Gaelic language services are held on Sundays at 12.30pm following the English language service, and everyone is welcome to attend.
Continuity of Gaelic worship in Edinburgh has been maintained since 1704. It began when a provision was made by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland for services for Gaelic-speaking soldiers stationed at Edinburgh Castle.
The Gaelic Service moved from church to church around Edinburgh over many years until 1979, when Highland Tolbooth and St John’s, through union with Greyfriars Kirk became part of Greyfriars Tolbooth & Highland Kirk – a name which reflected the new presence of a Gaelic congregation in Greyfriars.
It is interesting to note that the last two places of Gaelic worship, before it came to Greyfriars in 1979, have emerged as notable public places in the capital’s cultural life: Highland Tolbooth St John’s is now The Hub; and The Highland – formerly in Cambridge Street, 1948 – 1956 – is now the Traverse Theatre.
In 2013, the union of Greyfriars Tolbooth & Highland Kirk with Kirk o’ Field meant that the Greyfriars name would have become unwieldy if it included all the congregations it represented. It was therefore agreed that the Kirk’s name return to the simpler ‘Greyfriars Kirk’ but that the Gaelic language be included in as many logos, publications and communications as possible.
When the Rev. Ewen MacLean, minister of Greyfriars Tolbooth and Highland Kirk retired in 1982, the Kirk Session invited him to continue to be responsible for the Gaelic service. Following his death in 2000, the Rev. David MacKay Beckett, minister of Greyfriars Tolbooth and Highland Kirk, encouraged the Gaelic congregation to continue weekly Gaelic worship, and to seek help from Gaelic-speaking ministers and preachers. An enthusiastic response resulted in a number of wonderfully willing people to take turns leading the Gaelic Service and therefore keeping the tradition alive. Their services are much appreciated and respected.
The preaching is ecumenical, as is the congregation: Church of Scotland; Free Church of Scotland; Roman Catholic; Free Church Continuing. The Order of Service holds firmly to the much-loved precenting of the psalms without musical instruments. The congregation sits in the St John’s Aisle, alongside the splendid D Y Cameron stained glass window of St John, and an ancient baptismal font.
Native speakers and learners of Gaelic make up the congregation. Often, however, visitors with no Gaelic – and sometimes just as little English – come to experience the spirituality and the welcome. It is mainly from Canada, New Zealand and the U.S.A. that tourists arrive, seeking to know the kind of service which would have been familiar to their ancestors, cleared from Scotland generations ago.
There are two major events in the Gaelic church year: The Gaelic Service of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, when the Moderator visits, is held in Greyfriars Kirk; and The Annual Highland Lecture has been a prestigious event for 25 years, speakers of outstanding quality creating a significant forum for Highland and Gaelic subjects. Both events are open to all and can be found on the Kirk Calendar.
It was Robert Burns who said, “In Heaven itself I’ll ask no more, than just a Highland welcome”. The Gaelic strand of Greyfriars Kirk constantly strive to honour that sentiment.
