It was a sad day indeed. Just a week into the new year (2022), a friend contacted me to say that a mutual friend, Calum, had died suddenly in his Orkney home the previous evening. “Our dear friend is gone”, Mark lamented, tremulously.

Chance encounter

Calum hailed from the isle of Lewis. Social life in the Outer Hebrides in the 1960s he found to be imbued by a form of Presbyterian fundamentalism, marked by forced learning of the Catechism in school, foisted upon pupils by heartless, dour-looking ministers; and the swings in the public park being tied up on Saturday nights to stop children playing on them on the Sabbath.

Calum rebelled against such austere religion, seeking instead a life of tolerance and freedom. Following a family relocation to Orkney, Calum moved south for a season, ending up in North Wales. Here he had a chance encounter with an elderly loner, who showed genuine interest in him, and invited him to his humble cottage.

The swings in the public park were tied up on Saturday nights to stop children playing on them on the Sabbath.

The eccentric fellow had an uncanny understanding of humanity, and though not outwardly ‘religious’, spoke openly of his faith in Christ. As a young man searching for life’s meaning, Calum found himself drawn by the Welshman’s integrity and serenity, and following several conversations, surrendered his life to Christ.

Disillusioned with Church

Life transformed, Calum returned to Orkney and set up home in the beautiful Nordic fishing town of Stromness. He joined a local evangelical church, in which he became an active member. However, despite sharing a common desire to spread the gospel within his community, he found himself increasingly at odds with evangelical culture.

Calum felt unable to assent to all the necessary tenets of Christian fundamentalism (e.g., with writers like C. S. Lewis and Richard Rohr, he refuted the doctrine of biblical inerrancy, which he felt was easily disprovable).¹ He felt that such black and white approach paid no regard to the complexities of the issues. He felt it arrogant, even preposterous to assume certainty on all aspects of Christianity, rather than acknowledge the many ‘mysteries of faith’. Leaning on saints of old from both the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, Calum found it more expedient to, in the words of the Iris Dement song, ‘Let the mystery be’.

Calum’s doubts, constant questioning, and direct challenging of the Church meant that he eventually felt no option but to leave it altogether.

He also became disenchanted with believers living in holy huddles; endlessly talking about evangelism, and regularly praying for unsaved friends, but rarely engaging in meaningful dialogue with non-Christians. Calum’s doubts, constant questioning, and direct challenging of the Church meant that he eventually felt no option but to leave it altogether.

Leading many to faith

Many felt he had abandoned his Christian faith. This was a complete misunderstanding. Calum continued to think, speak and breathe Christian vitality. Whenever I went to visit him, we were within minutes invariably drawn into a deep conversation on spiritual issues. He also read widely, particularly books on psychology (which subject he had also formally studied), and spirituality.

Bookseller of Stromness by Calum MorrisonBut especially, Calum never stopped sharing the gospel with those he met. Avoiding talk of ‘getting folk saved’ or praying ‘the sinner’s prayer’, he was an evangelist in the most natural form. And this is where he came into his own. Like all of us, Calum was not immune to weaknesses and insecurities. Ever introspective, he was thoroughly aware of his ‘brokenness’, a term he used frequently (though one downplayed by a sometimes over-triumphalistic charismatic Church).

Calum was unusually – indeed almost uniquely – drawn to the brokenness in others. Many a hurting soul found their way to Calum’s home to sit at his feet and glean from his depth of wisdom. He would draw alongside them, listening discerningly as they shared their story of heartache or confusion. Calum would share his own, then point his visitor to the cross; it was only here that they could find healing for their weary soul. Without Christ, we are indeed lost.

There are literally scores if not hundreds who could testify to the healing Calum helped bring to their lives.

Highly surprised to hear a man speak with such understanding and authority, visitors drank in Calum’s every word. Conversations not infrequently went on into the wee hours of the morning, and were continued over many weeks, months or years. There are literally scores if not hundreds who could testify to the healing Calum helped bring to their lives (including this contributor, along with many hardened working-class Orcadians who wouldn’t dream of attending a church service). A significant number were brought into personal relationship with Christ.

Testimonials

One person shared, “I would not be following the path of faith were it not for Calum. He was the most influential person in my life just when I needed it; he pointed me to the right path and walked with me on it”.

Another said, “He was a sort of village sage with a deep spirituality that was real, wise and insightful. The deep connection that I felt to Calum was incredibly healing and life giving”. Remarkably, Calum virtually became that old eccentric Welshman who pointed him to the Lord many years previously.

So open was Calum’s home to visitors that when he sold his house (to move immediately next door), he wasn’t able to give the buyer his door-key as he hadn’t used it for over seven years and had no idea where it was! That buyer was the Scottish writer, Andrew Greig, with whom Calum soon developed a strong friendship.

Writers, poets and artists

Indeed, writers, poets and artists were among the many visitors to 49 Alfred Street. Argos Bakery by Calum Morrison (2021)For Calum himself was drenched in artistic gifting.² His modest home was something of an art gallery, with paintings on every wall (though he was never keen on religious art). Always up for a deep philosophical chat, National Poet for Scotland, Kathleen Jamie said, “Calum's kitchen was one of my favourite places in the world”.

Calum was unassuming in nature – with not a hint of pretence in him. He worked as a cook on various boats; and more latterly on the passenger ferry, Hamnavoe. It was here one day that he noticed former BBC Newsnight presenter, Jeremy Paxman, who was taking a holiday in Orkney. Calum quickly engaged in dialogue with the broadcaster. Characteristically, this soon turned in a spiritual direction, Paxman being deeply struck by Calum’s wisdom and explanation of life’s purpose. (A chance encounter with renowned atheist, Richard Dawkins in Stromness sometime later produced less engaging results).

He stands in very good company. Jesus himself could not be contained by the religious rules the Pharisees sought to impose on him.

Unboxable

Calum refused to be ‘boxed in’ by any strict set of man-made doctrinal concepts. He stands in very good company. Jesus himself could not be contained by the religious rules the Pharisees sought to impose on him. So liberal did he appear to them that they even called him a “glutton and a drunkard” (Matt 11:19).

God himself cannot be confined to the various ‘boxes’ that we as believers often seek to confine him to, with our faulty expectations and our grossly limited vision of the magnitude and glory of the deity. The godhead will simply not condescend to fit our man-made constructs.

Calum was a true modern-day mystic; unique, individualistic, irreplaceable. Uncontainable in any ‘box’, and though a million miles from perfect, he sought to live in freedom of the Spirit, humbled before his heavenly Father, and united with Christ his Saviour.

“And who the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36).

Endnotes
1. This, of course, is in distinction from not viewing the Bible as ultimately authoritative.
2. His best-known painting, ‘The Bookseller of Stromness’ (2005) proudly hangs in Stromness Library. Calum also published a book of lightning sketches of 175 London Underground commuters, entitled, ‘Between Places’ (2014).