Tribute to the Rev. William Cadzow McCormick at his funeral

in Symington Kirk, November 9^th 2007,

by Rev Dr Graham Houston.

Scripture Readings: Psalm 23; 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1; John 14:1-7, 25-27.

Bill was born in Shettleston, Glasgow, in 1916, and died in Symington on November 4^th 2007, aged 91. An only child, Bill lived with his parents in Coatbridge until 1923 when they came south to Symington on his father’s appointment as dominie of the village school. He attended Biggar High School where he excelled academically and at the sports of football and cricket, becoming Dux of the school in 1934. He then studied arts and divinity at the University of Glasgow, during which time he became very active in the university students’ dramatic society, eventually becoming its president. He recalled that he once turned down a chance to perform on BBC radio at that time because the recording was to be on a Sunday, and wondered what might have happened had he had a career in drama! Judging by the way his children’s addresses were remembered by congregations, perhaps he did! After graduating MA, BD, Bill served as an assistant minister in Bridgeton, Glasgow, before his ordination in 1943, when he worked for the Christian Highway youth movement. He met Daisy, known as Day, in 1942 at a dance, and they married in 1945 in Glasgow University Chapel. They set up home in the manse of Ardrishaig in Argyllshire for Bill’s first charge, which he often spoke of with affection despite some of the trials he had with a few awkward elders! It was there that his gifts with young people were demonstrated in a thriving youth fellowship. During that time Janice was born. In 1951, they moved to Paisley: Oakshaw West where Bill continued developing youth work and in the summers got back to playing cricket. During their ministry in Paisley, Christine was born. In 1960 they moved to Glasgow: Maryhill Old, until his retirement in 1983. Throughout his ministry Day was fully involved, especially with the Guild, and they made a great team in the parishes they served together. Janice and Christine were married and five grandchildren came along, Gillian, Jackie, Gregor, Ruth, and Hazel. They also have four great-grandchildren Leon, David, James and Daisy. At Maryhill, once again Bill’s success in youth work was apparent, and there are people in Scotland today who can testify to his influence in their lives through a thriving young people’s group. The Youth Fellowship plays in Maryhill, I am told, were quite a hit! In all his charges and appointments Bill was loved and appreciated as a caring pastor and courageous leader. In 1983 they retired to Symington in Bill’s family home.

During his retirement Bill and Day continued to enjoy holidays in Millport where Bill did pulpit supply regularly in the month of October. He served a number of churches in Lanark Presbytery as locum, and supplied pulpits on countless Sundays. His children’s addresses were very popular, including one about a lost lamb that he had tried to rescue by the roadside but which ran away, remarking that he hoped the next encounter with it would be with mint sauce! He was also a popular speaker at Guild meetings where he often delivered a humorous cookery talk. In fact he was a dab hand at cooking and known for creating his own specialities, often from left-overs! Bill wrote poetry and had a book of verse published. In Symington one of his claims to fame was establishing a cricket team for a time, where he resurrected his reputation gained at Thornliebank CC in Glasgow as a demon spin-bowler. In fact I recall playing against him nearly 40 years ago when I opened the batting for Clydesdale 3^rd XI! Bill and Day made a daily habit of doing crosswords, winning the “Wee Stinker” four times and the prizes of tee-shirts which they sported on occasion. They also succeeded with the Herald and Scotsman crosswords. Bill was an avid and very fast reader, regularly consuming books. His most recent read was a history of Napoleon in French! He also had an amazing memory and could recite poetry and Shakespeare at the drop of a hat. I always enjoyed visiting Bill and Day at home and then when Day moved to Greenhills Care Home in Biggar, and enjoyed Bill’s musings about past and present affairs. He was a great encourager and I remember warmly his appreciation expressed for biblical preaching which is connected with the real lives that we must live today. On one occasion I recall with affection his words to me, “Thank you for looking after my church.” He could say that sincerely having first sat in the family pew here in 1923! We will all miss Bill very much, and we give thanks to God for his long life, his 64 years of ordained ministry, his long and loving marriage to Day, and his care and concern as a father and grandfather. Above all we celebrate the friendships which he made and maintained over a very long time, outliving many of his contemporaries. In June 2003 we gathered here for a service to celebrate Bill’s 60^th anniversary of his ordination, and it is fitting that we say our temporary goodbyes in this Kirk where he first worshipped some 84 years ago!

With the apostle Paul’s wisdom, then, let us, as he urges, “fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen”….realizing that “what cannot be seen lasts for ever.”(2 Corinthians 4:18) Just as the stories Bill often told in the pulpit pointed to a deeper and wider reality beyond the here and now, let us ensure that our focus is not merely time-bound and rooted only in this current world. Bill was not among those preachers who are so heavenly-minded that they are no earthly use. But the gospel which he believed and shared in his life, conversation, and preaching is good news of that which is everlasting and can never die, by the grace of God. It is a sure and certain hope which has inspired millions throughout the centuries to live life to the full by faith in Jesus Christ, including those young people with whom Bill worked and encouraged from the earliest days of his ministry. For as Paul says, “Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day.”(4:16) Let us all lay hold of that tremendous vision and live in that transforming renewal for the good of this world and for the glory of the world yet to come.