Iona - Interfaith Pilgrimage

Back in September I had the opportunity to be part of the Christian delegation on the Scottish religious leaders’ pilgrimage to Iona. Organised by Interfaith Scotland, we were celebrating twenty years of working together across the faiths. In 2002, and in the aftermath of what has become known and remembered as 9/11, three Christian church leaders, from the Church of Scotland, the Roman Catholic Church and the Scottish Episcopal Church suggested that it was important for religious leaders to get to know one another, and so, what has become Interfaith Scotland was born in September 2002 and, exactly 20 years later, we found ourselves, a group of Scottish religious leaders, augmented by a number of interfaith chaplains and representatives of local interfaith groups, travelling to the beautiful island of Iona for what proved to be an amazing few days together. All the main faiths were represented, and so we went, worshipped and lived together – from the Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan and Sikh communities. An earlier question had been whether Iona was too strongly associated with the Christian faith, but representatives from the non-Christian faiths insisted that they were happy with the destination, and indeed I think we all found it a great place to be. It was not intended that we would be making our way to Oban, and then on across Mull and to Iona on the day of the Queen’s funeral – but that is how it was, but many of us caught up on what we had missed by watching it through iPlayer on a large screen in the village hall in the evening, and it was good to do that together. It was a pilgrimage and one of the things to do on Iona is a mini pilgrimage around the island, reflecting on some of the things it that the place might say to society at large on all sorts of issues – and so we walked round part of the island together, reflecting on education, health, and so many of the other everyday things that matter to all of us, and had the perspective of a different faith leading some reflection on each issue. Alongside that there was plenty of time for further exploration and I particularly enjoyed a rather longer than I had anticipated walk over to St Columba’s Bay where we enjoyed dipping fingers or toes in the sea and the beauty of the beach there. One of the main tasks was to renew our commitment to work together. I found it immensely encouraging that we found it surprisingly easy to agree a text. In the statement we recognised the value of marking the twentieth anniversary of the Scottish Religious Leaders’ Forum by our pilgrimage together on the holy and historic island of Iona. We recognised the diversity of culture, religion and belief within Scotland, and the damage and suffering caused by prejudice, discrimination and war. We affirmed our commitment to good interfaith relations and trust across Scotland and the particular challenges, which we must address together, around caring for the earth, living sustainably and addressing climate change. We further committed ourselves to walk alongside and listen to local communities across Scotland in the many challenges we all face in a time of bewildering change. This all came together in the multi-faith service of commitment live-streamed from Iona Abbey (and available on YouTube if you search for InterFaith Scotland). The service, to which each faith community contributed was a remarkable culmination of an extraordinary few days. I went, if I’m honest, with a degree of uncertainty, but I came away seeing it as one of the highlights not just of 2022, but of all that I have done in over forty years of ministry. How good to spend time together. How good to learn from each other. How good to be part of a Scottish Interfaith pilgrimage to Iona.