On Iona...

An island, very much on the edge of things, becoming central. Nestling in grandeur underneath a massive sky
Island landmarks include:

The famous stone crosses: erected 700 years before the Abbey, maybe the cross ought always to be pre-eminent to the church?
The Nunnery: central to the village, the significant role of women, offering hospitality and engaging with all around.









Martyr’s Bay: the small cove where a group of monks were massacred, even as they offered welcome and hospitality, even simple discipleship can be costly.
The local Cross-Roads: the only place of intersection on the island. A point of encounter, a gathering area and a decision spot.

St. Columba’s Bay: The first missionary, running away from Ireland, and his past, to find a new place. Vocation as leaving behind and taking up. Love as letting go.
The island’s high point: A place to use as a marker, a guide, an opportunity to see where you’ve come from and where you’re going.
The Hermit’s Cell: A place of quiet solitude, withdrawal & focus.
St. Onan’s cemetery chapel: Final resting place, bleak yet hopeful, ordinary yet glorious – innocuous yet 48 Scottish Kings buried outside.

Reflections on Northumbria...

The very landscape on my recent visit to Northumberland spoke of a place at once open and challenging. The community I stayed with there offered a generous and easy invitation and you were bound to feel accepted and supported by such a simple, contemplative environment, yet one also always willing to go out of its way to help.
A number of words recurred:
Journey: The travelling and not the arriving, always moving yet refusing to obsess over any destination as an ‘answer’ or reward.
Ordinariness: An awareness of everyday presence, a simplicity and down-to-earthedness in prayer and action.
Rhythm: More musical than boring, a regular consistency, a faithful dependency, a habitual momentum.
Blessing: Unashamed and explicit words, and prayers, of encouragement. Simple, generous and brave.

Bamburgh;

A castle over-looking a Holy Island. What does it take to live well in such proximity to power? Close enough to influence yet far enough away to be distinctive.

Holy Island:

One of the cradle’s of English Christianity. It’s a place full of stories, of cutting edge mission and inspirational spirituality. An evocative place, not least because of its nature as a tidal island, cut off at high tide yet connected via a causeway to the mainland the rest of the time. The Celtic saints of old saw that as a metaphor for their task of faithful discipleship. Profoundly connected, never aloof nor distant, but engaged, relationally, with the whole world around them. But also taking some time to withdrawal, reflect, pray, seek God without distraction, that they might be better fitted for the task.
Sculptures:



‘The Journey’, Aidan and Cuthbert - rough, powerful and strong, tender and honest. Real people in a real place creating a legacy.