Inconjunction with Fenwick Parish Church the Scotish Covenanter Memorials Association held a service of dedication to commemorate the refurbishment by the SCMA of the Fenwick Memorials representing Covenanters who were active in the struggle to obtain religious and civil freedom.

Seven local men lost their lives between 1666 and 1685 including Captain John Paton. The memotial for John Fergushill and George Woodburn has been renewed and the remaining memorials cleaned and repaired.

In addition a further three memorials to local men prominent in the covenanting cause have been restored - for the brothers James and John Howie of Lochgoin and a third to the Rev. William Guthrie who was appointed the first minister of this newly created parish in 7th November 1644.

Once the Rev Geoff Redmayne had been assured that "The picquets have been posted and there is no sight of any enemies" he then led opened the service with a prayer from the steps leading to the Rowallan loft.

The Provost, our own Stepanie Young then gave us an addres to the congregation, which included a distinguished delegation from East Ayrshire Council as well as office bearers and members of the SCMA and the Weavers society. Part of Provost Youngs address highlighted that on the 11th of Novemer we quite rightly remember those brave souls who gave so much for our country in the first and second world wars as well as the falklands and sadly still do in Afghanistan, but how many remember the covenanters and their fight for religious and civil freedom? Is it maybe time for us to take stoch of their actions and somehow otherwise commemorate them with a service of thanksgiving for without their struggle would we have the freedoms now a days that we so easilly take for granted.

The readings were from Isiah 53 v 1-12 and Romans 8 28-39

Bill Niven president of the SCMA also gave a very fine and thought provoking address followed by the Honour Roll of the FEnwick Covenanters (the list of which is following this report)

The Rev Redmayne then gave his address which I have thought you would appreciate more if you read it in full. Please take time and read on the following.

Address

As we stand in this Kirkyard today with the sun/rain on our backs it is difficult to grasp the extent of the turmoil that Scotland faced as the foundations of this very church building were laid.

Today is the village is peaceful, we stand under a blue sky. The swallows fly by our heads seeking out flies to feed their young and we are within the sound of rooks and jackdaws attending their young.

You who have gathered here today have extraordinary freedom to come together in worship. You have the right to choose to follow Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, whoever you like or nothing at all. You can put your faith in the God of Jesus and the Jews, in the God of Islam, in the gods of consumerism and technology or you can choose to believe that there is no good at all.  You have the freedom of choice.

Scotland of the 17^th Century was quite different.  The land was ruled by the king, supported and aided by the noblemen. To step out of line was a dangerous step to take.

Scotland had come through the reformation relatively unscathed. Church and state had an uneasy truce. And the church held firm Jesus Christ was the sole head and king of the church.  In matters ecclesiastical God was sovereign. That began to change with the union of the crowns in 1604, James I (James VI) got a taste for the control he had a head of the Church.  That taste for control was to shared by his heirs Charles I and Charles II.   In what was a complicated period of Scottish History mixed up with the English politics of Royalism and Parliamentarism Men and Women stood firm to their religious beliefs. The Church was God’s not the kings. Jesus Christ was and is the sole head and king of the church.

In prayer and in battle these men and women put their lives on the line for their allegiance to Jesus Christ.  From the signing of the National Covenant in 1640 through to the end of the killing times in 1688. These men and women were harassed and persecuted for their religious zeal. Killed on the battlefield, executed for their part in armed uprising, hunted down at prayer or ministers evicted from their livelihoods. These men died for their allegiance to Jesus Christ.  That came first in their lives, ahead of allegiance to king and country, ahead of allegiance to landlord or employer.  First and foremost they were followers of Jesus and for that they shared in his sufferings and for that they laid down their life.

It is difficult to imagine, it is difficult to put ourselves in their shoes, faced with the same decisions, faced with the same situations, would we? Could we?

The graves and memorials marked here stand witness to the fact that they did. We honour their memory by maintaining, restoring and replacing these memorials so that their names and their deeds are known to future generations.  At the end of the day these are but stones.  Their living memory is honoured when the faith that they held dear to is alive in us.  When we who are here grasp the same nettle of faith that they did, a passion for prayer, a zeal for the word of God, when we grasp that nettle of faith and stand for Jesus Christ then their memory lives in us and in this country kirk.  A memory that lives because the faith that goes with it lives in our hearts, in our lives, in our community of faith and in the homes of this parish.

Amen. May the Glory be God’s in him we have our faith, our life, our being.

Let us pray

Lord God, we give you thanks and praise for the gift of faith in our midst.

We praise you for the solid foundation on which this little Kirk was founded.

The walls stand on solid boulders as the people stand on the rock of Jesus Christ.

We thank you for the gospel preached, for faith received, for lives changed and for perseverance in the face of hardship and strife.

We praise for the word read and the word expounded, we thank for the psalm and hymn sung and for the times of prayer within the walls of this kirk, in barns and farmhouses and out on the moor.

We thank you for William Guthrie who preached and ministered here, for John Paton captain in the Covenanting Army, for Robert Buntine and James Blackwood captured and battle and hung for their part, for James White, Peter Gemmell, John Nisbet executed for attending to prayer, for the Howies of Lochgoin, for the shelter they gave and in particular James and John who gave honour to the great cloud of witnesses and men of worth in laying down a record of their undertaking.

For the stones that stand in memorial to them, whether to mark a grave or to honour their names, these stones that have been cleaned and restored we rededicate them to their memory, may they stand to the honour and glory of you our Lord and our God for generations to come.

(move to new headstone)

And we thank you for John Fergushill of Tarbolton and George Woodburn of Loudoun, men not of this parish but shot for attending to prayer at Midland and buried here.

This new stone we dedicate to their memory and to the glory of your name.

And for those whose names are not recorded here, who lost their lives or suffered imprisonment or hardships because of their faith and their allegiance to you, Jesus Christ our Lord, we honour their memory, their perseverance and their sacrifice..

In you we trust may your name be glorified today and forever.

Ame

Address

As we stand in this Kirkyard today with the sun/rain on our backs it is difficult to grasp the extent of the turmoil that Scotland faced as the foundations of this very church building were laid.

Today is the village is peaceful, we stand under a blue sky. The swallows fly by our heads seeking out flies to feed their young and we are within the sound of rooks and jackdaws attending their young.

You who have gathered here today have extraordinary freedom to come together in worship. You have the right to choose to follow Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, whoever you like or nothing at all. You can put your faith in the God of Jesus and the Jews, in the God of Islam, in the gods of consumerism and technology or you can choose to believe that there is no good at all.  You have the freedom of choice.

Scotland of the 17^th Century was quite different.  The land was ruled by the king, supported and aided by the noblemen. To step out of line was a dangerous step to take.

Scotland had come through the reformation relatively unscathed. Church and state had an uneasy truce. And the church held firm Jesus Christ was the sole head and king of the church.  In matters ecclesiastical God was sovereign. That began to change with the union of the crowns in 1604, James I (James VI) got a taste for the control he had a head of the Church.  That taste for control was to shared by his heirs Charles I and Charles II.   In what was a complicated period of Scottish History mixed up with the English politics of Royalism and Parliamentarism Men and Women stood firm to their religious beliefs. The Church was God’s not the kings. Jesus Christ was and is the sole head and king of the church.

In prayer and in battle these men and women put their lives on the line for their allegiance to Jesus Christ.  From the signing of the National Covenant in 1640 through to the end of the killing times in 1688. These men and women were harassed and persecuted for their religious zeal. Killed on the battlefield, executed for their part in armed uprising, hunted down at prayer or ministers evicted from their livelihoods. These men died for their allegiance to Jesus Christ.  That came first in their lives, ahead of allegiance to king and country, ahead of allegiance to landlord or employer.  First and foremost they were followers of Jesus and for that they shared in his sufferings and for that they laid down their life.

It is difficult to imagine, it is difficult to put ourselves in their shoes, faced with the same decisions, faced with the same situations, would we? Could we?

The graves and memorials marked here stand witness to the fact that they did. We honour their memory by maintaining, restoring and replacing these memorials so that their names and their deeds are known to future generations.  At the end of the day these are but stones.  Their living memory is honoured when the faith that they held dear to is alive in us.  When we who are here grasp the same nettle of faith that they did, a passion for prayer, a zeal for the word of God, when we grasp that nettle of faith and stand for Jesus Christ then their memory lives in us and in this country kirk.  A memory that lives because the faith that goes with it lives in our hearts, in our lives, in our community of faith and in the homes of this parish.

Amen. May the Glory be God’s in him we have our faith, our life, our being.

Let us pray

Lord God, we give you thanks and praise for the gift of faith in our midst.

We praise you for the solid foundation on which this little Kirk was founded.

The walls stand on solid boulders as the people stand on the rock of Jesus Christ.

We thank you for the gospel preached, for faith received, for lives changed and for perseverance in the face of hardship and strife.

We praise for the word read and the word expounded, we thank for the psalm and hymn sung and for the times of prayer within the walls of this kirk, in barns and farmhouses and out on the moor.

We thank you for William Guthrie who preached and ministered here, for John Paton captain in the Covenanting Army, for Robert Buntine and James Blackwood captured and battle and hung for their part, for James White, Peter Gemmell, John Nisbet executed for attending to prayer, for the Howies of Lochgoin, for the shelter they gave and in particular James and John who gave honour to the great cloud of witnesses and men of worth in laying down a record of their undertaking.

For the stones that stand in memorial to them, whether to mark a grave or to honour their names, these stones that have been cleaned and restored we rededicate them to their memory, may they stand to the honour and glory of you our Lord and our God for generations to come.

(move to new headstone)

And we thank you for John Fergushill of Tarbolton and George Woodburn of Loudoun, men not of this parish but shot for attending to prayer at Midland and buried here.

This new stone we dedicate to their memory and to the glory of your name.

And for those whose names are not recorded here, who lost their lives or suffered imprisonment or hardships because of their faith and their allegiance to you, Jesus Christ our Lord, we honour their memory, their perseverance and their sacrifice..

In you we trust may your name be glorified today and forever.

Amen

The final psalm sung was "as pants the heart for cooling streams" sung to "Fenwick" which tune was originally know as "Martyrdom". "Fenwick was composed by the shoemaker Hugh Wilson a son of Fenwick who was born and spent his youth in a small cottage down the brae from Fenwick Kirk.

Rev Redmayne then dissmissed the picquets and we retired to the church hall and thereafter some even went over to watch the rest of the local Derby cricket match between High and Laigh Fenwick.