Female priest conducts her first official mass

Reverend Eleanor Glasgow celebrated, with her parishioners on Sunday, her first official mass since becoming the first female Anglican parish priest in the Diocese of the Windward Islands.{{more}}

The atmosphere was buzzing with excitement as members of the parish of St James filed into the beautiful stone church at Layou and anxiously awaited the start of the mass.

In a concise and captivating homily that held the attention of everyone in the room, Glasgow encouraged the congregation to transform their Christian discipleship from words into action.

“If we say that we are followers of Jesus Christ and we do not give living expression to that belief and that faith, then we are only making a fool of ourselves. We’re certainly not fooling the Lord,” she said.

Glasgow stressed that Christians should give testimony to their faith by portraying that Christianity in their everyday lives.

“There are some universal traits that make you wonder what is the true meaning of Christianity?” Glasgow declared. “There are some people who would do all kinds of gymnastics around the church, but they’re watching to see where you are, because they want to avoid you, because they don’t want to shake your hand.

“I’m saying if this is the case at St Mary’s or St James, as of today, we’re going to change that, because that is not a true expression of Christianity. We have to understand that Christian discipleship calls for a change of understanding that dictates the way we live with our sisters and brothers”.

While giving her official welcome remarks, the parish priest expressed gratitude for the generosity of her parishioners.

“Know that you have made the transition over here a very smooth one,” Glasgow said. “I really feel welcome. There were a number of phone calls…you don’t know how good that makes one feel, especially when you’ve made the sacrifice to come away from home, from your familiar surroundings and give yourself in service to God”.

Glasgow, who is the wife of Reverend Christian Glasgow, the Archdeacon of the Anglican Church in Grenada, noted that persons have expressed concern about her being separated from her family.

However, the parish priest reassured them that they should not worry as she and her husband have “an understanding of ministry”.

She explained that she met her husband at the seminary while studying to become a priest, so the path that they had chosen was very clear to both of them. “I also thank God for the advances in technology because up to this morning at 5 a.m., we were on Skype. So, I can see him and he can see me…have no fear,” she said.

Glasgow also asked her parishioners to be cooperative so that, together, they can make progress in the parish of St James. (BK)