May-July 2003

* Isle of Iona: Iona is a small island off the west coast of Scotland, where in 563 Columba founded a Celtic monastery that was very influential in its own times. In the middle ages it was the site of a Benedictine abbey and over the centuries has attracted many thousands of people on their own pilgrim journeys.

* About Iona community: The Iona Community is an ecumenical community of men and women seeking new ways of living the Gospel in the world. It was founded in 1938 by Rev. George F. MacLeod (1895-1991) at that time a parish minister in Glasgow. The rebuilding of the ruined Abbey buildings on Iona was a sign of hope and also the necessary integration of work and worship, of prayer. Rebuilding was completed in 1967. (The Abbey church had already been restored in 1910.)

The Community has formal links with the Church of Scotland, through a Board on which other denominations are also represented, and is also associated with the ecumenical bodies Action of Churches Together in Scotland, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, and Churches Together in England, reflecting the fact that Members are drawn from all the main Christian denominations.

The Community at present has almost 250 Members mostly in Britain, which are going from a range of denominations and working backgrounds. It is a dispersed community in that most of the Members live not on Iona, as is sometimes imagined, but throughout Britain, with a few overseas in North America, Africa and Australia. The community has also over 1500 Associate Members and around 1700 Friends worldwide.

Members of community share a common Rule which includes:

Daily prayer and reading the Bible
Mutual accountability for their use of time and money
Regular meeting together
Action and reflection for justice, peace and the integrity of creation.

The Community maintains three residential centers on Iona and Mull which offer week-long programmes for guests from March to October - Iona Abbey and the MacLeod Centre on Iona and Camas Adventure Camp on the Ross of Mull.

* Prayer from Morning Worship:

Our God, creator of the World! All Space is in your hand - even if we are living in the darkness, even if we are not feeling of your love, your love is present here as a "cosmic background". Your Son Jesus Christ could not promised us anything by the power of the world, but he promised to us something much more. He promised to us eternal live in the kingdom of Heaven. We are thankful, for benefit from your LOVE, we are thankful, that your LOVE is giving sense to our life, the life of our brothers and sisters , the life of the World. Amen.

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