Rev. James Watson and wife Anna May - Summer guest pastor from Scotland

“There’s a word in my warne, but it’s o’er far down”

(An old Scot’s saying used to indicate that one cannot think of the right word at that moment.  A bit like having a word on the tip of your tongue!)

In some respects that is how Anna May and I feel as we seek to find words to introduce ourselves to the people ofWillow Grove.   We were a little overcome/ excited/ thrilled when Pastor Cynthia telephoned to offer us this unique opportunity of participating in your great adventure – ‘out of the boat’;   now it is all about planning and getting to know each other – so here goes.

James was born in Glasgow an only child:  according to him his parents got it right first time!    He was educated at Jordanhill College School before going  to Glasgow University where he graduated as a Bachelor of Science majoring in Astronomy and Mathematics.   From there he attended Trinity College,Glasgow studying for his Bachelor of Divinity under Professor William Barclay.

James’ first Church was in Dunfermline after which he included education in his career choice serving as Principal Community Education Officer for Greater Glasgow followed by being invited to be National Director for Youth for Understanding UK, which involved world-wide travel and establishing the first scholarship programme with the Japanese Government.   In between he served as Parish Minister for Langholm, Ewes and Westerkirk, in the Scottish Borders, before concluding his ministry as Parish Minister for Coldstream & Eccles where we continue to live after his ‘second retirement’ in March 2011.

James’ hobbies include golf, bridge, reading, walking, Rotary and The local Burn’s Club and 1513 Club.    He has, of course switched allegiance from the Chicago Bears to the New York Giants – not a hardship since they have a Scottish kicker (Lawrence Tynes).! He has three daughters and is grandpa to two boys in Dunfermline, Andrew (nearly 13) and Cameron (11) as well as one due in Glasgowin February 2012.

Anna May was born in Glasgow, of Edinburgh parents and has an older brother,  William.    She trained at Glasgow Royal Infirmary, specialising in Burns and Plastic Surgery after qualifying and then going on to practice District Nursing in Glasgow.
Anna May had three sons though David, the eldest, was unfortunately killed in Canada in 1986,  shortly after she had moved to Langholm to become Matron of the Thomas Hope Hospital, where James was the chaplain.  She, too, is a grandma to Drew, aged 7)  near Carlisle.  During the re-furbishment of the Hospital they worked closely together and became good friends.    After James left Langholm to take up a post with Greater Glasgow Scouts they kept in touch and married in 1993 in Glasgow University Chapel.

Anna May’s hobbies/interests include music, theatre, reading, bridge (novice), walking, Inner Wheel and most of all meeting people.

We have travelled widely in Western Canada, America and Europe and enjoy seeing new places, sampling new cultural experiences and meeting people.  We are both very excited about living in Scotch Plains, New Jersey and being part of this great Willow Grove Journey with Pastor Cynthia.

James and Anna May
Coldstream, Berwickshire, Scotland

Reporter: “Siri, why do you have trouble understanding Scottish people?”
Siri: “Let me check on that…. I don’t know that. Would you like to search the Web for it?”
Reporter: “Do you like Scottish people?”
Siri: “This is about you, not me.”
Reporter: “Are you deliberately trying to annoy people from Scotland?”
Siri: “No comment.”

As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected “Folk music” from across Scotland, often revising or them. His poem (and song) “Auld Lang Syne” is often sung at on the last day of the year. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well-known across the world today include “A Red, Red Rose, ” “A Man’s A Man for A’ That”

My life journey is reflected in songs I sing and in words I preach.  Burns said it this way:

Perhaps it may turn out a sang, (song)
Perhaps turn out a sermon.
        Epistle to a Young Friend, (1786)

Today I am grateful for Robert Burns and other poets who invite us to savor words and treasure the gifts of each day.

St. Martin's Cross, Iona

A Call to Worship  
Leader:  In the beginning, before time, before people, before the world began,
People:     God was.
Leader:     Here and now among us, beside us, enlisting the people of earth for the
purposes of heaven,
People:     God is.
Leader:     In the future, when we have turned to dust, and all we know has found                                its fulfillment,
People:     God will be.
Leader:     Not denying the world but delighting in it,
not understanding the world, but redeeming it,
through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit,
People:     God was, God is, God will be.
                                             from the Iona Community Worship Book
                                                 Wild Goose Publications
http://www.ionabooks.com/1112-1901557502-Iona-Abbey-Worship-Book.html

I am feeling more excited each day as my sabbatical and trip abroad get closer.  Some recent steps toward the reality….

• Airline tickets purchased for our family to travel to  England and Scotland in July
• Reservations made to stay in a flat for 2 weeks in Edinburgh
• Sabbatical Team invited a Scottish pastor and his wife to come to be the guest pastor over the summer.  (More information about him at the all church lunch on Jan. 29)
• Hung a map of Scotland and England on the wall in our dining room.
• Wearing my new Celtic knot earrings and necklace that Jeffrey gave me for Christmas
• Started this blog and am learning how to write both my candid and deep thoughts about this journey
• Sent registration forms to Clan Cochran and Clan Stewart organizations in the US to feel more connected and learn more about my heritage
• Created a notebook with all my info about my sabbatical, trip to Europe, retreat centers, Celtic Spirituality, voice lessons, genealogy research and other topics.  There are 16 colored tabs.  It makes me feel organized.
• Met with Meaghan who is helping me with my blog and encouraging me in this new venture.

I have been praying to God for guidance and patience as I have moments of pure joy as I think about this gift of an extended Sabbath and moments of concern about the health of some people I love.  That is life –  a mixture, a tapestry of woven threads – a journey of moments that are peaks, valleys and many on the flatlands.  Through it all I pray that I will be a person of gratitude.  Today I am very grateful for these steps along the journey.

One place in Scotland friends and colleagues have told me about is the island of Iona.  In July our family will be with the Iona Community for worship and reflection in this “thin place” where the earthly and divine touch. Iona is home to a Christian ecumenical community working for peace and social justice, rebuilding of community and the renewal of worship.  They publish music and worship materials under the name Wild Goose Publishing.

I have been reading about the history of Iona.  Below is an excerpt from an article about Celtic Spirituality and specific people/saints who helped shaped the Christianity in that part of the world. 

(from http://allsaintsbrookline.org/celtic_saints/columba.html)

Columba (Colum, Colm, Columkill, Columcille, Colmcille, Combs, Columbus), the most famous of the saints associated with Scotland, was actually born in Ireland.  Some say his birth date was December 7, 521 AD.  He was of the blood royal on both sides, and might indeed have become High King of Ireland had he not chosen to be a priest.

A  few records say his original name was Crimthan, meaning “fox”, but his gentleness and goodness as a child so won all hearts that he was rechristened Colum, Latin for dove. Later he was commonly known as Colum-kill or Colum-cille, the suffix “kill” or “cill” meaning “of the cell” or “of the church” — an appropriate title for the founder of so many religious establishments.

Early Life

Following some years of training to become a priest, Columba finally entered the famous monastic school of Clonard. At one time three thousand students were gathered here from all over Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and even from Gaul and Germany. He was fully trained by the time he was twenty-five years old, and he was a striking figure of great stature and powerful build. His loud, melodious voice could be heard from one hilltop to another.

Leaves Ireland and Goes to Scottish Isle to Spread the Gospel

Because of a grievance against King Diarmaid and resulting war,  Columba  resolved to exile himself and win for Christ in another land as many souls as had perished in the battle of Cuil Dremne.

Whatever the impulse that prompted him, in 563 Columba embarked with twelve companions in a wicker coracle (small boat) covered with leather, and on the eve of Pentecost landed on one of the Inner Hebrides, just off the west coast of Scotland, at the place we now know as Iona. The first thing he did there was to erect a high stone cross; then he built a monastery, which was to be his home for the rest of his life. Iona was a desolate rock originally known only as Hy or I, Irish for “island”. Years later it also became known also as Icolmkill, “the island of Columba of the Cell.” It had been a sacred place to the Druids long before Columba landed there, and was to become the center of Celtic Christianity.

Columba and his Celtic monks at Iona combined contemplative life with extensive missionary activity. Lying across from the border country between the Picts of the north and the Scots of the south, Iona made an ideal center for missionary work. Columba seems to have first devoted himself to teaching the imperfectly instructed Christians of Dalriada, most of whom were of Irish descent, but after two years he turned to the work of converting the Scottish Picts.

King Brude

With his old comrades, Comgall and Kenneth, Columba made his way through Loch Ness northward to the castle of the redoubtable King Brude, near modern Inverness. The pagan monarch had given strict orders that they were not to be admitted, but when Columba raised his arm and made the sign of the cross, it was said that bolts fell out and gates swung open, permitting the strangers to enter. Impressed by such powers, the King listened to them and ever after held Columba in high regard. As Overlord of Scotland he confirmed him in possession of Iona. Columba is said to have planted churches as far east as Aberdeenshire and to have evangelized nearly the whole of the country of the Picts.

When not on missionary journeys, Columba was to be found in his cell on Iona, where persons of all conditions visited him, some in want of spiritual or material help, some drawn by his miracles and sanctity. Iona was for centuries one of the famous centers of Christian learning. For a long time afterwards, Scotland, Ireland, and Northumbria followed the observances Columba had set for the monastic life.  The current Iona Abbey was built on the original site.  (more about the abbey in another post)

Columba’s Transformation – He was full of the joy of the Holy Spirit

It is clear that Columba’s temperament changed dramatically during his life. In his early years he was intemperate and probably inclined to violence. He was extremely stern and harsh with his monks, but towards the end he seems to have softened. He was beloved by all, “for a holy joyousness that ever beamed from his countenance revealed the gladness with which the Holy Spirit filled his soul”, according to Adamnan, the source of our best biographical information about Columba. Adamnan also describes Columba thus: “He had the face of an angel; he was of excellent nature, polished in speech, holy in deed, great in council. He never let a single hour pass without engaging in prayer or reading or writing or some other occupation. He endured the hardships of fasting and vigils without intermission by day and night; the burden of a single one of his labors would have seemed beyond the powers of man. And, in the midst of all his toils, he appeared loving unto all, serene and holy, rejoicing in the joy of the Holy Spirit in his inmost heart.”

Columba laid the groundwork for the conversion of Britain. He was a renowned artist and some of his illumination may be recorded in the Book of Kells.

When the Dream Team and I wrote the grant application last spring, the theme was “What will make your heart sing?”  If you were given the chance to have time and funds to design a 3 month experience of spiritual and personal renewal, what would you do?  Where would you go?  What would you do alone?  What would you do with others and with whom?  What might God be nudging you to do that would fill you up?  I would love to hear some of your dreams and what would make your heart sing.