We spent a day in Glasgow on our trip last week.  This is Glasgow Cathedral.  The building was dedicated in 1197 and worship has been carried out here continuously for more than 800 years. Amazing! It is the only formerly Roman Catholic cathedral in Scotland to have survived the Reformation without having its roof destroyed because the people of Glasgow rallied around it to protect it. Today it is home to a Church of Scotland congregation while the Catholics have moved St. Andrews.

 

We stopped at the University of Glasgow.  As you can see, the spring flowers were spectacular!  The university was founded in 1450 and is the 4th oldest university in the English-speaking world.  One of its most famous alums (or infamous depending on your views) was Adam Smith.

                                     

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.  It is the home of the famous Salvatore Dali painting, Christ of St. John of the Cross, which was pretty spectacular.  They also had a wonderful collection of impressionist paintings which we especially enjoyed.                                                                                    

On our way to the train the next morning, we encountered a parade for William of Orange.  The clerk in the coffee shop where we stopped for breakfast told us that it was just a good excuse for all the guys to hit the pubs early!

We did some sightseeing in Edinburgh last week and started at Edinburgh Castle (like everyone else!) It is the most popular tourist site in Scotland with more than a million visitors each year. It was built on the top of an old volcano in the Middle Ages and was virtually impregnable. It is huge with several museums, lots of cannons (one of which is still fired at 1:00 every afternoon), a chapel, a cemetery for soldiers' dogs, a royal palace, and the Scottish crown jewels!

St. Giles Cathedral is the "birthplace of Presbyterianism" and dates from the 14th century.  It was home to John Knox who became pastor there in 1559 and launched the Scottish Protestant Reformation. Today he is buried inconspicuously outside the cathedral in the parking lot under a small placque located in parking space 23.

Rose and Dianne and the aforementioned John.

In 2005 Edinburgh was declared the literary capital of Europe for its many esteemed writers over the centuries, from Sir Walter Scott to Robert Louis Stevenson to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to J.K. Rowling.  The Elephant House is the coffee shop where the now rich and famous welfare mom wrote her first Harry Potter novel.

Statues abound in Edinburgh.  This one is of the philosopher David Hume.  Note his shiny gold toe which visitors rub for luck, much like Abe Lincoln's nose in Springfield.

Probably the most beloved statue is of this much celebrated little Skye terrier named Greyfriars Bobby, which has stood on this site since 1873. He was the devoted companion of a local farmer. After the farmer died, the story goes that Bobby faithfully slept in the local churchyard on his master's grave each night for the next 14 years! There is a popular pub named for Greyfriars Bobby across the street.

Holyroodhouse Palace is the home of Queen Elizabeth in Edinburgh.  It is usually open to the public unless the queen is in residence.  Unfortunately we were not able to visit because the queen's representative to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was staying there. (We did visit the General Assembly though!)

Edinburgh is steeped in history in every direction. The streets are cobblestone and the buildings are hundreds of years old. Yet in the middle of it all sits this strange-looking modern structure which is the Scottish Parliament.  What were they thinking? :(

It was a beautiful day for a baptism at Bunessan Church today!  We had the joy of officiating at the baptism of Seren Alison Johnston.  She is an adorable baby and was delightful, stealing everyone's hearts during the service (though it looks like the festivities have worn her out by photo time!)  Her dad Andy grew up on Iona and her grandparents, former owners of the St. Columba Hotel, still live there.  Her mom Jennifer grew up in Bunessan and was baptized herself at the Bunessan Church. Seren (her name means "star" in Welsh) has two older brothers, looking very handsome. She also has a sister who boycotted the photo ops. All the siblings were lively participants in the occasion!

Jerry was the preacher for the day and had an awesome sermon about baptism. He shared a touching story about a baptism he participated in when he was Clerk of Session in Evanston. The service from the Scottish Common Order is very similar to PCUSA.  The Bunessan congregation has a tradition of singing "The Lord bless you and keep you" as the baby is presented to the congregation. Just like at FPCAH, they love giving the baby a pat. 

The font was decorated with local spring flowers and some were floated in the water, a lovely touch we had not seen before.  The parents get to choose a favorite hymn for the service, and not surprisingly chose "Jesus Loves Me."  The congregation gives the mom flowers and the baby a book.

What is a church occasion without food?  The bakers at Bunessan were hard at work with lots of delicious treats for coffee time following the service.

Though we were a long way from home, what stood out most for us today was that we could have closed our eyes and been in Arlington Heights or Downers Grove.  Truly, there is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all.  Ephesians 4:4-6.

Today was Pentecost and the celebration of the 1450th anniversary of the arrival of St. Columba to Iona.  The event was by invitation only and we were honored to be part of it. Today was also the opening worship of the Church of Scotland's General Assembly in Edinburgh.  We are traveling to Edinburgh and Glasgow this week for some sightseeing and hope to stop in.
                                                              
Dignitaries and guests on Iona today were greeted by a bagpiper, of course.  (We also recognized him as a worker on the ferry when not piping for special occasions!)                                

                                                                                                                                                            
Guests were also welcomed by the children's choir from Iona Primary School.  Do you recognize the rugby team?

Rose and Dianne in their clergy attire to look "official" for the occasion.

A picture can not begin to do justice to the interior of the Abbey. It is an awesome worship space.

Guests were hosted to a buffet lunch following the service in a large tent erected in the Iona Primary School yard.  Islanders said they had  "never seen anything like it!"

The Iona Primary School won the local rugby tournament championship today against 6 teams from the Isle of Mull.  (The Iona team is composed of the entire school enrollment!) Their teacher/coach is Liz Kennedy, also the Clerk of Session at Parish Church, who was instrumental in bringing us to Iona.  Way to go, team!

 

Here, at last, is a picture of the elusive corncrake! We are getting quite an education in birds.  It turns out that the birds living above Rose's bothy aren't crows at all.  They are rooks, and the nests in the trees are a "rookery."  Rooks squawk loudly while corncrakes sound more like a buzzsaw.  Then there is also a cuckoo who chimes 24/7.  So we have quite the symphony of birds.  We've seen some beautiful oyster catchers with long orange beaks and look forward to seeing puffins on nearby Staffa Island. We are also told we might see sea eagles, huge birds of prey, some with 9' wing spans, that can pick up a small lamb.  We are beginning to understand why Scots are so avid about birds.  There is an organization called the RSPB, the Royal Society for the Preservation of Birds, who seems to have as much clout as Parliament!