NAIRN OLD PARISH CHURCH
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CHURCH MAGAZINE
Gillian's daily exercise!
Good
afternoon.
I think I got the best of the sunshine this
morning on my beach and river walk. It is lovely
to be able to hear all the birdsong without it being distorted by
the noise of the traffic. I seem to be seeing more birds and they
appear less shy, which is lovely. They help to brighten my
walk.
a) The Field Mouse Ear is
starting to put in an appearance:
b) Along with the Common Vetch (I love their bright colours):
c) I have had trouble identifying
the next one, however, my research tells me I’m not alone. It is
sometimes mixed up with forget me not or borage however, it is
actually green alkanet:
d) I thought I would show you how pretty the wild flowers are looking just now:
e) Someone has been painting stones again:
Services of Worship
For details of Services and other meetings please see the Calendar page
You can visit the Presbytery website at http://invernesspresbytery.co.uk
Please note that our Kirkside building has been closed for all meetings. The KIRK VIEW Office is now temporarily located in the Eco Cabin and our secretary will be based there afternoons, Tusday to Friday. The telephone number remains unchanged.
World Mission
I
Historic Communion
We
recently celebrated the Sacrament of Communion, the first time it
has been conducted by a female minister. In 1900 Lady Frances
Balfour, a leading Scottish Suffragette, gifted our Communion table
to us. She was a daughter of the Duke of Argyll and a leading
aristocrat. She was married to Estace Balfour brother of Tory
Prime Minister Arthur Balfour. Lady Balfour came from a Whig
background and was a regular visitor to Nairn visiting Lord Finlay
of the Newton. The leader of the Suffragette movement in Nairn was
our first minister Rev. W. R. Pirie. Lady Frances was a staunch
supporter of the Church of Scotland and always attended the
Assembly. She was a great believer of women's position in the
church and after 116 years, a woman has celebrated communion at the
very table she gifted. Our thoughts and prayers were with the Rev.
Alison on this historic day.
Recognition of Faithful Service
The story behind the hymn tune.
A few Sundays ago we sang Hymn 342 to the tune "Une Jeune Purcelle". This is the tune used for The Huron Carol which has an interesting story to tell.
The song is regarded of one of the early carols from Canada. It was written in 1643 by father Jean de Brebeuf, a Jesuit Priest who left the shores of France to the Newlands of Canada to the land of the Huron Indian. He did not speak Wendat, the language of the Huron and he had no idea of their beliefs or they his. Wendat was not a written language so Father Jean sat down and created a dictionary, which is still in use today. When he had learned enough words he decided to write poems and songs in their native tongue. Wendat does not have the letter M or its sound which makes telling the story of Mary & Joseph a wee bit difficult, but the nearest sound was that of the French oui, so Mary became wairie. It became the Huron Carol and the original Huron title is "Jesous Ahatonhia" ("Jesus, he is born"). Usually when sang it starts in Wendat then it is translated into French as it was written and then English. The Huron Carol - checkit out in Youtube.