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John Ray in Highland Dress
Below is a photo of me taken a few years ago which shows me wearing the kilt. I wear it only on special occasions of course. It's a lot less boring than a dinner jacket but takes a heck of a lot longer to get into. The tartan of the kilt is in fact the McRae tartan (appropriate to my surname) and the kilt was made for me in Scotland. The name "Ray" is found throughout the British Isles (generally spelt Rae in Scotland, Rea or Reay in Ireland and Ray or Wray in England) so would seem to be an old Celtic name and is probably derived from the Gaelic "rath", meaning red. "roth" in German also means red. So the Rays were originally the redheads! And guess what? My own father was a redhead (so was generally called "Bluey" in the jocular Australian way).
I in fact have only a small amount of Scottish ancestry but Scottish traditions are strong and they certainly were in my family. So I was baptised into the Presbyterian Church of Australia and was sent off to Presbyterian Sunday School. I still have a treasured letter of recommendation written for me by the (Scottish) minister of the last Presbyterian Church of which I was a communicant member (many years ago). I reproduce the text of that letter below.
Presbyterianism is the most democratic form of Christianity so when a congregation needs a new minister, it "calls" (employs) one rather than having one imposed on it. I remember attending a church meeting in the '60s at which the calling of a new minister was being discussed and someone asked: "Have enquiries been made in Scotland?" The reply was: "Yes. Mr Ralph is over there now looking into it". So the Scottish connection was still alive and well then.
And my wedding to Jenny was held at that church.
For a while the selfsame church (Brisbane's Ann St. Presbyterian Church, founded in 1849) gave most of its services in Korean! It is an inner-city church and the British-origin congregation had shrunk rather. But there are now more Presbyterians in Korea than there are in Scotland so I was completely delighted that the life of the church continued to be vigorous thanks in part to our Korean immigrants. I am sure, however, that the Scotsmen who originally built the church would be struck dumb with amazement! Eventually, however the Koreans set up their own church in the suburbs. Some younger ones still seem to worship at Ann St, however.
I attended an anniversary service there in December, 2005 -- for the English-speaking congregation -- and was completely delighted to note that the Minister (Rev. MacNicol) had a strong Scottish accent. It seemed very fitting. After the service I expressed my pleasure at hearing his accent and he told me he was from Edinburgh.
I have written a bit about Scotland. See here or here
Ann Street Presbyterian Church
To whom it may concern:-
Re. Mr John Joseph Ray
This is to certify that I have known the bearer John Joseph Ray for a period of two years and I have pleasure in certifying to the good name and character he bears.
In association with Young People and in study he has revealed outstanding interest in the deeper things and always in my opinion with intense earnestness and spiritual discernment.
He is trusted and popular and I anticipate that he will do well in any position of trust and in that work that calls for sincerity and courage.
Signed: REV. P.W. Pearson, B.A.
"Ann Street"
Brisbane
13th December 1964
2017 Update
Archie McNicol "demitted his charge" some years ago -- shortly before he passed away. The church elders took about 3 years to find his replacement. They are a rich church these days so they had to be careful about getting someone who wanted the job for the wrong reasons. In the end they decided that they had the money so now they wanted people. They chose a man who would build up the congregation. And they chose well. Welshman David Jones had been a very successful "planter" (founder of new congegations) in Tasmania and, after his appointment in 2014, he rapidly built up the congregation at Ann St. There are now two sittings for the Sunday morning service. Remarkable.
But, perversely, I do not like Mr Jones. He is clearly a man of enthusiastic faith but he lacks dignity. Ministers at Ann St have always appeared in the pulpit wearing an academic gown with advocate's tabs. Dignified. But Mr Jones appears in the pulpit wearing a grey suit! To me he is a Welsh Methodist, not a Presbyterian.
And his sermons are too long. The sermons at Ann St once ended when the nearby City Hall clock chimed the hour but last time I was there Mr Jones carried on long past the hour.
But I am a cultural Presbyterian rather than a believing one these days so my priorities are not typical. May the Lord bless and keep Mr Jones.
Index page for this site
DETAILS OF REGULARLY UPDATED BLOGS BY JOHN RAY:
"Tongue Tied"
"Dissecting Leftism" (Backup here)
"Australian Politics"
"Education Watch International"
"Political Correctness Watch"
"Greenie Watch"
Western Heart
BLOGS OCCASIONALLY UPDATED:
"Marx & Engels in their own words"
"A scripture blog"
"Recipes"
"Some memoirs"
"Paralipomena"
To be continued ....
Of Interest
My alternative Wikipedia
Laughing at New Matilda
Dagmar Schellenberger is an operatic genius
Updated as news items come in:
Coral reef compendium.
IQ compendium
Queensland Police -- A barrel with lots of bad apples
Australian Police News
BLOGS NO LONGER BEING UPDATED
"Food & Health Skeptic"
"Eye on Britain"
"Immigration Watch International".
"Leftists as Elitists"
Socialized Medicine
OF INTEREST (2)
QANTAS -- A dying octopus
BRIAN LEITER (Ladderman)
Obama Watch
Obama Watch (2)
Dissecting Leftism -- Large font site
Michael Darby
AGL -- A bumbling monster
Telstra/Bigpond follies
Optus bungling
Vodafrauds (vodafone)
Bank of Queensland blues
There are also two blogspot blogs which record what I think are my main recent articles here and here. Similar content can be more conveniently accessed via my subject-indexed list of short articles here or here (I rarely write long articles these days)
Main academic menu
Menu of recent writings
basic home page
Pictorial Home Page
Selected pictures from blogs (Backup here)
Another picture page (Best with broadband. Rarely updated)
Note: If the link to one of my articles is not working, the article concerned can generally be viewed by prefixing to the filename the following:
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/42197/20151027-0014/jonjayray.comuv.com/
OR: (After 2015)
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