Nick Welsh, Shop Manager of The Iona Community Welcome Centre on the Isle of Iona, shares her monthly book recommendations. This month they are inspired by farewells and homecomings.
Hello, Goodbye
So far this year we have said goodbye to many dear friends as many of the resident team on Iona have moved on to new adventures. Saying goodbye has not been easy, and we miss them very much. But we have also welcomed some new friends who have already become dear to me. Like God’s love, I have realized as I get older, that the number of dear ones in a life just increases and there is always room for more.
The season has started with some beautiful sunshine, and we are already at the point of saying more goodbyes, this time to our first batch of volunteers. Saying hello and goodbye is an integral part of the ebb and flow of the life of the Iona Community team on Iona. As a team we do it on an almost daily basis in some form or another, and each day a vibrant altered community is reformed, to live together in community for a day, a week or longer.
Most of us are fortunate to have homes to come and go back to, but a lack of affordable or available housing on the islands is a major issue. Although actual homelessness is rare on Mull and Iona, not having your own home, or space is common, especially for young adults and families. Finding a space to live is very difficult, stressful and time consuming, some people have to move away and leave their jobs, others do not come to take up seasonal work because they can find nowhere to live, some live in caravans or garden sheds, and have to wait what can be years before a more permanent home becomes available.
Finding shelter
Recently I was reminded of one of our early community members, Bruce Kenrick, who lies buried in the Reilig Odhrain. Many tourists come looking for the nearby grave of John Smith, former UK Labour leader. Few come looking for Bruce, who was one of the founding members of the housing charity Shelter and was involved with the original groundbreaking Notting Hill Housing Association. He found his last home on Iona, but he would have been fully aware of the sad consequences of not having a fixed place to call home. I was delighted to meet his daughter, Faith, who came to stay at the Abbey during work week and remembers her early years when she called Iona home.
I hope and pray that all who read this column have a place to call home, so that when saying goodbye they know they have a safe place to return to, until we are all called home for the final time.
Book recommendations
My book recommendations this month cover different aspects of homecoming and goodbyes. They are all available from the Iona Community shop.
- Finding Our Way Back, Praying Our Way Forward by Rebeka Maples. Prayer moments for Lent, Holy Week and beyond
- Huia Come Home by J Ruka A unique story about the history of the church in New Zealand told through a Maori lens.
- In the Shelter: finding a home in the world by Padraig O Tuama. Poems on the transformational power of welcome
Photo: Saying goodbye on the pier. Credit: B Forsyth
USA North East