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, the first one is from 8th Jan ’67.
We will start with the bell. In the olden days people didn’t have clocks so the bell was rung at 8, 10 and 11am. The first said, ‘get ready’, the second, ‘come’, the third, ‘Come and Worship’. Some years ago, a visitor said to me, “that bell of yours is cracked, you ought to replace it”. It is not the most melodious but it is has a history. It has an inscription in Latin saying ‘Mother of God, remember me’.
Therefore it is pre reformation, that is before 1560, and probably cast in the middle of the fifteenth century in Holland, so it is well over 500 years old. It has only hung at St Fillan’s since 1926, before that it was at St Bridget’s Kirk.
If it could talk, I wonder what it could tell of all the people coming to worship, the fishermen, miners, farmers, the rich and the poor – who answered the call – Come and Worship?
Today I would add the comment, that the bell may be old but it is still very important.