Edinburgh and St. Giles Cathedral

Scott and I headed off to Edinburgh this past weekend. Our plan was to take in the Edinburgh Castle, the Palace of Holyrood, and maybe the Royal Yacht Brittania. Aside from that, we planned to relax and investigate a new city and country. We stayed at the Radisson Blu Hotel which was pretty much right in the middle of "The Royal Mile"; a "just over a mile" stretch of road that runs between the Castle and the Palace. It turned out to be a great location for our weekend away.

Saturday morning we set off towards the Edinburgh Castle

The street was lined with all sorts of interesting shops and even a few street vendors. About 2 blocks away from our hotel we came across the beautiful St. Giles Cathedral. After snapping a few photos we headed on up the hill to the Castle. The Castle itself was really great to explore. Look for more information and pictures in a future blog about the Castle.

On our way back down The Royal Mile we came again to St. Giles Cathedral and this time the doors were open, we could hear music coming from inside, and we saw lots of tourists wandering in and out. Of course we had to go in and check it out! Some of our Presbyterian friends, much more educated in Presbyterianism than Scott and I, will know where we stood, but for us it was an amazing find! St. Giles Church, in addition to being the site where the queen confirms knighthood on selected individuals, is known as The Mother Church of Presbyterianism!

The Cathedral is quite beautiful inside with many arches, chapels, monuments, and prayer rooms. This building has been added onto, remodelled, and seen parts of it demolished since it was founded in the 1120's, and has endured at least one fire. During the reformation years it was used as a police station, fire station, school, jail, and space was even used to store a guillotine!

In more recent history, the church has been re-designed with the alter table moved to the centre of the Cathedral. This photo is looking across the centre towards the organ. The organ itself is new, built in 1992 .

This photo was taken from the pews looking towards one of the magnificent stained glass windows. This particular window includes the story of Jesus from his arrest through ascension.
In some parts of the Cathedral the ceilings are made of stone, while in others they are painted a beautiful shade of blue, as you can see in this picture.

Scott and I did return to St. Giles to worship on Palm Sunday. We were treated to some beautiful music and a thoughtful message. While the service was not unlike our American Presbyterian services, there were some interesting differences. Instead of the offering being collected in a plate or basket, sporran's (money pouches) were passed along the rows. In the Lord's Prayer we said "trespasses" instead of "debts". My Methodist friends might have it right after all ;-). Perhaps the biggest surprise to us, though, came with communion. In this particular church the wine is shared in a common cup passed from person to person. We were definitely not expecting that
If you would like to know more about St. Giles Cathedral here is a link: www.stgilescathedral.org.uk

More about our trip to Edinburgh coming soon !