During the month of June 2005 I had the opportunity to go to Iona. Iona is a small island off the coast of Scotland. Back in 563, Saint Columba set off from Ireland and landed on Iona. He and 12 other monks founded a Celtic monastery. Since that time people have come as pilgrims to this spiritual place.
The community
In 1938, George MacLeod, a parish minister in Glasgow went to Iona to set up an “ecumenical Christian community that is committed to seeking new ways of living the gospel in today's world. George MacLeod, founder of the Iona Community, described Iona as a “'thin place'-only a tissue paper separating the material from the spiritual.”
A thin place?
The phrase, “a thin place” is popular in modern Celtic literature, describes a place where the barrier between earth and heaven is felt to be so narrow that communication with God is easier than in other places. It also has resonance with the spiritual theology of the Orthodox Church. On Iona I had several interesting discussions to try to tease out what it actually is that makes a thin place. Why do thousands of Christian pilgrims, as well as those of other religions and those of none come to the island every year? Why is staying here now on the world church's “to do” programme?
There are several characteristics that I noted as could be contributing to the spiritual feel of the place… Obviously it is a place with a long history of worship going back to the legends of St Columba. It has been said that the millions of prayers offered over the centuries echo in the very stones of the walls and the presence of God resonates from the ground itself. Some of the ephemeral modern Celtic literature define the atmosphere of Iona in such a simplistic fashion but it seems to me that such an explanation is superficial. I would agree that places do have an atmosphere - a spirit - to which some people are more sensitive to than others. For example, as soon as my wife and I walked into our present home we felt that it had a welcoming feel to it.
Christians in the Orthodox tradition would go further than atmosphere or subjective feeling. Icons are not just holy pictures but are windows from this world to heaven, the world of God. Because the icon has this function, it is itself valued as intrinsically sacred. Some people value the sense of holy ground in Iona in a similar iconic way. However, I believe there is more to Iona than this.
What is spiritual?
There are many dimensions of the human personality that comprise the spiritual - not just those things that people see as an aesthetic or beautiful. In the real ancient Celtic world spirituality and faith were so intertwined in everyday life in all its parts that the idea of splitting sacred and secular was alien. The Iona community defines its Celtic spirituality in the very real struggles of the hard places of the world and brings them to the island through the liturgy every day.
Human and social factors have a large part to play in constructing a thin place. Iona is a place of community where people live together in common purpose in obedience to the will of God. It is a place of creativity where minds and wills come together to find new ways of living Gospel. It is a place where people come expecting to receive from God. It is a place where broken and bruised people can stop on their journey to find refreshment. Iona is a place where the welcome is genuine, warm and unconditional. Of course as in all human communities there will be difficulties as personality clashes emerge and people who are trying to run away from issues in their lives find that what they are trying to escape is inside them and the pursuit becomes more intense on an island. Thus the whole social construct creates a unique atmosphere.
Then there are the natural features - Iona is an Island remote from civilisation where the nearest supermarket is two ferries away. It is a place of outstanding natural beauty - a place where looking at the distant hills receding into the blue across a turquoise sea can make believing in God seem easier.
Living in the present
For me Iona was a place where it was easy to live in the kairos of the present moment. (I neither spent time worrying about the past or thinking about the future but concentrated on living life to the full in each present moment.) Somehow it seemed easier to do there. I enjoyed the company of my fellow guests for who they were with me in those present moments - not for whom they had been or where they were from or indeed for what they would be going on to do. There was an exciting immediacy to life that I have rarely found.
Holistic spirituality
The spirituality of the Iona community is a holistic spirituality which I experienced as encompassing fun, laughter and real joy as well as empathy, struggle and searching. Spiritual highpoints are not just to be experienced in the piety of the Abbey worship, for the religion of Iona is not one of savouring precious moments, but in a spirituality of concert, ceilidh, pilgrimage, puffins, politics and pub.
Politics is in the list because the Iona community was meant to be a radical edge to the church. Currently the community is struggling with its politics because the Iona experience has become a popular middle-class Christian spiritual trip - a long way from the vision of George MacLeod. The Iona community is addressing this issue by building up reserves to subsidise those who would benefit from a stay on the island but cannot afford to come. There is also the community's programme working with young people that have been in custody or are recovering from addictions who are integrated on the staff as part of their healing process. Their presence can bring an interesting dynamic to the island.
Taizé
Taizé responded to its increased popularity by expanding its church and camping grounds so that today it bears little resemblance to the Taizé I knew over 20 years ago. The special spirit of Taizé lives on in the music but the intimacy that I remembered has gone. Is that just me being sentimental? Nowhere stays the same - and I know that people coming fresh to Taizé today find the same benefits as I did all those years ago. Iona is protected from over-development by many factors including the ferries, the single track roads, the National Trust for Scotland, Scottish Heritage and not least by the focus of the community on the world beyond the island.
I suppose with all these factors present then Iona can not fail to be a special place. But of course, like the dwarfs in the stable in C S Lewis's “The Last Battle” you might visit and only see a few overpriced gift shops and some interesting gothic style stonework.
