Resettling the Soul’s Compass

Several weeks ago, I was approached by a church member who was interested in learning a little more about the history and significance of Iona. She is planning a trip for family and friends that will hopefully take place in the Fall and one of the anticipated stops is to Iona. I took a moment to scan my bookshelves and found one that I had purchased in the Abbey bookstore titled, “Columba’s Iona, A New History” by Rosiland K. Marshall.

As a matter of information, Columba was an Irish monk who made his way to Iona in 563 AD accompanied by twelve fellow monks. From this island three miles wide and one mile long, Columba and his friends shared Christianity with the inhabitants of Scotland. George MacCleod left a thriving ministry at the Old Govan Parish, Glasgow in 1938 with a number of unemployed tradesmen and freshly graduated seminary students to begin the renovation of the Abbey that had fallen into disrepair. Iona is a popular place of pilgrimage with well over 100,000 visitors each year.

Kay treated me to a week’s stay on Iona last summer, which was the time I purchased the above mentioned text. Marshall writes, “The blue green waters, the pebbled shore, the distant blue mountains, the peace of the Abbey church and the memory of Columba himself, however he is imagined, a fierce warrior of friendly presence, merge in a spiritual experience which draws people back, time and again.” (page 172)

The purpose in telling you all of this is that when I loaned my book, I had forgotten that I had written a brief narrative on some of the opening pages about what I was thinking and feeling at the time some of which I share with you now.

“Our God is one who listens, who knows our needs and is ever-ready to render his attention and care . . . but not always to our personal wishes. The crisis of our time is the need to recognize and know his authority in our lives and for the world and to yield to his answers and timing to our needs, aspirations and dreams. God is not inattentive. In Christ, we are his people, the sheep of his flock. The community and world around us is the pasture where God places us to love, work, and bear witness to Jesus Christ and the good news of the gospel.

My visit to Iona had a purpose that Kay has graciously supported. I have shared with many people that we all need places for “soul rest” in our lives.” Iona is that place for me. Like our gracious host Richard Harris on the island explained, “Iona is a special place and it’s hard to put your finger on the reason why.” Yes, it is as Marshall writes, the history and the peace of the Abbey, but it is also the absence of street lights and noisy traffic in addition to the gentle breeze from the sea, the music of the birds, the naa’s of the sheep and the warm greetings from the people of the village. And yet, when we think about it, this can be said about many other places in the world, too.

For me, Iona is the place I hear the call of Christ to come and visit in order to “resettle my soul’s compass,” to remember who I am in Christ, to remember my call to parish ministry and the call to serve and work among you, the men, women and children of the Sea Island Presbyterian Church.

But there is more. As enchanting as Iona can be, what I learned during our stay is that Iona is a wonderful place to visit and have your faith renewed and re-energized, but there is also the call and the responsibility of returning home, the place you know as home, the place where there is family, friends, community and church.

Beaufort is the place that Kay and I call home and it is the place where we are called to serve and work among you in the Spirit of Christ. We, together, continue to be inspired by the image of the Wild Goose (a symbol in Scotland for the Holy Spirit.)” My notes suddenly end here.

Because of the pandemic and its after effects, we will have to wait and see about our planned trip to Scotland and Iona in the summer of 2021. It may be delayed, but if it is I pray for at least one more visit. Until that time comes, the resurrected and living Christ travels with me, above and beneath me, before and behind me, as the resurrected and living Christ travels with you. May we do our best to take care of ourselves and one another as we yearn for the day when we can safely gather in one space to praise and worship the Lord, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In the knowledge that we need the fellowship and encouragement of community, and the world needs it, too, like never before, we lift our hearts and pray: God who speaks out of the whirlwind, and hears sighs too deep for words; as we come to terms with what we do not know, a time for return, a safe social distance; as we struggle to make sense of the world around us and imagine what life will be iike, ground us in your kingdom. May a gracious word begin our next encounter, a patient thought accompany our coming breath, so that with little left in our control, we may control ourselves with grace and faith and compassion. In Christ we pray. Amen. +   (from the Iona Community, Prayers for May 7, 2020)

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Steve Keeler, Pastor