Historic weekend for Luss Church

Published 15 Apr 2010 11:20

Luss Parish Church, already steeped in the history of its 1,500th anniversary year, is preparing for the historic visit of the moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland to take part in the continuing celebrations to mark the dawning of Christianity at Loch Lomond in AD 510.

The Right Reverend William C Hewitt will attend a welcoming dinner at the manse of Luss on Saturday night, and is the guest preacher at the Sunday morning service. During his visit, he will be shown the new heritage room within the Pilgrimage Centre, the 2010 reception and gift shop, the Pilgrims Palace, which provides accommodation for the young people from Scotland and across the world.

For Sunday's special service, the congregation of Luss will be joined by those of the Arrochar church, its linked congregation, with the consequence that there will be no service at Arrochar on Sunday. The Rev Dr Dane Sherrard, minister at both churches, says: "It really emphasises that this is a really special and historic event."

Following the Church service at Luss, the congregation will be led by the moderator across to the glebe, each member carrying a stone which will then be built into a new Kessog's cairn into which the Moderator will place a time capsule containing messages from the community to those who will meet for a similar event in a further 1500 years.

The wording engraved in relief on the leaded capsule reads: "This time capsule was placed by Rev W Hewitt, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in the year 2010. To be opened in 3510."

After planting two trees in the Glebe, which will be a lasting reminder to the community of his visit, everyone will gather at the manse, and in the manse garden, for lunch at which they will have an opportunity to meet the moderator.

An outstanding feature which has been installed to increase the attraction within Luss Church for the thousands of visitors in this 1500th anniversary year of celebrations, is a sound and light exhibition. It is of exceptional high quality having been installed by a team of experts from Technovations, along with a member of "Project Glue". The exhibition has been named "The St Kessog Show".

It will be switched on after Sunday's service by Dr Michael Cantlay, the chairman of Visit Scotland, who is also Chairman of the Loch Lomond National Park.

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This article appeared in Helensburgh Advertiser 15 Apr 10

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