A couple of years ago I made a spiritual pilgrimage to the Hebridean island of Iona. Getting there is a big part of the journey–you really must be committed to arriving! As an official Iona website puts it, “travel to Iona needs a bit of forward planning.”Indeed. From the States travel involves airplanes, trains, ferries, buses, and sometimes a very small sailboat. I and the other members of our group arrived finally at tiny Fionnphort, Isle of Mull, anticipating a 4 minute ferry ride across the Sound of Iona. Not to be. Though Iona, clearly visible, was so close one could almost swim there, the windy conditions and rough water had shut down the ferry. An entrepreneurial sailboat tour captain saved the day. He and his crew agreed to take us and our luggage across. The water was so rough they had to make five passes to get the boat close enough in to hitch to the anchor bolt. Watching this was disconcerting. Getting us aboard the heaving boat was an experience. And then there was the very wet and shall we say, exhilarating, ride across the Sound. Sitting on the open deck next to one of my new friends who happened to be from Switzerland, I noticed that she was turning a bit green. I kept saying, “But Myrta this is fun!” She did not agree. We laughed about that all week – she didn’t let me forget it.
Taking a soul journey is always like this. We think, “well I’m going to read some books, take a few classes, attend church, pray and meditate a bit and voila! I’m going to get spiritual. I know where I’m going and how I’m going to get there–straightforward trip.” We know better but hope for an easy ride springs eternal. When we let go into Spirit, everything changes. Our understanding transforms. It slowly dawns on us that we are not human beings trying to get spiritual. We had not counted on this. Everything we’ve ever known has pointed us in that direction. “Oh,” we realize, “I am a spiritual being expressing in human form. My purpose is no less than bringing heaven into earth.” We see that this is impossible to do if we insist on using our old mindset. We cannot engineer this heaven into earth thing. Out of sheer desperation we begin to let go, to trust. We see there is something greater (not better, just much larger) than us and that we are a part of it. That means we are in relationship with everybody and everything. We start the daily discipline of letting go of fear because there’s literally no place for it in our Christ nature. We learn to live, move, and have our being in love. Our inner understanding transforms and our outer life changes. Our soul grows in wisdom and our ability to express joy and abundance expands.
Friends, now is the time to make an even deeper commitment to our soul journey. Now is the time to let go into God, place our faith in the goodness within ourselves, and develop our willingness to see the Christ, by whatever name, in every person. We deserve the richness of this holy/whole life that is our divine birthright. Our communities, our nation, and our world deserve it too. And when we find ourselves turning a little green around the gills, let’s remind each other, “But this is fun!” And laugh!
In the Love and Light of the Christ,
Rev. Anna
