Muthill Old Church

Muthill Old Church in Perthshire is a peculiar old ruin. Not far from the present kirk and the Episcopals sits this rather grand ruin. Unusually, the tower is the oldest part dating to the 1170s while the rest is merely fifteenth-century. Usually, and certainly in England, towers are constructed after the naves as local wealth increases with time’s passage, and the luxury of bells can be installed. Why would the tower of the Old Church be older? It may have been a free-standing construction with a very practical purpose: keeping people safe from violent raids. It may have housed bells in its upper echelons but frightened people likely inhabited the lower when occasion demanded.

Christians have been in danger in these islands on and off for two millennia. Many feel that dangerous times approach again, but where shall we hide, to which refuge do we flee? Log cabins up in the hills? Online ghettos? Not old ruins, that is for certain. No, we go to the Lord Himself, in prayer, in faith, and eventually, in person.

The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe. Proverbs 18:10

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