‘Hear us, O Lord, have mercy upon us: for we have sinn’d against thee.’ This moving piece derives from a hymn composed in the 10th century by Mozarabs, Iberian Christians living under Islamic rule in Andalusia.
Lent 2: In it but not of it
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 16 March 2025. ‘And so they are urged to stand firm. To stand in their faith, their confidence in Jesus Christ, in the glory of the scriptures and the sacraments.’
Lent 1: The atoning sacrifice of Jesus
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 9 March 2025. ‘And so Paul stresses that if we believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, and confess with our mouths that this is so then we shall be saved.’
Ash Wednesday: It is His agenda that matters
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Wednesday 5 March 2025. ‘For us the starting point is not our own perception or convenience. It is the total and utter purity of God, without any suggestion of compromise.’
Diocesan Synod 2025
Reports plus video message from Bishop-Elect Nicholas Bundock in Uganda.
Epiphany 8 / Quinquagesima: The salvation of all people
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 2 March 2025. ‘So there could never be any kind of substitute for that personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No amount of right thinking or fashionably up-to-date demonstrating on current issues was ever going to substitute for that faith.’
Epiphany 7 / Sexagesima: Perhaps there are things that we can let go of
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 23 February 2025. ‘The more space we can make for Him, then the more space we dedicate to Him for His use and glory. The more we can offer Him then the more He can use us to bless others – and that includes those who turned us against ourselves and against God.’
Commentary: He has torn, but He will heal us
These reflections are being put together in the light of recent events covering relations across the Atlantic, writes Rev Sydney Maitland. My point is emphatically not political: it is for the politicians to determine whether and how to defend our way of life and thinking. But there is another aspect which dates back to Jeremiah….
Epiphany 6 / Septuagesima: Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 16 February 2025. ‘But the personal faith of the church was in Jesus as a resurrected being and not as a memory or a historical figure. Either Jesus is alive or He is not. There are no alternatives.’
Aberdeenshire priest resigns her cure over ‘bullying bishop’
The Times of London reports a priest has resigned her cure in the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney as she cannot in good conscience serve under a “bullying” bishop. On 14 Feb 2025 the newspaper reported the Rev. Canon Vittoria Hancock will step down in April as rector of St Thomas’ Episcopal Church in Aboyne and St Kentigern’s in…
Epiphany 5: The blame culture on steroids
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 9 February 2025. ‘If we think our years are too advanced, then think of Moses, called to serve God as a youngster of 80.’
Patronal Festival at St Bride’s, Hyndland
St Brigit of Kildare, died 1500 years ago and this milestone has inspired an extended Patronal Festival at St Bride’s. Special choral services on Sunday 9 February will be preceded by a series of events on the previous day. Saturday 8th February 2025 12 noon – Ecumenical Service with participation from local churches Music from…
Epiphany 4, Presentation of Christ: Watching and praying
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 3 February 2025. ‘Maybe the church is also intended to come into its own, like the football stadium, when the game is on and the stands are full and there is that excitement and exuberance in the air.’
Epiphany 3: The church as the Body of Christ
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 26 January 2025. ‘And this is where we are: still needing the depth and the power and the glory of the Word of God in our lives…’
Date set for consecration of new Bishop
The consecration of the Rev Canon Dr Nicholas Bundock as Bishop of Glasgow & Galloway will take place on Saturday 3 May, at St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow. Nick formally accepted his election today during a visit to the General Synod Office in Edinburgh, having been elected last Saturday. The Bishop-elect said: “As I…
Commentary: More joy in heaven …
The New Year’s Honours list gives due recognition to those who have excelled in sport, entertainment or public service, writes Rev Sydney Maitland. And yes, we are duly respectful of their honours and the public recognition of their success. And yet, I wonder: we may admire success – but somehow failure seems to be more…
New Bishop elected for Glasgow & Galloway
The Rev Canon Dr Nicholas John Bundock was elected yesterday (18 January) as the new Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway. He will be consecrated and take his new post later in the year. Nick becomes Bishop-elect following the retirement of the Rt Rev Kevin Pearson, who served the Diocese as Bishop for five years. The…
Epiphany 2: A magnificent and abundant provision
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 19 January 2025. ‘Where our humanity seems to fail, the Lord is able to fulfil and supply: magnificently and far beyond our imaginations.’
Baptism of Jesus: A confidence in personal faith
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 12 January 2025. ‘Jesus’ promise is very clear that He will hear our prayers and answer them. And we need it in order to fulfil the ministries that He wishes us to pursue.’
Epiphany: A Godly regimen
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 5 January 2025. ‘As we reflect on the coming of the Magi, perhaps there are things in which we can make our personal response…’
Christmas 1: The life of the church as a family
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 28 December 2024. ‘All of this is simple and undramatic. Not the dramatic stuff of soap operas. But it is all part of the way we grow up and grow together: growing in stature, and wisdom; growing and strengthening in our relationships with one another and with God.’
Christmas Day: O Come, Let us adore Him!
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 25 December 2024. ‘For Jesus is indeed the radiance of the Glory of God and the exact representation of His being, and with John we in the later years of the church, still say ‘We have seen His glory.’’
Advent 4: ‘Tell out, my soul …’
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 22 December 2024. ‘The celebration of Mary and the promise of Micah are not vested in a new system of social or economic order. They are both looking to One anointed by God – a Messiah. One who is directly and personally of God and in God and yet who is also wholly human.’
Advent 3: Let Jesus be real in our generation
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 15 December 2024. ‘This is never a matter of treating the church as a museum: very interesting but of no relevance in the home or the street. More, it is the workshop of the soul, the place where hearts and spirits are raised up before God in joyful expectation.’
Advent 2: The last of the Old Testament prophets
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 8 December 2024. ‘John knew for a certainty that there was One other. He did not know who this was, but he would know Him when he saw Him.’
Advent 1: The Lord has placed us here because He believes in us
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 1 December 2024. ‘He has given us the message of His love for God and for one another, and for our neighbours. And now is the time to stand up, for our salvation is very close.’
Commentary: Trust in Him
The last several months have seen an increasing tempo in the challenges to our ways of life and thinking, writes Rev Sydney Maitland. The rulers of more and more countries around the world seem to prefer the allure of the dictatorships and are opposed to those where the rule of law prevails, and there is…
Bishop accused of bullying begins return to work
Scotland’s first female bishop – who has been accused of bullying – has begun a phased return to work. The Scottish Episcopal Church’s Bishop of Aberdeen and Orkney, the Right Reverend Anne Dyer, was suspended in 2022 and was due to face a disciplinary tribunal after three complaints were made against her. However, following a…
Christ the King: The King who is coming back
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 24 November 2024. ‘Now we wait for Him to return and claim what is His own and to remodel it in His own fashion.’
Trinity 25: Our great High Priest
Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 17 November 2024. ‘And so we are also called into that great tradition of faith in Jesus Christ and trust in His atonement.’
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