View from the pulpit

MONDAY morning at 8am and the crowd queuing at the door of the Church feels more dynamic and varied than those present on Sunday at 11am. The ethnicity of the queue challenges my thoughts about inclusion and diversity.

There must be over 150 people knocking at the Great West Door of the Church, wondering why we are not open, and it is only 8am. In their view, it is a city Cathedral and should always be open to everyone!

The sun has lit the floor of this Church building for over 900 years, and the 500,000 visitors this year will celebrate their arrival on their pilgrimage as many travellers have for many years. In the 15th century, the Pope said it was as meritorious to visit Glasgow Cathedral as it was to visit Rome. But that was pre-reformation.

Some come to this building to see the stained-glass windows, some will visit to engage with the architecture, and some will find a place of spiritual belonging, interweaving architecture, nooks, crannies and place of privacy and welcome. Here some will engage in a new way with the story of Jesus.

As a minister at Glasgow Cathedral, I can play with preaching styles, community engagement, music, student residents, school groups and migrant communities. I must then wrestle with the presbytery plan. How do we understand a parish church with a living congregation that welcomes over 500,000 visitors annually? How does our parish system work in this context? The responsibility to proclaim the gospel may be universal, but the opportunity and experience may differ.

How do we reach people for Jesus when many people reach in and reach out trying to experience the spiritual nature of a Cathedral? Do Presbyterians know what to do with a Cathedral building inherited during social, political, and religious revolution?

We are often perceived to have married ourselves to the pageantry of state. We have welcomed Queens and Kings. We have sought to comfort those who mourn individuals who have shaped our nation, from Donald Dewar to Arnold Clark. We have installed works of art to challenge those attending COP26 and opened through the night for those affected by the bin lorry or Clutha tragedies in Glasgow. Worship has been offered, giving thanks to God for the Royal College, the RNLI, the Boys’ Brigade, Cancer Research, and many other groups celebrated the length and breadth of our nation.

As the congregation trickle through the porch on a Sunday morning, the city gathers from Townhead, Sighthill, Newton Mearns, Bishopbriggs, Troon and beyond. Those who attend regularly belong to a church family that will celebrate in a traditional way, and we will continue to offer the traditional ordinances of the Church to the people of the parish, but how does our parish system work? How will our presbytery planning take account of the momentary traveller or transient seeker as they long to encounter Jesus in this place? Too often, we groom ourselves by looking in the mirror rather than facing the open door. It does remind me of the Apostle Paul, ‘For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part then shall I know even as also I am known’ (1 Corinthians 13:12). ¤