Iona Abbey, on the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland, was founded on a belief that worship is a backbone of genuine living. We experience God by integrating our worship and work, and we can hear God’s “heartbeat” in ourselves, in others and in the world. Perhaps naming our newsletter “Heart Beat” is no coincidence. As a congregation, we are listening for the “heartbeat” of God within us, between us, and in the world around us.
George MacLeod, founder of the present-day Iona Abbey community, brought unemployed ship workers from Glasgow and new, inexperienced clergy to Iona Island. In 1937 they began the “pilgrimage” of rebuilding the 13th century Benedictine Abbey ruins on Iona. Thirty years later this pilgramage was finished.
MacLeod’s vision and leadership has striking similarities to the original establishment of Iona Abbey by a monk called Columba. Columba’s story is filled with folklore, conjecture, and supernatural stories paralleling Gospel miracles. But amidst legendary elements and embellishments surrounding Columba, he stands out as a genuinely heroic figure who built Iona based on a spiritual discipline of hospitality—recognizing Christ in a stranger. Columba inspired his own disciples to preach the gospel and adapt his methods to social and cultural mores of the people.
Throughout the ages, Iona has been a place of seeking and listening for God in the heart of life. While stories of Iona are filled with folk lore and legend, its core story is one where worship and life integrate and where God accompanies a pilgrim community. Influenced by its Celtic history, today’s Iona community draws both from its traditions and its hopes for the future. Iona worship combines traditional and contemporary liturgy that tries to engage people not just worship, but also in life. To this end, Iona is not exclusively Celtic; it has a strong social justice and peace agenda, and strives to be reflective and accessible to a “whole people.”
Pilgrims are a people on a move. Just like a Celtic knot, pilgrims keep moving, sometimes doubling back but continuing to move forward. In the end, as pilgrims, we come back to the beginning, once again, just like in a Celtic knot: Alpha and Omega. And so Iona continues to be a place of work and worship where pilgrims can both withdraw and engage, as they experience God within the whole of life as well as within and beyond the Celtic tradition.
This Sunday we will experience a taste of Iona Abbey Worship as we consider our own pilgrimages and what they mean to justice and peace in our community and world.
See you on Sunday.
Karen Rodman
Knitting News
Last Friday, Abigail Johnson, Erica Bundi, Anne Colquhoun, and Pat Davies delivered four huge bags of knitting to the Canadian Food For Children warehouse in Mississauga. As we arrived, volunteers were loading a container bound for Peru and Dr. Andrew Simone, the founder of the charity, quickly waved our bundles on through so they wouldn't miss the shipment. He warmly thanked us for our generous gifts of time, energy, and commitment and asked us to pass on his gratitude to everyone involved. As we stood there, he directed the volunteers in both English and Spanish as sacks, boxes, and bags started filling up the container. He talked to us about the "loaves and fishes" that appear, like our knitting, to fill the containers bound for "the poorest of the poor." On their way to Peru from our wide circle of knitters based at Beach United are: 487 vests (many with hats), four shawls, four dolls, four teddy bears, four caps, and eight baby blankets. That container was one of 220 the charity has shipped out in the past two weeks. The only sign on the warehouse door was a child's drawing with the heading "Give to the Poor!"
Let your knitting fingers rest over these summer months in preparation for more adventurous knitting in the fall.
Pat Davies
Community News
Last week Astrid and Meghan Krizus held an impromptu bake sale following worship to raise money for the Horn of Africa Relief. They report that $248.22 was raised. Well done Astrid and Meghan.
Office News
Abigail Johnson has moved office space to be closer to the internet router in the main office, so when you call, please go to extension 27. Karen Dale is away on holiday and will be back August 15th.
That's all for now!