Category: Scotland

Walking with God in Scotland

5/23/2017

     On Friday I will be on the Isle of Iona, where I will attend services at the Abbey and enjoy good food at the Argyll Hotel. That is about all I will be doing there besides, and this is a big besides, walking around with God. In traveling alone, and particularly on Iona, I intentionally let go of the most human interactions in my every day life. I don’t have to contend with anyone, certainly not anyone Iknow. With this self-chosen cleansing experience I let go judgments, and I have less to figure out or think about. Little by little the issues in my daily life lose their over-abiding importance and become less significant.
     It is difficult to put into words what happens when I walk around with God? Difficult, because it is not about words, it’s not a head task but one of the heart. It’s about being in the presence of ‘something’ ineffable, which I call God. Along the walk I may occasionally chat with God, but I find I don’t have much to say. No need; answers come.
     By the time I arrive in Edinburgh, the next stop on my walking-with-God itinerary, I trust I will remain in silence, solitude and simplicity even amongst the bustle of the city. I know that when I return home to friends and family, those human interactions will be simple. My prayer is to keep them so.

Glasgow Cathedral~

6/22/2016

An afternoon at Glasgow Cathedral.

Chatting in Oban~

6/13/2015

I notice that I’m chatting with people more than usual on this trip. On the quay waiting for the ferry from Oban to Iona an elderly (my age) gentleman and I struck up a conversation that found us agreeing that we were very grateful for the era in which we grew up. I told him about my mom’s final words of gratitude, and he told me about his dad’s similar final message. As we parted to board the ferry, I heard, “Enjoy yourself and be sure to talk with people.”

Talk with people! What a message for someone like me who avoids just that! But that is what I seem to be doing. Little, little as in a minute or two, conversations of hope, of gratitude. After these little exchanges, I feel just that, hopeful and grateful, and I trust that my acquaintances have felt the same.

When we let God in, these encounters become God moments. When we let God in, these encounters can lead us to more than we could ever hope or imagine on our own.

Prayer walk in Oban~

6/11/2015

    If you want to take a prayer walk, just walk and pray. It is that simple. No one has a patent to it, no one person has coined the phrase. It just happens when you set out with intention.
    I arrived in Oban about 1:30. Checked into my B&B before enjoying a smoked salmon sandwich from my favorite fresh fish place along the quay. Then the walk.
      Poor internet access. No slideshow today, folks. I’m off for fish and chips and my favorite restaurant, also along the quay.

Edinburgh gratitudes~

6/9/2015

I’m in Edinburgh, my second full day here--very grateful. This morning, lying in bed after a long catch-up sleep from travel, my list of gratitudes flowed easily—eventless travel, an afternoon wandering about the city with my niece, a welcoming by Maria and Edward, the proprietors of Adria House where I stay, a day by myself visiting St. Cuthbert Parish Burial Grounds, St. John’s Church, and New Town, and the anticipation of my visit today with my high school friend, Eileen.

More later, but I must get going on the sunny day.

(Just returned from my day. Very grateful.)

St. Cuthbert's Parish Church, Edinburgh~

9/14/2014

In her book "The Healing Light", Agnes Sanford found she had difficulty praying for healing for people when she was not in their presence. She records a conversation she had with a lady Minister on this subject:

"I can help them when I'm with them, but my prayers from a distance don't seem to result in healing at all."
"Oh my dear, you're seeing them sick", cried the beautiful old minister.
"What do you mean?", I asked puzzled. "I'm not seeing them at all, I'm just thinking of them. And, of course, they're sick, or I wouldn't be praying for them."
"Yes you are seeing them," she replied patiently. "When you think of someone you always see the person in your mind. If you really believe he's going to be well, you see him well.". "…When you pray for someone, you must learn to see him well.

This from St. Cuthbert’s Parish Church, Edinburgh, http://www.st-cuthberts.net

Much to ponder. When I pray for someone who is physically ill, it is difficult for me to really believe that they will be cured, much less that my prayer will make the difference. On the other hand, I have more hope when I pray for someone to come out of the darkness, to rise above depression. My call to pray for people goes on.

June 14th, 2014

6/14/2014

I tried Laurence Freeman’s suggestion on my walk today (see yesterday’s post). A prayer walk with less thinking, more being. I was able to let go of most of my questions to God and pleas to Jesus. In summary, I prayed the Jesus Prayer and enjoyed the scenery. Um, simple and practical.

Service of Commitment, Iona Abbey~

6/12/2014

The Service of Commitment last evening was led by a group of young boys, about 12 years of age, who are on retreat at the Macleod Center, which is part of the Iona Abbey complex.

      Two boys participated in a dialogue between Jesus and Peter. Jesus, called out, “Peter, follow me.” Peter kept asking what that would entail. Jesus kept answering, “Follow me.”

    The second part of the services was comprise of four readings, each expressing different reasons for our reluctance to follow Jesus, each excuse framed as a secret: issues of money, relationships, health, and private faith.

     What to make of this Jesus call? It’s frightening, counter cultural. I’m not used to following without asking questions, without getting answers. What fool would do that? None of us.

      And what about my very legitimate excuses? I fit into all four categories, although probably a ‘exclusive’ relationship with God is my specialty. I don’t want to give up my illusion that I am in control of how God acts in my life.

    There’s much to take on, primarily taking on the role of fool.

…. I wrote the above before my walk. Now I’m back. Can’t believe that I started out asking Jesus a bunch of questions, to which he answered, “Follow me.” So I’m trying to follow and listen.

Iona, the 'thin space'~

6/10/2014

The 'thin space'

I haven’t meant to be amiss about posting, but traveling and sporadic internet service have put me behind. I try not to stay behind in prayer, although I must admit that even that routine changes when I travel. For example, ‘the list’ hasn’t been front and center during my crazy journey from home to on Iona. On the other hand, gratitudes were with me on every plane, bus and ferry ride. Now that I am here I will get out my little post-it pad and write ‘the list’ to take with me tonight to the service at the Abbey.

This afternoon, after a dish of chowder, I walked to the Machair (the common land)—common for all who use it, which includes sheep, cows, and golfers. I passed the spot where fifteen years ago on my first visit to Iona, I stopped and knew that I was standing in ‘the thin space’; where heaven and earth touch and where God tells us not to worry about anything but to remember the lilies of the field. Today the Holy Spirit washed over me and cleansed me with gratitude.

Free to be me~

6/14/2013

This story was told in a sermon by Br. Geoffrey Tristram, of the Society of St. John the Evangelist, http://www.ssje.org/. It particularly speaks to me as I reenter my every day life after a two and a half week trip by myself to Scotland that include a week on the Isle of Iona.

“There is a story I like about the Russian rabbi Zusia. One day some students were talking with him and the first said, “Rabbi Zusia, I am afraid that when I appear before the Holy One he will ask me, ’Why did you not have the faith of Abraham?’ A second student said, ‘I am afraid that when I am before the Holy One he will ask me, ‘Why did you not have the patience of Job?’ Then a third student said, ‘Rabbi I am afraid that when I stand before the Holy One he will ask me, ‘Why did you not have the courage of Moses?’

“Then they all asked Rabbi Zusia, ‘Rabbi, when you appear before the Holy One which question do you most fear?’ Rabbi Zusia answered, ‘When I appear before the Holy One I ‘m afraid he’ll ask me, ‘Zusia, why were you not Zusia?’”