Columba vs. Nessy, Wee Frees, Donnie vs. Me

After Stirling, Donnie drove us to Oban, which is a gorgeous town on the Western Coast of Scotland. We woke bright and early for a ferry ride to Mull, and then we drove across the island for another ferry to Iona. On the way I saw two red deer. The weather was sunny, mid-seventies, and calm. Donnie said he had never seen Iona Bay so calm. We were blessed!

The Irish St. Columba founded Iona in 563 A. D. in order to evangelize the Picts who were living in what would become Scotland. The landscape is windswept and beautiful beyond imagination. Because of the climate, the original buildings lay in ruins of four corners, but a restoration of the Abbey began in mid-twentieth century presents a stunning picture of the original Abbey. The Nunnery is still in ruins, but it is a glorious ruin!

Iona Abbey is known for its Irish crosses and as the likely place of composition for the Book of Kells, popularly known as the most beautiful book in the world. The Book of Kells is a collection from the gospels, and the artwork is so intricate it has been studied under a microscope to fully appreciate the detail.

The architecture of the abbey is humble but graceful. One of the crosses dates from the seventh century and one from the ninth was still standing. Replicas of the originals greet the eye with their elegant statement of faith. They proclaim belief in a God of beauty who redeems our fallen race through self-sacrifice. The Celts proclaimed the beauty of Christ crucified, which was a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the philosophical Greeks.

Columba was a warrior monk whose descendants had to defend themselves against Viking Raids. Andrew Waller and I climbed up a stone staircase into a watchtower in the front of the church where there was only room for two very cramped watchmen. The door was all of three-feet high with the words "Stand Fast" engraved upon it. Sobering.

Columba also gives us the first historical sighting of the Loch Ness Monster. His boat almost capsized as a body surfaced alongside the small vessel. A head appeared and Columba hit it with his staff and it swam away. Donnie said that something is there and he thinks is a colony of giant eels that was trapped there in pre-historic times when Loch Ness was connected to the ocean. That's probably more likely though less sensational than the Plesiosaur theory. But I digress.

The arch in the transept of the abbey has a carved face of the tormented soul, which must have served as a constant reminder of what we deserve and thus the need to repent. Small stained glass of St. Patrick (the Patron St. of Ireland), Columba, St. Bridget, and Column Cille (Columba's successor) were also seen in the architecture, as well as ferns which grow out the walls.

Iona bay is blue and green and the clearest most unpolluted water I've ever seen. We met a kilted man who lamented with us that we could only be there for a few hours. He spent one week there every year and said the beaches on the other side of the island are the most beautiful in the world. You probably want to bring a thermal scuba suit however.

We said goodbye to Iona and started out on our journey to Edinburgh. Along the way Donnie explained to us that the Free Church of Scotland split from the Church of Scotland in 1843 and he referred the free churches as "wee frees." He then began to explain how nature was his church. I rejoined that God had authored two books--the book of Scripture and the Book of nature. I then explained that the book of nature was incomplete for life and godliness without the book of Scripture. We wouldn't know of Christ and his salvation without the church, whose God-given job was to proclaim Scripture as God's Word for all of life. I also tried to explain that we wouldn't be able to appreciate nature properly without Scripture. Donnie simply wanted to restate his position however, which, he admitted, was probably wrong. But he also went on to tell us that his Church (not a wee free) in Edinburgh had a new pastor whom everybody seemed to love because he was energetic, always smiling, and made his sermons relevant to the people. He said that he had met his new pastor and felt uplifted and would probably go the next time he had a Sunday off. I wish now that we had planned to stay another day, so we could attend with him. I pray our good man Donnie does attend and that he hears the gospel, so that faith will come by hearing.