A Weekend in Islesboro

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A great benefit of being at the IRD is meeting and getting to know many wonderful people. One of these friends is the Rev. David Runnion Bareford. David is the president of the Association for Church Renewal  (ACR) and has been the executive director ofBiblical Witness Fellowship  in the United Church of Christ (BWF) since 1994. I always enjoy seeing David when he comes to Washington for meetings of the ACR, but this summer, my daughter Fiona and I visited David on his own turf – in Islesboro, Maine!

David and his wife, Lauren, invited us to spend the weekend with them while we were in Maine on vacation. So on Saturday morning a few weeks ago, Fiona and I left Old Orchard Beach, Maine and headed northeast to Lincolnville, where we took a ferry to the island of Islesboro in the Penobscot Bay. I’ve never driven a car onto ferry before, never mind being the first car in line. As I inched my way to the front of the ferry, closer and closer to the edge from which we were protected only by a canvas net, I hoped I wouldn’t get a “jimmy leg” and drive right off the front! But I parked safely, and after the 20 minute crossing reached Islesboro, where we were met by Lauren Runnion-Bareford, her son, Jonathan, and her daughter, Shay. Jon and Shay are the youngest of the Runnion-Barefords’ multi-racial, multi-national family of twelve.

Islesboro boasts Maine’s rugged, craggy coastline, shimmering waters, and long vistas of distant mountain peaks. It combines them with the warm, friendly feel of a small close-knit community. After a hike with the Runnion-Barefords on a craggy coastline location called Keller Point, and a delicious supper at the parsonage, we were off across the street to the Islesboro Community Center to celebrate the 90^th birthday of island dowager, Miss Eileen. We were told that we may well run into John Travolta or Kirstie Alley, who have summer residences there. Jon even danced with Kirstie at a community event. No such luck for us, but we still enjoyed listening to the band and watching the islanders dance. It was very clear how much the community thinks of and loves the Runnion-Barefords.

Sunday morning I spoke about Sudan to the Sunday School at the Second Baptist Church of Islesboro, where David is the pastor. Many in the congregation were eager to learn more about Africa’s newest nation, the Republic of South Sudan. I told them how the prayers and advocacy of church members and other concerned citizens had helped to bring freedom to South Sudan. Then I told them how the same government of Sudan that has committed genocide in South Sudan, the Nuba Mountains, and Darfur was once again waging a genocidal campaign of extermination of the black, African people of the Nuba Mountains. Many of the folk were eager to learn more about how they can help to stop this genocide.

After a wonderful church service at Second Baptist, (an American Baptist Church that verges on Anglicanism!) it was back across the grass to the parsonage for dinner before we had to catch the ferry back to the mainland. Lauren is an artist who shares her time and talent with the community in Islesboro, giving art lessons and creating images of Islesboro to be silk-screened onto tea towels for sale at the Islesboro Community Center. She is also a great food artist. Our Sunday dinner was a delicious chicken, rice, and spinach salad, decorated with red and yellow edible flowers. Nasturtiums are quite tasty! Finally, on our way back to the ferry, David treated us all to ice cream at The Dark Harbor Shop.

As per their request, I will continue to provide members of Second Baptist Church with information about Sudan and other areas where Christians are persecuted for their faith. And we look forward to our next visit to the island. Someday Islesboro may be IRD’s first island of activists for human rights and religious freedom!