Patrick at Immanuel Presbyterian Church

(NB: If you're reading this on Facebook, the original post is from my blog). On Monday evening past, I was a stand-in speaker for Immanuel Presbyterian Church PWA (now called Presbyterian Women) on Agnes Street in the Shankill area of Belfast. The speaker who was booked had to go gallavanting off to America last week, so the ladies at Immanuel put up with me instead!

I took a powerpoint along with lots of images but very little text, just as visual aids for the talk. I started (as you might expect) by pointing out a few of the myths and nonsense, then the Scottish stories and legends of Patrick, the Patrick-related placenames in Scotland, the early Ulster-Scots records of Templepatrick near Donaghadee, then onto the similarity of portions of his Confessio and Psalm 40, the Cross of St Patrick flag and its modern applications in logos (like the PSNI badge), Patrick Hamilton the first martyr of the Scottish Reformation and the origins of Scottish Presbyterianism, and finished with the work of Ulster-born hymn tune writer William James Kirkpatrick - "My faith has found a resting place not in device or creed...". A light and enjoyable evening for me, and apparently for the audience too!