sabbatical 2019 - Iona

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Computer issues have kept me form blogging the past few days. I am glad to be back, because we have had some amazing days of pilgrimage - in the fullest sense of the word. We are on Iona now. 2 days of hiking -11 miles and 7 miles. One trek we had an end in site with very poor directions (there are paths everywhere, but more than half of them are created by sheep!!!) But being pilgrims on a journey we simply back tracked and tried another option. (I wonder how many times pilgrims did that 1000 years ago, going to all these holy sites!) There was a misty rain all day yesterday and harder rain today, but being pilgrims we simply put on rain gear. Did they have nylon jackets 1000 years ago?! Sunday morning worship in the Abbey was remarkable. Very inviting call to worship, phenomenally relevant (to the community and to the world) Prayers of the People and extremely welcoming people. Also wonderful new texts to the hymns. We worshiped the same night at the Episcopal Church on the island - connected to a retreat house, and again God preceded us. Expecting little in a tiny chapel that only sat 30 people - It was full. Recorded music began of 2 of my all time favorite pieces of Anglican music - Andrew Lloyd Weber's Pie Jesu, and John Rutter's Benediction. A very relevant sermon, and confirmation that there is a holy place for great Anglican music and liturgy. With all the new wonderful freshness of Iona Community worship, creating great Anglican worship that is relevant to today is a worthy goal.

As we have walked the island as pilgrims, we frequently stop and read from an Iona pilgrimage book that has reflections on the history of the particular spot and how we might think today of the questions and reflections that particular spot arouses. Included are poems and reflections of other authors. One site , the Hermit's cell, was a simple circle of rocks in the middle of the island - no piece of civilization in sight, where 1400 years ago there would have been a hut, where St. Columba, and other monks would have gone for solitude. St. Columba, founder of this island community was a remarkable person, setting up a monastery with a thriving community. He had a keen sense of work in "the world" and time apart for God, something he strove to balance. And is that balance not one of the reasons for this sabbatical time?. So Becky and I simply took 5 minutes of silence being in the rock circle, listening and watching - no agenda, no need to be anywhere or do anything. Simply resting in the beauty of holiness. Iona is a simple and yet profoundly beautiful place on earth, even in the rain and fog. Sheep outnumber the people here! It has been a pilgrimage site for 1200 years, even when the abbey was destroyed from 1500 - 1900. Praise God for generous benefactors who saw a vision to rebuild the crumbling buildings a 100 years ago, and for George McCloud who reinvigorated the abbey's mission in the 1950's and continued with building projects, so the the Abbey Community is now an active presence around the world supporting many social justice issues. From the Iona Community Worship Book, a Benediction - "May the moon, sun, and stars shine on us and warm every heart till it glows like a great fire so that strangers and friends may come in and find welcome. May light shine out from our eyes like a candle set in a window. And may God bless us with goodness and loving kindness. Amen."

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