This time last week we began making contingency plans for Rev Alison Dickie's Service of Induction. With a phenomenal amount of snow in both Aberdeen and on Orkney it seemed like our travel plans might come unstuck. Plan B involved technology and Plan C involved substitution.
At the weekend, it seemed more hopeful, as the thaw arrived and folks began to move about more easily. And then the wind started to cause trouble.
By Sunday night our Monday morning flight had been cancelled and we were back to the drawing board.
Thankfully we were transferred to the evening flight and arrived safely (if a bit late) at the airport in Kirkwall.
Our journey home was a little bit less stressful, with a very smooth sailing which landed back in Aberdeen this morning at 7am. And I for one am very thankful that my travel sickness tablets didn't have to prove their worth!
So we got there in time, by aeroplane.
And we were there because a congregation had called a minister; a minister had answered that call and we, as a Presbytery, had sustained it.
But of course, there is a more fundamental question of how we came to be in Holm, in the East Mainland of Orkney, on a Tuesday morning in January.
And yesterday's sermon, preached by Rev Dr Marjory MacLean, provided a deeply theological and profound answer, based around one of the vows that featured in the induction.
Ultimately we were there because of our zeal for the glory of God, our love to the Lord Jesus Christ, and our desire for the salvation of all people. These are, as the vow puts it, our great motives and chief inducements, so far as we know our own hearts.
It was a powerful reminder of what we are about, even though at times our lives are inglorious, our love is fragile and we can see people far enough (as the saying goes). It caused me (and perhaps others in the congregation) to pause and remember who we are about and why we are willing to do what we do. And to reflect on why what we do is important.
As 2026 gets underway and we perhaps find ourselves in all sorts of unusual, surprising or challenging situations, because of our faith, it is an inspiring word to hold on to.
If you'd like to hear the sermon in full, or catch up on the service (including the wonderful music by the choir), you will find it here: Induction of Rev Alison Dickie
And just in case you've ever wondered whether Presbytery has a uniform....we discovered that there may just be a Presbytery 'hat'.
Rev Stella
