MISSION OF FRIENDSHIP

Southland Times, Issue 23945, 11 October 1939, Page 3

MISSION OF FRIENDSHIP

The Message Of St. Columba

By

PRESBYTER

TN'these days, when the visit of an ■ ambassador to Berlin or Moscow may change the whole course of a world war and endanger the lives of thousands of young New Zealanders, we are too apt to value the importance of such events far above their true worth. The lightning diplomatic strokes of our bustling national leaders are mistaken for the stuff of which man’s civilization has been made. We forget that on the pages of history our Caesar's, Napoleons, and Kaisers have their names writ large alongside their claims and conquests; yet to us they speak not a word of hope or encouragement to help us along the difficult road of life. They have left no message for the lips of children or for those who have lost their way.

We might describe their legacy to the human race as monuments by the wayside to mark the cost of their fame. Only too often their efforts have been plain to later generations through the wreckage of human life piled high be-low-their momentary triumphs. Such figures in history are no sign-posts pointing men and women, high and low, the way to richer, fuller life. For them we must look elsewhere. Before the confusion of war blinds our vision and warps our judgment, we must try to recapture that attitude to life which really has stood by men and women in time of crises in past ages. Our search in past history will show us that the visits which have really counted, the relationships which have lit up the human horizon with new hope, have had nothing to do with rushing to the courts of rulers to transform the political destiny of millions of people overnight. Those which have really counted for later generations have had no nerve-shattering significance at all. The truly great men of all ages have had such inner confidence and peace of mind that there has been no need to make multitudes quake in fear. The working of their unique spirits on the minds and lives around them has been through the inspiring written word, the entrancing melody, the stroke of the brush which spelt real beauty, the spirit of love and true service: these have been the secrets of immortality in history, the signposts encouraging wayfarers on the road of life down the centuries.

HISTORY OF THE MISSION We must return to the feet of such men in history and learn anew in these days when the loudest demands, the heaviest steel, the most powerful brute force seem to control life, that only through, friendship and sharing one another’s burdens can civilization be preserved. This sounds far too simple, almost childish at present. None the less, here we. are, faced with the truth that men who had loving concern for others in their day have somehow lived on through conquest after conquest. Their countries have been pillaged, their race well-night exterminated, yet their spirit and fame has continued to live; and furthermore, such men have a message to pass on to us today. The proof of this claim lies in the romantic history of the Mission of

Friendship now being held in Invercargill. This mission finds its inspiration not in any modern leader; but in one who lived over 13 centuries ago; and its organizers have left the centres of socalled modern civilization to get their inspiration on the tiny island of lona with its score or so of candle-lit stone cottages, and boasting not a single motor-car. If memory serves aright, the most intricate piece of machinery to be seen on the island was a cream separator. . The mission began with an Irish monk born in 521. History records that “St. Columba was born at Gartan, a littl. village in the wilds of Donegal and his parents were Christians.” At baptism he received the name of Crimthann meaning a “fox” (a good omen for a modern political leader); but because of the simplicity and peacefulness of his character this was changed to Columba meaning a “dove.” After a religious education he duly became a monk, at the same time taking a leading part in the politics of his people and even lustily engaging in wars. Disappointed with this way of life he felt called “to go on pilgrimage for Christ. ARRIVAL AT lONA In 563 A.D., at the age of 42, after sailing from Ireland in a coracle made of wicker work frame and covered with hides to make it seaworthy, he landed on the island of lona off the West Coast of Scotland. On this wind-swept treeless island in a latitude where only the hardiest plants survive and only the mountain sheep and native cattle ana horses thrive, Columba and his band of 12 assistant monks eked out a bare existence. A New Zealand farmer on an island three miles and a-half long and one mile and a-half wide, a great part of which is very rocky, would find it hard to live. Winters spent in their* little mud and wattle huts in exposed positions must have demanded a marvellous spirit of endurance. Still more difficult, and to many people today doubtless regarded as futile effort, was the task of spreading the Good News among the barbaric Picts in their Highland fastness. So successful was his work that in a short time 150 Celtic churches were claimed to have been established. Like Paul, St. Columba and his band endured no end of hardship for the sake of the Kingdom and their success was ingBy degrees Columba came to be looked upon as a statesman and peacemaker, for the Pictish tribes became united under his influence. It was he who chose Aidan to be king of Dalriada and brought him to lona “for the laying of hands and benediction.” This was the first consecration of a king in Britain, and Aidan is an ancestor of King George VI. The prayer which St. Columba is said to have used at the consecration of King Aidan has been handed down and was used at the semi-jubilee service of thanksgiving for George Vin St. Giles’s Cathedral, Edinburgh. The “Stone of Fate” which rests in Westminster Abbey is the same as that on which King Aidan sat for his consecration by Columba 1300 years ago in lona. This precedent led to the crowning of several Scottish kings at lona and the many tombstones now worn smooth by the weather and the feet of pilgrims to this hallowed spot, testify to the great influence which St, Columba’s Church had over the people of the land.

The secret of Columba’s great power and his living influence today is plain in Adamnan’s account of his life: He was angelic in appearance, polished in speech, holy in his actions, with ability of the highest order, and great in counsel; he lived as a soldier on an island for 34 years. He never could spend the space of a single hour without study, or prayer, or writing, or some other employment. So constantly was he occupied night and day, in the unwearied exercise of fasting and watching that the burden of each of his austerities would seem beyond the power of human endurance. And in these things beloved of all, manifesting ever a holy cheerfulness upon his face, he was made glad with the joy of the Holy Ghost in his inmost soul.” In this beautiful tribute we recognize a singularly great and lovable character worthy to stand at the beginning of a nation’s history and to lay the foundations of its religion. What a contrast with the unbalanced minds, the unprincipled characters of those who claim immortality for themselves in our day! After his death in 597 the Celtic Church extended far beyond the bounds of Scotland. It was Columban monks who’ won a great part of England for Christianity and it is even recorded that monks from lona first made Christ known to Germany and Switzerland. About 200 years later Danish pirates reached lona and in 806 they slaughtered near the present jetty, 68 monks, and by degrees the visible signs of the Celtic Church, including its monks, all but disappeared. In the thirteenth century the Roman Catholic Church had the original Cathedral, monastery, and nunnery constructed in stone. At the time of the Reformation these were abandoned and largely destroyed and it was not till just over 40 years ago that the Church- of Scotland at considerable cost i.ad the present cathedral rebuilt according to the ancient plans. So valued today is this spot, hallowed by the work and witness of St. Columba that it is reported the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland offered £lOO,OOO for the site and ruins. Through wars and pillaging, through human despair and paganism, St. Columba’s work has survived. He has indeed made history, and he speaks to us his message in the churches of Invercargill this week. This is how such a romantic claim can be made even by us. REVIVAL IN SCOTLAND At the close of the Great War, the Rev. Dr George McLeod, with a brilliant military record to his credit, was called to give his commanding ability and powers of oratory to the service of the Church of Scotland. Called to Govan, one of the poorest suburbs of Glasgow, overcrowded with disheartened Clydeside workers on the dole, he was challenged to stop the drift from the churches. He decided that the true brotherhood and salvation these despairing folks needed could not be found by searching our modern world, but only by going back to the fountainhead of religious inspiration in Scotland. Back to lona went George McLeod there to relive in imagination the spirit and indomitable courage of St. Columba, and when he returned to the slums of Govan he brought with him something of the fire of the great original missioner. He called his effort a “Mission of Friendship.” The result was magnificent: people came back to Church and the only hope of men and women down the centuries meant new life to them. Dr McLeod has now returned to live at lona with a band of missioners and hopes to repeat Columba’s triumph for the faith in modern Scotland.

The ministers of Invercargill heard of this, and that is how we come to be having a Mission of Friendship. May the people here be taken back even beyond lona to Bethlehem and Calvary there to get new hope and follow the only signpost that leads to fuller life in the midst of a despairing world.