CHRISTIAN VIEWPOINT: How I encountered some of God’s ‘gentle, angry people’
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I met some of God’s ‘gentle, angry people’ when I joined the associate members of the Iona Community at their Highland Group meeting in Inverness.
The phrase was used in a report of the Community’s participation in a recent climate change demonstration in London initiated by Extinction Rebellion.
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The Celtic symbol of the Wild Goose representing the Holy Spirit is important to the Iona Community. A gentle, angry God: not just Comforter, Lamp-lighter, Heavenly Friend, but Revealer of truth, Midwife of change, Disturber. Community members and associates commit ‘to bear responsibility, take risks… to stand with those on the edge, to choose life and be used by the Spirit for God’s new community of hope’.
The spiritual heart of the international ecumenical community, established in 1938, is the medieval Abbey on the island where St Columba founded his 6th century monastery. It’s a ‘dispersed community’ – associates and members don’t remain permanently on Iona, but commit to living each day in the light of God’s presence and expressing the love and challenge of God in their everyday lives. For members, all this is formalised in a ‘Rule’ which guides them in worship, work and mutual accountability.
The associates spoke of their gratitude for the Community. They spoke of feeling part of a worldwide family; of appreciating the Community’s reflective style of worship; of gratitude for the Community’s focus on issues their own church doesn’t prioritise.
Within the Community, nine Common Concern Networks enable members and associates to share resources, and inspire one another to action on issues they feel passionate about. The Highland group will consider three of these areas in their autumn meetings – the environment, LGBT+ inclusivity, and refugees and migration.
Iona Community members and associates regularly make week-long visits to Iona, living in community, taking part in the work and worship of the Abbey. I asked about the personal significance of these visits. For David, the long journey across Mull to Iona was part of the process of detachment from the world and focusing on the Wild Goose. For Iain, Iona is ‘a beautiful place, it’s a special place, it’s the people you meet, it’s the sanctuary, it’s the prayers, it’s the Hebridean light’. Margaret spoke of much laughter – but also of the tears which flowed freely during worship.
And then the pilgrims return to everyday life in the wake of St Columba and his fellow monks who crossed Pictland, ‘confronted warring powers, challenged injustice and offered the peace of Jesus Christ to all they met’.
As much now as then, the Wild Goose is with her ‘gentle, angry people’ as they work in the name of Jesus to make the world a fairer, kinder, more equitable place.
