Saturday, November 05, 2005

Holyrood Abbey Church, Edinburgh (C of S)

When visited:

23rd October, 2005, 11am and 6:30pm

Location:

To the NE of central Edinburgh, just near Sainsbury's

Welcome:

People shaking hands on door, some members of the congregation spoke to me, generally welcoming but not in-your-face. Good.

First Impressions:

I guess about 150 people there morning and evening, with a wide range of ages.

Type of Service:

The services were done almost entirely by the minister from the central pulpit (the only exception being a children's slot in the morning service, for which he came down to the front). Apart from the singing, the minister was speaking almost all the time.

Music:

Piano, well played in traditional bar-type style (though I guess they'd not like me calling it that). Hymns were mostly "golden oldies", well sung.

Sermon:

Both showed good understanding of and work on the passage. The morning one (on Jesus' encounter with Zacchaeus from Luke 19) was excellent. I disagreed with some of the exegesis in the evening one (on 1 Corinthians 11:2-16), but can't think of a much better explanation of a very difficult passage. Both could have been made even better by more clear and challenging application.

Website:

yes, pretty good

Overall:

Doctrinally solidly evangelical/reformed, traditional Presbyterian. I get the feeling they maybe recognise the need for change in the long term, but find it difficult because they've got very good at doing what they do.

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