Thoughts to Ponder

Isle of Iona - Mid-Summer’s Day

It’s difficult sitting in a room  overlooking the Sound of Iona on a sunny (if windy) summer’s evening, not to reflect on both the beauty and magnetism of this place.  The wind, which has been fairly strong since our arrival (indeed audible at night too) is a timely and ever present reminder that this is the season of Pentecost, celebrating the birthday of the Church (and on Iona its seeding in Scotland), and reminding us of the Holy Spirit’s refusal to be contained within the limits of our most tenaciously held doctrines and theological formulations.   The old Celtic symbol was that of the “wild goose” which conjures up a picture of freedom, spaciousness, and purposeful movement.

 

I like Gerard Hughes’ title “God of Surprises”, because that’s the dimension of the Trinity which, to me, is conveyed in the Pentecostal mystery.   It’s hard if you are too much of a control freak.   It’s safer to opt for the predictable, the comfortable, and the known.   But that closes us to the possibility of fresh insights, new horizons.   You may have seen the Argos poster “A ship in the harbour is safe, but that’s not what ships are for”.   I rather think that captures something important for people too.

 

Iona, is also about the breaking down of divisions, of celebrating a faith for the 21st century, of locating the “common ground”.   On the island itself I’ve heard several languages over these few days and met people from many different countries.   At worship within the abbey we were invited to say the Lord’s Prayer in whatever language and form we were familiar with, we sang a chant from Malawi, another from Kenya, and the Eucharist was celebrated by an America minister who happened, on this occasion, to be from the Methodist tradition.   A fairly hybrid service, but a genuine attempt at an ecumenical expression of a faith community.   There is a blurring of denominational demarcations, which may  be unsettling, even uncomfortable, but which could be something we will all have to grapple with in the future.

 

Pentecost doesn’t lend itself to “closed” words.  It’s surely about being open to the wind, allowing it to blow us out of our comfort zone to placed we may not have chosen to go, knowing that it will blow us towards new life, new wholeness, towards that new creation for which we pray, and one day it will blow us home to the heart of God.    

Mary McMahon