St Mungo Ensemble preparing for the service

This service, organised by Glasgow Churches Together and held in the City Chambers, was originally planned as a service to welcome visitors to Glasgow but over the years it has developed to be as much a service of welcome for those who have come to live in the city, particularly migrants and refugees.

This year, as the St Mungo Ensemble and the Salvation Army ensemble prepared in the Banqueting Hall for the service, and piper Willie Park headed down to play outside the City Chambers to welcome people, they found they had some competition from a large Orange Walk, complete with bands.  This caused some amusement; fortunately the march had passed before the service was due to begin.

At the entrance to the Banqueting Hall, there were stalls featuring the work of SCIAF (the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund) and Justice & Peace Scotland.  Inside, members of the St Mungo Singers, pupils from St Denis’s Primary School, and children and adults from the Ukrainian community took their places with a sizeable congregation to await the Lord Provost, Cllr. Jacqueline McLaren and church representatives.

In her welcome, Lord Provost McLaren described the service as the highlight of the ecumenical calendar in the city, with its focus on diversity, tolerance and compassion.  At this time the world would indeed benefit from more tolerance.  The children of St Denis’s echoed the sentiments of her welcome as they sang Coming Home which spoke of welcoming people to “come home to a land they’ve never known”.

This was followed by the reading, by Cpt. Emma Heal Ecumenical Officer of the Salvation Army, of a joint statement issued by the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, Very Rev Sally Foster-Fulton, and Archbishop William Nolan of Glasgow at the time of a visit in April 2024 by Fr Gabriel Romanelli from Gaza, expressing solidarity with the peoples of the Holy Land, and with all those campaigning for an end to the violence in that so troubled region.

The children of the Ukrainian community

That desire for peace and compassion was also the theme of the readings, psalm and hymn which followed:- Isaiah 2:1-5 with its unforgettable image of nations beating their swords into ploughshares; a psalm prayer for peace in Ukraine sung by the children of the Ukrainian school; Sebastian Temple’s beautiful and well-known hymn Make Me a Channel of your Peace based on the prayer of St Francis of Assisi; and the passage from St Matthew’s gospel of the Final Judgement.

In his reflection after the readings, Rev Prof. Roger Sturrock , Moderator of the Presbytery of Glasgow drew attention to the key themes of the readings again and spoke of one story from the recent Refugee Week where an Afghan refugee had explained how he had had no choice but to flee his country especially for the sake of his sisters.  Now he was studying in Glasgow .  That, said Prof. Sturrock is what it means to be a welcoming city.

The prayers of intercession recognised the complexities of the conflicts afflicting our world and prayed for guidance in the steps to take.  They prayed for Glasgow to live up to its name as a welcoming city and for its city council in its actions to help all citizens to “let Glasgow Flourish”.  Finally there was a prayer for the people of Israel and Gaza.

The collection taken up at this service each year was this year being given to the work of the Christian community led by Fr Gabriel in Gaza, which provides support, food and medical aid to people of all faiths and none in that troubled region.

In the final part of the service, the choir of the Ukrainian Parish of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in Glasgow sang a cappella a hauntingly beautiful hymn for their country.  They were followed by the St Denis’s children who sang Heal the World and then lightened the emotional atmosphere by giving us The Glesga’ Budgie, complete with the said bird racing round the Banqueting Hall.

The congregation then stood to join together in the Lord’s Prayer, before the church leaders pronounced the Blessing.  The final hymn was  Carl Daw’s wonderfully apposite O Day of Peace, and as the congregation dispersed to enjoy the hospitality of the City Council, the Salvation Army ensemble played Graham Kendrick’s Beauty for Brokenness , the words of which, for those familiar with them, would be so right for this service .