EDINBURGH, Scotland — A special service held to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the commissioning of the King James Bible had an element of drama to it with the unexpected death of the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Thomas Winning.

At the end of the month-long celebrations a service of thanksgiving was held at the parish church of Burntisland, in Fife, a 6,000-strong community which faces Edinburgh across the Firth of Forth. Four hundred years ago in May, King James VI of Scotland, unable to travel all the way to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in St Andrews, met the Assembly at Burntisland Kirk instead and there proposed a new translation of the Bible in English.

Major impact

Three years later, a conference of English bishops formally approved the idea of James, now King James I of England, at a conference at London’s Hampton Court, and in 1611 the Bible familiarly known as the King James Version was published. It was to have a major impact all over the English-speaking world for the best part of 300 years, becoming both a springboard and a standard for every new English translation of the Scriptures. It is still referred to by Bible translators working with other languages.

In June this year, local people celebrated the anniversary of the unexpected role of Burntisland in Bible history. They held a colourful pageant involving some 60 children and adults in costume parading from Rossend Castle to the church in a re-enactment of King James’s visit to the Church’s General Assembly, and had a family fun day, learned lectures and concerts by young musicians.

Flood victims

Other attractions included Bibleworld II, the Scottish Bible Society’s mobile interactive Bible experience for children, and an exhibition area featuring the history of the church, the Bible and the Scottish Bible Society. Special supplies of Scriptures were made available, and members of the Society and the UBS attended and took part in some of the special services. The initiative for the celebrations came from the Christians of Burntisland who were keen in some way to help provide Scriptures for flood victims in Mozambique.

On Sunday June 17 Cardinal Thomas Winning, the Roman Catholic Cardinal Archbishop of Glasgow, had been due to preach at the parish church but had had to pull out after suffering a heart attack the week before, and arranged for an emissary to take his place.

Suddenly preaching

In the event the Cardinal died the very morning of the service. When his emissary and friend heard that he was desperately ill, he turned back from his journey to the church and John Lloyd, part-time Press Officer for the Scottish Bible Society, who had been looking forward to attending the service, suddenly found himself asked to preach instead.

In addition, the Cardinal’s sermon was faxed through to the local police station in time for parts of it to be read at the service by Gillian Paterson, an elder of Burtisland Kirk and co-ordinator of the celebrations.

“The words [of the cardinal’s sermon] were wonderful and inspiring,” said Mr Lloyd. “As a church leader in Scotland the Cardinal was outspoken... You could not fail to hear his voice speaking on issues of real Christian concern.”

He commented that it was extraordinary that the words from the cardinal’s last sermon should be spoken in the Church of Scotland by a female elder — “He would undoubtedly have enjoyed the irony,” he said.