Hope rekindled

“IT’s Church Jim, but not as we know it!” That is a twist on the famous line from Star Trek as Dr McCoy describes an alien life form to Captain Kirk.

Not long after I came to Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh in 2003, I was becoming friendly with a wild, radical man who lived in Govan. Sadly, in 2005, he died from a heart attack at the outrageously early age of 39. I miss him still, but his vision goes on inspiring me.

His name was Colin Macleod, the ‘Bird Man of Govan’. He acquired that name during a protest against the extension of the M77 that involved the destruction of many ancient trees in Pollock Park. He was an environmental activist and community builder, but he was much more than that, he was one of the most profoundly spiritual people I have ever met, though he was wary of churches.

He founded an organisation called Gal Gael, helping people in Govan to reconnect with themselves and their spiritual identity. It was a community blighted by years of industrial decline. Learning boat-building skills, they worked to build a Birlinn, a replica of the galleys that carried people around the western fringes of Europe a thousand years ago. For Colin, we are all the descendants of Columba and those that had spread the good news of Christ during Europe’s Dark Ages

Every time I visited the Gal Gael, there were always stories about identity and belonging that Colin shared. Building boats and learning to sail them as their Gaelic ancestors had done proved to be transformative for people as they reconnected with a lost spiritual history. To reclaim that ancient culture and spiritual narrative was at the heart of Colin’s ‘craic’. He knew that every person was a child of God, a person of profound worth and value, but life and circumstances could get in the way of that.

Colin was also rarely without a mug of tea in his hand, and as soon as anyone arrived, the kettle would be on and hospitality would go hand in hand with the stories.

As I absorbed the atmosphere he created, I could not stop thinking about the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Two troubled and downhearted disciples head off to Emmaus on the first Easter Day. They are perplexed, fearful and life has taken a shocking and violent turn with Jesus’s brutal execution. Broken by events, along the way a stranger comes and engages them in a story about their native culture. Jesus is the fulfilment of the promises.

Then, as they share hospitality, they realise they have encountered the risen Christ and their hearts ‘burn within them’. I witnessed a great coming to life in the Gal Gael amongst people beleaguered by poverty and a feeling of alienation.

“ Then, as they share hospitality, they realise they have encountered the risen Christ and their hearts ‘burn within them’.

Personhood and hope rekindled in the mixture of storytelling and hospitality.

Colin was a true prophet, a wild, shamanic voice in the wilderness. He was achieving what we in the church often fail to achieve, as our communities can sometimes be too respectable and intimidating for those on the edge, blighted by life. Re-imagine the church! It is what the Spirit is summoning us to do in these lean times. We could learn a lot from places like the Gal Gael. ‘It’s church Jim, but not as we know it’. Here is what the Gal Gael say about themselves:

“To work together and demonstrate that more humanity is possible in the world. This is demanding graft, but for us, it is where hope is made possible”

The Rev Dr Richard Frazer is minister at Edinburgh: Greyfriars.