When I was about 12-13, maybe as old as 15, my mom rented this video called Be Still. The film had a number of Christian speakers, I believe speaking about how to be still with God. I don't remember the exact point of the film now that I think about it, but in one section of this video, a number of speakers talked about a place called Iona. It was an island off of the west coast of Scotland. One speaker who was Scottish said, "Iona is a thin place. It's one of those place with little space between heaven and earth." For a number of years after we watched this film my dad would say, "I want to go to Iona. It's a thin place" (he would attempt to say this bit in a Scottish accent).
Last week, a good friend of mine came to visit from the United States. She wanted to go to the western isles. Her original goal was to go to the Isle of Lewis -- a northwest isle, near Inverness. We looked into this, but travel alone was about double the room rate and none of this was cheap, so we decided to think again. After a bit of planning, we decided we would go to the Isle of Mull. We booked the train ticket, but, as we were looking for hotels, we found 0 reasonable accomodations. In a desperate search for a hostel anywhere in that area, my friend and I found Iona Hostel. A new (since 2007) hostel on the isle of Iona. We were quite desperate as we already had train tickets, so we quickly booked a spot at the hostel.
We traveled four hours by train to a town called Oban, 45 minutes by ferry to the Isle of Mull, took a two hour bus to the opposite side of Mull (almost missing our bus - the one and only bus), and then caught a 10 minute ferry to the Isle of Iona from Mull. We did this all on a Saturday. We had grand plans to return to Mull on Sunday and climb a mountain, drink in a local pub, etc. However, on the way to the ferry for Iona, we were informed that no buses run on Mull on Sundays. Taking this into consideration, and having had some small taster of the entertainment in the small ferry town, we decided to spend Sunday on Iona.
We saw the abbey of St Columba, the nunnery ruins, we went to the opposite side to St. Columba's beach, we both walked along the beach near our hostel (our hostel is a whole other story). The sun was shining the whole day and being as far north as Scotland is, it felt like it was right on top of us. I nearly shouted for joy as I found I was slightly sunburned Sunday night.
We experienced (well, I may only be able to speak for myself) - I experienced - no seen angels, no visions, I didn't see columba himself, but, lying on the flat grass, just feet away from the ocean with the sun beating on my face and the sound of waves in my ears -- in Scotland-- I think I can say it did feel like a thin place. Yes, I think thin is quite a fair adjective.
Last week, a good friend of mine came to visit from the United States. She wanted to go to the western isles. Her original goal was to go to the Isle of Lewis -- a northwest isle, near Inverness. We looked into this, but travel alone was about double the room rate and none of this was cheap, so we decided to think again. After a bit of planning, we decided we would go to the Isle of Mull. We booked the train ticket, but, as we were looking for hotels, we found 0 reasonable accomodations. In a desperate search for a hostel anywhere in that area, my friend and I found Iona Hostel. A new (since 2007) hostel on the isle of Iona. We were quite desperate as we already had train tickets, so we quickly booked a spot at the hostel.
We traveled four hours by train to a town called Oban, 45 minutes by ferry to the Isle of Mull, took a two hour bus to the opposite side of Mull (almost missing our bus - the one and only bus), and then caught a 10 minute ferry to the Isle of Iona from Mull. We did this all on a Saturday. We had grand plans to return to Mull on Sunday and climb a mountain, drink in a local pub, etc. However, on the way to the ferry for Iona, we were informed that no buses run on Mull on Sundays. Taking this into consideration, and having had some small taster of the entertainment in the small ferry town, we decided to spend Sunday on Iona.
We saw the abbey of St Columba, the nunnery ruins, we went to the opposite side to St. Columba's beach, we both walked along the beach near our hostel (our hostel is a whole other story). The sun was shining the whole day and being as far north as Scotland is, it felt like it was right on top of us. I nearly shouted for joy as I found I was slightly sunburned Sunday night.
We experienced (well, I may only be able to speak for myself) - I experienced - no seen angels, no visions, I didn't see columba himself, but, lying on the flat grass, just feet away from the ocean with the sun beating on my face and the sound of waves in my ears -- in Scotland-- I think I can say it did feel like a thin place. Yes, I think thin is quite a fair adjective.
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