From a Pastor's Desk

Many students celebrate the end of finals or their graduations with a party or a few days off. This year, students from The Vine NYC Campus Ministry marked the year’s end with a once in a lifetime pilgrimage to the Isle of Iona in Scotland.

For thousands of years, Christian pilgrims have travelled to Iona, a small island off the west coast of Scotland. They come from far and wide to visit this remote, beautiful place where St. Columba arrived from Ireland and founded an abbey in 563. For more than 600 years, the Iona Abbey was an important center of Christian learning and evangelism in Europe, first as a Celtic monastery and then as a Benedictine Abbey. Of the island itself, The Rev. George MacLeod wrote that it is “a thin place where only tissue paper separates the material from the spiritual.” While the Abbey lay in ruin for generations, in the early 20th century it was restored by Rev. MacLeod and the Iona Community, an ecumenical group dedicated to the pursuit of peace, justice, and the renewal of worship. Today, the Iona Abbey community welcomes guests from across the world for week-long experiences of intentional Christian community.

The Vine’s group that travelled to Iona included ten pilgrims, most of whom were seniors who had just graduated the week before. The group flew into Glasgow and then journeyed by foot, train, bus and multiple ferries to reach our remote destination. Our group spent a week living at the Iona Abbey, sharing in worship, meals, work, and daily life with people from all over the world who had come to experience this “thin place” and live in intentional community. It was powerful for the students to build relationships with this diverse group of Christians from diverse ages, walks of life, and national origins. The students were also moved by the Iona Community’s commitment to justice in all of life, including its worship services. The group spent a lot of time outdoors and took many wonderful hikes on the island, including a full day pilgrimage across the island on a path walked by generations of pilgrims. Each day, we also spent time engaging in some kind of spiritual practice. These included contemplative watercoloring, walking a labyrinth on the beach, Lectio Divina and remembering our baptisms by swimming in the incredibly chilly North Atlantic Ocean. It was…refreshing. Other highlights of the trip included spending time exploring Glasgow and Edinburgh and attending a ceilidh where we learned traditional Scottish dancing.

Most of the students who participated in this trip are going through major transitions right now in their lives. The opportunity to step into reflective, prayerful space was really meaningful for them. Upon arriving home, a few students shared about their experiences:

“This pilgrimage has taught me how to lean on and trust the Christian community that I have around me. The hospitality and care that I experienced on Iona has left a profound impact on me, and it has certainly changed how I hope to carry myself in my day-to-day life. The beautiful landscape of Iona and the kindness of every person on the island made it easy to see God's hand in everything, and that is a perspective that I hope to continue to grow and strengthen in my life in New York.”

“I felt very grateful for our experiences in worship with the Iona community. It was deeply fulfilling to share the ways that faith and political advocacy were not separated, but united towards good in our complicated, hurting world.”

“This trip honestly was one of the best things I’ve done in a long, long time. I hadn’t felt so at peace and connected with nature and God and my beautiful friends in so long and I cried while leaving Iona. This was a trip that I’m going to think about for the rest of my life, and it gave me hope to keep fighting during the hard times.”

We give thanks to the Metro NY Synod and its congregations and members whose support made this transformative trip possible!