Let's Begin with a Wee Prayer

The title above was how the minister started the service Sunday when we attended a nearby church in Kilspindie. The church was Presbyterian, although I feel that there are some cultural influences of the way the service works here as opposed to Protestant services in America…more on that later, though.
We woke up bright and early this morning in order to bike to Kilspindie, which is about 3 ½ miles away from our cottage. The weather wasn’t bad, and we were glad for it, since biking in the rain is pretty awful, especially when you’re on your way to church and it’s 8:30 in the morning. We got to the village of Kilspindie and didn’t see the church anywhere in sight, so I stopped and asked a man who was standing near his truck. He told us where the church was, and also told us that William Wallace’s ancestors are buried in the graveyard at said church. After following his directions, we saw an elderly Scottish man headed towards a particular building, so we figured we were in the right place. We lost sight of the man, but followed a car that was parking. The man stepped out and was wearing a priest’s collar (although it looked different from a Catholic priest collar, but I still immediately recognized it), so Seth asked him if this was the church. He said no, but that he would show us the way. Sure enough, he was the reverend – Douglas Main. He led us over, and everyone there was really pumped to meet us. The church was almost entirely comprised of elderly people and they were all very friendly and seemed fascinated by our American-ness. Rev. Douglas Main joked that we had biked all the way from the US, and they found that pretty entertaining. Although we had many greeters, one man came over and was telling us about the church. He said that the building we were in had stood for 350 years, but that people had been worshipping on that ground since the 1200s, which I thought was awesome. I felt linked to those that had come before me years and years before, who had worshipped the very same omnipresent God.
As I mentioned before, the service is set up kind of differently there than in America. In most Protestant churches in the US (and obviously, I haven’t been to every Protestant church in America, so bear with me if I am incorrect) the main focus of the service is upon the message, delivered by the preacher. During this message, the preacher will interpret and discuss Biblical passages. Correct? As far as my experience, this is how it goes in the US. Well, here the message lasts 10, maybe 15 minutes. The rest of the hour long service is filled with several prayers, announcements, reading of the Bible, and singing hymns. I really enjoyed the difference because I felt that each thing had its own significance. Sometimes in American churches, I almost feel that the sacredness of singing and praying are overcome by the message, which usually takes up a much larger portion of the service. I don’t believe that any one part of the service should overpower other parts. Seth counterargued me by saying that each part may only seem more sacred to me because I am not used to this form of worship, meaning if it were the other way around, I might think an American church were more sacred or something. This is a good argument, and I’d like to know what others think…
One thing for sure, I definitely appreciated the uninterrupted reading of the scriptures. I feel that this is something missing from most Protestant churches in America. I believe it a necessity that when worshipping God, we come to the scriptures and read them purely as they are, without interpretation. Sometimes this gets overlooked or skipped in US Protestant services, and I would like to see more of it. Not that there is anything wrong with a preacher interpreting the text as his sermon; however, I feel that a reading of the text without discussion is also very important in worship.
Reverend Main’s sermon was very good – and thought provoking. He focused on Daniel 9:1-7, 17-19, in which Daniel makes a prayer for his people. In the prayer, he admits to the sins and wickedness of his society, and in doing so, he includes himself. He does not say “they” sinned and were wicked, but rather that “we have sinned and committed iniquity.” Rev. Main used this passage to discuss our responsibility as Christians in society. He spoke of how our sins would only lead to more sin throughout our society, our nation. He argued that, just like Daniel, we should not blame the sins of the nation upon others, but rather put them upon ourselves, pushing ourselves to become more perfect and pure in the eyes of our Lord. He furthered his point by bringing in John Donne’s poem including the phrase of “No man is an island”, which I put below:
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.

Of course, he did a much better job than I at making his argument, but Seth and I still thought it was both a thought and action provoking sermon.
Sadly, we did not get any pictures of the church. We were blending so well – totally didn’t feel like tourists for once. We just couldn’t bear to pull the cameras out and ruin the moment. I think it was worth it.
Lastly, I’d like to mention that Seth failed to mention a moment of cuteness which occurred at the Scone Palace. The Scottish Crown Jewels were also located in the palace, including the crown used at coronations. While Seth and I were standing there, this British child and his dad came through and in a very cute, very British accent, the little boy said “Look, Daddy, it’s the king’s hat!” and his Dad, in a more Scottish accent, replied, “Well, it’s called a crown, isn’t it? A crown, yes?” Maybe it’s not cute to you, but it was awesome that day. We had a good laugh out of it.