Mike McClenahan

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right. Blessing May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors. We prayed this prayer each morning at the Hetton Hall. Since the Northumbria Community is dispersed, companions and friends follow along online or with the book of Celtic Daily Prayer .

Note to reader: Since so many enjoyed Amy's blog last week, this blog is written by another guest blogger who is anonymous. On the Holy Island of Lindisfarne Mike and Amy left the Northumbria Community on Saturday morning. It was like leaving home, they told me. Apparently they grew attached to the creaky floors, ancient Aga (oven stove that heats and bakes at the center of the old farm houses in England), friendly people and daily offices (community prayer four times a day) in the old Hetton Hall, which the community will be moving out of this fall and into their new home in Acton, about 20 miles south. Sorry for the run-on sentences, but I don't know what they have already told you. They arrived in Durham on Saturday afternoon on a cloudy, almost rainy day. They rolled their 21 inch bags to Hatfield College where they stayed in one of the student dorm rooms. Hatfield College is named after Mike's ancestor Thomas de Hatfield on his mother's side. Here's wh...

The Village Cottages on Iona Hi there it's Amy here…I'm going to try my hand at the blogging this week. I think we left off at Iona… well we went on to Edinburgh by way of 2 ferries, a long bus ride, and 2 different trains. It was actually our hardest transition yet. Maybe it's because we have had a long string of traveling, maybe because Mike's allergies were the worst they have been so far, maybe it's b-cuz we paid double the fair for the bus ride as we should have (and couldn't get the refund), maybe it's b-cuz when we checked into our hotel in Edinburgh they had not received our online confirmation so we had to pay the higher price, or maybe we were just tired; maybe all of these! Anyhoo, we spent a few moments pouting …then pulled ourselves together and went out to tour the beautiful city of Edinburgh with our walking shoes on and our rain jackets handy. Amy in the Prison of War Edinburgh is a great city, one of my favorites so far, wi...

We left the Northumbria Community on Sunday at 2pm and caught our trains from Berwick to Edinburgh to Glasgow and arrived at Oban about 9:30pm. In the morning we caught the ferry to the island of Mull, the bus across Mull and the ferry to Iona. The journey to Iona takes you from the pastures of northern England and lowland Scotland through the southern highlands of Scotland with the lochs and hills to the coast. Iona is cold and drizzly, but the people here are welcoming and rugged. Iona is a small island to the west of Mull, one of the Hebrides islands in the southern Highlands of Scotland. It's history is rich. St. Columba came here in the 6 th century from Ireland and established what is considered to be the cradle of Christianity for Scotland and England. The Holy Island of Lindisfarne, which we visited last week, was started by Aidan, who came from Iona in the 7 th century. In the 12 th and 13 th centuries the abbey of Iona was built, along with a nunnery that provided ...

We have been here at Hetton Hall, the mother house of the Northumbria Community, for five days. We traveled from Bath to London and north to Berwick Upon Tweed, the last stop before the border of Scotland. A volunteer staff picked us up and brought us to the house where we met the couple who serve as priest and overseer of the community. Amy and I were given a tour of the house and shown our room, which is Brendan named after the Celtic saint Brendan the Navigator. The hall is an old farm house, some if it built in the 14th century as a military tower. It has bedrooms and shared bathrooms for twenty people, a well stocked library, reading room, bookstore, a large dining room, garden and kitchen. It is surrounded by farmland with wheat and ranches where cattle graze. A store is many miles away, so we are fairly isolated. It has rained off and on until last night when we finished our walk and saw the sun shine brightly through the clouds. A new mother hous...

We flew from Moscow to London last Saturday morning with Rick and Cecily Jaynes, rented a car and drove to the Dartmoor National Park in southwest England. The countryside is beautiful whether it's sunny or rainy. We've had the opportunity to hike, drive across the moor, and enjoy pub food. Crosses were placed as boundary markers, prayer spots as recent as 100 years ago and as early as 1000 years ago. Christianity didn't come to Britain till the 7th century and the earliest churches were founded in the 10th century. We stopped at Bennett's Cross, near the Warren Inn, which probably served as a boundary marker. Maybe they were used like celtic crosses to tell the gospel story to travelers. We attended evensong at the Exeter Cathedral on Sunday and Tuesday. This beautiful gothic cathedral has the longest continuous vaulted ceiling in England. The evensong is a very special service offered ever day of the week. The sung liturgy is beautiful and the setting i...