January 16, 2011
It's been a hard winter to date and even though temperatures in Durris have climbed above freezing - in fact it's positively balmy now - the car park at the church had large areas covered in ice. It wasn't practical to sand it or grit it so we took the decision to transfer the service to Drumoak. We've a good system to let people know; the Session Clerk phones all the Elders and they phone the people in their district. But between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning there's not a lot of time so if you went to Durris only to see the notice and have to turn around then we're sorry but we tried to let everyone know.
After the intimations, Peter Richardson, the Session Clerk, gave a token of appreciation from the Board to William Bowman who'd decided to stand down after several years of service as Clerk to the Board. The gifts were a book token and a voucher for the Milton Restaurant.
Peter also appealed for helpers to mark the 175th Anniversary of Drumoak Church. Anyone wanting to help should contact Ronnie Mitchell. If no-one comes forward, then there'll be nothing done.
The Rev Helen Hamilton took the service. They hymns were a delightful blend of old and modern with two of them having Scottish folk melodies for their tunes - Amy, our organist was accompanied by Mr Donald on the accordion for one of the hymns.
The children's address was given by Amanda Fowlie, our YSunday leader. She chose "The Fourth Wise Man" as her theme and as much as the story captivated the children, it enthralled the adults too.
The Rev Hamilton's theme for her sermon was the Bible, the revealing of God .... to whom? This is the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible so the readings were from the King James version rather than the modern versions. Helen gave a brief but most interesting description of the path taken by the Bible from the spoken word to the written Hebrew word, followed by Greek, Latin and in the late 14th Century an English translation and finally in 1611 the authorised Version commissioned by King James VI. Unavoidably (perhaps that's being generous) translators put their own bias on the texts or simply made mistakes. The severity with which the church of those early days punished people who used anything other than the original Greek or Latin texts appals us today when there is a move to make the Bible available in every language on earth. All in all a very interesting sermon.
The service finished with coffees and teas in the Welcome Area. People who don't come to church simply have no idea what they're missing.
(Karen Armstrong's book "The Bible: the Biography" is worth reading but bear in mind that many scholars feel she's weak in certain areas.)