Christmas in Scotland

I know that Christmas is over and that you are tuckered out from all the Christmas festivities, wanting to forget about it until next Christmas. But I am still savouring the most recent Christmas. I have been learning more about Christmas here in Scotland that I want to share with you. I will try to keep it short, but I think it is important to learn about this in the country I now live.

I am a Church of Scotland minister. The Church of Scotland has had a strong influence on Scottish society until recent times, and this has included the celebration of Christmas. The Protestant Church of Scotland was the primary force in society for about 400 years, from 1560 to the late 1950s. Since that latter date, the Church's influence has dramatically decreased. During that time Christmas was essentially banned from observance. The powers that be in the Church frowned upon Christmas celebration. People have told me that as far back as the late 1950s, most people had to work Christmas Day, although children might have gotten gifts. Christmas celebration was what the Roman Catholics and English Anglicans did. Proper and God-fearing Scottish people did not behave like they did.

And that is why Hogmanay, or New Years, has always been the Scottish holiday of choice. For 400 years Christmas had been a normal day for most people in Scotland. It was noticed, but it was a quiet day. Hogmanay became a time to let loose and celebrate. Gifts were exchanged and families gathered together for festive meals at Hogmanay, not Christmas. People went house to house to sing, eat, and exchange gifts at Hogmanay. There was an open door policy. For children stockings were filled with a few goodies and sweets. Agnes, my next door neighbour, remembers that, as a young girl, her parents opened the door to their home for family, friends, and neighbours to drop by on Hogmanay. It was a festive time. Christmas, however, was just like any other day. These days, Agnes goes all out at Christmas, and doesn't do anywhere as much on Hogmanay.

Agnes tells me that all that began to change in the late 1950s. In 1958 the Scottish civil authorities declared that Christmas was a public holiday. This was perhaps due to the waning influence of the Church of Scotland and the cultural and economic influence of England and the USA. Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, was declared a public holiday in 1974. Christmas has become a time of Christmas festivity and gift giving; Hogmanay, as New Year's, is the big celebration time in Scotland. The latter is often characterised by times of riotous festivities. Since the 1980s, Christmas has been on par with Hogmanay, but Hogmanay is still far bigger in the eyes of the Scottish people.

Christmas in Scotland is now a significant holiday, although still not on the level of England or the USA. Saying that, the celebration of Christmas is exploding here. Christmas has become the season of gift-giving, festive family meals, Christmas decorations, and Christmas parties. Stores prepare for Christmas starting in late October. Black Friday has entered the Scottish vocabulary. I receive a good number of Christmas cards and Christmas gifts. I attend a lot of Christian functions in the weeks leading up to Christmas. I am busy with services on Christmas Eve, and even have had Christmas services to conduct. It is a fun time and I enjoy it. I especially enjoyed this past Christmas season.

New Year's, Hogmanay, is just a few hours away. I hope you had a very merry Christmas. Now I wish you a happy New Year! I hope to share about Hogmanay in a few days.

Every blessings to you and yours,

Merry Christmas from St Fergus

I had a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas. As I write this, it is the day after Christmas and it is a Sabbath Day for me, a day of rest. Today I have been basking in the glow of Christmas. I am glad that all the activities of Christmas are behind me. The past week was especially hectic, to say the least. But Christmas Eve and Christmas were special to me because the focus of the last week has been on the birth of Jesus. I emphasised over and over wherever I was that Jesus is the reason for the season. 

Last Friday the students and staff of the St Fergus Primary School came down to St Fergus Parish Church for their Christmas program. This is the third year the school has been back to the church for that. After the kids did their Christmas program, I gave a short seven or eight minute talk to the kids and the adults. Two days later, on the Sunday before Christmas, there was an All Ages  Family Christmas service at St Fergus Parish Church. This was the third time in three months that we have done an All Ages  Family service at the church. That evening at St Andrews Church, I spoke about Advent as waiting and preparing for the coming of Jesus. 

Christmas Eve was a busy day for me. At 6:15 pm children and their families from the village came to the church for a Family Carol Sing-Along, sponsored by the St Fergus Community Association. After a rousing time of singing carols, I spoke to the children about the birth of Jesus and led them in singing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then we were visited by Santa Clause which created a lot of excitement. At 7:30, we had a good crowd at the church for the St Fergus Parish Church Christmas Eve Service. The service has grown over the last three years. At 11:00 pm I led a Candlelight Christmas Eve service at St Andrews Church. It was a beautiful service with a lot of music as we welcomed in Christmas and celebrated the birth of Jesus.   

At the two later services on Christmas Eve I pointed out that Jesus was born a king unlike any other king throughout history. In a recent Christmas card to me, a friend had written the first stanza of what I used in my short talks. I do not know the source of that first line, but I developed it further and came up with three other stanzas. Below I write out my friend's stanza with the three that I made up. I also added the line That king is King Jesus.

A thousand times in history 

a baby became a king;

but only once in history 

did a king become a baby. 

That king is King Jesus.

A thousand times in history 

people served their king;

but only once in history 

did a king serve his people.

That king is King Jesus. 

A thousand times in history

people sacrificed their lives for their king; 

but only once in history 

did a king sacrifice his life for his people.

That king is King Jesus. 

A thousand times in history

death conquered a king, even the mightiest of kings;

but only once in history

did a king conquer death 

and bestow on his people life in all its fullness

and life eternal. 

That king is King Jesus. 

My strategy for these next two Sundays (28 December and 4 January) is to continue to sing Christmas carols and celebrate Christmas. You could say that I am following the Twelve Days of Christmas routine. I relish Christmas carols such as Joy to the World and Hark the Herald Angel Sing because they are so rich theologically. In the Sundays before Christmas I stressed Advent hymns. I only began to have us sing Christmas Carols seriously the Sunday before Christmas. Now with the stress of Christmas plans behind us, I figure we can linger for a bit longer on Christmas and Jesus Christ as the reason for the season.  I will keep telling them of the wonderful Story, the true Story of Jesus Christ and His birth that Christmas long ago. I hope it is a ripe time to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and proclaim biblical truth that leads us to life in all its fullness. 

I hope you had a very merry Christmas, and now may you have a very happy New Year. 

Blessings to you and yours, 

Advent in Buchan: Waiting for Jesus to Come

A Christmas wreath with the four Advent candles surrounding the Christ Candle in the centre

I enjoy the season of Advent. Over recent years, it has become especially meaningful to me. Advent is built around the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day. It is a time of waiting and preparing for the birth of Jesus that first Christmas so long ago and so far away. There are rich blessings in the journey to the celebration of the birth of Christ that is conveyed by observing Advent. The seasons of Advent and Christmas make up my favourite time of year, especially as I minister in the life of a local congregation. 

Some churches observe Advent while others do not. Very few of the churches I have served over the years in one capacity or another have paid any attention to the four Sundays immediately preceding Christmas Day. Congregations that did have a time in their service for lighting the Advent candles did so without going deeper into the meaning of the season or integrating it into their service. I wonder if the more evangelical churches of which I am a part see it as too Roman Catholic or too much like the 'English' Church, that is, the Anglican churches. 

Here at St Fergus, I have tried to move slowly with the congregation in introducing Advent to them. I have not heard or sensed any negativity to Advent, but certainly there still is no appreciation for the deep meaning of Advent. The members and friends of the congregation treat me well. They chose me as their minister and so are willing to go along with what I bring to them. This is the third Christmas season I have been serving them, and therefore the third Season of Advent. By lighting the candles each Sunday, I am able to highlight some truth about God, ourselves, and salvation. Advent is a theologically rich time to bring to people's attention great biblical truths and realities. 

At the centre of the Advent Season are the Advent wreath and five candles. The circular wreath stands for God who is eternal; the greenery points to eternal salvation. The four candles that ring the central candle mean different things to various Christian traditions and customs. One tradition that I am familiar with has them stand for hope, peace, joy, and love. Another tradition follows the order of repentance, forgiveness, preparation, and salvation. Sometimes great figures in biblical history are highlighted with the lighting of each candle. The candles can also be in different colours to portray various biblical themes. There is no one accepted position for the meanings or colours of the candles.   

At St Fergus, I use the wreath and candles in a very simple way to teach the essentials of the Christian faith.  Although the people of the church are great, as I mentioned above they could use a better grasp of Christian basics. Advent time is a wonderful opportunity to proclaim these basics within the framework of the beautiful Christmas Story. So each Sunday of Advent I am able to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people. I am also able to preach the Old Testament prophecies that are fulfilled in Jesus as presented in the New Testament Gospels.  That's why I enjoy preaching and worshipping during this time of year. 

Until the next post, blessings to you and yours, 

Remembrance Sunday, 9 November 2014

I know, it is early December in the season of Advent. As usual, I have put off posting to my blog. I find it hard to write and post a blog. I have been thinking of one on Advent, but Remembrance Sunday has been on my mind all this time. I can't move on with writing other things for the blog until I get it written and posted. So here it goes. 

Ever since I arrived in Scotland in the autumn of 2003, I have been moved by the British observance of Remembrance Sunday. As I have travelled around England, Scotland, and Wales, I have noticed memorials to the dead of the two World Wars. They are in every village, town, and city. The people of the United Kingdom paid a high price in those two great wars, especially the First World War. The lists of the fallen of the first war are always two or three times longer than the lists of the fallen of the second. Every Remembrance Sunday people surround the local monuments to proclaim that they will never forget those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. World War One started on the 28th of June, 1914. In 2014 all forms of media in the United Kingdom have been remembering the start of the Great War a hundred years ago. An armistice went into effect on the 11th of November, 1918. It was a time of great loss of life. Over 15 million soldiers on all sides were killed during the hostilities. Over seven million soldiers are still unaccounted for. The civilian losses were also staggering, millions losing their homes, loved ones, and their own lives. 

That first eleventh of November, 1919, set the tone for a national day when everyone in Britain would be asked to remember the sacrifices made by others during the Great War. That date of November 11 is still known as Armistice Day. On that date in 1919, a peace agreement was signed between Germany and the Allies. After the Second World War Remembrance Sunday was instituted for the second Sunday in November in order to remember all those who died in both world wars and other wars. 

Every Remembrance Sunday, the Queen and the Royal Family gather together with military and political figures at the Cenotaph in London to lead the nation in remembrance of the fallen in all the wars. The highpoint is a powerful two-minute silence that was started by King George V in November 1919. It is a national occasion when 'in perfect stillness, the thoughts of everyone may be concentrated on remembrance of the glorious dead.' Also prominent in the weeks leading up to Remembrance Sunday is the wearing of paper poppies on outer clothing. These paper poppies are made by disabled veterans of the wars in order to raise funds for the care of those who took part in service to the United Kingdom. 

The poppies are delicate red flowers with tissue-like petals that grow wild in fields and hedgerows. They flourished in the fields and ground disturbed by the battles of World War One. These blood-red flowers carpeted the ground in the summer after a particularly bloody battle had devastated the land. In 1915 a Canadian medical doctor named John McCrae composed a poem entitled 'In Flanders' Fields.' His poem is displayed below in this blog post. He wrote that the poppies blossomed in the fields of battle where men had died in mortal combat. Out of this came the tradition of wearing paper poppies as a reminder of the sacrifices of so many people during the Great War. 

I experienced my first Remembrance Sunday in 2003 in Edinburgh, Scotland. I was recently arrived in Scotland as a student at the University of St Andrews. On the second Saturday in November, I took the train down to Edinburgh to explore that great city. I spent the night in a hostel and went out early Sunday morning to look for a church service. I ended up at St Giles Church. There I heard about Remembrance Sunday and all that it meant. Following the service, we proceeded outside onto the Royal Mile where there was a crowd gathering. Military units marched in procession accompanied by military bands. Dignitaries took their positions in areas of prominent display. At just a few ticks till 11:00 it was announced that there would be two minutes of silence. What followed was solid silence among the large crowd of people. This was my first two-minute silence on Remembrance Sunday. I had no idea that that Sunday was such a solemn occasion. The two minutes of silence has been the essential element in Remembrance Sunday throughout the land since 1919.

I have led the last three Remembrance Sunday services at St Fergus Parish Church. Remembrance Sunday ceremonies are services of solemn remembrance for those who gave their lives in the wars of the United Kingdom, especially the two world wars. There is a group of people from the village who only attend church on Remembrance Sunday. I sought every opportunity to bear witness to Jesus Christ. After the two minutes of silence we proceeded out of the sanctuary to the Memorial to remember St Fergus men who were killed in the wars. The World War One list contains the names of over 30 men who were killed in the Great War; the list for the fallen of the Second World War has five names. After the service ended, a small group of us traveled several miles out to the ancient church cemetery. There are the graves of three Canadian naval officers who were killed in action in the last year of  World War II. At another grave we stopped and remembered a young boy who was killed just after the Second World War ended. He was with a friend hunting for bird eggs on St Fergus Beach. The beach was still defended by mine fields. He was killed when he stepped on a mine. We remember him each year as well as the Canadian naval officers. 

As a Christian minister, I believe it is important to remember the dead from war, and the courage, bravery, and sacrifice that is common in such times. But I must admit that I am uncomfortable with the practice of a civil religion within the context of the Christian faith. There is plenty of reference to God in general, but not to the Lord Jesus Christ in particular. Some Christians I know would not tolerate such a service in their church. Usually it is because they are pacifists and practice the non-violence of Jesus. Others are concerned about the corruption of the Church by the political State. Although I don't accept fully these stances, I do take their concerns seriously. They cause me to critically evaluate our practice on Remembrance Sunday, especially at St Fergus. The sentiments of Remembrance Sunday are just too ingrained into the consciousness of the British people. I am not willing to pay the price of confronting it. I chose battles that I can win, and Remembrance Sunday services at St Fergus Parish Church is not one of them. But still I can shape the way we observe Remembrance Sunday at St Fergus Parish Church. 

That is why I seek every opportunity to bring the Name of Jesus into my prayers and meditation. I speak about Jesus' supreme sacrifice upon the Cross for the forgiveness of sin and His mighty Resurrection from death to life on the third day. I speak to a small group of people who only come to the church on Remembrance Sunday as well as those who come regularly. As I do every Sunday I focus on Jesus Christ's redeeming sacrifice for us and His victory over sin, death, and Satan. In the service I also call upon the congregation to say 'we will remember.'

Blessings to you and yours,