‘I belong to Glasgow, and Glasgow belongs to me.’
2025 sees the 850th anniversary of the granting of its Burgh Charter to what is now the city of Glasgow. The city, certainly in the past, was always known for close community life, friendliness and sharing. Sure, there were negatives too, but in a place where everyone calls you their ‘pal’, there was, and I hope still is, something that makes Glasgow special.
To mark the occasion, Glasgow Presbytery, working in particular with the Rev Peter Gardner (the Minister to the Visual Arts Community) and Deacon Claire Herbert (Chaplain to the Lodging House Mission), are inviting all congregations to take part in a Presbytery-wide project called ‘Glasgow Close Knit.’
Drawing inspiration from a verse in the letter to the Colossians which speaks of us being ‘knit together in love’, church groups, community groups and the likes are invited to knit blankets or squares for blankets. We will then be encouraged to take photographs of the groups at work – in churches, in care homes, at schools, at Presbytery, or up a good old-fashioned tenement close!
Completed blankets will eventually be displayed as pieces of art in one centre in each of the five Presbytery zones. Thereafter, they will be distributed by the Lodging House Mission to those who are homeless or experiencing difficulty keeping warm or are in other kinds of need.
This is an opportunity for the Presbytery and its congregations and parishes to demonstrate the love of God in Jesus Christ which knits us together in the most practical ways continuing a tradition of care for the poor and faithful service to Christ.
We are all knitted together in some way and of course the Psalmist reminds us that even before we were born, he knew us and then formed us, knitting bone and bone to make us who we are today.
And in this month of remembrance, there is certainly time to reflect on how we are influenced by the actions and reactions of others, both for good and ill, as we focus on past conflicts and present ones, especially in the Middle East and Ukraine. Were the world to hold on to that very fact that we are all connected, perhaps the world would be a more peaceful place.
Likewise, in our own city, there are those who have very little, but they belong to us as we do to them. The words of that famous song is really appropriate about belonging, so I challenge you, representing our church, to take up your needles and start to knit. It would be great to see many different blankets, creative in a variety of ways, being made by you, giving you a chance to show off your creative talents and warming people’s hearts as well as their very bodies.
So let us hear the knitter and the natter at the same time, drawing each together, as God does everyday through us. We are attached in many ways and this is a chance to strengthen the thread of love that keeps us warm in more ways than we can imagine.
‘Knitters are not quitters’ the Google page said!
So does God.
Get knitting and see what we can produce!
Your friend and minister,
George C Mackay
