Tag Archives: Scotland

On being a stranger in a familiar place…

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This morning I drove over to Colintraive and took the wee ferry onto the Isle of Bute, as I had a couple of meetings in Rothesay.

Bute is a lovely Island, and I have become quite familiar with it over the last few years, as I am responsible for some of the Mental Health services there. Today the son shone on the swans in the castle moat, and I shared a nice lunch with some colleagues in the Green Tree Cafe in the moat centre- highly recommended by the way, and recently visited by Prince Charles and Camilla (the local talk is of how the council painted only the sides of the building that could be seen by them as they arrived- but this being Bute, it may well just be a story…)

But I will always be a kind of visitor- a partial outsider to these communities that I live and work amongst. In Bute, this seems to be made worse by my arrival as a manager, with all the power and control issues that are associated with this. There is, however, a process of growing together- grafting…

It seems to come with shared stories, insider knowledge that sometimes tips over into gossip- particularly, it seems, in small Island communities, like Rothesay. Much of this seems negative at times- although only insiders can really be openly critical.

I hope that my role is to look for good things, and encourage them further…

Rothesay Castle

Rothesay Castle
Stormed at last by scaffolding
By men of mortar in yellow vests
Encircled by the advancing town
The old lady lies broken toothed
But well pointed.

Whilst within
In the shadow
Behind the big black bolts
The castle kitchens lie cold
Hygienic
And where once was roasted suckling pig
There is a man in tartan uniform
Eating his sandwiches
But with due reverence
He leaves no crumbs.

Meanwhile, out in the sunlight
A brilliant white swan circles in the moat
Beneath ornamental trees
Like me, both are aliens
Imports.

So I start to let this place become familiar
To finger into foreign soil
To paddle across defensive ditches
To borrow history and make it mine
And take my place in this
Permanent impermance

© Chris Goan
2.3.05

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Scottish ‘Greenbelt’ festival?

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Gayle Findlay (Check out Gail and Stephen’s site here) asked us to give this a push.

Gayle has been involved in the worship events @ Greenbelt festival and this year there was some discussion concerning whether there was enough interest to set up a Scottish festival.

Here is the info-

Greenbelt Scotland
You might have missed the informal session at the Festival but we’re investigating the possibility of a Scottish version of Greenbelt. Many Scots don’t come to the Festival because there is no August Bank Holiday and they don’t want to take their children out of school. There are no definite plans, but there was enough enthusiasm from the session to want to take a further look with anyone who might be interested in getting involved in supporting, planning, volunteering or even just attending a Greenbelt Scotland*.  You don’t need to be Scottish — some at the initial meeting came from the north of England, it might also appeal to the Irish to come across the water. If you are interested and would like to be kept informed of any plans, send an email to
greenbeltscotland@greenbelt.org.uk
So that we can keep in touch. Another meeting is planned in the Autumn somewhere in middle Scotland–we’ll keep you posted.

Watch this space!

Scottish religion?

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As an incomer to this, my adopted land, it is impossible not to compare and contrast things ‘tartan’ from what I have known elsewhere. As a follower of Jesus, the greatest focus of this introspective examination has been how we do religion up here.

There is a great discussion about these issues on Brodie McGregor’s blog- which is on this link; http://viewfromthebasement.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/04/emerging_or_sub.html
Brodie wrote a paper on Emerging stuff in Scotland, that I found really helpful- it is broken into digestible segments in his blog…

But what forms the character a place? Is there a convergence in the nature of the people? Perhaps we learn more than accents, taking on our style of communicating- of relating and of loving- from our environment. Are we also formed by landscape, by the mountains or the flat lands, or our closeness to the sea? Or is it the economy- those that have and have not, those in poverty or plenty?  Perhaps it is also about history, and ancestry, and our place in the story of ages?

Back to the spiritual dimension- of faith and belief, and how we express these things. Does our chosen expression of faith emerge from our own cultural heritage, or does it shape the way we are? I wonder if the way religion is understood and celebrated within any given culture becomes as influential to the formation of our towns and streets and institutions as DNA within our blood streams? Certainly, sometimes it seems that a bit of John Knox, along with a slice of Calvin and a hint of Iain Paisley can be found in every squared away, sensible building and every official institution.

As you travel up the west coast things change again…

But a few years ago, before we lived up here, I was walking through the lovely little town of Gairloch, in Wester Ross. I came across two little churches- so close, they were almost (but not quite) touching. They were separated by a few inches of clear air, but I imagined these inches to be stuffed full of inpenetrateable doctrinal difference.

I do not know the history of these churches, and certainly do not mean to criticise what I have no knowledge of. There may be very good reasons for having two such buildings- each one may be full on Sundays, and they may exist in harmonious fellowship.

But for me- this photograph has come to symbolise something of our Scottish religion.

I have said enough- here is the photograph, it can speak for itself.

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Scottish emerging church network?

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Last weekend I was in Glasgow, where Michaela and I met up with Thomas, Iain and Stewart in Starbucks. This was our first ‘meeting’ growing out of a facebook group we set up called EMERGING SCOTLAND. I suppose we began to dream of new things, and new possibilities…

A few others had tried to get along, but life got in the way- you were missed, but there will be other times!

Those of us that were there had this common idea that those of us engaged in fragile new ‘church’ stuff need to find common support and encouragement, and we need to get smarter in the way that we do this! Because no-one else seems to be doing it that we can find, we thought we would have a go.

As a way of gathering other thoughts and feelings- here are some questions that we would love comment on.

If you have friends and contacts who are not facebookers, and you want to circulate the questions for a wider discussion, or even other networks you can tap into, then feel free to get the word out there…

Here goes…

1. Would you value/have time to participate in/be interested to know more about/ a more developed support network in Scotland?

2. If so, what would you need from such a thing in your context?

3. What might it look like?- Do we meet, do we offer to come and support one another in practical ways, or is the on-line stuff, with all its possibilities and limitations enough?

4. Can you/we cope with doctrinal variation? How much?

If you are interested in getting involved, and have thoughts as above- we would love to hear from you!