|
The Presbytery of Sheppards and Lapsley Pilgrimageby Susan Laney, Associate Pastor, Grace Presbyterian Church It was in the year 563 AD that the first spiritual pilgrim arrived on the island. His name was Columba, later known as Saint Columba—Dove of the Church. Until the age of about 40, Columba traveled throughout Ireland setting up monastic centers of learning and evangelism. But in about 563 AD, he became engaged in a dispute over the copyright of a manuscript of the Psalms. The dispute over the manuscript led to the slaughter of thousands of soldiers. Overwhelmed by remorse, Columba left Ireland determined to atone for his actions by winning as many souls for Christ as had been lost in battle. Legend records that he chose to live on the Island of Iona off the western shore of Scotland because from its shores he would not be able to see his homeland of Ireland. The ordered way of life that Columba developed for the monastery on Iona became a model for other Celtic monasteries. It required that the monks live only for God, a life centered in Holy Scripture, supported by prayer, and offering hospitality to all. As the community grew, so did its influence, and kings and princes sought Columba for his wise counsel. The sons of royalty and the nobility were sent to Iona for education in the scriptures and the arts. And Columba and his monks also traveled widely, spreading the Christian message and founding churches and monasteries. Iona became the center for the Christianizing of the British Isles. In the summer of 1938, the Rev. George F. MacLeod walked among the ruins of what had been the great monastery of the Island of Iona. MacLeod was a well respected although very outspoken member of the Church of Scotland—the Presbyterian denomination in Scotland. MacLeod's ministry in urban areas of Scotland during the Depression years had convinced him that the Church needed a fresh vision. Discouraged by what he felt was the inability of the church to relate to the spiritual and physical needs of the common people, MacLeod had taken a leave of absence from the Church of Scotland to embark on a spiritual pilgrimage in hopes of finding direction from God. His pilgrimage ended among the ruins of the monastery at Iona. Although the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland would not endorse his plan, MacLeod began to bring young ministers to Iona, to work alongside laborers and builders so that spiritual and physical renewal might be seen to work hand in hand. Candidates for the ministry were brought to the island for three months to receive part of their academic training. As part of their training they would spend half of each day working along side the stone masons and artisans who had come to the island to rebuild the monastery. This was the start of what is now known as the Iona Community. I arrived on the Island of Iona at 4:10 on a very cold and windy Friday afternoon. I was not there as much as a pilgrim as I was as a student. For the last five years, I had been working on a certification for Spiritual Formation from Columbia Seminary. The last requirement in the process was the participation in a spiritual pilgrimage. To meet this requirement I hooked up with a group from Pittsburgh Seminary who were being led by Dr. Andrew Travis, himself a Scot by birth. We were to spend one week on Iona and then a second week studying with the leading Scottish theologian at the University of Edinburgh. I didn't really expect much from Iona but I knew the study under Dr. Torrance in Edinburgh would be worth my time. I arrived on the Island of Iona to begin a week of living in a monastic order assuming it would be a piece of cake. I was wrong—I was very, very wrong. To get to Iona took four hours which included a small bus, then a large ferry, then a larger bus and then a smaller ferry all of this while carrying and dragging my own luggage. We arrived at the monastery by walking—still with my luggage—for over half a mile from the dock. I was led to a room not much bigger than my office. It was a room with two bunkbeds I was to share with three other ladies. There was not a dresser or table and we were given a towel, no washcloth, and it was to last us the entire week. You must also understand something about a monastery. It is built of large stones, very large stones, very large stones that absorb the cold. You must also understand that there is no heat in the vast worship area and it is only cut on in the dormitory when necessary. Their idea of necessary and my idea of necessary were quite different. After worship the first night, I was convinced that I would not survive the week without frostbite and was beginning to wonder what mischief God was up to with me. The mischief was only beginning. As I plugged in my hair dryer that night, I blew a fuse and managed to put the dormitory in the dark. When the Abbot walked into my room, I was sitting on the floor in my flannel teddy bear pajamas with soaking wet hair and a smoking hair dryer in my hand. I felt as if I was the murderer who had just been caught standing over the murder victim with a smoking gun. After sanity was restored, my roomies and I went to bed for the evening. I was just trying to figure out how I was going to be able to endure a week without being able to use a hair dryer or my electric rollers when one of the roomies decided we needed to sleep with the window open. As I went to bed that night I asked God why he had thrown me into the very pits of hell. God replied, "Susan, think about it, it is way too cold in here to be hell." There are many more stories I could relate regarding my pilgrimage to Iona but mostly they would tell you things got worse before they got better but they did get better and more importantly it was a pilgrimage with great highs as well as great lows. The Celtic understanding of pilgrimage is not a vacation but a journey, usually a journey involving hardship but for the purpose of discovering yourself and God. Pilgrimage also has no ending. Arriving at a destination or leaving a destination is not the pilgrimage but part of the journey. It has been eight months since my pilgrimage and the journey continues. As far as my pilgrimage story, it seems it does not yet have an ending. It is my hope it will be for me the never ending story.
<< Previous | Contents | Next >>
|
