Ash Wednesday Pilgrimage

EMU Leaders, United Reformed Church Synod Moderator, Revd. Paul Whittle, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Bishop Mark Strange, and the Chair of the Scotland and Shetland Districts of the Methodist Church, Revd. Mark Slaney, spent Ash Wednesday in Inverness and Nairn, joining in conversation and worship, together with local folk. The EMU partnership is a particular commitment of the Episcopal, Methodist and United Reformed Churches to work together within Scotland where that is possible and helpful. Recognising we have not always taken those opportunities we made this opportunity in order to re-affirm the commitment. We started with tea, pancakes, shortbread and conversation at Inverness Methodist Church. We then made our way to Inverness Cathedral and joined in the lunch-time service for Ash Wednesday. Finally, we drove to Nairn and shared in a service at the United Reformed Church, also focussed on it being Ash Wednesday. The worship supported our conversation about the struggles and opportunities of being the church in a changing Scotland and how we can more effectively do that together, and in partnership with other Christian denominations. Being marked by ash at the Cathedral and sharing in a liturgy of confession at Nairn United Reformed Church were suitable reminders of the day on which we were meeting and also of our dependence on the generous love of God. Our conversation recognised the challenges and the difficulties but also saw the possibilities and encouraged us to remember that we are people of hope – and that we share is far more important than anything that divides us.