Jen at Iona

The island of Iona is a beautiful windswept place. I loved staying at the abbey where my room had a small, long window framed in stone that looked out over the sound to the isle of Mull. My roommates were two young women who just graduated college - one this spring and another the year prior. It was definitely a "God thing" as they had lots of theological questions about the worship - it was fun being the college chaplain for a bit. There were folks from all over staying in the Abbey, including a big group from Sweden and another from Cambridge. While living as part of the community all are invited to worship and are expected to work. My tasks as a part of the "otter" group for the week included setting up and cleaning up for breakfast and tidying up after tea and coffee which followed the evening prayer service. A woman named Kay and I were on toast duty each morning - so no sleeping in for us!

After our welcome on Saturday and worship that evening we fell into a bit of a routine of worship, work and meals. There wasn't a focused program at the Abbey this week - it was just called Gathering Space - so we were free to attend talks or optional activities, but we were also free to relax, read and explore the island. Our host for the week was a kind woman named Sally who has been a member of the Iona community for years. She offered talks about different aspects of the community's core values as well as living out their rule. If you want to find out more about the community you can check out their info at http://www.iona.org.uk. There are too many stories to tell, I'm not sure I've really processed the week, but here are a couple of things that stood out to me.

The week was filled with meeting new people, celebrating creatively in worship at the Abbey Church, and enjoying the beauty of the island. While it rained for much of our time, there were often clear nights and the stars were amazing, as was the full moon reflected in the sound. The worship space is incredible. An old abbey church that was in ruins was refurbished in the 1930s. The choices they made about what to fix-up and what to leave semi-ruins is interesting. There is a gaping hole in one wall that means a piano can be visible above the choir stalls. Open spaces in the seating are are filled with movable chairs (with the exception of the fixed choir stalls) so that many times the seating was moved for a different service. Instead of a pulpit there was a leader's desk with chair from which the various members of the staff, volunteers and community led us in worship. We used the Iona Abbey Worship Book as well as the Church of Scotland's newest hymnal, Church Hymnary for most of the services. The thing that struck me the most was how intentional each leader was to welcome everyone, to speak clearly about what we were doing and what page numbers were needed, and the variety of folks invited to participate in the services. At the Sunday morning communion service it was interesting to note the way that children were cared for. In the very center of the cross formed by the architecture of the church, right in front of the leader's desk, there were some rugs so that kids could be sitting on the floor coloring or doodling while the whole thing began. Then there was a point at which they could leave if they wanted, just before the sermon, for an activity in the cloisters. Following the sermon, they were invited back in so they could participate in communion. I appreciated that they were included, and in fact central, but not expected to sit through the sermon till they were about 10-12.

A highlight of the week for me was the pilgrimage. It is a 7ish mile hike all over the island's hills and bogs stopping at points of significance for prayer and singing. I had brought my boots and hiking poles and was really hoping that my leg would hold out. It was a very long day, but I did it with help from others. Of course, Kirsten was there to lend a hand (or a shoulder) and a word of encouragement as needed. Linda, the Iona staff member who was in charge of bringing up the rear of the hike became my buddy. She was an interesting and very gracious woman from Scotland with a great sense of humor who is pursuing ordination in the next few years. I was also befriended by a fellow named Ian, a 60-something Scottish gent who took it upon himself to make sure I made it to Columba's bay - often offering his arm to me when the trail was rocky and the footing unsteady. I'm pretty sure I couldn't have made it through the long day without their help. Despite one trip on some slippery rocks, and my good leg sinking into a bog at one point (they don't tell you how smelly that mud is - ick!) I made it to all the points on the pilgrimage and returned home intact!

We got to enjoy our packed lunches on Columba's Bay - a beautiful stony beach with the most amazing variety of colored stones I've ever seen in one place. My friend Ian found a bit of Iona marble for me to bring home - there used to be a marble quarry on the Island and bits of the green and white serpentine are considered to be lucky. We were also greeted about 2/3 of the way along the hike by folks from the abbey who brought us hot tea and flapjacks as a snack. I learned that flapjack here is NOT a pancake, but a sweet oat treat more like a really rich bar cookie (pretty sure the ingredients are butter, sugar syrup and oats -period). That powered us up to finish the journey. The place they met us with the snack was the field that is used both as the island's golf course and public grazing land. I was amused to see cows and sheep munching on grass near the golf hole flags as we ate our own snacks.

There are many other memories from this week - too many to note really - but the hospitality, hanging out in the pub with people from all over, running into folks I knew from the states on the island, the common meals (including homemade bread with soup for lunch each day, yum), the beautiful music at worship, the young kids from Australia keeping us in stitches and making us think, the list goes on . . . these will be remembered and pondered for weeks to come. One friend said it was like church camp for grown-ups. We had worship, crafts, meal duty, a hike, a talent show. Maybe she is right, like camp I was ready to leave when the time came, but left singing new songs and knowing I will miss the place and people for some time to come.