The participation of clan members and the symbolic presence of tartais at this service began at the Scots' Church, Melbourne, in 1988. So, this year we celebrate the service's tenth anniversary here. Each year we remember the commemiration of the ending of a period after the 1745 rebellion when the British Parliament made it illegal to wear the kilt, in an attempt to repress highland loyalties of which the clan system was an important part. The Disarming Act of 1746 not only banned the wearing of clothes commonly called Highland dress, but it also banned the carrying of arms. This proscription was repeated in 1782 and nearly two generations were deprived of the passign on of the music of The Great Highland Pipe, for it too was classed as an instument of war. Clan chiefs were stripped of their lands and power, and some were executed or exiled - the national pride was crushed by a vindictive conqueror. The oppression continued for 35 years. For some, the period of oppression was not forgotten.

It is said that, until the repeal of the prohibitive law in 1782, the practice arose of smuggling a piece of tartan into church on a given Sunday each year, and using it to seek God's blessing on the lans and all thaqt they represented. This may have given rise to the church services such as this morning's. It is certainlhy the case that such services take place more in countries such as the United States of America, Australia and other lands where Scottish peopl have since settled, than it does in Scotland where the Tartans ceremony does not, as a rule, take place. It is however, a very good way of allowing Scots living abroad to remember and commemorate part of their origins in some way. To do so within an act of worship connects a bit of the past with our awareness of the God who shapes the character of all of us, through all generations.

Furthermore, this occaision gives people from Scotland, Australia and from many other places an opportunity to worship together when they might not otherwise do so. may we all be glad to sieze that opportunity, and, as we do so, to come closer to God and each other.