Earthed Spirituality - Introduction
My connection with Celtic Spirituality
Early on – John Michael Talbot – God of Life
Clannad – intro shots to U2’s “Live at Red Rocks” Video
Love of things Irish & Celtic – bands: U2, Big Country, The Alarm (Welsh), The Proclaimers (Scot) The Waterboys
Movies: the Commitments, “In the Name of the Father” - Gerry Conlon
The tragic beauty of the Irish –
“For the great Gaels of Ireland
Are the men that God made mad.
For all their wars are merry,
And all their songs are sad. – G.K. Chesterton
“The Devil’s Own” – “This isn’t an American story, it’s an Irish story.”
Native Ministry – looking for a spirituality of the here and now
“I have Christianity for after I die, and I have my Native Spirituality for now.”
What Started as a theoretical ministry question became a deep yearning in my heart for a way to express what I knew was true – that God was the God of the hear and now, and not just the God of Heaven
Looking for a spirituality of Work at Humber – Power Lines: Celtic Prayers by David Adam
Lord, Whatever…
Lord,
Whatever we build,
Give us a glimpse of your glory.
Whatever we make, give us a sense of your wonder.
Wherever we travel
Give us a sense of reverence.
Whoever we meet,
Give us a sense of awe.
Whatever we do,
Give us a sense of achievement
Whatever our situation,
Give us knowledge of you
Help us to see that everything is in your care
And that you allow us to share in your glory.
“The Celtic Way of Prayer” by Esther De Waal – what I discovered was what I already knew, but didn’t have the practice and theology to back up, as JMT’s album was titled, God is not just the God of the after life, he is the God of life – all of life
The Celts seemed to recognize the presence of God in everything that they did, and in every sphere of life.
A blessing on the day:
Bless to me, O God
My soul and my body;
Bless to me, O God
My belief and my condition
Bless to me, O God
My heart and my speech
And Bless to me, O God
The handling of my hand
Strength and busyness of morning,
Habit and temper of modesty,
Force and wisdom of thought
And Thine own path, O God of virtues,
Till I go to sleep this night
Thine own path, O God of virtues,
Till I go to sleep this night
They had prayers for making the bed!
I make this bed
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
In the name of the night we were conceived,
In the name of the night we were born,
In the name of the day we were baptized,
In the name of each night, each day,
Each angel that is in the heavens.
They had prayers for milking the cow!
Bless, O God, my little cow,
Bless, O God, my desire;
Bless Thou my partnership
And the milking of my hands, O God.
Bless, O God, each teat,
Bless, O God, each finger;
Bless Thou each drop
That goes into my pitcher, O God!
That is a bit of my journey. And I need to confess that I’m a bit of a novice in these things I’m still learning and discovering things about Celtic Spirituality and God.
Saint Patrick
I don’t know when Saint Patrick stopped looking like a Leprechaun for me, but he has become my favorite saint.
Who were the Celts?
Celtic tribes once covered were an Indo-European people, Celtic tribes once covered much of Europe and down into Turkey.
It was a Celtic army led by Brennus that Sacked Rome around 390 BC.
Most of what we have written or depicted about the ancient Celts was written by their enemies. They were a wild bunch: fearsome warriors who entered battle naked, protected only by their shield and sword. While they were hated by the Romans, they were also greatly respected for their war-craft, their virtures of loyalty, courage and generosity. This can be seen in the statue, the Dying Gaul: mortally wounded, there is no fear, and a great deal of pride in his face and stature.
The places where you’ve heard of the Celts without knowing it may have been the Gauls of France (Astrix was a Celt!) and the Galatians in Turkey were Romanized Celts.
Celtic culture was largely extinguished by the onslaught of the Romans from the south and the Germanic and other groups from the north and east. Pressure from Germanic populations began in the late 2d century, as did the Roman invasions. Gaul was subjugated by Julius Caesar in the Gallic Wars (58-51 BC), and the Romans conquered Britain in the 1st century AD.
Later, as Roman power declined, the Germanic tribes renewed their drive westward into the former Celtic lands. Only along the fringe of Europe did Celtic culture survive in distinct form.
Where it did survive was at the outer edge of the Roman Empire: Ireland, Scotland & Wales.
It is here that we meet Patrick in about 394 AD.
To give you some tag points of History, Constantine (who legalized Christianity) had been dead for 30 years, Theodosius I, was Roman Emperor (378-395) he made Christianity the state religion.
We are verging on the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. Saint Augustine of Hippo, the great theologian of the church lived from 354-430, Eastern Jin Dynasty - Emperor Xiaowu, (372-397)
Bahram IV, Great King of Persia (389-399)
Patrick was born in 378 in Britain! (you might be careful about telling an Irishman that Patrick was born British) He was likely of Celtic stock, but culturally Roman: mom would have called him Patricius. His family was Christian – His Grandfather was a priest, but as a youth he had very little interest in the faith. When Patrick was 16 he was captured by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland.
He was sent into the fields of a “king” named Miliucc in Antrim to shepherd his sheep. He was alone and naked to the elements for six years in those hills. There is nothing like slavery or prison to turn someone’s heart to God, and that Is what it did for Patrick.
In his own words…
“I had come to Ireland,
It was then that I was made to shepherd the flocks
Day after day so, as I did so, I would pray all the time,
right through the day.
More and more the love of God and fear of him grew strong within me.
and as my faith grew, so the Spirit became more and more active, so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and at night only slightly less.
Although I might be staying in a forest or out on a mountainside, it would be the same; even before dawn broke, I would be aroused to pray.
In snow, in frost, in rain,
I would hardly notice any discomfort,
and I was never slack but always full of energy.
It is clear to me now, that this was due to the fervor
of the Spirit within me.”
When he was about 22, Patrick had a dream, and in his dream a mysterious voice said “Your hungers are rewarded: you are going home.” Patrick sat up and the voice continued: “Look, your ship is ready.” Which is funny, since Patrick was about 200 miles from the sea. But he got up and walked through strange country to an inlet where he bargained his way on to a ship – a miracle in itself since it would have been obvious that he was a runaway slave!
They sailed most likely to Gaul and landed amongst the devastation of the wake of Germanic war parties. They walked for two weeks without food. The captain bagan to taunt Patrick; “how about it Christian? You say your God is all powerful, so why can’t you pray for us? We’re starving to death, and there’s little chance of our ever seeing a living soul!”
Patrick answers the taunt with sincerity and invites the sailors to turn to God from the bottom of their heart, and God would rescue them, “for he has an abundance everywhere!” The hard sailors, bow their heads and pray, and as they say amen, a herd of pigs come over the hill! – not just food, but the best food they could ask for!
It takes him two more years, but Patrick makes it back home.
Happy to be back home and stay there, he can’t – he has another vision where a great multitude from Ireland cry out “We beg you to come and walk among us once more.”
After more visions confirming this one, he leaves home once again, studies for the Priesthood in Lérins, an Island off of present day Cannes. In the end, he is ordained as a priest, and then a bishop – a missionary bishop to the people of Ireland. When he returned to Ireland, Patrick would have been 55 years old.
There are some who would say that he is the first missionary since the apostle Paul, if not, he is surely the first missionary to venture outside of the Roman Empire.
Patrick was a missionary unlike many others – he already had an understanding of the culture and ways of the Irish, and he felt no need to “civilize” them into Roman ways.
Even the Celtic cross is a sign of the marrying of the culture and Christian faith – The circle was an important symbol to the druids, and instead of destroying it as evil and devilish, Patrick placed the cross over it. This doesn’t mean that he adopted the traditional religion into his Christianity: there was much to be discarded it was a fear-based religion that included human sacrifice and fearsome and arbitrary gods. But the Celtic Christian faith was one that spoke to the same earthy felt-needs of the people, and it adopted much of what was good and pure from the traditional culture.
“Patrick’s entourage would have included a dozen or so people, including priests, seminarians, and two or three women. Upon arrival at a tribal settlement, Patrick would engage the king and other opinion leaders, hoping for conversion, or at least their clearance, to camp near the people and form into a community of faith adjacent to the tribal settlement. The “apostolic” team would meet the people, engage them in conversation and in ministry, and look for people who appeared receptive. They would pray for sick people, and for possessed people, and they would counsel people and mediate conflicts. On at least one occasion, Patrick blessed a river and prayed for the people to catch more fish. They would engage in some open-air speaking, probably employing parable, story, poetry, song, visual symbols, visual arts and, perhaps, drama to engage the Celtic people’s remarkable imaginations. Often, we think, Patrick would receive the people’s questions and then speak to those questions collectively.
The Apostolic band would welcome responsive people into their group fellowship to worship with them, pray with them, minister to them, converse with them, and break bread together. One band member or another would probably join with each responsive person to reach out to relatives and friends. The mission team typically spent weeks, or even months, as a ministering community of faith within the tribe. The church that emerged within the tribe would have been astonishingly indigenous.”
By the time Patrick died at the ripe old age of 115, after 60 years of ministry, the vast majority of Ireland would have adopted this very indigenous, very vibrant Christian faith.
Although Patrick was shaping a faith for a rural tribal culture, I believe that some of what the Celts did and taught fits very well into this new urban tribal culture that we live in.
Outline of the course
May 5 Introduction to Earthed Spirituality
May 12 The Spirituality of Creation
May 26 The Spirituality of Work and The Everyday
June 2 The Spirituality of Art
June 9 The Spirituality of The Trinity and Community
June 16 The Spirituality of Hospitality
June 23 The Spirituality of Mission /Service
Retreat:
The Spirituality of Pilgrimage
The Spirituality of Solitude and Silence
The Spirituality of Movement
Suggested (Extra) reading for Earthed Spirituality – both available through Amazon.ca
How the Irish Saved Civilization by Tomas Cahill
The Celtic Way of Prayer by Esther De Waal
One last story:
The Druidic kings were none too pleased as their people turned to Christ. And there is a story that at one point the high King Laoghaire called Patrick to appear before him. The king had set up an ambush along the way to kill Patrick. Patrick and his companion had prayed the prayer we call “Saint Patrick’s Breastplate” or “The Deer’s Cry” or “The Lorica” as they traveled, and it is said that as they passed by the ambush, the king’s men only saw a pair of deer walking down the road.
Saint Patrick’s Breastplate
The Lorica – The Deer’s Cry
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,
Through the strength of his crucifixion with his burial,
Through the strength of his resurrection with his ascension,
Through the strength of his descent for the judgment of Doom.
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of Cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In prayers of patriarchs,
In predictions of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous people.
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of Rock
I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of witches and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul
Christ to shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that there may come to me abundance of reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness,
Of the Creator of Creation.
Homework: pray the Lorica each morning
&
Night Prayer from Psalm 3&4
ou, O LORD, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts my head high.
I cried out to You,
and You answered me from Your holy mountain.
I lay down and slept.
I woke up in safety,
for the LORD was watching over me.
I am not afraid of ten thousand enemies
who surround me on every side.
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD .
You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.
I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD ,
make me dwell in safety.
Deliverance comes from you, O LORD.
May your blessings rest on your people.
