Oran's Chapel Iona: Late Evening

It was a few years ago that we were on Iona and experienced an amazing act of worship in the tiny chapel of Oran. A still warm evening set the scene, and we emerged into a clear night at about 10pm with the dusk just gathering as the poem tells

Oran's Chapel Iona: Late Evening

Dusk, hovering gently by an open door

Is nudged imperceptibly into island night.

A small myriad of flickering flames

Cast soft shadows

Which the ancient walls absorb,

Or deflect as they will.

"Ubi caritas, et amour,

Deus ibi est,"

A charged chanting of ecumenical voice

Proclaims the truth of a God of light.

Music and fabric together

Link us mystically

To earlier followers of "The Way"

Meeting in dark caves

Braving persecutions which appal us

Even to contemplate

In our western pilgrimage today;

Yet our sisters  and brothers in faith,

Elsewhere,

Even as we sing, suffer similarly.

Briefly, we here, can sense ourselves at one

With fellow Christians of every age,

Of every race, imprisoned or free;

Lifting our prayers from this chapel of Oran

For justice, for peace, for love, for joy,

For Christ, for Christ,

In the past, in the present,

And in the future,

Whatever that might be.

More about why Iona features in this collection can be found at Iona - A Special Place in the Cosmos and other poems about Iona, such as Iona, A thin Place, Bethlehem of the Isles ot The Hermit's Cell