eBulletin Jan09

Welcome to the first edition of the new monthly Iona Community e-bulletin. The Iona Community e-bulletin is a companion to Coracle: the magazine of the Iona Community and like Coracle focuses on issues at the heart of the Iona Community: prayer and politics, justice and peace and the integrity of creation, hospitality and welcome, healing, the renewal of worship, the rebuilding of community … See below! … And keep in touch.

For the Word of God in scripture,

for the Word of God among us,

for the Word of God within us,

THANKS BE TO GOD.

From 'Iona Abbey Worship Book'
(Wild Goose Publications)

In this edition:

HOPE IN A TIME OF WAR: A RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVE ON PEACEMAKING

The address given by Kathy Galloway as the Annual Public Lecture of the Movement for the Abolition of War, Imperial War Museum, London, November 11, 2008. Kathy Galloway is the current Leader of the Iona Community

A LETTER TO A DYING CHILD FROM A CHURCH MINISTER

BRAINLESS IN GAZA, a reflection by David Rhodes

MAGNIFICAT IN BRONZE, by Stewart Smith

The life stories and still burning justice and peace issues behind the statue of the Virgin Mary in the Cloisters of Iona Abbey.

WILL YOU COME AND FOLLOW ME?

Reading the words of the John Bell/Graham Maule song 'Will You Come and Follow Me?' is a good thing to do at the beginning of a journey through a new year. When long-time friend of the Iona Community and Leader of Ashram Community John Vincent was on Iona last year, he gave a sermon inspired by John and Graham's song. Read the sermon here. John Vincent is also Emeritus Director and part-time Lecturer at the Urban Theology Unit and an Honorary Lecturer in Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield and in Theology at the University of Birmingham.

STOP ARMING ISRAEL

In July 2006, as Israel launched a horrendous attack on Southern Lebanon, various organisations and individual campaigners came together to launch Stop Arming Israel. The bombing and invasion of Gaza in the winter of 2008/9 has again highlighted the UK's complicity in arming Israel, both directly and through components in US-supplied weaponry.

THE WATER NOT WAR CAMPAIGN

A letter and invitation from Echoes of Silence's Coordinator, Paul Baker Hernandez, in Nicaragua

THE TEARS OF A PEOPLE: A LETTER FROM ZIMBABWE

Community Member Peter Millar recently received this letter from a friend working and travelling in Zimbabwe. Peter says: 'This letter from a friend in Zimbabwe put things into perspective as 2009 opens.'

WORDS OF TRIBUTE FROM JOHN MORROW'S FUNERAL, from Dr Duncan Morrow

John Morrow was a Leader of the Corrymeela Community, which has, over many years, contributed so much to the process of reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

COME AND STAY AS A GUEST ON IONA FOR LENT
OR AT CAMAS FOR A WEEK IN MAY

Information about spaces available at the Abbey, the MacLeod Centre and Camas in early 2009

PRESENCE, PARTICIPATION AND PROFIT, by Jim Black

A report and reflection on the recent Iona Community mainland shop at St George's West Church in Edinburgh

NEWS FROM SOME 'FRIENDS OF OUR PURPOSE' …

A short prayer for the beginning of the new year, from Brian Woodcock, a former Warden of Iona Abbey

HEIRS OF ADOMNÁN: A LITURGY

In Kathy Galloway's feature she writes about the influence of St Adomnán's 'Law of the Innocents', a precursor of the Geneva Conventions and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights: the Celtic tradition isn't soft and fuzzy, airy and escapist – but a rooted tradition of political engagement.

'Heirs of Adomnán' was recently adapted by Member Chris Gidden for a demo at Aldermaston, Britain – and America's – nuclear weapon factory in England. As Kathy Galloway once wrote: 'Many of the most significant acts of worship for Members of the Community on the mainland have not been in churches. They have been outdoors, on demonstrations and marches and picket lines, outside military bases and the Ministry of Defence, in city squares and at embassies. Equally important, though perhaps less dramatically, they have been in homes and community centres, in schools and factories and hospitals, all the places where people struggle on a knife-edge and we among them. At the very least, we can take our bodies, and our prayers, and say with them, ‘I beg to differ’; we can witness to our conviction that ‘it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness’.

AN INVITATION AND NEWS FROM THE 'ZURICH' IONA GROUP

A REFLECTION AND NEWS FROM THE WELLSPRING COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA

AND NEWS ABOUT A FORMER IONA RESIDENT WHO HAS BEEN ON THE EMMAUS ROAD IN AMERICA

We are a global community!

Gathered or scattered

GOD IS WITH US

In suffering and hope

GOD IS WITH US

Now and always,

GOD IS WITH US

Mahmoud Darwish (13 March, 1941 – 9 August, 2008) has been called 'the voice of a dispossessed people' and 'the voice of Palestine' …

The New York Times said: 'In his work, Palestine became a metaphor for the loss of Eden, birth and resurrection, and the anguish of dispossession and exile.'

Read one of Mahmoud Darwish's most famous poems, Identity Card, which appeared in his first collection of poetry, Leaves of Olives (1964). Think about the people of Gaza today …

GATHERED AND SCATTERED: READINGS AND MEDITATIONS FROM THE IONA COMMUNITY

'The words in this book will be scattered in many places, yet their roots are in that shared vision of an engaged and radical Christianity. Although the reflections come from many sources, they are all propelled by the knowledge that God is to be found in everyday living – in the uncertainties, contradictions and laughter of our times. And whether we are gathered or scattered, may these often prophetic reflections take us all into a renewed commitment to God, to this amazing earth we all walk upon and to our sisters and brothers everywhere.'

Peter Millar, from the Foreword of 'Gathered and Scattered'

'Gathered and Scattered' is a follow-up to 'This Is The Day: Readings and Meditations from the Iona Community'.

A classic reading from George MacLeod, Founder of the Iona Community.

Find out where John Bell will be speaking and leading sings and workshops in early 2009, about Holy City worship events, about Kathy Galloway's work, about youth events, and about other Community events and gatherings …

Many, or most, journalists simply serve The Powers – governments, corporations, the 'money men who rule the world' … Check out Dahr Jamail's website for independent reporting from Iraq and the Middle East.

Also, a new book by modern-day prophet Vandana Shiva, 'Soil Not Oil': Climate Change, Peak Oil and Food Insecurity; music from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds – and more …

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