Sabbatical - Oban and Iona

I had a conversation with the young Canadian woman who worked the reception desk of the hotel where we stayed in Oban.  She told me that several years ago she visited Oban and while there decided "this is where I want to live."  So she returned to Canada, worked, saved her money and set a date.  When that day came she packed her bags and moved to one of the most charming places I've been. In another conversation we shared with a local high school teacher, he shared that as idyllic as Oban seemed that sometimes it could be boring. Oh well, one person's "boring" is another's respite and peace.

Like most of Scotland, Oban is steeped in history, beauty, and whimsical lore, which we soaked in and enjoyed for the better part of two days. We actually ended up spending more of the second day in Oban because of the limited Sunday bus schedule on the Isle of Mull, but I'll get to that soon enough. And the extra time was truly a gift as it allowed us to slow our pace a bit in preparation for Iona. We even had time to attend a local Church of Scotland worship service Sunday morning where the congregation was quite accustomed to hosting U.S. Presbyterian pastors on their way to Iona.  Originally Oban was to be just that - a stopping and launching place for Iona, but it had quickly become more.

We were some what anxious about our travel to Iona because on Sunday the ferry and bus schedule is greatly reduced and after taking the ferry from Oban to Craignure we were to catch the last bus of the day from there to Fionnphort and then the last ferry to Iona.   What if we didn't make the connections?   Our angst was relieved some when a fellow ferry passenger shared that they all depend on each other - without the ferry the bus has no passengers and vice versa.   In other words they wait for each other.  And so it was when our ferry arrived at Craignure.

The actual distance by road from Craignure to Fionnphort is, according to Google Maps, 27.4 miles, however the bus ride is nearly an hour and a half long.  It's not that it makes that many stops, but that the road, reminiscent of the one to Tassajara except paved, is winding, single lane and two-way, with several very narrow bridges.  And, like Tassajara, around every bend and over every hill is beautiful scenery.  At regular intervals along the road there are pull outs identified by signs that read, "Allow Overtaking".  When vehicles approach each other the one with the pull out on their side (remember that's the left in the UK) "Give[s] Way" (which is what their triangular "yield" signs say) to the other and waits until it is past.  Sometimes this happens without either vehicle even stopping.   To one unaccustomed to this system head-on collisions seem eminent.  At other times a larger vehicle like our bus can be seen from a distance and oncoming vehicles simply pull over and wait.   All of this is done with smiles and waves without a horn ever sounding, and by giving way and allowing overtaking.  Before we realized it the bus ride was ending and over the final hill the tiny village of Fionnphort appeared where the ferry to Iona was waiting.

There is a Celtic saying that "heaven and earth are only three feet apart," but in the thin places that distance is even smaller.  "Thin place" is how 20th century reviver of the Iona Abbey and founder of the Iona Community, George MacLeod described Iona - a place where the temporal and eternal meet, the visible and invisible mingle.  A woman we met in the congregation where we worshiped in Oban told us, "As soon as you step off the ferry onto Iona you can feel the difference."  I have heard and read of other people's experiences of Iona and now I have experienced and know (if that's possible) the spiritual hold it has on those who have been there.  I now know the longing to return to Iona, even as I stepped on the ferry to leave its shores.

For a thin place, however, its history is deep and thick with hundreds of million year old rock formations, 5th century Irish Christians fleeing persecution, Catholic monks and nuns establishing communities, invading Vikings conquering new lands, pilgrims, poets and musicians seeking inspiration, and social justice Protestants (mostly Presbyterian) building a community of worship and service on Iona and throughout the world.  Even though Iona's permanent population numbers under 150, hundreds of people visit annually on spiritual pilgrimages or family holiday, and day trips as part of broader tours of Scotland that are on the Island for only a few hours.

Regardless of the reason for visiting Iona, it is practically impossible not to sense and begin to participate in a community where intention about contemplation, worship and service, respect of the interdependence of creation, and awareness of God's presence in all creation both visible and invisible are contagious. In other words, it's a place where "giving way" and "allowing overtaking" are practiced in endless ways.   In the end, Iona's thinness owes a lot to the people who inhabit it, yet the underlying reality is just as Jesus promised that "even the very stones shout" God's glory.