Nancy Dodman, Regional Coordinator for the Iona Community in Canada, shares her journey into and with the Iona Community.
This is my first missive from Canada and there will likely be more in the coming months. I would like to start with a bit of history. In the early 2000’s I was looking for something to do differently during December with our two young daughters. I came upon a book Cloth for the Cradle and fell in love with what I read. Following that, I found the green Iona Abbey Worship Book, knowing nothing about the Iona Community. I started reading and praying the various services in the book and especially Morning Prayer, diving deeply into the Affirmation and especially the notion of being ‘planted more deeply than all that is wrong’.
Garry and I first came to Iona with our girls in 2004. I was overcome by the worship services and music, especially the Tuesday Healing Service. They were so ‘real’ and spoke to my soul in ways that the church that we were attending could not. I came home to Canada so very frustrated. At that time, as we were ‘across the pond,’ we became Associate Members of the Iona Community. Many years and many visits to Iona passed and I was able to bring back to London, Ontario all sorts of ideas. We started to hold ‘Stations of the Cross,’ Iona style each year, an annual Advent Labyrinth with stones and 300 candles, taken from an Iona pilgrimage week with Alternativity, and many other offerings from Iona publications.
One Ash Wednesday, I was going into our usual grocery store and there was a priest outside in the snow with a sandwich board declaring ‘Ashes to Go’. I stopped, we prayed and ashes were duly imposed. The priest gave me a prayer card from his church and on the reverse side was a prayer by Iona Community Member, Pat Bennett! I was flabbergasted. ‘I know Pat – how do you?’
Garry and I went to a day retreat at that church led by the Henry Nouwen Society which started with Iona Community Morning Prayer. I was in tears as it was the first time I had prayed the Office in Canada in a group. Needless to say, we became active in the church and the years passed. Eventually, as Covid unfolded, a Zoom Iona Community Morning Prayer service started, through the church, and I was eventually asked to lead it as the dear priest was moving on. In 2025, for a variety of reasons, the Zoom service ended and I was lost.
September 2025, I decided that as I was the Canadian Regional Coordinator for the Iona Community, I would, on my own, restart Zoom Iona Community Morning Prayer services each Wednesday at noon EST (which is 5pm UK time). The services have blossomed and to date there are 60 people from across North America on the mailing list with around 16 people joining us weekly as they can; Iona Members, Associates, Friends and people with no affiliation. Canadians and Americans from across the continent praying together through these troubled times when hate and distrust are rampant. We speak honestly and hold each other in care. The service is very interactive using the Iona Community morning prayer worship and music and is evolving as the months pass. Occasionally, we have also welcomed people from the UK who have dropped in. All are welcomed and if you would like to be on the list to receive the link, which is sent out each Tuesday, please write to me at [email protected]
Wednesday is now my Sunday. The Iona Community Morning Prayer group is the church in action, brothers and sisters reaching out to each other and holding each other in the light.
With the whole church
we affirm that we are made in God’s image
befriended by Christ, empowered by the Spirit
With people everywhere
we affirm God’s goodness at the heart of humanity
planted more deeply than all that is wrong
With all creation
we celebrate the miracle and wonder of life
the unfolding purposes of God
for ever at work in ourselves and the world
(Iona Affirmation)
Nancy Dodman
Associate Member and Regional Co-co-ordinator for Canada
Image: This photo of the candles in Iona Abbey is used as the front slide for the morning Daily Office service referred to by Nancy.
USA North East