Sue and I were on a seaside walk in 2018 in the Scottish fishing village of Brora when we noticed a beautiful tiny church building. The sign said, “Fisherman’s Hall, Gospel Meeting, Sunday 8PM- All Welcome”.
So, we walked down on Sunday evening and sure enough, we found the remnant of Christ in Brora. Thirty or so friendly men and women, boys and girls, all sipping tea or coffee and passing out hymnbooks.
We discovered that souls have gathered since 1892 near the sea every Sunday evening at Fisherman’s Hall in the north of Scotland. The founders heard Jesus say, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men”. So, they did.
The people who gather there are the finest people on earth. They attend other churches on Sunday morning, but then gather as one in the evenings to sing hymns and listen to a fifteen-minute gospel sermon.
This includes Ross and Margaret who have been leading the group for decades. Greg and Nicola keep the music coming. Their four children help fill the room. Titch and Rachel live around the corner on the most scenic point in the world, if rainbows and a lighthouse and the North Sea matter at all. Their domain is a one-bedroom white house with four teenagers. Cozy does not do it justice.
Helen is usually there, but often too sad to come since her fisherman son Willie died over two years ago in a tragic storm just 100 yards off the shore. Local pastor Rickie and his wife Melissa usually attend with smiles. A retired minister, Sandy and his wife Jessie, never miss. Callum works at the local Co-op and helps with the tea and coffee.
We never go to the Hall without asking 91-year-old Englishman Charles to pray. He goes on for five minutes and his prayers are better than anyone else’s sermons. We happened to be there this year on July 10th, the anniversary of the death of his wife. His tears for his beloved made the whole trip worthwhile.
They pass out three different hymnbooks. A red one with over 1000 hymns. A green one the same. Plus, one other. A wonderful middle-aged lady named Kathleen has some form of autism and literally knows the number of every hymn in every book. Shout the name and she will shout the number. How does she do that?
As I stand among these precious people in this simple building, it becomes clear that the church is not a building but the people that gather there.
“Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him. And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple.” (1st Peter 2:4-5).
You can listen below to the message I preached at the Fisherman’s Hall on September 26, 2021. The patient souls that night let me go long.