A visit to the kirk

This morning I enjoyed an interesting visit to a local kirk which was built in 1794 on the site of a now disappeared mediaeval church. The main photograph shows our Minister opening the kirk door, painted in Church of Scotland blue, with a truly enormous key. 

The extra photographs show a couple of the interesting things to be seen in the kirk. The first is an ancient hourglass which is fastened to the high pulpit. It was used, of course, to time the progress of the Minister's sermon in the days before clocks and watches were readily available. Interestingly enough, although the glass could be seen by the congregation, it was rather out of sight of the preacher in his pulpit! Even if he did notice that the sand had run its course, one old Minister was well known for turning it over again and saying "Let's enjoy another glass-full"!

The other extra shows a few of a bag-full of communion tokens. All dated 1848, they came from the local Free Church, now ruined. A communion token is a metal token issued to members of Presbyterian churches in order to provide them entrance to the Lord's Supper. There were many types issued in Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries, but they have been largely superseded by communion cards. The issuing of these tokens is dependent on the practice of closed communion, in which only members of the church are allowed to participate. To avoid profanation of the Eucharist, the elders in the role of moral watchdogs distributed these entry counters only to those members of the faithful whom they deemed qualified by virtue of correct belief and proper conduct. As here many tokens had on them the name of the church and verses, such as "This do in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24).