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Rev John Buchan – at home with the Lord, but remembered

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I just wanted to use this post to reflect on my uncle John Buchan who passed away on the 25th or June 2013.  I have very fold memories of him going right back to my childhood when I recall him taking me to the swimming pool in Aberdeen – which was in those days a real treat.
Going back in time to the early 60’s he was involved in the Faith Mission and I recall him being doing various summer missions and also spending some time on location at schools where he provided some inputs over a period of time.  In those days he lived in a caravan which I think was owned by the  Faith Mission.  After a few years he went to University and was ordained as a minister in the Church of Scotland .  He was appointed to a church in Glasgow for a number of years and then move north to take up the charge as the minister at Strathpeffer Church of Scotland.  Even after he retired from his full time as a minister he continued to do various temporary appointments in the Western Isles and in the Inverness area.  There is no doubt in my mind that my uncle had a living faith and he certainly demonstrated this through out his life in the context of his early work with the Faith Mission and the with the Church of Scotland. I know that he testified to his faith in God and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ faithfully.

During most of his minstry, years I don’t recall seeing him very often but I was able to visit and stay with him when I was visiting Dingwall on business trip once (in the mid 1990’s).  At that time his wife Rita ran a bed and breakfast so I booked in there and arrived unexpectedly – it was a kind of reunion, as we had not met for a number of years.  I remember how nice it was to catch-up on the news from the intervening years.

When my own dad passed away I remember finding in his possessions some news paper cuttings of some P&J Saturday Sermons.  The Reverend John Buchan (my dad’s brother) was the author of those and my dad had purposefully kept them.  My Uncle continued to write the P&J Saturday Sermon over a long number of years taking his place in a rota every 4/5 weeks.  He did this faithfully up till a few weeks before his death – he must have been very dedicated to this task as latterly he had become very frail and was afflicted with various ailments – but he continued this work – it was I think and expression of his faith.

I want to remember him by quoting one of his Saturday sermons, which is about Faith – this one from the 21st March 2009.The Saturday Sermon
The question is often asked: What is faith?  The answer invariably is given in the words of a letter in the New Testament: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1)
The trouble is that you certainly need faith to understand this explanation.
Although faith is described as the evidence of things unseen, it is not a leap in the dark and the rest of this magnificent chapter attests this statement.
They learned to trust God and were obedient to him in an attitude of trust, and the more they walked with him in this way the more they became convinced that God could be trusted.
Consider the experience of Abraham.  The narrative is quite clear that Abraham heard the call of God.  However he heard that call, he responded with alacrity.  He was an idolater and served other Gods (Joshua 24:2) but since his experience of God was so strong he was able to see God at work in the world and in his life.
He was certain of the unseen evidence.
Countless generations of Christians can bear witness to the fact that, like Abraham and others, they endure as seeing him who is invisible. (Hebrews 11:27)
There is an interesting story told of the French tightrope walker Charles Blondin, who performed on a tight rope over the Niagra Falls.  He walked over the falls and, on his way back, he cooked an omelette while on the rope.
His second feat was to roll along the rope a wheel barrow which was strapped to his waist while his hands were free.
On his return to the platform at the edge of the falls, he asked an attendant if he believed he could do it with him in the wheelbarrow?
The attendant confessed that he believed that Blondin could do it with great ease, but when invited to get into the wheelbarrow he refused, showing his lack of faith.
In the New Testament, one of the writers has said that faith without works is dead (James 2:17).
We may say we have faith, but we do not put it into practice.
In other words, we need to see the invisible, which if course we cannot.

Rev John Buchan 

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