Spirituality of Work and the Everyday G@TP May 26, 2008
Grace – Way p. 84
Homework from 2 weeks ago…
· Visit myfootprint.org to calculate your own impact upon God’s creation.
· Patrick blessed a river at least once. Our rivers and streams need miraculous healing beyond just better ecological practices. Bless a river near your home.
· Meditate on a piece of creation as a way to know the Creator. “For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see His invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature.” (Romans 1:20)
· Bless to Me, O God
2 stories – Going to the cabin in the middle of the night –
Psalm 121
A song of ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
3 He will not let your foot slip—
he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5 The LORD watches over you—
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will keep you from all harm—
he will watch over your life;
8 the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.
- praying for front suspension
Is God concerned about such things?
Paul Heibert’s article, “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle,” shows how people explain life, live life, and face the future at three levels. The bottom level deals with the factors in life that our senses can apprehend; this is the “empirical” world that the “sciences” deal with. At this level, people learn to plant a crop, to clean a fish, to fix a water pump, to build a house, and a thousand other things. The top level deals with the ultimate issues in life that are beyond what our senses can perceive; this is a “transcendent” or “sacred” realm that Christianity and the other world religions define, and then address. Heibert reports that “religion as a system of explanation deals with the ultimate questions of the origin, purpose, and destiny of an individual, a society, and the universe.” Western society and the Western churches, especially since the Enlightenment, have tended to exclude from their view of reality a middle level that is nevertheless quite real to regular people.
The “middle-level” issues of life are the questions of the uncertainty of the near future, the crises of present life, and the unknowns of the past. Despite knowledge of facts such as:
· seeds once planted will grow and bear fruit, or
· travel down this river on a boat will bring one to the neighboring village,
the future is not totally predictable. Accidents, misfortunes, the intervention of other persons, and other unknown events can frustrate human planning.
For many peoples, Heibert adds, this middle realm is inhabited by “mechanical” forces such as spells, omens, the evil eye, or luck, and by more “organic” presences like spirits, ghosts, ancestors, angels, demons, lesser gods, etc. In traditional folk religions, people turn to the local shaman (who can influence these middle-level forces) for a fruitful marriage, or for safety during travel, or for protection from the evil eye or bad luck.
The problem is that Western Christianity (and the other world religions) usually ignores this middle level that drives most people’s lives most of the time. Western Christian leaders usually focus on the “ultimate” issues, as they define them, to the exclusion of the lesser issues; indeed, they often consider middle issues beneath them. When Christianity ignores, or does not help people cope with, these middle issues, we often observe “Split-Level Christianity” in which people go to church so they can go to heaven, but they also visit the shaman or the astrologer for help with the pressing problems that dominate their daily lives.
Celtic Christians had no need to seek out a shaman. Their Christian faith and community addressed life as a whole and may have addressed the middle level more specifically, comprehensively, and powerfully than any other Christian movement ever has. A folk Christianity of, by, and for the people developed. It helped common people to live and cope as Christians day by day in the face of poverty, enemies, evil forces, nature’s uncertainties, and frequent threats from many quarters.
The dualism that we talked about last time has led us to think that God is not concerned about such mundane things as my groundless fear, or front suspension on my MTB, or whether the computer will crash tomorrow, or whether a couple will conceive a child, or whether we can make it on time to an appointment, or whether a project will be successful…
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus… and the things of earth will grow strangely dim….”
But the Bible is filled with God stepping into the important mundane, or the “Excluded Middle”:
· Hana crying for a child
· The widow at the end of her food
· Jesus healing Peter’s mother-in-law
· Jesus raising the widow’s son
1 Peter 5:7
Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Because the Celts did not inherit Plato’s dualism, they prayed about everything!
On the first night, we read prayers for rising in the morning, for making the bed, and for milking the cow! The Celts surrounded their life with prayer, and they surrounded their day with prayer.
The midwife would baptize the child right at birth – it wasn’t the child’s official baptism, but it was a blessing, and a prayer, a sign and a seal for the child to Christ:
A small drop of water
To thy forehead, beloved,
Meet for the Father, Son and Spirit,
The Triune of power.
A small drop of water
To encompass my beloved,
Meet for Father, Son and Spirit,
The Triune of power.
A small drop of water
To fill thee with each grace,
Meet for Father, Son and Spirit,
The Triune of power.
– Esther de Waal, The Celtic Way of Prayer (Doubleday, 1997) p. 33.
Just as they entered life with a prayer, they left life with a prayer:
I Am Going Home With Thee
I am going home with thee
To thy home! to thy home!
I am going home with thee
To thy home of winter.
I am going home with thee
To thy home! to thy home!
I am going home with thee
To thy home of autumn,
of spring and of summer.
I am going home with thee,
Thou child of my love,
To thine eternal bed,
To thy perpetual sleep.
I am going home with thee,
Thou child of my love,
To the dear Son of blessings,
To the Father of grace.
- Esther de Waal, The Celtic Vision (Liguori Publications, 2001) p. 73
A prayer for washing their face:
The palmful of the God of Life
The palmful of the Christ of Love
The palmful of the Spirit of Peace
Triune
Of grace
- Esther de Waal, The Celtic Way of Prayer (Doubleday, 1997) p. 77
A prayer for getting dressed:
Clothe our souls with grace while clothing our bodies with raiment.
Even as I clothe my body with wool
Cover Thou my soul with the shadow of thy wing.
- Esther de Waal, The Celtic Way of Prayer (Doubleday, 1997) p. 77
A prayer for smooring the fire:
As I save this fire tonight
Even so may Christ save me,
On the top of the house let Mary
Let Bride in its middle be,
Let eight of the mightiest angels
Round the throne of the Trinity
Protect this house and its people
Till the dawn of the day shall be.
Esther de Waal, The Celtic Way of Prayer (Doubleday, 1997) p.92
A prayer for bed:
I Lie Down This Night
I lie down this night with God,
And God will lie down with me;
I lie down this night with Christ,
And Christ will lie down with me;
I lie down this night with Spirit,
And the Spirit will lie down with me;
God and Christ and the Spirit
Be lying down with me.
Esther de Waal, The Celtic Vision (Liguori Publications, 2001) p. 58.
In my faith tradition, we have not connected our faith with our work very well. We talk about “secular” work rather than “ministry,” which is “sacred” work. We have seen work outside of the church at best as a place to earn money to give to the church, a place to prove our morality, and a place to evangelize those around us. There has been very little concept of all work as sacred.
We have failed to realize that God gave us work as a blessing, not as a punishment – God gave Adam and Eve work in the garden before it went all wrong. Work has been impacted by our broken relationship with God, just as every aspect of life has, but it has not lost its original goodness
Of course, in the greater culture, there is very little understanding of work as good and sacred. We are the T.G.I.F. society.
- to quote Loverboy “everybody’s working for the weekend.”
- We have this idea that life is what happens when we are not at work.
The Celts understood that all work was sacred and you did what you did in the presence of God
Prayer for the shutting down of the loom.
After the preparation of food, the making of cloth probably would occupy the greater part of a woman’s time within the house. When she stopped weaving on Saturday night, she carefully tied up the loom and suspended a cross above it to keep away all evil spirits or malign influences from disarranging the thread and the loom. The prayer is again totally specific. There is no idea that God would be affronted by the mention of different parts of the machine, or that technical terms might be inappropriate to introduce into prayer, and so she lists the thrums, pedals, cogs, and warp. This tells me something about my own way of praying—that it should not be polite, sanitized. If she, my unknown mentor, should find it natural to ask a blessing on the sleay and on the shuttle, then I might ask a blessing on this computer at which I am now at work, on its screen and the keys, the software, the hardware, the flow of the electric current.
Bless, O Chief of generous chiefs,
My loom and everything a-near me,
Bless me in my every action,
Make Thou me safe while I live.
From every brownie and fairy woman,
From every evil wish and sorrow,
Help me, O Thou helping Being,
As long as I shall be in the land of the living.
In name of Mary, mild of deeds,
In name of Columba, just and potent,
Consecrate the four posts of my loom,
Till I begin on Monday.
Her pedals, her sleay, and her shuttle,
Her reeds, her warp, and her cogs,
Her cloth-beam, and her thread-beam,
Thrums and the thread of the plies.
Every web, black, white, and fair,
Roan, dun, checked, and red,
Give Thy blessing everywhere,
On every shuttle passing under the thread.
Thus will loom be unharmed,
Till I shall arise on Monday;
Beauteous Mary will give me of her love,
And there shall be no obstruction I shall not
overcome.
- Esther de Waal, The Celtic Way of Prayer (Doubleday, 1997) p. 85.
For the Cattle:
The men also have left us the prayers they used in their daily work. For many, life was pastoral, and we know the prayers they used as they took their flocks to the pastures or looked after them on the hills. Customs might vary with different agricultural districts, but they all shared the simple belief that the King of the shepherds watched over men and flocks today just as he did of old. When a man had taken his herds to the pastures in the morning, he would bid them a tender farewell on leaving them, and, waving both hands…
The keeping of God and the Lord on you,
The keeping of Christ always on you,
The keeping of Carmac and of Columba on you,
The keeping of Cairbre on you going and coming
And the keeping of Ariel the gold-bright on you,
The keeping of Ariel the gold-bright on you.
The keeping of Bride the foster-mother on you,
The keeping of Mary the yellow-haired on you,
Of Christ Jesus, the Son of peace,
The King of kings, land and sea,
And the peace-giving Spirit, everlasting, be yours,
The peace-giving Spirit, everlasting, be yours.
All these prayers have the sense that God, the saints, and the angels are walking alongside men and women and that it is quite natural to turn to them for support and companionship not only for themselves but also for the animals in their care—which is why I love so much the phrase that comes in this prayer “the friendship of God the Son” for his cattle:
Esther de Waal, The Celtic Way of Prayer (Doubleday, 1997) p. 87f
Their prayers about work were rural prayers of course, but David Adam has written Celtic prayers about work in the modern city
Fleeting Presence
In the crowded street,
On the commuter train,
I saw His Presence there.
In the news flash,
In the bleak rain,
Was God, beyond compare.
Caught up in commerce,
In the superstore,
I saw Him once again.
In the car crash,
With the homeless,
Was God, who shares our pain.
At my wits’ end,
In the rush hour,
Was God, who keeps me sane.
Unexpected, uninvited,
Long ignored and long rejected,
He will come again.
-- David Adam, Power Lines (Morehouse Publishing, 1992) p. 31.
Mighty God
Mighty God,
Holy and strong One,
Give us strength
To do what you would have us do.
Deliver us from lack of purpose,
Free us from confusion of mind,
Save us from loss of integrity,
Maintain in us vision and ideals,
Sustain our openness and generosity.
Help us to continue to work for you,
That we may serve you all our days,
Mighty God,
Holy and strong One.
- David Adam, Power Lines (Morehouse Publishing 1992) p. 20,
Vision
O Lord,
Extend our vision,
Our clearness of sight.
Open our eyes to see
Beyond the obvious,
To perceive that this is your world.
You are in it,
You invade it,
You pervade it,
You enfold it;
It is immersed in you.
Here we encounter you,
Here we meet you,
Here you come to us,
Here your presence waits to be revealed.
O Lord,
Extend our vision,
Our clearness of sight.
Open our eyes to see
In the depth of reality,
Your grace,
Your goodness,
Your glory,
To see that we dwell in you,
That you are in us,
That you are with us always.
Here you offer us your kingdom.
- David Adam, Power Lines (Morehouse Publishing 1992) p. 27.
Raise Me Up
Lord, I have watched a crane lift a heavy load.
Lift me, Lord,
Out of darkness into light
Out of despair into joy
Out of doubt into hope.
Lift me, Lord,
Out of sadness into laughter
Out of sickness into health
Out of shadows into light.
Lift me, Lord,
Out of fear into hope
Out of frailty into strength
Out of foolishness into sense.
Lift me, Lord.
You came down to lift us
You descended to hell to lift us to heaven
You entered death to raise us to life.
Come, Lord, raise me up, I pray you.
-- David Adam, Power Lines (Morehouse Publishing 1992) p. 61.
We can do a lot of thinking and theologizing about God’s presence with us in all things, about how all things are sacred, but it is these prayers that are teaching this to my heart.
Homework 2 sections – one response, one preparation
Response – 1) book of prayers – choose one & use it
2) write a Celtic prayer that fits your life/work.
Prayer for the Shower
Rain on me…
Rain on me Holy Father
Every drop re-baptize me as your adopted child
Rain on me Holy Son
Every drop wash away my guilt and stain
Rain on me Holy Spirit
Every drop explode into rivers of life for those you love.
Rain on me
Reign over me
Holy Father
Holy Son
Holy Spirit
M.W. February 20, 2008
Dominican Republic
Preparation: next week is the spirituality of art
Bring in a piece of art – preferably something you have done – be ready to describe why you made it, or why it impacts you.
Questions for Groups
Do you think that we have neglected the “middle-level” issues of life in our spirituality?
“middle-level” issues = the questions of the uncertainty of the near future, the crises of present life, and the unknowns of the past. …, that the future is not totally predictable. Accidents, misfortunes, the intervention of other persons, and other unknown events that can frustrate human planning.
What are the middle level issues in your life right now? Do you pray about them? Would prepared or memorized prayers help?
Do you connect God with your work? Why or why not? If you do, how do you do it?
What are the tools that you use most for your work? Have you ever thought of blessing them? How would you do that?
