Croick Church, Living Heritage

Glimpses of faith and community life in the Scottish Highlands

By Plateau Perspectives

April 25^th, 2022

Croick Church was built during the years 1825-1827 to serve the parishioners living in walking distance of its geographic location. The church owes its origins to the 1823 Parliamentary Act for Building Additional Places of Worship in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland that voted the sum of £50,000 for building 32 churches and accompanying manses to the standardised designs that were produced by Thomas Telford.

For more information about the church and its history, see here.

The church long remained as a place of worship for local inhabitants. Today it is used for occasional summer services, as well as serving as a reminder of history both local and representative of much of the Highlands.

On Sunday 24th April 2022, James Robert Wallace, Baron Wallace of Tankerness and also current Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, came to preach at a communion service at Croick Church.

The Moderator's visit comes as part of a presbytery tour of Sutherland.

"I am very much looking forward to visiting the Presbytery of Sutherland and meeting church members from across the area," said Lord Wallace. "Presbytery visits offer a wonderful opportunity for Moderators to see, first-hand, the life of the local church... it is also an opportunity to learn. As a Church, we seek to be active in the community and I am looking forward to meeting a wide range of people from different walks of life to discuss the issues that they face and assure them all that they are held in our prayers."

Sharing bread is a communal act. The Latin of the word 'companion' - cum panis - means "with bread." Unless we act in community, we risk retreating into our individual and possibly selfish worlds. Communion is a reminder of just how interdependent we are.

In Jesus' words, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

Lord Wallace previously served as Deputy First Minister of Scotland from 1999 to 2005, and during that time he served twice as acting First Minister, first in 2000 following Donald Dewar's death and then again in 2001.

During the recent service at Croick Church, Lord Wallace highlighted the importance of Christians being fully engaged in social and ecological justice, including a welcoming of present-day refugees.

When we eat bread both in the sacrament and in our daily living, we surely cannot ignore the plight of our global neighbours, whom we are called to love.

May we hear the words of Jesus, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me."

After the sermon, the Very Reverend Iain Torrance led in the celebration of Communion, in which all were invited to participate by coming forward and joining around the table to take the bread and wine remembering Jesus Christ as he prepared to go to the cross, bringing redemption for humanity and all of creation. Through the communion, we are participating in the life of God – Father, Son and Spirit.

If today, in 2022, Jesus is the living bread, then we, through our actions, must be the sources of that fresh and living bread which nourishes a world yearning to be filled.

"It's not what we make of the eucharist that matters, but what the eucharist is making of us."

There was opportunity for further discussion following the service outside the church, and then also over tea and cake that were made available by the local community at Kincardine Church in Ardgay.

Croick Church became most (in)famous as the place where the people of this parish gathered in the churchyard after being evicted from their homes in May 1845 during the terrible clearances of the glens. At that time, 80 people gathered in the church yard, subsequently leaving as refugees...

The east window panes have messages inscribed in their windows reminding all of what happened.

Many visitors come to visit this historic site each year.

The area has been home for many generations to people who have lived off the land. The church is built next to a Pictish broch. Both ancient and more recent ruins of family homes the length of the strath (valley) poignantly remind us of the crofting community that has lived here for generations.

The Church of Scotland adheres to The Five Marks of Mission, including to seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind, and to pursue peace and reconciliation; and to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

Our prayer is that we will rise from the table, sustained by bread and wine, ready to go out and make a difference in the world.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it” (Psalm 24:1)

Loving God means caring for his creation... and caring for the planet really is caring for people... Christ is reconciling the entire creation.

BioLogos

Many thanks are extended to Rev. Mary Stobo and other members of the kirk session and the wider church community for organising this excellent and most memorable day at Croick Church.