Jim Oglesby: On Iona

By Jim Oglesby

Although there are many memorable moments when one goes on a spiritual pilgrimage to Iona, two stand out in my mind from my recent experience. 

Sunday night when we went to worship in the Abbey the subject was domestic violence and several ladies told personal stories of their abuse and how they were able to survive and find a way to get out of this destructive situation. And then someone talked about Tina Turner and how she escaped from her husband Ike with almost nothing except the clothes on her back. And then they played music from Tina Turner on the loudspeaker and people started dancing in the aisle, especially pilgrims from Africa. I was too inhibited to join them though I was impressed and pleased to even witness this spontaneous eruption. 

The second incident which is deep in my memory was, one day I was having a nice cup of tea in the Columba Hotel when a group of people came in and were seated close to me, obviously also pilgrims, and began talking about their experience on Iona. I could not help eavesdropping, and they invited me to join them. They were a group of Episcopalians from the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. In fact, they asked me to join them for lunch, which I did. One man, Robert Jonas, told me he and his wife took care of Henri Nouwen in their home during the last year of his life. He has written two books on Nouwen. He was carrying a flute in his backpack, and he told me he takes his flute to play for the Dalai Lama which he (the Dalai Lama) meditates. I got so involved with this group that I walked out of the Hotel and did not pay for my tea. When I got back to the Hostel and told the group the sheriff might come for me, I was told they had no law enforcement on the island and, evidently, don’t need any. Anyway, when I returned home I put a 20 pound note in as envelop and mailed it to the hotel with a note explaining what I had done.