In 2008, which now feels like a very long time ago, I had an opportunity to spend a number of days on the Island of Iona. Some of you will know that Iona is found near the bottom left corner of Scotland and is one of number of islands that skirt about the edge of this part of the British Isles. You may also know about the abbey there, which is still very much in active use. It is a key landmark on the horizon, and is what draws your eye and your attention as the ferry approaches. One wants to know more about it. Clearly it is the anchor, the foundation for many aspects of life on Iona.
I went to Iona in great anticipation of experiencing pilgrimage, prayer and possibility, and I was not disappointed. I had time to slow down my entire life to a walking pace and the experience changed me. The island of Iona is not a large island. It does not have many natural landmarks, there are hills but they are more a rise of expectation than large hills. There are few trees. There are few buildings. There is much open land and the wind and the rain seem to love this. They meet there almost every day it seems. …But there is something about the place. Perhaps it is the presence of that abbey or perhaps it is the influence of the abbey’s founder, Saint Columba or perhaps because it is the burial site of monarchs or perhaps it is simply the number of pilgrims that arrive each day or perhaps it is just that kind of place where most folk find ways to slow down and listen to the Holy Spirit… but it is no ordinary place. It seems to be somewhere that the Celts might describe as a thin place, where the distance between God and the seeker seems to be much thinner. And we need those places in our lives, to notice them and pay them a little more attention.
On my pilgrimage and walking on the island, I had the opportunity explore a good variety of places beyond the abbey; places that simply caught my attention. Amongst those, was a beach which, as the story goes, is where Columba is said to have come ashore on his arrival from Ireland. He had been encouraged to leave Ireland, encouraged is an easier description at least than being run out of town, and he arrived with a few fellow pilgrims. They pulled up the curragh on the shore and seemed to recognize a place of rest, a place of welcome, a place of encounter, a place of home. We will never know all of what it was that they discovered that day but it has continued to influence and shape the Church around the world ever since. Including us… here tonight.
Today is a day for us too to be pulling our boat upon a new shore and looking to a new future and new possibilities as we are remembering St. Columba but also as we gather here to induct Father Ron Culmer to be the Rector of St. Paul’s. For I think that Saint Columba discovered when he first landed on Iona, the same feeling, recognition and encounter that we might be feeling on this night. Expectant that God is doing extraordinary things and has brought us to a new place and new beginning.
This prayer is attributed to Saint Columba, perhaps it fits into those things that inform and shape us as we have assembled here tonight. He wrote: O Lord, grant us that love which can never die, which will enkindle our lamps but not extinguish them, so that they may shine in us and bring light to others. Most dear Saviour, enkindle our lamps that they may shine forever in your temple. May we receive unquenchable light from you so that our darkness will be illuminated and the darkness of the world will be made less. Amen.
This illuminating light was known in Cuthbert’s life and has been known in this parish of St. Paul’s since its first days. This light of God that challenges darkness, even the darkness in this world and in our own lives, a light we need to pay a little bit more attention in these chaotic days of 2026. These were not mere words but described the relationship and the faith of Columba that influenced seemingly every aspect of his life. And in turn it also shaped this church. Columba knew what it was to begin a ministry that would spread and transform and witness to the presence of the kingdom of God that Jesus spoke so richly about. And it is why we have gathered here.
On my desk I have a stone from that same beach that I visited on Iona. That stone on my desk reminds me of Iona but more than that it reminds me of what ministry is all about, about my calling, about my response to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. It reminds me of the depth of the love of God and the invitation to constantly live into that. Columba knew this love and it transformed him. He knew that this love would never end. And so do we. We cannot lose sight of that gift of God’s love with us and around us tonight and for always. For it is guiding us forward.
We gather here tonight not simply to look back and admire a long history of St. Paul’s in this community. There is a place for that but it is not tonight. In the passage from First Corinthians a little while ago, we heard these words “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ.” That is our foundation, the same foundation that Columba knew long ago. And it is upon that foundation that we look to the future and where God is calling and where God is leading. Ron Culmer has been called to be the new Rector of St. Paul’s not to maintain the status quo, not to reminisce about the past, not to kick the tires of the foundation stone, not to say we have done well but there is nothing more to do, not to wish we were in different times, not to grumble about past clergy (or the bishop or the diocese), not to try to keep things the same… no. None of that. He is here to help all of us look to the future and where God is calling and where the Holy Spirit is leading for St. Paul’s Church. Ron brings his gifts and experience and wisdom and vision to help this parish and all of us pay attention to the light that Columba spoke about, an unquenchable light in the darkness that leads us into a beckoning future. For the Church of our day is not dying but simply renewing.
The gospel reading was one of those passages that is a little hard to unpack in a few words. It involved Satan falling from heaven, it spoke of treading upon snakes and scorpions, it involved flashes of lightning… now maybe you too will see all this taking place at St. Paul’s, I would not suggest that it is impossible. But I wonder more if you will see and notice the word rejoice as you look to the future. Jesus said “rejoice that your names are written in heaven” and I believe this for it is speaking not of some secret list but of the expansive love of God. A God that knows no limits and no restraints, where all are blessed. And it is this love that people will discover here. It is this love that the Holy Spirit will lead you into. It is this love that will shape this church as you look to the future. It is this love that Columba knew well and guided him to spread the gospel in all the places he travelled. It is this love that we pay attention to now as a new beginning is taking place, as Ron settles into this new role called to be your priest as you seek to know indeed that God is amongst you and inviting you to respond to the world around you. That this may be a place where it is noticed that the distance between God and us is lessened.
St. Columba is credited with saying: “My dearest Lord, be thou a bright flame before me, a guiding star above me, a smooth path beneath me, a kindly shepherd behind me today and for evermore.”
May these words, with Ron’s guidance and prayers be known and lived out in this parish. May they shape who you are and this opportunity to pay attention to God’s calling and hope in you. May you know this blessing all the days of your lives and even beyond.
For I believe, and I suspect so do all of you, that the Holy Spirit continues to move in our lives and be that bright flame and guiding star; known by our words and actions beyond tonight. If you did not know this, Ron will be happy to point it out to you many times over the coming years, for God is leading us forward and may we live into that calling with the hope and purpose of the gospel of Jesus Christ.