People were busy making Christingles at the Cathedral before the Christmas Eve service.

In the run-up to Christmas the Cathedral choir sang carols in St John’s centre, Perth.

There was a real production line to get Christingles ready for the service on Christmas Eve.

The Cathedral was at its very best on Saturday 14th December, 2019, with so many people from across Scotland coming to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the Ordination of women to the Priesthood. It was an honour to welcome many of the “first women”, some of the bishops who ordained them, together with the College of Bishops and clergy and people from every diocese, to give thanks for “whole ministry” in the Church.

The first Christmas party of the developing Appletree Community within our diocese was held in early December. The Appletree Community is taking shape as a small intentional community grown around a few individuals with complex and profound support needs, enabling all to flourish.

“We held a service within the party, with a story about the Christmas star coming to Appletree. We gathered around a star and prayed, sang carols, gave thanks to God for each other and all the blessings of our lives. Then our dear friend and retired priest, himself father of a profoundly disabled son, gave us a blessing.”

The support was totally ecumenical: SEC friends, Church of Scotland, Roman Catholic, and people with no religious affiliation.

Last evening 15 of us gathered for a Festive pasta pamper prayer supper in St Anne’s hall.  Last year we used Cloth for the Cradle as a theme for our Advent meditation as we prepared ourselves for the birth of Christ at Christmas.   This year we made Shelter for the Cradle – the word Sukkah (a temporary Jewish shelter) was used as a theme in our Doors Open weekend in September and Roz introduced it last evening by telling us what the word  meant for her.

We had our usual glass of wine and supper followed by the construction of our individual sukkahs.  Each finished shelter contained a battery candle and we finished the evening by a candle lit meditation led by Janice Cameron.

Our diocesan service of lessons and carols for Advent was held in St Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth. In addition to carols sung by the cathedral choir, the whole congregation joined in singing Advent hymns. The cathedral chapter read Bible passages pointing to the coming of Christ and Bishop Ian led us in prayers for the coming of God’s kingdom.

On Saturday 14 December 2019 a service of celebration will take place at St Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth to mark 25 years since the first women were ordained to the priesthood in the Scottish Episcopal Church (SEC).

After many years of debate, the SEC agreed at the meeting of its General Synod in 1994 to recognise the vocation of women to the priesthood. The first ordinations took place on 17 December 1994 when 42 women were ordained in Cathedrals across the country.

The service will be held at St Ninian’s Cathedral, Perth at 2pm.  The Rt Rev Anne Dyer, Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, will preside at the Eucharist and the Rev Canon Dr Anne Tomlinson, Principal of the Scottish Episcopal Institute, will preach the sermon.

The service is open to any who wish to attend. If you plan to attend, please RSVP by email to womenpriests@scotland.anglican.org so that the event organisers have an indication of likely numbers.

There is no onsite parking however there are several public car parks nearby.  The organisers have prepared a list of car parking facilities nearby which can be downloaded here.

For further information please click the link below.

MU E newsletter – December 2019 (2)