On the Holy Isle of Iona

“Play is the most serious thing an adult can do.” —Fr. John Behr

My Week on the Holy Isle

This year, my wife Eden offered the extravagant gift of a week away on pilgrimage on the Holy Isle of Iona, Scotland. Although billed as a ‘retreat,’ the days have been so full of goodness that I’ve not had space for much writing (or sleeping). The reflections will begin to pour out as I start my journey home.

This fulness has included twice-daily chapels in the Bishop’s House, with his Grace Rowan Williams offering the Eucharist each morning and ‘Ninth Hour’ prayer times with my dear friend, Sister Vassa. We’ve also enjoyed a rigorous academic conference on Gregory of Nyssa and Maximos the Confessor, led by Fr. John Behr and Rowan Williams. And somehow, we’ve also squeezed in sunset hikes, the world’s best mussels, a Divine Liturgy with Monk Seraphim (of Mull), and a visit to the Island of Staff to see God’s glorious puffins and ‘Fingal’s Cave,’ the inspiration for Felix Mendelssohn’s composition.

I’m especially enjoying the confluence of love among friends old and new, especially members of our Open Table community (my roomie, Chris E. W. Green, Cherith Fee Nordling and her husband Robert, Kenneth Tanner, Sr. Vassa, Fr. John, Geordie and Sharon Ziegler). Reuniting with these folks and meeting other delights (Bliss Spillar, Winn Collier, and others) makes the silent parts of the retreat much more difficult—so much to catch up on! And the laughter they bring feels like it may sprain my diaphragm at times. It has been very refreshing but for some self-inflicted sleep deprivation.

So yes, I might call my trip to Iona a pilgrimage for personal and professional development, a retreat dedicated to prayer and study… but altogether, the very best descriptor is play. In forthcoming blogs, having caught my breath, I plan to share the spiritual souvenirs returning home with me.

“… for Christ plays in ten thousand places.” -Girard Manley Hopkins