You know your from Musselburgh

A friend sent me a funny mail about my home town which is called Musselburgh, quite a large town about 2 miles out of the centre of Edinburgh.


This is Musselburgh Harbour...

Here are some of the little snippits:

- you spent countless hours of your summer going Pier Plunging.

- when the tide was out you walked through the slop in the harbour.

- you remember that Somerfield was called Gateway, Fine Fare & Coopers before it finally closed last year.

- Worcester Sauce crisps & a VHS rental from Azad Video was a treat.

- you ran from school to Greggs @ lunchtime for the drink sausage roll & doughnut for £1.

- if you got bored of Greggs, the caprice did half pizzas for 70p.

- you got your feet measured in the slidy panel machine in Clarks.

- running across the field in seagull mating season was considered dangerous.

- swan island was a forbidden place in case a swan broke your back with its wing.

- you called it Craig Park even though it had a sign saying Kinnaird Park at the entrance.

- Woolies was where you bought all your Transformers.

- when the bridge christian centre youth club was full of neds, the organisers didn't think it was strange.


Sunset view from the beach (often used to walk along there and pray)

Yes, it's not the bastion of civilisation, but it's where I call home. I wonder how many of the items on the list that anyone growing up in the 80's/90's could actually relate too. It's interesting that generally wherever you go in the world, there is always something common that we can relate to in one way or another. Now I know this is sounding like a wishy washy sermon, but let me finish.

At times we in the Church label our self as Trad's, Liberals, Cafeteria Catholics and all that Jazz; but how many times do we not relate to the person simply because they are not like us. If the Catholic faith is the fullness of revealed truth (and it is) then surely we can be big enough as CATHOLICS just to be Catholic and not act superior to the Evangelical, the Muslim or the agnostic or the atheist. Pope Benedict XVI said that we as Catholics must be a force of joy radiating in the world, and more often than not we are the force that closes the door on those who don't agree.

A young Bishop called Karol Wojtyla once said at the second vatican council that the dialogue with atheism should not start with the proofs of God, but with a profound reflection of mans solitude. When I read that I was moved because for the first time other than the fact of my common human fallen nature was I aware of my common bond with the person who had no faith. How many of us in our hearts really do not believe? How many times when we are alone and in pain do we turn to God, even though we don't know or don't want to believe the He exists? Yes we must acknowledge the profound differences of opinion and this must be taken seriously and be given room to be debated, but all the same when Richard Dawkins published his book everyone was calling him all sorts of things I wont repeat here. Notice how hardly anyone sat down with him to try and have a reasonable conversion. And when they did try to challenge they said God exists because he is the first cause. To men like Dawkins that's like Galaxy Chocolate to your girlfriend.

Yes I know I'm from Musselburgh but I also call home the Catholic Church; I hope there comes a time in the Church were we can start to treat each as Our Lord did. Meeting them were they were at and asking them to follow... Maybe how we live out our faith will help them take the first steps weather that's to the ordinary or extraordinary.