<img decoding="async" src="https://i0.wp.com/images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5dc46f083933103936d92b94/1574196137710-3RKDS2YQ6JZES0HCIEHQ/Iona-2011-502-300x225.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1" alt="Walking to the Iona Abbey for evening worship" data-recalc-dims="1" />
Walking to the Iona Abbey for evening worship
“…at the Taizé [service], people came from so many cultures and read scripture and it was beautiful to hear the soft voices by candlelight as each person spoke in their native tongue from across the globe. For me, it grounded the idea of God, made him accessible, universal, and very close between the words that echoed so vibrantly and differently within the chapel walls and yet held the same meaning.I love the concept of God, even if I cannot wrap my head around him. It’s the faith that binds people so tightly, that web of belief that pushes you past your limits and imposes self-evaluation and discovery at a level where true humanity is uncovered. Meditation, prayer, silence, all are completely worthwhile. They render a humbleness and escape from our distractions and chain us to ourselves when we desperately try to run free.At first, I almost couldn’t stand this silence that envelopes Iona, it forces me to retreat into my head where the past few months I had escaped from. I can stand it now, as less important thoughts ebb like the tide, slowly retreating until they brush upon my mind briefly as I let them go. The history here makes me diminutive. The passion that these people hold for their beloved Iona and for God is immense, their lives aren’t spent escaping God only to run into him once a week on a Sunday, but live beside him, walking with Jesus as their lives tangle with their faith and practice.”
-Rachel, Westminster to the World 2011 participant