I grew up in the leafy surroundings of Little Dounreay. It's a quaint fishing village downstream from Callander.
The parish can trace its history back to the 1100's, with he current place of worship the third to be used. I have a personal connection to the new building because I own a brick. They were sold in order to raise funds for the new building. If the General Trustees ever want the building back, they are going to have to fight me for my brick.
So today I returned to Little Dounreay, and while there were a lot of new faces, it was good to see some of the faces from long ago, although we all have gained a bit of mileage.
In her sermon, the Minister brought up the idea of looking afresh at the old familiar stories that we hear at this time of year, and that we think we know so well. And I took the chance to look afresh at my building. Even though it's a relatively modern building, there's been a few changes over the years. Small tweaks as the congregation made its mark on the place. When I first went there, any form of projection would have been unheard of. Microphones had appeared very early, but there certainly wasn't the mixing desk in the back row. One thing I wouldn't mind losing is the chairs. I'm just the perfect height for the chair back to dig into my kidneys!
But back to the Minister. (As I visit various churches, I don't plan to comment on the preachers. I'm not going to critique people who are pretty soon going to be my colleagues.) Her delivery was absolutely outstanding. From where we were sitting, it looked as if she rarely referred to her notes, and her style was enthusiastic and engaging. It made me realise that I've got a long way to go before I can be that articulate. But that's something for me to worry about when I start speech training next year. I've certainly got another example to aspire to.
So they have my permission to keep using my brick.
In other news. That's the essays out of the way for this term.
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