OSP's Vision: Still in the City
Old Saint Paul’s Church is located in Edinburgh’s Old Town, part of a vibrant community encompassing Waverley Station, hotels, small businesses, galleries, restaurants, pubs and schools. It is home to a wide spectrum of Edinburgh’s people, including many university students.
OSP have identified the following priorities, which are rooted in our own context, character and history:
A Worshipping Community: accessible and inclusive liturgy
A Sustainable Community: working towards Net Zero
A Creative Community: engaging with the arts
A Healing Community: addressing mental health needs
A Gathering Community: bringing people together to make a difference
A Dispersed Community: attending to our online community
A Nourishing Community: offering food and hospitality
A Learning Community: growing in faith
As an overarching image, we are using the title, Still in the City. This draws on Alison Watt's inspirational painting, but also emphasises the centrality of prayerful stillness, of healing peace, and of our commitment to be a living presence in the city - we're still here after more than 330 years!
Some of these priorities are already firmly in place, such as our Monday lunches, our net zero work under the guidance of our Eco Group, our regular series of lectures and bible studies, our Festival activities, our Livestream and, of course, our rich and engaging worship, which we would love to be enjoyed by even more people. Other aspects of our outward-focussed life - our love for our neighbours - are evolving as we discern the most appropriate ways in which we, as a community, can respond to the needs around us.
We will give more detail for each of these areas over the coming year, but if any of them catches your eye, and you have ideas to share, please let us know!
With love,
Fr John
