cost to some with a very low investment or risk from others.

However, let us not forget the inequalities of those badges. What can they teach us?

The model that the Listening Process offers is not the only way in which we might be dealing with these issues, but it seems to be the only show in town. Where does it lead us next?

Seems to me that there is more listening needed and there is a need for that listening to be mutual.

Thus, we need a Listening Day where we hear the experience of those who feel themselves to be out of kilter with the perceived majority view. We need a day of Listening to the experience of Evangelicals who sometimes express a great deal of hurt about they way in which they believe themselves to be treated.

What else? Well, a day of Listening to the Provincial Youth network dealing with sexuality issues is obvious, isn’t it? Or do we older Episcopalians think we know what they would say?

I think that we might need a day listening to the experience of clergy who have been divorced. That is one of the things I heard on Saturday that I was not expecting to hear.

And the bishops. Yes, if this Listening Day method has any currency, there has to be a mutuality about it which was curiously absent in those name badges. We need to have a day of Listening to our Bishops as they wrestle with all this, possibly both before and after Lambeth. It is not difficult to imagine the structure of this day - a serving bishop, a retired bishop who was at Lambeth before, a spouse of a bishop, a daughter of a bishop, a son of a bishop.

Hmmm. Yes.

We are a small church. There were plenty of people willing to carry this process forwards. We can do this as urgently as we need to. Can’t we?

Hurrah! Scottish Episcopal Car Stickers. At last! We have cried in the wilderness (and in the Information and Communications Board), “How long, O Lord, how long?”

Our prayers have been heard. Note that the sticker contains a subliminal message designed to make people believe that if that actually encounter the SEC then they will be welcome therein. Clever huh?

You would almost think we had a mission strategy.

[hair by Ruby Skies, tie by Mark Westwood, cathedral by Gilbert Scott, car - model’s own]

And whilst you are listening to it, you can have a ponder as to what on earth (or in heaven) is going on over at Kimberly’s blog.

I’m fascinated at what is happening at Evensong in Cathedrals in the UK at the moment. St Mary’s is not alone in apparently attracting a new crowd whom I’d say were often young, spiritual and loving the sheer beauty of the whole experience. I would never have guessed 10 years ago that I would ever be saying that about Choral Evensong. Indeed, for a very long time I thought it was a has been service which was simply never coming back except as something like the Sealed Knot at prayer.

Sometimes it is wonderful to be gloriously wrong.

[ps - Pentecost Ceilidh tickets now on sale for next week]

Quite a lot of the day was food for thought though it would not be appropriate to blog about the people or the stories involved. In the end I was generally glad that I was there though sometimes still frustrated by the process. It is all beginning far too late.

Two significant moments for me. The first was experiencing and articulating a sense of outrage that the main speaker had been put in the position of accepting to speak in the first session when he could not stay for the whole day. The act of speaking without listening could not more clearly sum up much of what is wrong. I still have reservations about the fact that the only two people who gave talks to the whole group were straight bishops. To speak and not stick around to engage with people modelled precisely what should not be.

WIth the exception of some inaccuracies about the Porvoo churches, Richard Clark actually spoke very well indeed, but by that stage, that was not the point for me.

Later in the day there was another significant moment for me. I realised in a group that I was hearing people speaking positively and lovingly about gay relatives. All of a sudden I was struck with the realisation that I have almost never heard anyone in a church context say anything positive about anyone gay. As that realisation dawned, I began to weep.

So you see, I’m glad I was there and I heard something that I was not expecting to hear. I never knew until today that I had not heard such things before. I was surprised by tears and now know not what to do with them.

Congregation double what it was last year.

Alleluia.

I hope that one of the things that has been learned from the business of promoting this day is that you cannot focus a day around the experience of certain people without approaching them and involving them right from the word go in the process. To exclude people from planning a process which is essentially about their own sense of inclusion or exclusion is asking for trouble.

Anyway, over the course of time, the agenda for this particular day has changed very significantly. I’m glad that it has and am looking forward to being present on the day and taking part. It has not felt a comfortable journey to reach this point, but I’m glad to have reached it and glad that I feel that I can join in.

Someone’s listening Lord. Kum by yah.