D.S.S. Services at Camus 1977
PALESTINE
9 Jan 1977
Mark 7:24 Healing the Syrophenician woman’s daughter.

When I was a young man I spent the better part of a year [1922] in Palestine and there I saw something of the wonderful work our missionaries were doing among the Jews and not only the Jews but the Muhammedan and Christian people of Galilee as well. One of them was a doctor who had been working there for nearly 50 years and who had healed suffering bodies for miles and miles around Tiberias by the Sea of Galilee where his hospital was. While I was there his newly qualified son had just come out to help him and one day I took a walk with the son away among the hills to the South East of the sea of Galilee among the people of the Gadarenes. As we approached a village the head man came out just a wee bit suspicious of us and asked us who we were. My companion replied the his name was Torrance. “TORRANCE!” said the sheikh, “Ibn El Hakim Tonama (??), Dr Torrance's son!” and his face glowed and his arms extended wide in welcome. Torrance was a name to conjure with there. After the old doctor died the young one continued for many years in his steps till he retired and came to Dundee where he died on Tuesday.
Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

6 February 1977
Isaiah 60 : Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

Wednesday was Candlemas the first of the four Scots Quarter or Term Days : Candlemas, Whitsun, Lammas, and Martinmas, all of them of course originally and first and foremost religious festivals, reminding us that the whole business of living is a fundamentally religious thing, just as the whole of this service, Hymns Prayers Readings Sermon is WORSHIP. WORSHIP of GOD.

At Candlemas the Church, before there was anything like electric light, asked a blessing on all the candles that would be used in worship during the rest of the year remembering that God sent His Son into the world to be a light to the Gentiles and to every man Jew and Greek, civilized and savage to shew what they were meant to be in their Creator’s sight.

It is because Christ was made known as the light of the world on the day on which he was presented in the Temple that on the yearly remembrance and anniversary of that day the candles were blessed. Candlemas is an important festival of the church and thus incidentally one of Scotland’s Term Days.

Luke 2 :29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

We may consider further how religion may pervade all our worldly activities when we remember how and of what the candles were made. All the wax with which during the busy summer days the busy bees had been building their cells was gathered by the monks and nuns in Abbeys and Convents and in the long winter nights was moulded or dipped into candles by their busy hands. And then near the end of winter the summer toil of the bees and the winter’s
darg of mens’ hands was brought into the House of God to be blessed and acknowledged by God.

Prayer: Believing in the resurrection of Christ we believe that our labour is not in vain in the Lord. Encourage us at the end of our long day’s work and accept our service offered to Thee in the dear Name of Thy Son our Redeemer.

I John 1: 4 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

5 Mar 1977

Worship is coming to God and seeking humbly to enter into communion and fellowship with Him. What hinders this is something totally human - human sin. Through sin man is impure, recalcitrant and unholy so that he becomes sundered from God by his sin. We see then why John Baptist made it so clear at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry that Jesus came to remove that barrier when he said, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matt. 11: 28-30

We get an even better understanding of what this invitation really means when we realize that in Jesus’ mother tongue the word for YOKE also meant CROSS. It may have been this realization which enabled St. Paul to say to his friends in Galatia “I am crucified with Christ.” A YOKE is something which helps two to share one burden. To realize that when we do take Christ’s yoke upon us He is pulling our heavy load with us, helps us more and more to commit ourselves to Him in life and in death. For he loved us and gave himself for us. So we can sing “Praise to the Holiest in the Heights...”

1 May 1977

It suddenly struck me just a little while ago that a portion of scripture with which I had been familiar nearly all my life was itself proclaiming one of the strangest things in religious experience.

It is the first verse of the twelfth chapter of Romans: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

In the Jewish religion and in all other sacrificial religions that which is presented to God upon the altar has already been slaughtered. The sacrifice is therefore in every instance a DEAD sacrifice. But in contrast the Christian in his worship and service is called upon not to make a dead sacrifice but a living sacrifice, his own pulsing breathing aspiring body.

In this act of worship, believing as is written in Hebrews that the worshipper, he that cometh to God, must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, let us consider our searching our seeking after God, as we worship Him and offering the due of the living sacrifice. We begin this search as we sing “Nearer to Thee...”

Micah 6: 7-8 Distinguishes between dead sacrifices and what God wants from us in worship and service: “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”

17 July 1977

I would make the theme of this act of worship the thought of God as a very present help in time of trouble. What better way to begin it then than thus to declare our own faith and sing:
What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Words: Joseph M. Scriven, 1855. Scriven wrote this hymn to comfort his
mother, who was across the sea from him in Ireland.

Then Psalm 23 The Lord is my Shepherd... in pastures green He leadeth me.

Some years ago a school teacher friend of mine told me a story about a little boy who for weeks and weeks when he first went to school was dead scared to go home in the dark. He lived up a stair in a tenement and before even he got there he had to pass through a dark close and then jink by the drying green where all the clothes poles looked like so many menacing ghosts and then he hastened up to the door of his house quite panic stricken as if all the ghosts that ever afflicted human imagination were at his heels.

But one day he was quite different: he marched boldly up the close; confidently proceeded round the drying green to the stair; then mounted the stairs whistling cheerfully. He explained the difference by saying at at Scripture period the teacher had taught him to sing a new song about God. God, said the song, was his shepherd and then it went on “In past oor green he leadeth me....” so he was never feart of the ghosts on the green again.

Hymn: “The King of Love my Shepherd is
whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his,
and he is mine for ever.”

Psalm: 91 : He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty....... He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; .....

As most of you know the last years of my active ministry were spent in Iona.
One of the memories I carry away with me is of a time when one of my sons brought his two little girls to stay with us. It was in the early winter he came and the nights were early dark. One very dark evening I was coming up from the jetty to the manse with my little granddaughter, she was then about three or four years old, usually a very self possessed self confident young lady. But as we came round the corner under the ruined walls of the Nunnery looming high above us she suddenly put her hand in mine and I was reminded of a time long past when I was a little child and somewhat distrustful of menacing mysteries. I could feel that she was getting really apprehensive when all of a sudden a light was switched on in the Manse a hundred yards away. At once she exclaimed “THAT’S MY HOUSE”. Of course it wasn’t. It wasn’t even my house. It was the manse and I myself was only there as Minister: so I was just a little peeved to hear her say in such a possessive way “That’s my house” till I began to think and realized that in a very important way it was her home. It belonged to her because because she belonged to it and belonging found a security and safety and love -- Just as the Psalmist in the 91st Psalm we have read could exalt “He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.”

25 September 1977

Let us keep on thinking this afternoon about the wonderful thing we are required to do when God the Almighty the All Wise the utterly loving and lovely calls us to engage in His holy worship. This worship in which we take a small part whether in public or in private is something which is always being given to God : “Hour by hour fresh lips are making His wondrous doings heard on high.” For ever and ever it is being celebrated in heaven by the highest. As we read in Job it was happening when the world had its beginning:

Job 38: .......Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? ..... When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

Isaiah had a vision of the TREMENDOUSNESS of this exercise of the human spirit which we call worship when one sad day in the Temple, by witnessing what the Seraphim -some of God’s angels- were engaged in, he was made aware of his own utter inadequacy and insufficiency even to behold it. Then by way of exquisite searing suffering he was made ready by them and when he heard a call to holy service obeyed. As we read in:

Isaiah 6: I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne. Above it stood the seraphims: And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.

John on the Island of Patmos was given a vision of this ongoing worship of the Holy Church in Heaven and on earth to Christ the Redeemer in the grandeur of His humility and the boundlessness of His pitying grace. Let us try to see what they saw as they worshipped and “with the angels bear our part” as we read with wonder:

Revelation 5: Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; I heard the voice of many angels saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

December 1977

Sing : See! in yonder manger low.
Born for us on earth below,
See! the tender lamb appears
Promised from eternal years.......

Have you ever come in suddenly out of the dark to be quite dazzled by brightness. I was in Brussels when the war ended in Europe. That night Brussel’s streets houses shop windows were ablaze and men and women and little children were quite amazed by gladness. That’s what Christmas has done to the world.

Isaiah 9 : 2 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace............

It’s what the shepherds felt in the field....

Hymn: While humble shepherds watched their flock......

And most Gracious Lord our adoring spirits bow down in reverence before Thee as we too see this great sight which Thou hast made known unto us and we humbly salute Thy Christ: we own Him as our Savior: and we pray Thee for His sake to forgive our sin and to accept our worship. Amen

We have been praying to the Almighty God Eternal having been presented to Him by him who became man for our Salvation. “Strikes for us now the hour of grace.”

Hymn: Still the night

“Savior since thou art born” let us rehearse the story of that wondrous birth as Luke tells it

Luke 2 : 7-14 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night......... And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men....

And let us sing about it as we sang as children: Once in Royal David’s city

Not only is Jesus our savior from our sins: He came to demonstrate what a good and loving life on earth can really be. He gives us an example and helps us to follow it.

Hymn: I love to hear the story Which angel voices tell....
I’m glad my blessed Savior was once a child like me
To show how pure and holy his little ones might be.....

We read how wise men from the East after weeks of hard marching came at last to see Him and how glad they were and how they took Him not only as their example but as their KING. Matt 2 : 8-11 The star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

But the greatness of His Kingship is seen in the HUMILITY of HIS SERVICE IN OBEDIENCE AS SON TO HIS FATHER.

Philippians 2 :5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
And every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

This birth was seen very vividly by a Gaelic poet called Mary Macdonald whose schooling ended when she was a girl of 13 but for whom her Bible all her life long was a liberal education. She wrote her Gospel in a Gaelic Hymn which is set to a tune called after the name of the village in Mull near which she stayed : BUNESSAN ... Child in a manger, Infant of Mary......

The Gospel of Mary M. Macdonald (1789-1872); translated from Gaelic to English by Lachlan MacBean in Songs and Hymns of the Gael (Edinburgh, Scotland: 1888).

Music: Bunessan, traditional Gaelic melody (MI DI, score).

Child in the manger, Infant of Mary,
Outcast and Stranger, Lord of all,
Child Who inherits all our transgressions,
All our demerits on Him fall.

Once the most holy Child of salvation
Gently and lowly lived below.
Now as our glorious mighty Redeemer,
See Him victorious o’er each foe.

Prophets foretold Him, Infant of wonder;
Angels behold Him on His throne.
Worthy our Savior of all our praises;
Happy forever are His own.

Let it be the prayer of the Son of God with which we end this service.... Our Father.