Andy and I had a fabulous trip together in Scotland. On our last day there, we went with our friends to St. Marks Church.
Andy & Allison in front of St Marks
The service was very similar to ours. A chalice was lit, prayer time, hymns, musical interlude and sermon. They had a green hymnal published out of London by the British Unitarian Association in addition to our familiar Singing the Living Tradition gray hymnal.
view from the pews
After the service we trooped through the sanctuary to a room behind it. We queued up for tea and coffee and good conversation.
The wee hospitality helpers. The gal on the right, Alice, is the daughter of our friends Paul and Mindy. I love Alice!
They even had a fair trade table:
On our travels, we also visited a church in Fortingall in the Perthshire region of Scotland. The church there situated itself, as many churches did, at a sacred site. The church was built right next to an ancient yew tree. Experts speculate over its age, but the ball-park age of the Yew tree is 5,000 years.
info sign at the church
The yew is protected now b/c over time people have carved out bits of it to take home with them. It is amazing it still lives after being hollowed out by greed.
Where you see ground used to be the solid trunk of the yew. Only parts of it remain, but it lives!
It was a treat to spend so much time with my partner, my beautiful husband! It is a gift to be employed by congregations who value a minister’s time away to be refreshed and to spend time with loved ones.
Thanks!
At Arthur's Seat atop Edinburgh
Very cool! Y’all look fabulous. Is that a clergy crusher in the picture of “the view from the pews”? I’m so glad you had a fun and rewarding adventure.
Does look like a clergy crusher- like at First Unitarian in Chicago. Yikes! There actually is a friendly pulpit that you can’t see in the picture.
“The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the answers.”–James Baldwin
Allison,
Lovely photos. Thank you for sharing.
Glad to see such smiles on both of your faces.
The sign at the Unitarian church is awesome.