It’s the Sabbath. Lewis and Harris are very protestant and the Sabbath is observed on these islands. There are no sailings, only one petrol station/shop is open as is only one bar; everywhere else is shut. The Uists to the south are more Catholic and have a slightly more relaxed approach to the Lord’s Day; hence I was able to get a sailing into South Uist arriving on a Sunday. Both the gallery owner (yesterday) and the guest house owner have ’warned’ me about Lewis on Sunday but, to be honest, I already knew and I thought it would be interesting to experience.I head off to one of the numerous churches in Stornoway - the main Church of Scotland church which was built in 1794. I feel underdressed; everyone is in ‘Sunday best’ and many of the women are wearing hats. I almost feel I’ve gatecrashed a wedding. The service is fine (similar to many ‘middle of the road‘ CofE services), the organist and several others are in kilts and the hymns are once again sung with a Scottish accent - the church is full. Leave the service and, with many other church services also finishing around Stornoway, the traffic is the heaviest I’ve experienced since Glasgow over a week ago - this is rush hour Lewis style!
Potter around the coast for the afternoon, finding one or two beautiful sandy bays, and take the plunge in the evening - I’m off to the Free Church of Scotland service.
Again it’s ’Sunday best’ and the church, which is a large building, is full. There are at least half a dozen other churches within half a mile of this, and all seem to have a steady stream of worshippers heading towards them. Church attendance here is a serious business; way above the national average.
The service is strange. I know the Free Church is strict, though not as strict as the Free Presbyterians, and I’m handed a songbook solely containing psalms, and a Bible as I enter. I’m slightly surprised that it’s a new version (English Standard Version) and not the old King James Version. Only psalms (or rather portions of psalms) are sung, no hymns, and all are sung unaccompanied. One man at the front leads the singing with the Minister having announced the tune (“we will now sing the first 5 stanzas of Psalm 29 to the tune Kilmarnock). Again the singing is impressive, and again with a strong Scottish accent. Interestingly the congregation sits to sing and stands to pray. The sermon is as expected, though I am surprised how radical the minister is about some issues - green issues are not for Christians to ignore and be left to the realm of ‘politics‘, there are for everyone and Christians should be at the forefront is his thrust. (If only other churches felt the same!) He also noted that if an employer says your hours are 9 to 5, then demanding staff to work late is tantamount to theft, and he aimed this at the employers in the congregation. Again, radical stuff and once again my preconceptions are challenged. One thing that did surprise me was that once the service was over the church emptied straightaway - within 3 minutes the church was empty, although the chatting/gossiping was done in the car park for several minutes afterwards.
Overall an interesting day - not sure I could cope with it too often, but as a one off definitely worth experiencing.
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