Migvie Kirk

Close by Scotland’s Cairngorms is a redundant church which a local landowner has renovated. Rather than transform it into another holiday let or useful barn, it was kept as a place of worship- of sorts. There are modern murals of various Scottish saints and reproductions of Pictish art. There are some psalms quoted on the walls and there is a rather impressive font-like object, with four stone chairs backing onto it. It remains open and is a pleasure to visit, a surprisingly modern yet tasteful testament to spirituality.

To the many who claim to distrust religion but appreciate the spiritual, this consecrated church must be rather wonderful. Anyone coming here might enjoy the ambience, the appeal to transcendent reality. Yet this is not enough; it is not sufficient to acknowledge there is a God, nor even to search for Him. One must search for Him with all one’s heart, for:

without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. (Heb 11:6)

You realise there is more to existence than molecules and atoms- well done. You believe in God- but so too the demons. You might even pray to Him- great. Yet for real salvation, one must believe further:

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. (1 John 4:9)

I like the little kirk at Migvie. I like its décor, its history, its modernity. I like it when people leave the arid desert of atheism and recognise the reality of the other dimension. Yet we must not remain seekers of spiritual truth. We must ‘seek and find’:

And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jer. 29:13

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. John 14:6