Church news

"Thousands of loyal Queen of the South fans made their way from Dumfries to support their favourite team, the Church of Scotland ..." - or has your reporter got a bit mixed up? Well, there were thousands present from all over Scotland and I was one of the complement of the minibus from our Kirk, duty bound. But, let me tell you, I enjoyed it in all its variety from the resonant rafter-raising singing of "the Old 100th" (surprised?) through the Geordie-Jewish-Christian–lady preacher's challenge to Kirk folk to "party" like Jesus, being a Jewish man, must have done to the no-less-challenging seminars that filled big tents to overflowing.

And the little tents - so many of them from congregations as dispersed as Old Deer in Buchan and Dunscore in Dumfries and Galloway, telling disparate stories of God's Kirk in Scotland before going on as second-hand supplies to world disaster areas. Food for thought. Nourishment for faith. And if Ingliston catering wasn't cheap its bacon rolls were whoppers. If we were back in Dumfries on Sunday we missed the second day with Archbishop Sentanu as principal guest speaker. If you weren't there at all I can only say in the immortal Scottish phrase "You missed yoursel'!". As Henry Hall used to say in closing, "Here's to the next time."

DG