A place of beauty

I suppose I should let you see the castle where I conducted the wedding earlier this week. Since the local press photographer was there I guess the wedding was not a secret. The present castle (known as Lee Castle, by the way) is not all that old by Scottish standards. It was built in Victorian times, no doubt as some kind of hunting lodge/stately home, though the chapel is apparently much older.
I was told the rather gruesome story that the chapel was for a long time used as an abattoir until the time of the previous Baron of Lee who arranged for it to be reconsecrated by an Episcopalian minister as a place of worship. I was also told that there is at least one regularly haunted bedroom. Well, it wouldn't be much of a castle otherwise, would it?
It is set in a beautiful valley. There was talk about 20 years ago when we first moved into the area that an exclusive golf course was going to be created with the castle as the clubhouse. That particular plan was thwarted, probably by the local planners, but it would have been a spectacular setting for a golf course and it would almost certainly have rivaled, and even outshone, Loch Lomond.
Actually the valley in which it is situated was once part of the original course of the River Clyde. Just when, or why,the river changed its course I do not know, but it left behind a valley of exceptional beauty. I'm sure it took millions of years for that valley to be formed and it has also been further shaped by human beings over the centuries. Unlike some places, the natural beauty has been enhanced rather than destroyed by this human interaction with the countryside, and like the very best of Buddhist temples, Lee Castle sits in harmony with its surroundings.
In many areas of life it is hard to get that balance right between shaping the world around us and living in harmony with it. But when you get it right, it makes your heart sing.
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Together

We are well into the wedding season and over the last few weeks I have conducted quite a few wedding ceremonies- one reason for the recent shortage of blog posts. They have all been very enjoyable though all quite different from each other and all memorable in their own way.
Someone once asked me how many weddings I had conducted over the years, but I'm afraid I could only guess - as I have never kept an actual record. I imagine, however that it must be somewhere between 500 and 800, maybe even more. Almost all of the time the weddings I have conducted have taken place in a church, although there have been one or two notable exceptions. And yesterday, was one such exception.
The wedding took place in a castle not too far from here (although to qualify that last statement - the castle has its own little consecrated chapel see below)
But what made this particular wedding most memorable was not its location but the coming together of two very distinctive cultures - American and Chinese. I can just about speak American (but I confess only with a Tennessee accent derived from an American friend) but when it comes to Chinese I haven't a clue, so I was grateful for the assistance of an interpreter who was able to translate much of what I said into Mandarin. [At least I have to assume that he was translating what I said. He could have been saying anything!!]
For my "talk" to the happy couple I used a pair of chopsticks as an illustration.
The gist of what I said had to do with the fact that chopsticks must be used together if they are going to work. (Ever tried to pick up a grain of rice with just one? It's hard enough with two.)
They are made for each other - a pair. And yet each is free to move in its own direction. What makes them work together as a team is the hand that holds them.
I'm sure you can fill in the rest yourself...
There was an earlier bit about the Chinese words for chopsticks (which means something like "quick little fellows") sounding very similar to another Chinese word which means something like "soon son" i.e. 'may you soon have a son' but I won't go into all that.
At the reception afterwards we had the same mix of Eastern and Western cultures.
The thing I liked best is what you see in the photograph above. An apple on a string (ribbon) was held above the heads of the bride and groom and they had to simultaneously (without using their hands) take a bite from the apple. It required the same kind of co-operation that you need between two chopsticks to get the food into the mouth. It was also a lot of fun to watch. Probably even more fun to do!
However, it also reminded me of another story of a man and a woman sharing a piece of forbidden fruit... and all the trouble that caused... :-)
The photographer at yesterday's wedding was a young photo-journalist by the name of Beth Skabar. Check out her website to see some very interesting examples of her work.

A day to remember...

I've been just a bit too busy over the last few days to write anything for the blog- with a wedding, Sunday's worship service, an Election Forum last night and a funeral today all taking up my time. In particular, I know I haven't yet said anything about that interesting person I met last week. I haven't forgotten.... (which is really saying something, as I forget lots of things these days.)
On Saturday, though, I discovered another little hidden jewel in central Scotland- Cromlix House - where I conducted the wedding of someone I have known since she was six years old. [This is one of the great privileges of being allowed to minister in the same congregation for almost 20 years!]
Cromlix House itself is an interesting place with its own tiny Episcopalian Chapel (as you can see above.) I don't know the full history of the place, or why the original owners decided they wanted their own chapel, but it was a beautiful setting for a wedding. (Not to mention a place where really good food is served!!)
Mind you, it could just have turned out to be something of a catastrophe.
All the guests were in place. The groom and his best man were waiting at the front of the little chapel. I walked to the front followed by the bridesmaid and turned to watch the bride enter with her father, looking radiant and beautiful [the bride that is- though the father scrubbed up pretty well, I have to say, and looked very smart in his kilt :-)]
I began the service, welcoming everyone, setting the scene with some appropriate introductory words and announcing the first hymn. At the end of the hymn there followed what I usually call the "Preamble" to the wedding ceremony, which then leads into a prayer.
I was in the middle of the prayer when it suddenly occurred to me that I had not checked if the marriage schedule was in place.
[For those of you not familiar with Scots Law I should point out that The Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 states as one of its provisions: "If an approved celebrant solemnises a marriage without a Marriage Schedule in respect of the marriage being available to him/her at the time of the marriage, he/she will be liable to prosecution."]
Not wishing to end up in one of Her Majesty's Prisons, I surreptitiously opened my eyes during the prayer and glanced over to the table where the schedule to be signed and ... sure enough... there was no schedule there. Aaaagh!
After the prayer there was nothing for it but to announce that we couldn't proceed any further unless the missing piece of paper could be produced, whereupon the father of the bride (who, incidentally, is one of my church elders) made a very sharp exit to retrieve it.
Fortunately he did not have far to go - only to a room upstairs - and there was no further delay to proceedings.
But it reminded of one of the very first wedding receptions I ever attended as an extremely young, and inexperienced, Assistant Minister in Ayr. The wedding in the church had gone well, even though it was only the second wedding I had ever conducted. And now all the guests had arrived at the hotel where the reception was to take place. It had been agreed that before the meal was served the wedding cake would be cut and a toast proposed to the bride and groom. (Not a particularly unusual order of proceedings.)
And I was to propose the toast.
I had a short speech of sorts prepared and committed to memory. And then, just before I began I noticed that there was going to be a small complication when it came to proposing the toast.... None of the guests had been served with the drinks for the toast.
When I pointed this out to the Functions Manager his response (after the initial look of horror on his face) was "Could you just speak to them for about twenty minutes and I'll get it organised?"
His look of horror became mine. "What!! Twenty Minutes!!"
And so for the next twenty minutes, or so, I dredged my memory for every joke and humorous story I could think of to keep the crowd amused, and at the same time keep them unware of the fact that someone in the hotel had made a monumental blunder.
I'm probably still using the same jokes today!
Back to Cromlix House - I mentioned already the wonderful food - but how is this for a table setting?
What a cool way to fold a napkin!
(According to the waitress not an easy task either.)