16 mins

Eleven themes and twelve hours

Sing our Praise to God the Father,

Sing our Praise to God the Son,

Sing our Praise to God the Spirit,

And we pray Thy Kingdom Come.

A refrain that was sung over 20 times at the recent ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ event held on the south side of Glasgow at Orchardhill Parish Church in Gif nock.

Thinking about how to be part of this worldwide initiative, Orchardhill came up with the idea of, rather than participating every day from Ascension to Pentecost, squeezing all 11 themes into one session running from 10pm on Saturday June 8 through to the Sunday morning Pentecost celebration service. From the youngest at 13 to the oldest at over 70, we gathered together to explore our faith and celebrate together. A hardcore group of over ten lasted the whole night; the majority of which came from our teenage group “Bridges”. They were supplemented by folks at the start and end meaning nearly 20 people participated in total. Our organist managed to last until 4am after which the standard of musical accompaniment went downhill. Those bringing breakfast at 8am were particularly welcome!

‘Thy Kingdom Come’ event

Each hour was split into distinct sections where we explored the idea of ‘God of…’ following the resources provided by the Thy Kingdom Come website to include God of Glory, Grace, Mercy, Vision, Kindness, Ages, Love, Joy, Mystery, and finally Heaven and Earth. We examined the themes through craft, games and a period of worship. Worship was diverse, integrating the ecumenical nature of the initiative; each of the eleven periods of worship started and ended with the same opening and closing prayers with the refrain above sung with one of the eleven different verses of a hymn picking up the themes. We also attempted, plainsong, morning prayers taken from the liturgy of the Scottish Episcopal Church, scripture readings picking up the themes, poems, a “songs of praise” hymn choice and the well-known hymn “O Jesus, I have Promised” sung to the theme of ‘The Muppets’ – surely a first!

We made painted footprints of all shapes and sizes as we thought about how we can follow Jesus. Paper (or prayer) chains were created round the church incorporating our thoughts on what we wished to give God thanks for. We cooked and shared pizza together as an injection of food but also thinking about whom we care for and love as we added toppings to the pizzas. We thought about our fears and worries as we surrounded ourselves in bubble wrap. We silently and publicly prayed for our friends and families, whilst playing giant Jenga and eating Jelly Babies. We made paper hearts and silver tickets thinking about loved ones and our hopes and dreams.

Throughout the night some tried to find quiet places to grab a few (or longer) moments of sleep – the choir stalls proved particularly accommodating, not for the first time!