Jane Bentley - Around a Thin Place. An Iona Pilgrimage Guide

For centuries pilgrims have travelled to the isle of Iona in search of the sacred, inspired by the example of St Columba, a 6th-century Irish monk who founded a monastery there, and whose influence is felt to the present day. Many modern-day pilgrims and seekers are also drawn to the island through the work of the Iona Community, an ecumenical Christian community acting for justice and peace, the rebuilding of the common life and the renewal of worship.

The Iona Community runs a weekly pilgrimage around the island for those who visit, pausing for reflection at places of spiritual and historical significance, and at less obvious landmarks which offer inspiration for our daily lives and our engagement with the wider world.

This book is a rich collection of readings, prayers, poems, photographs, songs, stories and reflections. Island visitors and armchair pilgrims alike are invited to take a prayerful, perhaps life-changing, journey around what George MacLeod, the Founder of the Iona Community, described as a thin place only a tissue paper separating the material from the spiritual.

Jane Bentley is a former member of the Iona Communitys Resident Group on Iona and is a community musician. Neil Paynter is also a former member of the Resident Group, and is the editor and author of many books, including This Is the Day: Readings and Meditations from the Iona Community, Down to Earth: Stories and Sketches, and Iona: Images and Reflections (Wild Goose Publications).

www.ionabooks.com

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

For centuries, millennia even, Iona has drawn travellers to it in search of the sacred. This quest for the holy runs as a common thread all the way from ancient times to the 6th-century voyage of Saint Columba and to todays pilgrims who arrive on the jetty from every corner of the world. George MacLeod, the Founder of the Iona Community, described the island as a thin place only a tissue paper separating the material from the spiritual.

The Iona Community has for many years run a weekly pilgrimage around the island, stopping at places of significance be they historical, religious, or simply thought- provoking. The Iona Communitys witness of perceiving a close connection between the spiritual and the material is reflected in the pilgrimage: one stop may take prayerful inspiration from Columban times, while another highlights the struggle for justice and peace in the developing world.

The pilgrimage is led by staff from the Abbey and MacLeod Centre, and is never the same twice. Each person brings their own unique understanding and perspective. Lurking in the Community office is a battered ring-binder representing the contributions of past pilgrimage leaders packed to overflowing with prayers and poems, either copied or self-penned, songs, historical titbits, reflections and stories. It has been the direct inspiration for this book.

Our hope is that in collating some of these resources, they will offer inspiration and reflective possibilities not only for those who seek to conduct their own pilgrimages around the island, but also for armchair pilgrims who may not be able to visit Iona in person. Weve even included the Abbey kitchens recipe for flapjack (delivered to the Machair with a hot cup of tea on pilgrimage days) if you want to really recreate the experience!

How to use this book

Just as the original ring-binder is a work in progress, this book is offered as a menu of possibilities, rather than as a definitive guide. For each stop we have included an introduction giving some background to the stop, followed by a Bible reading, some additional resources such as reflections, poems and prayers, and suggestions for songs. It would certainly become a penitential pilgrimage if all of these resources were used at each stop please simply pick what is useful for you.

We have also included a blank page after the stops, so that you can continue the work in progress by adding your own pilgrimage inspirations. These might be in the form of prayers, pictures, jotted thoughts, stories, memories Pat Bennett, a member of the Iona Community who has been on many a pilgrimage, offers the following idea:

Whilst on assorted pilgrimages through Japan in the 17th century, the Zen monk Matsuo Basho distilled the essence of what he saw, smelled and touched, the conversations and encounters of his journeys, and the deeper mysteries he sensed through all of these, into various poetic forms. Whilst writing haiku (a three-line poem of 5, 7 and 5 syllables respectively) is not necessarily everyones forte, Ive found that the process of trying to identify and articulate a key element from each of the stops en route around the island can be a really helpful way of focussing my thoughts, and of translating the pilgrimage experience from being merely(!) a very enjoyable and informative amble round the island, into a richly rewarding and sometimes life-changing journey. At each stopping place, I try to pick up one thing maybe a phrase or a particular image from the talk/meditation/prayer that is offered, and then, for at least part of the walk to the next station, turn it over in my mind and search for the heart of it. There seems to be something about the rhythm of walking itself which is very conducive to this sort of rumination. Ill try (or at least begin) to compose and scribble down a short prayer or meditation, a single sentence or maybe even a haiku, to capture and contain this insight so that I can remember it and return to it later for further thought.