the beautiful St. Columba's

This post is a raving tribute to the church I'm currently attending here in Edinburgh. It's an urban church, located right in the middle of the city. The official name is St. Columba's Free Church - which basically means it's an offshoot of Presbyterianism. Haven't figured out the whole history yet. St. Columba is said to have been the first person to bring Christianity to Scotland and is also reported to have seen the Loch Ness monster. Interesting claims to fame. Anyway, here's what I love about St. Columba's...

• after service people remain in their seats and turn to talk to the people around them. after my first service i was greeted by no less than 5 people just after service, who all seemed genuinely interested and asked lots of questions. it made me feel really, really welcome. i loved that people didn't rush off after service like they couldn't wait for it to be over, and also that they didn't stick to talking within their own cliques (which I'm VERY guilty of at Northlake) but reached out to uncomfortable and strange people like myself.
• an after-service coffee and tea time that people actually attended, and where people actually talk to you. It's phenomenal! again, people genuinely reached out...
• the only songs they sing are psalms. i've found this to be very nice - something about singing God's actual word out together. at first it was weird, but I've already warmed up to the idea.
• many people invite others to their houses for lunch after church. three people invited me over, which was LOVELY because I'm definitely out for free food and nice people.

St. Columba's is small, and therefore able to be a little bit more connected to each other, I think. In the bulletin were announcements about people's surgeries, new babies, city events, prayer requests for specific people, etc. It is very personal and very supportive.

Obviously I realize it's not perfect. But I just wanted to share these things with you at home who might delight to hear of good things happening abroad :)