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 16th April, at last he is going the steps into the church.
When you enter the church, you go down steps, in most churches you go up steps – many people have asked me why this is.
I asked Mr Williamson, the builder, who restored the church and he didn’t know.
The church was originally only half the size it is today, just ‘this’ side. Around 1530-40 it was decided to enlarge the church, maybe it had become too small, but another reason may have been that they wanted to install an alter to St James.
The original level of the church was about level with the top of the pulpit steps and the floor was sand. So to build massive pillars they had to dig down through the sand to rock. The sand they dug out, they just dumped outside the church.
This fits in with our bible reading of two men, one who built his house on rock and one who built his house on sand. When the rain and storms came, the house built on the sand was washed away.
Of course, Jesus is not talking about building our houses but about building our lives. We must be sure that we build our lives on things he taught us, like loving ones neighbour, forgiving ones enemy and doing good to those who illtreat you – so that we may never fall, no matter how hard the storms of life will blow.