St Magnus (aka Magnus the Martyr) is one of the big guns around here – there are Norse sagas about him, he ruled Orkney in the early 12th century, and was martyred by being struck in the head with an axe (bummer). They built a cathedral named after him, starting in 1137. It’s so immense that its spire can be seen from many of the Orkney islands and (on a clear day, or so I am told) even mainland Scotland. In the UK, most of the tomb effigies you see in churches are of noblemen and women, recumbent, in long robes, clasping swords, or bibles, or crowns. In St Magnus Cathedral, the effigy is a guy lying with his arms clasped behind his head, in the buckskin clothing of a courier-du-bois, a rifle by his side. He’s Dr John Rae, an Orcadian who moved to Moose Factory to be an employee of the Hudson Bay Company (in the early 1800’s) and the first person everyone mentions when they find out I’m Canadian.
I was raised Presbyterian, but am now an atheist. Even so, I like attending church. I think there’s something to be said for taking an hour out of your week to be quiet, and to listen to a (hopefully good) speaker talk about how to do better in life. And it’s the only place I can sing in public and people can’t ask me to be quiet.
If I’m all the way across the ocean, and if I’m attending church, and if there’s a 900 year old cathedral just around the corner from my house, well, obviously that’s where I’m going.
Years ago, my Mum & I had attended a service presided over by a minister we hadn’t met before. After the service my Mum said to me, “Well, he was a very good speaker, but I do think he went on about Jesus too much”. A typical Scottish approach to religion: go to church, sure, but don’t get all pious about it. Well, she would have liked this minister – in the four services I’ve attended, I don’t think he’s mentioned Jesus once. Don’t get me wrong, he talks about the bible, but so far it’s all been Isaiah, and living with change in our lives. No Jesus.
The attendance is a mix of regular locals and tourists; I guess I won’t know until the fall how many are regular congregants. Although, in many cases you can tell the tourists – most Presbyterians don’t wear knapsacks to church.
I’m enjoying the services: the sermons are interesting and thought-provoking; there is something called a contemporary reading from a current book; he has referenced Chagall, Nietzsche, and fractals; and listening to a choir in that massive, vaulted nave is just wonderful. My only complaint is that each week we say a different version of the Lord’s Prayer – so far we’ve said four different versions and I haven’t recognized a single one of them – today’s was the worst, some sort of modern re-imagining. I’m a traditionalist – progress in the church is all very well and good as long as it leads to women ministers or gay marriage, but let us be clear here: the phrase is ‘give us this day our daily bread’ not ‘meet our needs every day’. Honestly.