Our First Day On Iona

The ferry docked on Iona at noon, and we went immediately to the Martyr’s Bay Restaurant for lunch. (It seems like all we do is eat.) We were supposed to come over on the 2:00 o’clock ferry so since we were two hours early there was no one from the Abbey to meet us. We decided to walk the third of the mile to the Abbey dragging our little wheeled suitcases behind us. Jesus took turns riding on Tom’s and my luggage. We tried to find someone at the Abbey to notify about our arrival, but everyone was at lunch. I never could figure out where they were, so we decided to walk back down to the dock because we thought whoever met the ferry would have a list of people they were meeting, and we didn’t want them to worry if we weren’t there. As it turned out they don’t bring a checklist to the ferry. They figure out later whether or not everyone has gotten there. So we walked back to the Abbey with all the new arrivals whose luggage was taken by van. I haven’t walked that much in a month.

We had a little orientation when we got to the Abbey and received our room assignments. We were pretty well settled in by 3:30 so we went back out for a little more walking and picture taking. While we were exploring the cemetery, Tom saw a woman with a Red Sox cap on, and he asked her how the Red Sox were doing. That is how we met Anne, a rabid Red Sox fan and an Episcopal priest from Massachusetts who is here for the week. We also met a young woman from Yale Divinity School and a man from Bristol, England who studied at UCONN for six months several years ago. There is a group of 16 people from the Netherlands, a woman from Switzerland, and others from Virginia, Oregon, Germany, Tasmania, Australia and Spain. There is supposed to be a group from Vermont, but they got delayed somewhere along the way. Hopefully, they will arrive tomorrow.

There was additional orientation following dinner, and we had an opportunity to meet more of the other participants. The evening worship began at 9:00. We used prayers from the Iona Worship Book and learned a couple of the Iona songs. At one point during the worship tonight the leader asked us to think about our expectations for this week, and after we did that, she asked us to let those expectations go. Instead of worrying about meeting our expectations she encouraged us to say to the people on either side, “I promise to be open to the wonders of the week.” So I did, because that is essentially what I had in mind. I want to experience life in this kind of community as well as experience the Iona Community style of worship. Beyond that I’m open to the Spirit. We’ll see what she has in store.