May 9 Post from Laurine Lewis and Marge Serr

Today was a day of many contrasts. We left the green forested highlands of Inverness and headed southwest through the Great Glen. It's a deep valley that divides the highlands of the north from the rolling and flatter geography in the south around Glasgow and beyond. Along the way we passed through the high and barren mountains, their highest peaks covered in snow--there was even a ski area along our route.

The road from Inverness parallels the lakes, including Loch Ness, that fill the Great Divide, a deep valley created by a geologic fault line. We didn't see "Nessie", but Pastor Tim Hart-Andersen, Barb Thomas and Cathie Fischer all tested the VERY cold water.
Photo: Lacking GPS, Tim is searching for "Nessie" by sticking his head in the water!!

The landscape is gorgeous all along the route. Some parts look like the Swiss Alps, some like the Norwegian coast, some like the forests of our Black Hills in South Dakota.

The man-made parts were impressive too. A series of locks connect some of the lochs (lakes). The most impressive, Neptune's Staircase, is a series of eight steep locks that rival our own on the Mississippi. The Commando Monument at the edge of the Grampian Mountains was a powerful homage to the many troops, both Scottish and international, who trained here and later died in various conflicts from World War II onward.

Further into the mountains, water is scarce, and the rock faces are very steep and fissured. We stopped to view a particularly striking waterfall, and Pastor Tim Hart-Andersen made a fast trek to explore the gorge at its base. There isn't much wildlife in these mountains, not even snakes. As a result, it's a popular place for hikers and climbers, who come from all over Europe to train. We saw several groups on our way through, packs on backs.

The weather can change very quickly in these mountains, and anywhere in Scotland. We began the day with warm sunshine in Inverness as we headed to the St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral for devotions, where we sang Tamara Sparks' "Blessing" to end our time there. But as we moved through the Grampians, the sky darkened and it looked more like the usual Scottish weather. We have been blessed all week so far, with clear and sunny warm days, unusual for Scotland at this time of year.

Because of the unusual warm weather, tulips, lilacs, flowering cherries and other spring flowers are blooming profusely everywhere. The Scots are great gardeners, and there are beautiful and unusual flowers, bushes, and trees around every corner. Even the larch trees, which are deciduous conifers, are a lighter green than the firs and pines in the mountainous areas and make ribbons of contrast among the rest of the forest.

We had planned to stop at Loch Lomond but had to take a different road into Glasgow because of a "3-hour accident" which had blocked our planned route. Even so, we arrived on schedule at the Thistle Hotel in Glasgow, a bustling commercial center that is larger, livelier, and newer than Edinburgh. The forests of the highlands are behind us. Now we'll have to content ourselves with the flowers and greenery of this lowland Georgian city.

post from Annie Glasgow

Our first full day in Glasgow. Our last day of "organized activity" before dis-organization provides free time and an opportunity to explore the city on our own. Tomorrow many of us surely will visit the Glasgow Cathedral (one of the last pre-reformation churches) and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum; a free-admission museum which houses works from the Scottish Colourists to the French Impressionists; Charles Rennie Mackintosh Furniture to a real Spitfire aircraft; as well as cutting edge contemporary art...a little something for everyone! However, the Cathedral and Museum would have to wait as we had a full day ahead of us... Today began with a city tour in this city of contrasts. Magnificent Victorian structures like islands of architecture represented the wealth of this city while two blocks of housing thrown up in the 60's spoke of the poverty here. Our route took us past statues of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and David Livingston in a central hub of Glasgow called "George Square" (named after King George III), by the Glasgow Royal Infirmary (the largest hospital in Scotland) and finally to Pollak Country Park to share devotions led by John Sinclair--a kinder John than the four who wrote the Scot's Confession but as deeply rooted. At Pollok Park we enjoyed the Burrell Collection; a museum which comprises some 9000 items given to the city by Sir William Burrell and his wife, Constance. The collection includes works from all over the world and is housed in a large and lovely gallery with a back wall made entirely of glass facing a forest which showcases the greatest artist of all. A "last luncheon" was another delight in our trip so filled with delights as we enjoyed each other and our meal in the lofty and colonnaded Caledonian, a former "Justiciary". After a wonderful lunch we were off to our last concert and connections at St. James Pollak church...John Mann, the minister, received his Master of Divinity at Bethel Seminary in St. Paul before serving as a Presbyterian minister. We opened the celebration of their "Diamond Jubilee" and sang to a full church. I don't know how common a Scottish standing ovation is, but we were thrilled to receive one there!!! Next, came time for connection with our Scottish hosts and hostesses at a "tea" (think soup, sandwiches, fruit and 1/2 acre of sweets and of course tea!)...another highlight in a week of highlights... ...and so our "organized exploration" of our roots in Scotland ends, yet the music which connected and continues to connect us returns home as we expand our community to include the choir members unable to be with us, members of the Westminster family, and our own families with faith and joy.

Ancient Irish Blessing

Susan Brown is the minister at Dornach Cathedral, and at the end of our 7 May concert, she welcomed us to Dornach Cathedral, and at the end of her comments, she gave us this Ancient Irish Blessing.

God bless to you:

the sun and moon above you,

the earth below you,

the friends around you

and his image deep within you,

in the name of the Father

and of the Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Post submitted by Barbara Thomas

P.S. from Tim Hart-Andersen

Two more things about the visit to Stirling and the Church of the Holy Rude: The young women I mentioned in my earlier post who died for their faith are Margaret and Agnes, not Anne! Agnes an 18-year old who held to her Presbyterian faith even though it cost her life. Also, after the choir concert in the Church of the Holy Rude, a gentlman came up to me and introduced himself as a church member. He pointed up to the ceiling, beamed at me and said, "These rafters have been here since 1495, and I dare say that is as good a music performance as they've ever heard!" He was pleased - and so were the rest of us! It was a wonderful afternoon in the Church of the Holy Rude.

Listen to the Westminster Choir on tour in Scotland

If you'd like to listen to a 12-minute audio recording of the Westminster Choir from Scotland, choose the MP3 file or the WMA file. The recording is not very loud, so you will have to adjust the volume on your audio player.

Inverness—Cawdor Castle—Culloden Battlefield—Inverness

Most of us had a good night’s rest following our full and exhilarating time and performance in Dornoch. We awoke to yet another beautiful, summer-like day. Following our Scottish breakfast provided by the Palace Hotel, we crossed the River Ness and strolled along the river, to the Ness Bank Presbyterian Church. Like the day before, we were greeted by the senior pastor, John Chambers, who joined us in the sanctuary for our daily devotion on the Scot’s Confession. Today, we focused on what we confess about Scripture. As has been our daily experience, Tim’s introduction and the small group discussions were rich in the insights that our fellow travelers provided. Our prayers included much for which we are grateful as well as petitions for many of our fellow choir members who were not able to travel with us as well as others who have special needs.

At the conclusion of our devotions, the choir gathered in the chancel and sang Blessing, a beautiful piece by our own Tammy Sparks. This was a special treat for us all. Many used the next hour, or so, to check out the sights and shops of Inverness.

At 11:00, our bus left for Cawdor Castle. Bill Rennie, our tour guide, is a fabulous storyteller and pointed out many historical landmarks and the importance of Cawdor Castle, which dates back to 1372. Even though it did not exist at the time of King Macbeth, it did exist at the time of Shakespeare and the Bard used it as the setting for Macbeth. Just approaching the Castle was like a faerie land with trees profuse with white and pink blossoms and delicate fragrance. There was even a wee bit of a golf course for those who wanted to practice their putting and short irons.

We enjoyed walking through the Castle rooms, which are still used today by The Dowager Countess Cawdor, Angelika Cawdor, and her family. The Castle is open for the public to enjoy from May 1st to October. The admission fees and gift shop sales help to maintain this perfect realization of what most of us envision when we imagine what a Scottish Castle looks like. The rooms are well maintained and each one had written descriptive notes done by the late Sixth Earl of Cawdor, including some of his dry wit. It was most informative and interesting to see the 600 hundred years of history, art, and families that have inhabited the Castle.

We also had time to stroll through the lovely gardens, which are just being planted with the annuals. The tall hedges were perfectly manicured. We could not enter the amazing mazes because the holly hedge is still too fragile, making its comeback after the winter. We were on our own for lunch and most picked up a quick soup, or sandwich, or pate at the Castle cafeteria. Some had picnics on the front lawn.

We gathered in front of the main entrance by the drawbridge for our rehearsal at 2:15. Jere Lantz led our warm up and took us

through a few a cappella pieces in our tour repertoire. Melanie was at a small electric keyboard to provide pitches and highly limited accompaniment. The sun was bright, the lawn deep green, and God’s acoustics for this outdoor performance seemed to work really well. By 3:00, a small number of interested listeners had gathered on the front lawn and Jere Lantz introduced the group and the program, our only outdoor performance of the tour. We started with I Want to Be Ready and the piece proved we were ready indeed. We followed with several other works and the crowd grew in numbers. We did At the River with Melanie’s accompaniment and then closed with I Want to Be Ready so those who arrived during the concert could hear it. Jere said it was becoming our theme song and we heard one of the Scots in attendance say, “That were a mighty fine choir, it were.”

Lady Cawdor arrived after the first couple of pieces and we had a chance to meet her following our performance. She was most gracious and we heard her commenting to Jere that she thought Macbeth was one of the great Scottish Kings and was trying to restore his reputation, even though she appreciated what Shakespeare had done to promote Cawdor Castle (vs. his interpretation of Macbeth).

On our way back to Inverness we stopped for a while at the Culloden Battlefield. This was the site of one of the most horrible massacres in Scottish history on April 16, 1746. The Jacobites (The Highlanders), led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, were defeated by 9000 Government forces (The Lowlanders), led by the Duke of Cumberland, with many hundreds being killed within a short time. The battlefield is preserved much as it had been 262 years ago. It is a solemn place with many markers for the various clans that suffered such horrible losses there.

On the return bus trip to Inverness, John Sinclair taught us all a Scottish folk melody, Bonnie Charlie’s New Awa’. Even the third verse came back to his memory after the entire bus took up the chorus.

This evening we are free to continue to discover Inverness restaurants, shops, and sights on our own. Tomorrow, we travel to Glasgow by way of Loch Ness. What a marvelous experience this has been!

Jerry and Cathie Fischer

Post from Tim Hart-Andersen

When we arrived in Edinburgh just last Saturday evening, we were a disparate group of travelers loosely connected by being part of, or being a supporter of, the Westminster Choir. By today, our sixth day, we have become a community of pilgrims, singing our way through the history and beauty and religious traditions that we have found in this land (not to mention the superb weather!). It is a good thing!
I felt the first stirrings of the group's transformation on Sunday morning, our first full day in Edinburgh. We gathered early to rehearse for worship in Greyfriars Kirk, an historic congregation in the old city. WIth the first sounds from the choir we knew it would be a wonderful environment in which to sing (and listen, for the several of us "camp followers"). The choir did an outstanding job and the worshippers clearly were moved by what they heard. I preached from Psalm 1 and Matthew 7, both of which refer to the people of God as being like trees; in the pslam they are like trees planted by water, drawing nourishment from God's word. In the gospel they are good trees producing good fruit. If we are to be lilvely, healthy congregations and individual followers of Jesus, then, I said, we need to tend to both the roots and the fruit. I'll post the sermon on Westminster's website. This choir trip is certainly aimed at the former - the roots.
The much-anticipated invasion of Skye Terriers that morning at Greyfriars Kirk, promised in news articles, did not materialize, thankfully, during worship, but a few hours later. In the churchyard, the goup of 40-50 Skye Terriers and their owners, who had made a grand march led by a piper down from the castle, gathered around the grave stone of Greyfriars Bobby. This latter terrier lost his master 150 years ago this month, whereupon the loyal canine undertook a daily vigil on top of the grave for the next fifteen years, until his own demise. He was then buried not far from his master in the Greyfriars kirkyard. It was at his grave that the Skye Terriers and their owners, dressed in period costumes, had come to commemorate the 150th anniversary (yet another Sesquicentennial!) of the loyal lookout. A number of choir members were in the crowd as Jane, the minister, pronounced her blessing over the assembled animals.
On Monday we travelled out of Edinburgh to visit Stirling, an hour outside the capital city. We spent a good deal of time in the marvelous castle, then made our way dwon the hill to the nearby church, The Church of the Holy Rude (Cross). Since I did not need to be there for the rehearsal, I lingered at a pub nearby, having a meat pie in the garden. I left and made my way through the old churchyard, picking my way through the gravestones, stopping at the memorial to Margaret and Anne, two young women who refused to renounce their Presbyterian faith in the difficult years of the 16th century, and were tied to stakes on the beach at low tide nearby. They drowned as the tide slowly came in over them.
Standing there, at their memorial, I heard what sounded like the music of angels - it was, of course, the Westminster choir at rehearsal. Gustav Holst's "O God, Beyond all Praising" floated through the cemetery filled with graves of the faithful now at rest. I stood and listened and wondered at "the kirk in all ages."
The concert at Holy Rude was magnificent. I wept during several pieces. Something really worked - the emotion of the choir, the response of the audience, the acoustic environment (four-second reverb), but most of all, I think, the connection to our tradition's past. That morning we had read John Knox's words about God - "to whom only we must cleave, whom only we must worship, whom alone we must serve" - in the Scots Confession. That document was written by six Presbyterians over four days at the request of a hurriedly summoned Parliament in Edinburgh. The Scots Confession begins by asserting the sovereignty of God over all else (especially Catholic, earthly monarchs), and with those words, the Scottish Reformation startsin earenst.
Only six years after leading the writing team on the Confession, Knox was called to the Church of the Holy Rude, right outside the Stirling castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots was living, to baptize her 13-month old son, James I (the VI of England), in the Presbyterian faith, and to participate in the infant's coronation. Knox preached the sermon that day, no doubt using language similar to what we had studied and discussed just that morning. That took place - the sermon, the baptism, the coronation - right there, in the Church of the Holy Rude, where Jere Lantz directed, Melanie Ohnstad played the organ, and our Westminster chior sang. An overwhelming sense of "the kirk in all ages."
We are, indeed, a blessed pilgrim band (well, choir)!