HIV & Communion

During our service this morning we gathered around the Lord's table for communion and embarked on the journey through the season of Advent.

It is also World AIDs Day.

As I took the elements representing the body and blood of Christ I was reminded yet again of Christ's humanity, he had blood pumping through his veins like all of us. Having spoken to some individuals who are HIV positive we discuss their blood more often than most. I have heard people say, "my blood feels dirty now". There are very sensible precautions that one who is HIV positive should take regarding their blood.

However, I want to say to those who are HIV positive,
your blood is not dirty.

Your blood gives you life
and your life gives me hope.


The advances in medicine mean that AIDs is not inevitable for those who are HIV positive, if one has access to good healthcare. This gives me hope. The blood pumping through all our veins is to be celebrated!



(Photo taken from http://darkroom.baltimoresun.com/2012/12/world-aids-day-commemorated/#)

A tear-filled, joy-filled, doubt-filled, and hope-filled semester

It is hard to believe that I only have one week of class left in my first semester at Vanderbilt Divinity School. We are off for Thanksgiving this week, next we have one week of class and then finals! This all means that I fly back to the UK & Ireland for Christmas in 18 days. Crazy.
(In my three week trip I will visit London, Glasgow, Iona, Larne, Dublin and a few wee trips to Belfast. Bring it on.)

I have not been very good at updating this since my arrival in the US. Partly due to the fact that spare time for blogging has been lacking but also because I did not want to write a depressing homesickness post. Yes, I spent much of last year counting down the months to my return to Nashville so I did not expect that gut-wrenching feeling of wanting to return home when I landed in the US.

But, it happened.

When I lived in Nashville previously I did not have such acute homesickness this early on. There are various reasons for this but ultimately I have come to treasure my homesickness. The longing for home is because I have a connection to people and places there that will never disappear. My homesickness has also been tenderly cared for by my nearest and dearest here in Nashville. They have made me cups of Irish tea, sang my favourite hymns with me, fed me sweet tea, indulged my rugby drama, made me laugh, drank beer with me, prayed with me, and given me the space and freedom to adjust to life back on this side of the pond. I am blessed to have people on both sides of the Atlantic who will welcome me with hugs, beer, smiles and banter.

Coming to the end of the semester I have more questions about my faith, vocation and our world than I did at the beginning. I think this means Vanderbilt Div School is the place for me. Thanks be to God for a tear-filled, joy-filled, doubt-filled, and hope-filled semester!

Happy Thanksgiving!

(Now, back to those Greek translations...)

"Goodbye, my friends...it's not the end"

Yes, this blog entry does begin with a Spice Girls quote. Please put it down to my emotional, pre-departure state of mind. If you want to delve deeper into their lyrics, feel free to click the link below. 

http://youtu.be/eegDtyrSUZw

30th July 2012: Last day as a YAV.

30th July 2013: Leave Larne to return to Nashville.

What a year. A year of friendship: new and old. 

Welcome home parties, leaving parties,  live rugby, seeing Snow Patrol on home soil again, London-room nights, Duddy-Lough BBQ's, Costcutter fun, trips to Dublin, London (x2), Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Mull, Iona, Lake District and many Belfast nights out.

My love for my homeland, in particular the people here, has been strengthened this year.

To everyone who has been a part of my year, thank you. 

A Friendship Blessing

From “Anam Cara” By John O’Donohue

May you be blessed with good friends.

May you learn to be a good friend to yourself.

May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, feeling, and forgiveness.

May this change you.

May it transfigure that which is negative, distant, or cold in you.

May you be brought in to the real passion, kinship, and affinity of belonging.

May you treasure your friends.

May you be good to them and may you be there for them;

May they bring you all the blessings, challenges, truth, and light that you need for your journey.

May you never be isolated.

May you always be in the gentle nest of belonging with your anam cara.

Four days pre-departure.

This blog was created a few weeks before my initial Nashville departure in 2011. Since then I have contributed sporadic posts, mostly about my YAV year. This time next week I should be back in my beloved Nashville, preparing to begin at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Many things look the same as in 2011; the suitcase, the bedroom littered with clothes, the goodbye lunches and dinners with my nearest and dearest. However, the Ashley who boards the plane to Nashville next Tuesday is indeed different.

Throughout these two years I have called three places 'home': Larne, Nashville and Iona. For the next three years Nashville will become my geographical home, but the time spent (no matter how long or short) in each of these places has prepared me for theological education at Vanderbilt. The experiences I have had in each of these places have challenged my view of the world, others, God and myself. I expect my time at Vanderbilt to continue to challenge me, probably in ways I could never predict.

Iona

Iona is undoubtedly the most spectacular place I have ever lived. The connection I experienced here to the environment was something new and intriguing. Growing up in Larne I have always lived close to the sea, and been surrounded by the natural beauty that the Coast Road draws you into. However, how I responded to Iona was different.

Practically everywhere I traveled I did so on foot, so there was a physical connection to the land, free time was more likely to be spent walking to Columba's Bay or the North End than on Facebook, and the wind had the power to halt travel like I had not experienced before.

“The ancient rhythms of the earth have insinuated themselves into the rhythms of the human heart. The earth is not outside us; it is within: the clay from where the tree of the body grows.”  John O'Donohue

My days on Iona were also framed with services in the Abbey. One evening a fellow staff member prayed this blessing, and it has remained with me. This is my prayer for us all as we go, stay, or return...

May God, whose name is holy,

be with us in our waiting,

travel with us in our journeying,

and hold us in love and wisdom

until she welcomes us home.

Amen.

(Jan Berry)

"May the blessings..."

Tonight, I climbed Dun I, Iona's highest point. Gazing across the sound to Mull, I sit surrounded by beauty. I have nine more days on this wee island. Nine more days to soak it in, nine more days to prepare my heart and soul for what is next.

When I return home friends, family, visa appointments, flight booking and goodbyes greet me. Vanderbilt Divinity School is my next stop, three years back in Nashville. 

My time on Iona has brought unexpected emotions, thoughts and encounters. However, throughout my time here my draw towards ordained ministry has been affirmed. I am not drawn to wearing a collar around my neck or having Rev in front of my name. 

But my heart is drawn.... 
to sit with people through their greatest joys and deepest hurts,
to hold the hand of the dying,
to welcome children into the Church family,
to proclaim Christ's forgiveness, and
to live a life open to the Spirit.

As I journey closer to theological training, the words of John O'Donohue echo in my mind. May all who minister, in whatever capacity, read these words and be blessed.

For Priesthood

  May the blessings released through your hands
Cause windows to open in darkened minds.

May the sufferings your calling brings
Be but winter before the spring.

May the companionship of your doubt
Restore what your beliefs leave out.

May the secret hungers of your heart
Harvest from emptiness its sacred fruit.

May your solitude be a voyage
Into the wilderness and wonder of God.

May your words have the prophetic edge
To enable the heart to hear itself.

May the silence where your calling dwells
Foster your freedom in all you do and feel.

May you find words full of divine warmth
To clothe the dying in the language of dawn.

May the slow light of the Eucharist
Be a sure shelter around your future.

John O’Donohue

"Lead us on our journey"

God, our God,
you have called us to be a people
on the move;
travelling light,
dying to live,
ready to lose ourselves for the sake of the world.
You have called us to be a people
with a purpose;
travelling without a map,
travelling to where we are led,
sustained by your Spirit,
committed to the gospel for the hope of the world.

Move us on our journey
from where we are to where you want us to go.
Open our eyes on the way
to the people of different cultures, continents and countries,
who can bring color to our lives.
Take us on our journey
from where we are to what you want us to be;
so that we become a community
where all are welcomed and no one is excluded,

all are valued and no one is made to feel inadequate,
all are forgiven and no one is ashamed to belong,
all are encouraged and no one is too hurt to come among us.

Lead us on our journey
from who we are to who you want us to be;
so that patience is built into us,
kindness is assumed in us,
gentleness is part of us,
compassion flows from us,
truth is second nature to us,
and the commitment of love is part of us.

Let us go gladly on the journey towards Easter –
the journey towards death and resurrection.
Let us journey in the peace and power of the Spirit.

~ by Ruth Harvey/Iona


During Advent I prayed a daily prayer, with the hope that I would remain focused on the season of waiting. This Lent I hope to do the same and pray the prayer by Ruth Harvey daily (Even though I am sure there will be days, just like during Advent, that I forget!). In sharing this prayer my hope is that you will be encouraged, and may even incorporate it into your Lenten reflections.

This year I will have the honour of spending the majority of Lent and Easter on Iona. Three weeks from today I will make the journey from Glasgow to Iona by train, ferry and bus. As I walk towards my time on Iona, and to towards the cross of Christ, I strive to live out the calling God has placed on my life. The calling to be the person God created me to be. To live into my identity in Christ, and discover more of this identity as I grow.

May you be richly blessed during this season, know that you are valued, and discover more of who you are created to be.