Lord’s
Day morning service, 7 July 2013, 11am
Preacher:
not the regular minister (I really should have asked his name)
Time
flies when you’re having fun; it hardly seems thirteen years since the schism
in which the Free Church of Scotland (Continuing) separated itself from the Free Church of Scotland with much
acrimony and subsequent legal wrangling. Presbyterian churches are worryingly
prone to schism, but somehow all the little splinter groups keep going.
There’s
little in the format of an FCC service to distinguish it from a Free Church or
even a Free Presbyterian Church service, although the keen observer will notice subtle gradations of conservatism.
For example, the Edinburgh FCC eschews more recent metrical psalm translations
in favour of the 1650 edition, “Translated and diligently compared with The
Original Text and Former Translations—More plain, smooth, and agreeable to the
text than any heretofore”, and uses the Authorised Version of the bible.
Conservatism
in social matters is also evident in the FCC, or perhaps they’re just more
willing than other denominations to give public voice to their opinions. As a
good social liberal, I’m afraid I just don’t understand churches’ obsession
with homosexuality—live and let live, I say—but yesterday there were prayers
for the politicians who “do a fearful thing by destroying marriage” and for
“those men and women who seek a marriage that is legally withheld from them”.
In the same prayer, there were also entreaties for the humility of the royal
family and for the conversion of the Jews, “that they may through recognition
of Jesus as the Messiah—for no other will come—become true sons and daughters of
Abraham”.
Well,
I’ll say one thing for the FCC: they’re not afraid to be out of step with the
mainstream.
The
psalms (2:7-12, 22:15-21, 69:16-21 and 31:19-24) were chosen for their apparent
prefiguring of the crucifixion, and we were not to take heed of the “so-called
scholars” who would have us believe that these verses do not refer to Christ’s
passion. There had also been prayers, incidentally, for the translators,
editors and publishers of scripture throughout the world, but I’m not sure if
the “so-called scholars” are to be numbered among these.
The
abovementioned psalm verses, together with Matthew 27:11-53, formed the basis
of the sermon, which spoke of a “red line of blood redemption that runs from
Genesis to Revelation” as God in his mercy reveals little by little his truth
throughout the scriptures, building up to the climax, the perfect death of
Jesus Christ, of which all other prefiguring bible stories (Abraham’s ram
caught in the thicket, for example) are but imperfect portraits. If you want
the whole sermon, they’re all online, and I should imagine yesterday's will soon be uploaded too.
There
were only eighteen people present, including the minister and the precentor,
although no fewer than five of them were at pains to tell me afterwards that
there are usually many more people there but that lots of them, including the
tea committee, were on holiday. I spoke to the preacher but stupidly forgot to
ask his name, or I’d have put it at the top of this blog post. The regular
minister, James I Gracie, will be conducting next week’s service.
It’s
probably safe to say that the FCC is not the place for me. I just don’t feel
comfortable around all that social conservatism, even if it’s expressed with
genuine sorrow rather than terrifying ranting, and I’m sure I must represent
all kinds of sinful worldliness in their eyes too, so we’d be unhappy bedfellows,
and I’m afraid even the promise of tea and coffee next time isn’t going to
tempt me back.
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