The St Mungo Festival has expanded beyond its original concept and format to include a range of secular events, but at its core is still the spiritual celebration of St Mungo, the founder of Glasgow. It began this year with a Vespers of St Mungo in St Andrew’s Cathedral on 10th January, presided over by Archbishop Bill Nolan, with support for the music of the liturgy from the St Mungo Singers. The sizable congregation included a youth group from the Archdiocesan Youth Office and Fr Andrij Chernenko of the Ukrainian community.
After the psalms – Psalm 23 with its so appropriate response I preach the Gospel of the Lord by the grace of God; psalm 111 with its equally appropriate response This is the wise and faithful servant whom the Lord put in charge – and scripture reading from 1 Peter5:1-4, Archbishop Nolan, in his short reflection, drew the attention of the congregation to the refrain of the final hymn Let Glasgow Flourish by the preaching of the Word, let Glasgow Flourish by the praising of His Name. That, he remarked, says it all. If only everything we did was for the glory of God. The hymn is a reminder of what we must do.
In the Intercessions which followed, we prayed for the church and faith communities in our city, our civic leaders, fellow citizens and asylum seekers/refugees, for encouragement in our faith as we celebrate this Holy Year and Anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, and for peace particularly in the Holy Land and Ukraine.
The service ended with the praying of the Lord’s Prayer, a sung and spoken blessing and the singing of that unofficial Glasgow anthem Let Glasgow Flourish.
Youth Group with Archbishop Nolan
