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Saint Columba Day Chapel - Friday 5 June 2020
 
Video by Mr Aaron Everett

From Isolation to Community

Dr Macleod —

Today we enjoyed our Saint Columba Day celebrations – with a difference. Instead of gathering in the Hall, we met in class groups to watch a live stream of the service.

It is only three weeks since we moved out of lockdown. As we reflect on this experience, we see some parallels with the life of Saint Columba.

Columba had a significant experience of isolation. He was exiled from his homeland and travelled the 120km to Iona in a small boat with a few companions. We don’t know how he felt about being confined to this ‘bubble’, we only know how he chose to act.

Columba’s response to the challenge of isolation was to build community. He built a monastery, he reached out to thousands of people, and he developed a community of prayer and scholarship that continues to this day. Columba did not remain in bubble-mode.

When the people of Judah were cut off from their social context, God’s message to them was to invest in community (Jeremiah 29:4-7). They were to build, plant, engage in new social connections, and pray for their nation. They were reminded that their welfare was intrinsically linked to that of those around them.

As we move forward from the lockdown, it is now the time to invest in our communities: to support each other, to build, to recognise the value of face-to-face relationships. Let us not remain in bubble-mode, but learn from the life of Saint Columba. 

Our newest student, Valerie Tagg, and our longest-attending student, Emily Wesley-Jones, cut the beautiful Columba Cake made by Mrs Annette Freeman. Sophia Scott said grace. Readings were brought to us by Cara Busse and Lucy Goodeve (Psalm 113) and Joanna Liu (Jeremiah 28:4-7). Isabelle Coe, Ariana Gepte and Lara Seaton led us in prayer, and Abby Bowmar finished the service with the Blessing of Iona Abbey.

Abigail Pushenko and Ianah Bitec received their Academic Blues for achievement at Level 2 NCEA during the service.