David Ogston

On a cauld Januar mornin in 1980, a wee curn o fowk frae St. John’s Kirk set oot for Balerno in sairch o a new meinister. As we herkent til a delichtfu an eimaginative sermon, we war awaur that here wes a rerr speirit. The letter o applicatioun that brocht us ti Balerno haed been haund-wrutten in a flawin, kenspekkil style, tellin us o Meg, Katie, Ruth an the cat. A meinistrie in Perth, that wes ti lest 27 year, wes aboot ti begin.

David Ogston haed rerr gifts. He haed a formeidable reputatioun as an efter denner speikar. His wuttie graces becam the hielicht o the annual Hie Constables denner, but the rerrest gems war the Sunday sermons, sum sae caller thai war inspirit bi the heidlines in that mornin’s newspapers. Ower the year, the war mukkil milestanes in the areddies illustrious historie o ane o Scotland’s maist ferr-kent kirks. In 1993, the hielicht o the sairvice ti commemorat the 750th anniversarie o the reconsecratioun o the kirk bi Bishop de Bernam, wes an inspiratiounal poem, commissiont bi David, frae George Mackay Brown, an read bi Tam Fleming. Merch 25, 2006 merkit the 800th anniversarie o the coronatioun o Robert Bruce at Scone. The sairvice in St. John’s on the verra date wes ane o the grytest and graundest state occasiouns in the lang historie o the auncient kirk.

But it wesna aye the gryte state occasiouns that made David’s meinistire sae memorable. Whan news o the terrel maussacker in Dunblane o yung bairns an their dominie broke, David’s straucht reactioun wes ‘We open the kirk’. Ower monie hours, yung an auld queued quaetlie for ti licht a caunil an sign the Buik o Remberance. The yung teacher wes a Perth lassie an haed been mairriet in St. John’s. An wha, in that thrang kirk, wul e’er forget the impack an symbolism o Cardinal Winning, the heid o the Catholic Kirk in Scotlan, preachin frae the poupit, whaur a sermon bi John Knox in 1559 haed ignitit the Reformatioun in Scotlan?

On a lichter nott, the eimage o David, happit himsel as John Knox, eggin fowk ti pautronise the staws o the Medieval Merket, set oot in the area aroun the kirk, is an abidin an happie memorie. David luved a challenge. Whan he wes speirit ti skrieve a mairriage sairvice for an al fresco ceremonie, in a ruint abbey on Inchcolm Islan, the ootcum wes eimaginative an inspirin. It wes later publisht in ‘Life and Work’. For me, David’s grytest legacie wes ti mak St. John’s Kirk, wi its auncient historie, a ‘Church Without Walls’, apen til aw, o onie faith, or nane, readie ti face the future. We awe it til him ti dae awthing possible ti cherish this praicious gift. ‘We shall not see his like again’.

Wi acknowledgements til the Perthshire Advertiser.

This article previously appeared in Lallans and is reproduced here with the permission of the editors.

There is no English version of this article.