The Feast of St. Columba
A Sermon by AnneMarie Ellis
All Saints Parish
Brookline, Massachusetts
June 9, 2007
When David asked me if I wanted to preach today he said I could talk about my pilgrimage to the island of Iona in Scotland. So that is what I am going to do. I could tell you about the terrain or Columba or the Iona Community or the Islanders, but I want to speak mainly about community.
In his book, Iona God's Energy, Norman Shanks a former warden of the abbey speaks about the three aspects of the spirituality of the Iona Community. The three points are all about connectedness. The first, the author says, is a connectedness to self. Understanding your self, your role, your inner self; in other words, being in right relationship with yourself. This for me is an on-going process. Just as I think I know myself, I find something new that I am capable of doing, or something old that I need to leave behind. And they often have to do with the second and third points.
The second is connectedness in relationship to one another. It is in community that we can begin to realize our true self. We are dependent on one another and it is in "right relationship with others that we can be in relationship with ourselves." Our Gospel lesson for today is all about that relationship and connectedness. Well, all Gospel lessons are about right relationship with God. Jesus sent 70 disciples out, with out anything but the clothes on their backs, completely dependant on the hospitality of strangers. He sent them to the towns and villages where he himself intended to go. And they came back with joy.
The third is connectedness to God. As Norman Shanks says, "Binding it all together, energizing our relationship with others, not separately from the other aspects, but somehow interpenetrating, and undergirding all else." Our reading from Joshua is all about right relationship with God, a covenant with God. The Israelites boldly say, "THE LORD OUR GOD WE WILL SERVE, AND HIM WE WILL OBEY." Not an easy task as they soon found out.
St. Columba came to Iona from his native Ireland to spread the Gospel to the Picts. Why he left Ireland is not important. What is important is that he and his followers knew themselves, were bound in community and were in relationship with God, whom they served. The Iona Community was began by George MacLeod out of a perceived need to rebuild the 13th century Benedictine abbey on Iona, give meaningful work to masons and carpenters and to "train" ministers to be in right relationship with others and with God. It grew into a community that literally has members, associates and friends all around the world. The community has moved on from rebuilding the Abbey to rebuilding the world, one project at a time.
My little band of 15 pilgrims that stayed at Bishops House are all ages and all but one of us are Episcopalians. We came from all over Massachusetts, had varying spiritual practices and wanted to see for the first time or the sixth the island of Iona. Some were old friends and some were new friends, but never strangers. We worshiped together at Bishops House and at the Abbey. We ate together, worked together, walked and explored alone or in groups, in sun or in rain. By the first day on Iona, eating in the pub, we were a community. And until I read "God's Energy" by Norman Shanks, I didn't understand why we connected so easily. Some of the people I already knew, but about 5 were new to my circle of friends. But we all knew our relationship to ourselves, created a relationship quickly with the group and penetrating it all was our relationship with God. At the end of our pilgrimage we gave gifts and shared the joy of being together.
I wish all of you could go to Iona and see and feel and be, connected to yourself, to others and to God in that special place, but I also know that it isn't necessary because we have such a community right here. We have a community that sings "to the Holy One, sings a new song" every week: A community that shares our joys and sorrows and frustrations and our gifts. I was glad to make a pilgrimage to Iona in May, but I am also glad to be here every week with you, my community in Christ.