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Celtic Spirituality Sermon (Lent III B)
Given by the Rev. Jerry Drino, Mar. 19, 2006
As your own angels
As your own saints
As your own household
Desire in heaven,
So may we desire on earth!
Our Gospel reading for today (John 2:13-22) reveals the deep passion of Jesus in the face of the abuse of the Sacred. Even his disciples are taken aback as he makes a whip and drives the money changers out of the Temple. When Christianity came among the Celtic peoples it was this passion of Jesus that was most attractive. They had found a God-incarnate who was not afraid to express fully what was moving in him.
Today we celebrate the Celtic roots of our Anglican heritage with liturgical text that come from that tradition. For your see our Episcopal ethos has been shaped by three missions that came into the British Isle during the first five centuries of the Common Era. The first was carried probably by Roman soldiers and merchants perhaps as early at the end of the first century and certainly by the middle of the second when the Lucius, a king of the Britians embraced Christianity.(1)
The second wave was under Patrick, who was born around 385 in Scotland, probably at Kilpatrick and whose parents were Christians. As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.
During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He later wrote "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain." We know the story of his escape in his early twenties. Then while at home back in Britain he had a dream where the people of Ireland called him back to be their apostle. He was trained and ordained and returned as a bishop to be the Apostle to the Irish. This was the beginning of the Celtic Mission.
The third wave was the Mediterranean Mission under Augustine, first archbishop of Canterbury who was sent to the Anglo Saxons in 597 by Pope Gregory the Great.
J. Philip Newell, one of the great scholars of Celtic Spirituality - who will be lecturing at Stone Presbyterian Church, Willowglen in May - draws the distinction between the Celtic Mission that grew out of Patrick’s initial work and that of the Mediterranean Mission that Augustine brought to Kent.
The Celtic Mission believed in the goodness of creation and that God permeated all of the created order. They preferred to worship outside, weather permitting so that nothing separated them from the full impact of God in the world. The Mediterranean Mission on the other hand believed that the Sacred was distinct from the Profane and had to be protected. Therefore, they built fortress like buildings to ensure that the Holy would not be tainted by the world. At the Council of Whitby a century and a half after Augustine arrived there was a show down between the Celtic and Mediterranean Missions and the later one. Consequently, we are worshipping inside today and we consider this building and places like Grace Cathedral to be what a church should look like. If the Celtic Mission had prevailed then we’d be across the street at St. James Park.
This morning we have already begun to be drawn into the Celtic images of prayer. The tradition is full of spiritual insight; it touches hidden spring within us, “the part of ourselves that is older than we are.” Esther de Waal says that “this spirituality is at the edges of the mainstream…rooted in the border country, an ambiguous place, a place where different cultures and histories meet, where the familiar and strange mix and challenge one another. It is where the mundane is the edge of glory.”(2)
What is the spirituality that links the eighteenth-century farmer’s wife in Wales with the ninth-century hermit in Ireland, a twentieth-century Quaker teacher with a thirteenth-century Franciscan friar? (3) One way to answer this is to consider the characteristics of Celtic spirituality as heard in their prayers:
Characteristics
1. There is an astonishing confidence that this world is God’s world, that nature and grace belong together. The Celts received Christianity very early, they received the gospel at a time when the Church was sure that the goodness of God healed and restored the whole of human nature and renewed the whole creation.
The Hermit’s Song
I have a hut in a wood: only my Lord knows it; an ash tree closes it on one side,
and a hazel like a great tree by a rath on the other.
The size of my hut, small, not too small, a homestead with familiar paths.
From its gable a she-bird sings a sweet song in her thrush’s cloak.
A tree of apples of great bounty like a mansion stout: a pretty bush, thick as
a fist, of small hazel-nuts, branching and green.
Fair white birds come, herons, seagulls, the sea sings to them, no mournful
music: brown grouse from the russet heather.
The sound of the wind against a branching wood, grey cloud, riverfalls, the
cry of the swan, delightful music!
Beautiful are the pines which make music for me unhindered: through Christ
I am no worse off at any time than you.
Though you relish that which you enjoy exceeding all wealth, I am content
with that which is given me by my gentle Christ.
With no moment of strife, no din of combat such as disturbs you, thankful
to the Prince who gives every good to me in my hunt.
2. The cross is present to redeem, but it is the high crosses of early Ireland, it is the cross of triumph, of the Christ who conquers through suffering…it is not the crucifix, it is not about atonement. The Cross is not over and against to condemn us, but on our side. On this day that marks the 3rd anniversary of the Iraq war it seems appropriate to share this story. Last year in Tacoma Joyce Denham a leading poet in the Celtic tradition was offering a workshop where several service men on leave from Iraq were in attendance. When she got to this point about the Cross a sergeant major asked how would a Celtic prayer be written for soldiers today. She turned to what is called the Dear Cry of St. Patrick.
The Deer Cry - St Patrick
In strength of sky and depth of sea,
I place my faith in God the Three.
With threefold might protecting me
I rise in strength of Trinity.
Christ on my right
Christ on my left
Christ in the heights
Christ in the depths
Behind, before,
Within, without
Christ’s power to compass me about.
Christ’s ear to hear
Christ’s eye to see
Christ’s mind in all who think of me.
The sergeant major took this prayer back to Iraq and had it reproduced for all
of the soldiers in his unit.(4)
3. Closeness of eternity to the things of every day. A modern Welch poet declares that love of country involves “keeping house amidst a cloud of witnesses.” The routine tasks of daily life are seen in an eternal perspective. Consider this as you turn on the stove to heat water for tea in the morning or turn your coffee maker on:
Blessing of the kindling
I will kindle my fire this morning
In the presence of the holy angels of heaven,
In the presence of Ariel of the loveliest form,
In the presence of Uriel of the myriad charms,
Without malice, without jealousy, without envy,
Without fear, without terror of anyone under the sun,
But the Holy Son of God to shield me,
Without malice, without jealousy, without envy,
Without fear, without terror of anyone under the sun,
But the Holy Son of God to shield me.
God, kindle Thou in my heart within
A flame of love to my neighbor
To my foe, to my friend, to my kindred all,
O Son of the loveliest Mary
From the lowliest thing that liveth,
To the Name that is highest of all.
It is a flame of fire from midmost heaven that came down hither into the world,
fire that will kindle my stubborn nature, fire that will fill my
whole life; it will not fail while God remains in being.
4. In our work and in our sleep we are accompanied by heavenly powers
Wales
Martyrs dust through countless ages
And the saints lie in thy breast,
Thou didst give them breath and being
Thou didst call them to thy rest.
On thy roads are seen the footprints
Made by angels from above,
And the Holy Ghost has settled
In the branches like a dove.
Bards have heard in winds and breezes
Sighs of sacrificial pain,
Deep within thy darkest forests
The Rood Tree doth still remain.
His Resurrection was thy springtime,
Thy summer was His triumph green,
And in the winter of thy mountains
Tabernacles have been seen.
Providential dews and raindrops
On thy field of oat and corn,
And his Glory on the harness
Of thy horses in the morn.
Thy saints are clothed in morning radiance,
They love thee, thy joy and pride, -
Like a mother-bird thou callest,
Warm beneath thy wing they hide.
Because today we are celebrating the Baptism of Ardern Ralston hear the words
of St. Ethelwold of the 10th century:
Total Immersion St Ethelwold (925)
Water baptism is not enough; we must totally immerse ourselves, our children
and our world in the Sacred Three. Before each verse, we could
speak our name or the name of a godchild or loved one.
In the presence of the Father I immerse thee
That to thee he may protecting be
Watching over thy head
Keeping thee from dread
In the presence of the Creator I immerse thee.
In the presence of the Son I immerse thee
That to thee He may a Savior be
May He keep thee whole and well
Save thee from the jaws of hell
In the presence of the Redeemer I immerse thee
In the presence of the Spirit I immerse thee
That He may a mighty strengthener be
May He guide thee, lead, empower
Give thee hope in thy darkest hour
In the Spirit the life-giver I immerse thee.
In the Holy and blessed Three, I immerse thee
Into their love and joy I place thee
Into their peace and power I steep thee
Into the hands that will keep thee
Into the Trinity of love I immerse thee
We beseech Thee O God open thy heavens.
From there may thy gifts descend upon him.
Put forth thine own hand from heaven and touch his head.
May he feel the touch of thine hand and receive the joy
of thy Holy Spirit. That he may remain blessed for evermore.
I Bind Unto Myself Today
By the rowan and the briar
By the raging forest fire
By the sky in lightning torn
By the moon that’s newly born
By the rising of the sun
By the task that I have borne
I bind my feeble soul to thee
Almighty, Son and Spirit Three
References
David Adam, The Edge of Glory: Prayers in the Celtic
Tradition
A.M Allchin and Esther de Waal, Daily Readings from Prayers and Praises in the
Celtic Tradition
Joyce Denham, Circle of Prayer: Prayers and blessings in
the Celtic tradition
Alexander Macdonald, Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations, with Illustrative
Notes of Words Rits and Customs Dying and Obsolete.
J. Philip Newell, Listening to the Heartbeat of God
Supplemental Materials
St. Kevin and the Black Bird
At one Lenten season, St. Kevin, as was his way, fled from the company
of men to certain solitude, and in a little hut that did but keep
out the sun and the rain, gave himself earnestly to reading and to
prayer, and his
leisure to
contemplation
along. And as he knelt in his accustomed fashion, with
his hand outstretched through the window and lifted up to heave, a blackbird
settled on
it and
busying herself as in her nest, laid in it and egg. And so
moved
was the saint that in
all patience and gentleness he remained, neither closing
nor withdrawing his hand: but until the young ones were fully hatched
he held it
out unwearied,
shaping
it for the purpose.
Here is another prayer of Christ and his cross being a
companion not a judge to condemn:
The Conqueror
Lord strengthen every good
Defeat the power of evil
Lord strengthen every light
Defeat the power of darkness
Lord strengthen every power
Defeat the power of weakness
Lord strengthen every joy
Defeat the power of sadness
Lord strengthen every love
Defeat the power of hatred
Lord strengthen every life
Defeat the power of death
Baptism Prayer for a Child, Carmina Gadelica
The parent can recite this prayer to their child before
the baptism, and on the anniversaries of the child’s baptism.
O Being who inhabits the heights
Impart your blessing early,
Remember the child of my body,
In name of the father of peace;
When the priest of the King of heaven
Puts on (name) the water of meaning,
Grant (him/her)
The blessing of the Three
Who fill the heights
The blessing of the Three
Who fill the heights
Sprinkle down on (name) your grace,
Give to (him/her) virtue and growth,
Give to (him/her) strength and guidance,
Sense and reason,
Angel wisdom in (his/her) day,
That (he/she) may stand without reproach
In your presence.
That (he/she) may stand without reproach
In your presence.
Prayer for protection
Be the eye of God dwelling with you,
The foot of Christ in guidance with you,
The shower of the Spirit pouring on you,
Richly and generously.
1 The Ven. Bede states that Lucius, King of the Britians, was converted in 156 CE and sent to Eleuthereus, Bishop of Rome a letter requesting instructors in the Christian religion
2 Allchin, A.M. and de Waal, Esther, Daily Readings from Prayers and Praises in the Celtic Tradition
3 Adam, David, The Edge of Glory: Prayers in the Celtic Tradition
4 See The Conqueror in the supplemental material at the end of the sermon.
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