As we are going to Inchcolm on Sunday I’m taking a break from Rev. Rutherford’s children’s address, and instead looking at his first service on Inchcolm in 1949.
It is right that once a year we should cross Mortimer’s Deep to worship on Inchcolm, as it is in our parish. Some say it is a stunt to get people to attend a service but they probably do not realise the importance of this island hadon this part of Scotland. There were periods in the past when this island was the centre of life.
Some historians suggest that St Columba dwelt on this island and this is why its name was changed from Aemona to Inchcolm. Tradition has it that from here his followers were sent out to preach in Fife.
Almost five centuries later, in 1123, King Alexander I, who had a great love of the saint, was crossing the Forth and a great storm raged. He made a vow that if he were saved he would build a chapel in his memory. He was saved and he provided the means for the building of the monastery, sadly he died the following year but King David saw the building completed.
Many of us make vows, but few keep them. Alexander made his and he kept it.
In 1178 a Papal Bull (an official Papal document) tells us how important the monastery was. It was granted the supervision of churches at Aberdour, Dalgety, Rosyth, Auchtertool and Beath, looking after the people in these parishes.
The Reformation came 400 years later and the role of the monastery fell into decay. But the mainland owes the island a debt, and today there will be a collection to aid to spread the Gospel to new areas. I’m sure St Columba or the Abbots, if they were alive today, would have done the same.