Christmas Eve ecumenism
On Christmas Eve, BBC ALBA laid on a Gaelic ecumenical service at Ness Bank Church (Church of Scotland), Inverness. The service was led by Rev. K. D. MacLeod (Church of Scotland), and the BBC advertised this as an ecumenical service and as having ‘readings and prayers from Rev. Ronnie Morrison (Free Church of Scotland) and Father James MacNeil (Catholic Church)’.
Also involved were soloists Kathleen MacInnes, Maggie MacDonald and James Graham, and local musicians Caledonian Canal Ceilidh Trail, who performed Christmas classics. Pupils from Inverness Gaelic Primary School, Inverness Gaelic Choir joined the Ness Bank congregation in singing Gaelic carols. The TV programme was repeated on Christmas Day.
While singing Gaelic Christmas carols together may seem innocuous enough, the widespread public impression from this ecumenical TV event will be that the Catholic Church, the Church of Scotland and the Free Church of Scotland all stand for the same truths and preach the same message.
Since Rome has for many centuries resolutely opposed the fundamental biblical truth of justification by faith, only confusion can result from such a service. When those who claim to be evangelical Protestants are involved, it is lamentable.
It is to be hoped that the Free Church of Scotland, in particular, in view of its previous historic stand for the gospel will actively eschew further unbiblical ecumenism.
