Going to Church

Hello! Today was a really great day here in Stirling.  Basically I went to church and then studied. But hey it was a very productive day.  This morning, my friends and I got up early (ok it wasn't that early, but compared to the rest of campus, we were up early) and made our way to the bus stop.  I had looked up the Stirling Methodist Church before studying abroad and really wanted to check it out.  My friends were excited about it so off we went to church this morning. As previously stated, the buses here are really weird on Sunday's.  It took us about 20 minutes to get into town, when it usually takes 5 to 10 minutes depending on which bus you get on.

Anyways, we did make it to church.  We got there a little late (thanks Sunday bus system) but managed to make it in before the announcements were over.  First of all, I posted a picture of the church below that I took off of their website.

The church is the building in the middle with the red door.  I learned that most churches in Scotland have red doors because it is a sign of welcome.  

This church was great.  We walked in the door and the man handing out hymnals and pamphlets (who we later found out is the Chaplin at the University) was really surprised/flustered whenever we walked through the door.  We then went into the sanctuary and took our seats.  The church is really cozy.  (I don't mean that in a it's small way.  It's comfortable and friendly without being overwhelming.)  Before we even really got seated, the man at the pulpit who was doing the announcements stated while looking directly at us "visitors are welcome to join us for tea and coffee after the service."  

There were probably about 50 people in the congregation, so we definitely stood out. I think we were the talk of the church today and probably will be for some time.  (We were the only ones in there that were college students.) The service was really nice.  It was different from how services are at home.  There was no organ or choir, but they had a good pianist and everybody confidently sang all of the songs.  We never really felt awkward because the minister would insert things into the service (like before communion he said "we welcome everyone to take part in communion.  If you feel uncomfortable doing so, don't feel pressured to join us.") that helped make us comfortable.  Also, the order of things was different.  The prayer was at a different time and the meter and pauses in the Lord's Prayer were different from back home.  But the service was good (I know where all of the good public speakers are in Scotland; they're ministers.) Nobody sleeps through church here.

Afterwards, we drank coffee and tea and ate cookies with the congregation for about an hour after the service ended.  Everyone was really nice and interested to get know us. The lady that I say next to during the service told me that everyone would ask us lots of questions because everyone knows everyone at that church.  This was basically true.  I think I met most of the congregation today and everyone was really friendly.  They even offered to pick us up from the University to bring us to church on Sundays.  The minister was also really nice.  I got to talk to him a little about this differences between Trinity (my church back home) and Stirling.  I told him about how we sing different hymns and he told me that they do have traditional hymnals, but the music that we sang today was written by a Christian Community on the Isle of Iona (which is off the coast of the Scottish Highlands).  I thought this was pretty cool.

Also, we got invited to a Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) which is a night of traditional Scottish dancing and music in Bridge of Allan (a small town close to Stirling).  We are really excited to go! Overall, we had a great time at church and are looking forward to going back again the next chance that we get.  (If anyone wants to know more about the church, I'm posting a link to the church website. http://www.stirlingmethodist.org.uk/index.html) 

After church, we went to get donuts (What can I say, we like pastries.).  Then, we went back to campus and I studied for my classes tomorrow.  I have my first seminar tomorrow morning!  I'm excited to see how it goes!