As it’s St Fillan’s 900th anniversary I’m looking at Rev. Rutherford’s children’s address, where he talks about the history of the church, this one is for 26th November 1967, and he is talking about the Communion Window.
I have been looking at the lancet windows by Alexander Strachan. To most people the most beautiful is the one on the East Wall behind the communion table. You may not be able to see all the details from where you are sitting, do come up afterwards to have a look.
You will notice two details. One is that Jesus is holding a communion cup. He stands, as if offering it to you just as he offered it to the disciples in the upper room on the night before he died. The other detail is that our Lord’s foot is resting upon a Serpent. The serpent is from the story of Adam and Eve and is a symbol of evil. Therefore the window reminds us how Jesus died that we might be forgiven and so conquered evil and helps us to conquor it.
There is a third detail you may have missed, it is the small plaque which reads’:
This window is dedicated to the memory of all those who worshiped in this church from the middle of the twelves century to the end of the eighteenth, in actual fact from 1123 to 1790 when our present hall was completed as the new church. The artist said that this window sought to set forth the church in all ages. What did he mean?
You may be asked, “What church do you belong to?” You my answer St Fillan’s, or Aberdour Church, that is correct but the better answer is, “I belong tot he church of Peter and James and John, to Paul, Augustin, Francis, Ignatious, Luther, Knox, Wesley, David Livingstone, Albert Schweitzer. I belong to the same church as Christians in India, Africa, and North & South America.”