The editor finds that many modern trends in respect of the planning of wedding services are misjudged and that they can contradict the true purpose and meaning of this ceremony.
Letter from Lesslie Newbigin
Former bishop of the Church of South India, Newbigin writes in appreciation of a paper published in an earlier issue about Communion, and saying that the service in the 1940 book was influential in the formation of the order which was created for the new CSI worship book.
This was the Lee Lecture of 1984 and was given by the Revd William G Neill, who is also the editor of the Record. Neill discusses the difficulty of defining ‘dignity’ because the context in which worship is being offered and the traditions and expectations of worshippers have some bearing. The lecture asks for mutual tolerance and understanding in a contemporary situation where a wide diversity of theory and practice too easily lead to fragmentation and polarisation.
Dr Sprott is quoted that the Society will not prosper if it only enrols those with a special interest in the improvement of services. It must try and make its influence aggressive.
The Revd David Easton, formerly of St Paul’s Greenock, provides a service for this occasion which is more comprehensive in its reach. Devised some years ago, it apparently was used also in South Africa and is now in the service book of the Presbyterian church there.
Some 20 titles are listed
This recounts the occasion when the wrong psalm was announced during a service of induction, 64:1-5 instead of 65:1-4.
Studies in the History of Worship in Scotland, Edinburgh, 1984, ed. Duncan Forrester and Douglas Murray, reviewed by Duncan Shaw
Teenagers and the Church, Leslie J Francis, Collins, reviewed by Finlay A J MacDonald
Church Music in a Changing World, Lionel Dakers, Mowbray - further critical reflections by Wilfred Norris
Liturgy Re-Shaped, ed. Kenneth Stevenson, SPCK, reviewed by Kenneth D F Walker
Devised by the Revd Gerald Jones, Assistant Minister, Glasgow Cathedral.