Author: revdbeth

I am a retired Episcopal priest after serving over thirty years in Diocese of Texas and a Benedictine Oblate of Our Lady of Grace Monastery in Beech Grove, Indiana. I'm also an eighth generation Texan. My daughter, The Homesick Texan, has moved back home to Texas. My son and his wife live in Bend, Oregon, with my two grandsons who call me Grandma Texas.

Pilgrimage to Iona: The final day

All checked in for our flight at 6 AM tomorrow from Glasgow (apps are so great!), today we have one final road trip. 

A final bowl of porridge, tea, and brown toast for breakfast, a final cappuccino at the coffee place by the bay in Portree, this is a day of goodbyes. 

Beautiful drive, yet again, across Skye, 

pausing for sext, midday prayers. 

Singing as part of the worship a hymn we often sing at St. Mary’s Sunday evening Eucharist 

Christ before us, Christ behind us, Christ under our feet. 
Christ within us, Christ over us, Let all around us be Christ. 
Taking a walk along the beach at  Kyleakin to view the Skye Bridge before driving over it to return to the mainland. 

Driving through the Highlands, finding a place for a picnic, and a walk through the woods, glimpsing the first of the Scottish fall colors
and down through Loch Lomond as the scenery continued to take our breath away. 

We’ll be up at 3.30 to walk to the airport from our hotel to catch the early flight to Amsterdam. I’ll then fly to Atlanta and finally home to Houston, God willing, to sleep in my own bed tomorrow night. 
I am grateful beyond words for the gift of this trip–for those who covered for me at St. Mary’s so I could be here, for my traveling friend, for her husband who funded the trip, and for God who was our travel guide. 

Pilgrimage to Iona: Another Large Day in Skye


Another beautiful day on the Isle of Skye. 

First a walk to a beautiful hidden treasure, the Fairy Glen. Praying the mid morning Office, Terce, as we began our hike, we were reminded:

Having asked for direction and guidance, we pray now to equip ourselves properly for the journey ahead.
  


Hiking in this place of conical hills with grass cascading in folds down the sides amongst sheep, I happened upon three labyrinths.   One was perched on a hillside, and it’s the first labyrinth I’ve walked that made me dizzy while walking.  
 
 
On down the road to Dunvegan for another trek called the Two Churches walk. The hike started at the ruins of St. Mary’s Church (so many churches in ruins I’ve seen have been called St. Mary’s that it’s food for reflection for this rector of a chuch called St. Mary’s on how to keep our parish lively). 
 
We hiked up and down hills, 
through bogs, 
along paths with the last wildflowers of the season, 
  
under cathedrals of pines, 
 
and ended up at a second church.  

Then into town to a lovely cafe for soup and the best scones of the trip. A rabbit trail of conversations with the two women who worked at Blas Cafe concluded with a chat about my daughter and her second cookbook. A proud mother across continents!

Pilgrimage to Iona: A Large Day in Skye

Three ferries later, and a lot of driving on single lane roads, in and out of lay bys for oncoming cars and lorries, we were on the Isle of Skye. 

I was unprepared for the extraordinary landscapes. This may be the most beautiful place on earth. 

My friend and I, missing the daily rhythm of worship at the Abbey, decided to use the new book of Episcopal worship, Daily Prayer for all Seasons, at moments throughout the day. Truth be told, the views of creation we are seeing could not be experienced without stopping to praise God. It is all too big. We are in yet another thin place. 
Prayers at noon day were said while hiking the Quairang. As God would have it, the hymn appointed for that service was For the Beauty of the Earth.  How could we keep from singing?