Monday, July 20, 2009
Ur
This report was written by Christine McIntosh of Holy Trinity Dunoon, originally for her blog and is used with her permission Click here to see the blog
Ever since I became a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church, in the early
‘70s, I’ve been aware that it is regarded by many native Scots as The English
Church. “What do you want to go to a church like that for? You’re Scottish!” In
Dunoon, it helps the visitor to tell the taxi driver to go to the English
church, and in Mid-Argyll certainly you’ll hear at least as many English
accents as native Scots ones.
But yesterday was different, and for the first time in my church-going life I
felt that I was in a truly native church, with a history and an ethos that was
entirely Scottish – and Highland at that. Not the fakery of the
dressing-up-for-a-wedding tartanry, but the deep-seated faith of an area which
had survived persecution and emerged somehow in the 21st century with much of
its tradition intact. The occasion might have been dismissed as mere
tartan-for-tourists. But “A Highland Homecoming”, part of the government’s
Homecoming Scotland programme, took the form of a celebration of the Eucharist
in Gaelic, in St John’s Church, Ballachulish, in the presence of the assembled,
international ranks of the Clan McInnes. And from the opening words - Ann an
ainm an Athar, agus a'Mhic agus an Spiorad Naoimh
- I was hooked.
So why was I there? And why did I feel the power of this mass, given that I
have about 4 words of Gaelic and none of them were used yesterday? The first is
easy: the mass setting was John’s Kilbride Mass, in Gaelic, and he was playing
the organ for the service. And the music suddenly sounded as if it had been
written for the Gaelic words - A Thighearna, dčan trňcair oirnn. A Chriosda, dčan trňcair oirnn. A
Thighearna, dčan trňcair oirnn.
The second? Was it the resonance of Emsley Nimmo’s
Gaelic, or the haunting beauty of the final music from the choirs – Gleann
Bhaile Chaoil? Or was it because Mr B pulled out all the stops (you might
say) from his distant roots and moved the entire congregation with his playing
of traditional airs á la McIntosh? or the wonderful
strangeness of hearing a mass setting I know by heart to words which were
completely unfamiliar?
Actually I think it was a mixture of all these things, and more. And the more
was symbolised, I realise, by the presence on the altar of the Appin Banner, a
replica of the pale blue and gold flag which was rescued from the carnage after
Culloden and returned to the area of Portnacrois and
Afterwards, there was an incredible bun-fight. I don’t know how we managed it,
but despite the teeming rain outside and the two portaloos in the grounds it
was accomplished that people got tea and scones and cakes – and the most
wonderful clootie dumpling I’ve ever tasted. The politicians – Mike Russell,
Culture Minister in the Scottish Parliament and Charles Kennedy, the local
Westminster MP – posed for photos and chatted amiably; Bishop Martin was
interviewed for the telly – a camera had woven in and out throughout – and the
Dean of Aberdeen & Orkney, Emsley Nimmo, fortified himself with a scone.
This, I realise, reads like a mixture of piece for the magazine and personal
blog post. This is because my last blog on a diocesan event was transplanted
wholesale into the diocesan mag, and must have confused anyone who didn’t know
of its provenance. So here’s the wee blogger’s coda…
When we emerged into the rain which had been gathering in malevolence during
the service, we were both shaking with knackerdom. We still had the drive home
to Dunoon, through the looming and more or less drowned Glencoe, and I had a
picture of us sleeping by the roadside. I even thought longingly of sailing
into a hotel and ignoring the lack of a toothbrush. But whether it was the
adrenaline of a successful gig which kept Mr B at the wheel, or the recounting
of the interesting contacts I’d made during the afternoon, we kept going and
made it in 2 hours flat.
Personally, I think it was the clootie dumpling …
Click here for more photos