St Mary Abbots
Lent 2008: Celtic Prayer
What do we mean by Celtic ?
Very little evidence: misty and vague
The Venerable Bede: born 672
Certainly was a movement of monks moving around.
The Celtic saints: Columba: Aidan: Cuthbert: Hilda and many more
Two key themes:
A wistful sense of longing for a lost homeland
A perpetual sense of pilgrimage and exile.
Writings & Prayers:
Combination of Bede and other minor sources.
Gavin Wakefield (Durham) suggests the following themes can be deduced from all we know, for example, about Aidan: all of which formed his prayer life
Passion for God
Possessions as Secondary
Gentleness & Openness
Seeing Christ in Others
Equality & Humility with leaders and ordinary people
Importance of education
6 Key points about Celtic Prayer.
“Living and praying are inseparable”
About Journeying
the longest journey is the journey inward: the whole of life is here
About Creation
“The Celtic way of seeing the world never lets me forget my relationship with the earth.” (Esther de Waal The Celtic Way of Prayer H&S 1996)
About Time
The rhythm of the year
The rhythm of the day
About the Senses
Lighting a fire/Baking bread/Milking a cow/making clothes/weaving
About being able to spend time alone
The solitary
About the Cross
The Celtic cross has the great O of the world itself
Crucifixion/Creation/Redemption – all held together
About Healing
Body cannot be healed apart from the soul.
Thus the resurrection brings perfect healing.
The Prayer of the Venerable Bede
I Pray you, good Jesus, that as you have given me the grace to drink in with joy the Word that gives knowledge of you, so in your goodness you will grant me to come at length to yourself, the source of all wisdom, to stand before your face forever. Amen
A modern Celtic Prayer
Come on pilgrimage.
Let us walk together the road of life.
We will go on well trodden paths,
And also open us new ways.
We will seek,
We will search,
We will rejoice,
And perhaps we will sing.
You cannot come as an onlooker,
That leaves you on the outside,
Yet still influencing us,
As we influence you.
Come and share your experiences,
Your sorrows and your joys.
If your prayer has gone dead,
Your God is too small,
Your vision too narrow,
Come journey into new depths,
Let life be an adventure.
Come and participate,
Come and discover-
We will go to strange places,
We may even meet dragons.
But we do not journey alone
We go together along the road
And our God goes with us.
Amen
David Adam
The Road of Life SPCK 2004
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