THE BIG DAY in the DIOCESE the Edge Vol 22: 3 in This Issue
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People, Places, Theology Summer issue 2018 the EDGE The quarterly magazine of the Diocese of Edinburgh in the Scottish Episcopal Church THE BIG DAY IN THE DIOCESE The Edge Vol 22: 3 In this issue ... Editor: Gillian McKinnon If you would like additional copies p.4 Every Life Matters of The Edge for your church “We live in a world where being born female is a health risk.” or group, please contact the Diocesan Office (details on this p.6 40 Years of Support page). If you are able to help with “Rape and sexual abuse changes lives - and so do we.” the distribution of the magazine, please also get in touch. Thanks! p.6 The Big Day: A Martian Sends a Postcard “The amount of people here shows we’re not a sinking ship” The views expressed in The Edge are not necessarily those of the p.12 It’s Not Just About a Ramp Editor, the Edinburgh Diocese or the Scottish Episcopal Church. “accessibility should be part of our planning rather than Photographs or other material sent a response to unforeseen needs.” to the magazine for publication are submitted at the owner’s risk. p.10 Diocesan News Photographs: Cover photo: The Cathedral on the Big Day © Katherine McHale p.4 Photo © EMMS International p.6-9 All Big Day photos © Katherine McHale p.10 Interior photo St John’s © Chris Radley p.11 Group photo © Scottish Parliament p.14 Learning to Be “After ten years, I seemed to be getting mysterious nudges about the Priesthood ” Diocesan Office p.15 Review & Gazette 21a Grosvenor Crescent p.16 The Edge Agenda Edinburgh, EH12 5EL Simon Filsell, Diocesan Administrator 0131 538 7033 [email protected] Samantha Campbell, Bishop’s P.A. 0131 538 7044 [email protected] News and resources are available on the Diocesan website at: www.edinburgh.anglican.org Twitter: @EdinDiocese Twitter: @BishopEdinburgh Facebook.com/DioceseEdinburgh Scottish Charity Number: SC001214 22 TheThe DioceseDiocese ofof EdinburghEdinburgh CHURCH WITH A VIEW Rt Rev John Armes, Bishop of Edinburgh I was at our Priory Church in South Queensferry last week. Standing in its garden I was exhilarated by the view across the Forth. Those three great bridges, examples of human ingenuity, also speak of more profound truths. The bridge that God builds in Christ; the bridges we are all called to build between ourselves and others; the bridges that seem to lie shattered within and between so many communities in our world. As I stood I began to wonder, as perhaps bishops do in their idle moments, which of our churches in the Edinburgh Diocese offers the most spectacular view. South Queensferry is certainly one, but what of St Ebba’s, Eyemouth? There at the door you are confronted by the immensity of the North Sea, sometimes calm and quiet, sometimes crashing and foaming against the land. This vivid scene invites us to reflect on the story of Creation, the waters of chaos tamed by God’s Word. It evokes thoughts of another sea where storms were calmed at a word from Jesus and miraculous catches of fish were hauled ashore. Or what about St John’s, Edinburgh, standing tall at the end of Princes Street, yet overshadowed by the majestic castle rock? Psalmists and hymn writers have always been stirred to see in such solidity a picture of the Divine. ‘O God, you are my rock, my stronghold, my fortress to defend me.’ But you will have your own ideas and your own favourites. For, indeed, when you think about it, all our church buildings offer views that can speak of a life lived in companionship with God. Railway stations and cross roads, rivers and valleys, schools and health centres, high streets and back streets all offer contexts for that extraordinary phenomenon we call ‘church’; a threefold synergy between place and buildings and, most important of all, the people who use them. Which brings me to my favourite view of the month of April. This was when I stood in the middle of our Cathedral and looked around at over 400 people, from babes in arms upwards, gathered from every corner of our diocese. Our Big Day at the end of April turned out to be just that, as we told our story to one another, as we talked and played, learned and worshipped together. For me, as the person who represents and symbolises our unity as a diocese, it was deeply rewarding and wonderfully uplifting. The chairs in the Cathedral had been rearranged in the nave so that, rather than facing forward in lines they were shaped in an ellipse which allowed us to see each other. For some it felt like we were in a seed, ready to be sown, for others it reminded them of a womb, secure and nurturing. I liked the idea that we were together in a boat, and the banner above us (made by Cathedral members to represent every congregation in the diocese) was the sail, ready to catch the wind of God’s Holy Spirit, inspiring, renewing, directing, sending us on an adventure together. The Big Day at the Cathedral was exactly what we needed to encourage us. It reaffirmed our calling to be God’s people, it helped us to understand what it means to be part of something much, much bigger than our own local congregation, and it sent us away challenged and (I hope) reinvigorated. We need these experiences, for in them we find new reasons to talk about the hope that is in us and grow in confidence to live not for ourselves but for others. Whatever view confronts us when we peer out of our church door, whether it is spectacular or mundane, the important thing is that we are a church looking outwards and finding God in what we see. +John The Diocese of Edinburgh 3 EVERY LIFE MATTERS by Louise MacLeod basic help her life is transformed, from lying in pain alone to sitting up as a happy mother able to watch her children play. Nobody should be left sick and alone. Home visits by Christian healthcare workers are a lifeline to people in rural Malawi. Your support means we can train more specialist nurses like Annie to give the care that Brenda and others like her need. From basic pain relief and nutrition advice to morphine for people who are very sick, a gift of £32 can help people stay comfortable during their illness. Thank you for showing that every girl matters in Bihar. We live in a world where being born female is a health risk. Day after day in Bihar state, India’s poorest state, girls are told their lives don’t matter: denied an education, denied basic healthcare, burdened by household chores, providing food and care for sick relatives, denied a youth and married off in their early teens their future is bleak. EMMS International is committed to redressing the balance by making the healthcare of women and girls a priority. Working with local partners we are providing healthcare, life- transforming training in tailoring, computing or beauty therapy and essential rural health services to help break the cycle of sickness and poverty for girls. EMMS International was delighted Thank you for showing that Brenda’s Thank you for showing that those to be chosen as one of the life matters. with life-limiting illnesses in Nepal official charities for the Bishop of We live in an unjust world that tells matter. Edinburgh’s Lent Appeal this year. those who are sick and poor that We live in a world where people Founded in 1841 in Edinburgh, their lives don’t matter. Brenda must walk for hours to reach their and known later as The Edinburgh didn’t matter. Paralysed by spinal nearest health centre. In Nepal Medical Missionary Society, EMMS tuberculosis, she spent her days on Nurse Manju, Nepal’s first palliative International is Scotland’s oldest the concrete floor of her two-room care nurse specialist trained by international healthcare charity with home in Mulanje, Malawi. Unable EMMS International, provides historic links to over 50 different to move, her body was covered in comfort and care for her patients countries from China to Congo and sores. She was in agony while her and their families. The need is great India to Iran. Today we work with children looked on, helpless. Brenda for people living in remote and local partners in Malawi, Nepal, India remembers the day she first met inaccessible areas of Nepal with life and Zambia, following the example nurse Annie. “She lit up my life. Her limiting illnesses. We are preparing of Jesus Christ by serving some care, her smile told me that I matter. to build a new ten-bed palliative of the poorest communities of the That someone cares about my life.” care unit at Green Pastures Hospital, world. We seek to transform lives Nurse Annie visits to clean and Pokhara, one of the first of its kind. through compassionate, effective dress Brenda’s wounds, to give her For more information visit and sustainable healthcare. medicine to ease her pain. With this www.emms.org 4 The Diocese of Edinburgh 40 YEARS OF SUPPORT by Caroline Burrell Edinburgh Rape Crisis Centre was • Individual support and of sexual violence and abuse go established in 1978, and this year counselling unreported. Research into the marks our 40th anniversary. We • Group support prevalence of sexual violence provide specialist support, advocacy indicates that one in ten women • Advocacy support through the and information for women, non- in Scotland has experienced rape justice system for survivors who binary people and members of and one in five women in Scotland wish to report to the police the trans community, and young has had someone try to make them people aged 12 and over, who have • Support, counselling and have sex against their will; 20-25% experienced sexual violence both creative therapies for young of women have experienced sexual recently or in the past, including people aged 12-18 abuse in childhood; a third of young rape, sexual assault, childhood • A service for partners, family women in the UK experienced an sexual abuse and commercial sexual members and friends of those unwanted sexual act in an intimate exploitation.