Journals

Dr Frazer of Greyfriars Kirk, Edinburgh, whose book on travelling the Camino, Travels with a Stick, has been influential in establishing the current discussion in the Church on this subject, reviews both biblical references about how wild places can awaken the spirit and some earlier experiences in the history of the Church of pilgrimage, and how one may find local sites that once were the focus of pilgrims. He discusses how 'the eternal seeps through the physical', both physical activity and the physicality of the landscape through which we travel, which as we become one with it begins to 'read us, interrogate us'. People may go on pilgrimage because they have lost faith in the institutions of religion. These potential springs of refreshment have become blocked. The Scottish Pilgrim Routes Forum and the revival of Scottish pilgrim routes. Some disparage this movement, but there is always a place for revisiting old practices and re-framing them in a new context.

The Editor recalls a liturgy written in response to a request for exorcism. He outlines how he approached the planning of this event, the principles on which he based it, and the consultations with the family concerned. The liturgy moves through the different focal points of the house.

George Matheson and Mysticism – a Biographical Study, by Scott McKenna (Christoph Wutscher) The Long and the Short of It: reflections on reality in different measures, by John L Bell (Pamela Strachan)

This, the Presidential Address of 2021, discusses the way poetry can enhance people’s experience of worship and argues that it needs space and time to have its effect, as opposed simply appearing as a quotation during a sermon. Although hymns and poems are not the same, the latter can become a hymn, but only if it has certain qualities. Some examples are examined. Hymns can also become poems, read in the right context. Poetry may always open up our prayers, either on their own or as woven into a longer prayer – indeed it helps us understand the nature of prayer.

The President of the Church Service Society focuses attention on an aspect of liturgy which is often ignored, the reading of the Word. There is more to this than being heard with understanding. It is the proclamation of God and an essential feature of our worship. There is wisdom in thinking carefully about those who join the reading rota. This also is a vocation.

The Record editor shares the story of how he and the congregation responded to the needs of a Roman Catholic family who came to their rural church when there was no Catholic church at hand, and how this led to a liturgical innovation, something they felt was missing from the Church of Scotland tradition, a ‘First Communion’ rite. This not only enhanced the new step for baptised children as they were welcomed as communicants but affirmed the place of young people in the church. The resulting order of worship is included.

The Chaplain to the University of St Andrews outlines the variety of the provision of worship that has evolved across the university in response to the ecumenical nature of those who gather and of the broad chaplaincy team. This has involved, also, interfaith and pagan contributions. There are also ceremonies that are created to enable people of many faiths or of none to give thanks for the life of a student or member of staff who has died.