Yesterday morning was a travel day, so I wasn't able to go to church in Glasgow. The train ride from Glasgow to Oban is extraordinary, though, where I felt like I was on the Hogwarts Express, passing through mountains and lakes and ocean inlets. I did make it to Iona in time for Sunday evening worship, though. Worship happens twice a day at the Abbey on Iona, at 9 AM and 9PM. There's a shorter service in the afternoon during the summers, too. Once I arrived here I remembered that Sunday night's service is a silent service. There are some brief prayers and scriptures, and then it's silence. After a full couple of weeks, it was nice to sit and pray in silence with others. The rest of the week, though, it's not a silent experience. Here are few things that happen at Iona's worship:

It's a beautiful setting for worship.

Walking to worship, you have beautiful views of water and mountains. The days are really long here this time of year (it isn't completely dark until after 11pm, and the sun is up before 5AM), but at other times of the year you may see the sun rising or setting as you go to worship. Once you're there, you're in a restored Benedictine Abbey. The last time I was here, someone commented on all the prayers the stones of that church have heard through the centuries. Worship is a different experience knowing that Christians have worshiped in a place for a really long time. Not only is it old, it's beautiful. It's old stone and stained glass, and it's a beautiful place to gather in worship.

They use the Iona Abbey Worship Book.

Their worship book was created for their worship. It's a mix of ancient and modern liturgy, thoughtfully and beautifully done.

It's an international gathering.

There are people from all over at Iona. The worship is in English, but you'll find people are there from many different places. This morning we divided up the liturgy responses based on how we pronounced "scones." The UK based folks pronounced it as rhyming with "John." The North American people pronounce it as rhyming with "own." It was a clever reminder that we've come together from many different places to worship together.