The Organic garden here at the St Columba Hotel has 2 young full time gardeners. I watch them every day from our dual aspect . They are out there every day battling the horsetails just as I do . We have eaten homegrown Asparagus, rhubarb and salad. I see the neat potato rows and many fleece covered mini tunnel rows of spinach and beetroot (I think) and herbs and beans and peas. They know their stuff , have notebooks full of plans and the grass is neatly patched. I dont know how they manage the rabbits and wild geese .
It took me a while to work out what the nets were on the grass beneath our window. This is Iona after all where spirituality often involves the alternative , big time. So I imagined the networks were the latest expression of Prayer or a 'joining in with the earth', until I realised that sometimes one can look and find the New Age in everything when its not actually there. They are covering the patches of new grass seeding.
Our friend living on Iona Rev Joyce Watson wrote a very useful book on the New Age Movement 20 yrs ago and its still available online. When we were re-homing my mothers books , I came across a copy , much annotated as mother does with everything. It made a useful re-read.
The last time Colin and I went to a service in Iona Abbey was about 12 years ago. We vowed we would never go again as we didn't like some of the liturgy used, and didnt trust the theology behind it. We thought it very New Age. We were schooled by Colin Urquart and Kingdom Faith Ministries in the 80s and 90s, and read so much about Soap manufacturers and triangles and the evils of certain Martial Arts and New Age philosophies that we have remained confused christians until the teaching that came with New Wine in the 2000s and this present decade. The Grove book has as Colin Urquart would say 'not lost its anointing', though he usually referred to Old Hymns.
Back in Iona Abbey years later we were very at home. The welcome and housekeeping arrangements were excellent , the Communion Service held no liturgical surprises, and whilst I thought the visiting preacher was not to my taste, I got some Apples of Gold from what she said. I think I am beginning to grow up , and have a more rounded view of the ways of doing God. AS long as I keep reading the Manufacturers Instructions and spend quality time with my Father the Gardener. (As CU once wrote*).
*My Father is the gardener . 1982 Hodder . by Colin Urquart
