| So what can an examination of the early blossoming | | | | - There were few boundaries between the sacred |
| of Christianity in the fringes of Britain and Ireland | | | | and the secular |
| bring to our spiritual lives today? | | | | - We see an emphasis on family and kinship ties. |
| As Christians we have firstly to realise that it is not | | | | - There seems to have been greater equality for |
| just we who look to the past and to a heritage | | | | women than we see generally in the Church today. |
| handed down from our Celtic ancestors. In this | | | | - A generous hospitality was an important part of |
| post-modern world Celtic legend is the strongest | | | | everyday life. |
| single source in the current revival of interest in | | | | If we look at these characteristics we can perhaps |
| paganism. However, in the same way that followers | | | | see influences from both pagan and Christian beliefs. |
| of paganism find it difficult to acknowledge the | | | | We might disagree with some, disregard others, but |
| flowering of Celtic culture that took place within | | | | there are elements here which challenge our faith, call |
| Celtic Christianity, so admirers of the early Celtic | | | | us to examine that which we have become |
| Church can be troubled by collections of Celtic | | | | comfortable with, and look again at how we might |
| prayers and blessings containing charms and curses. | | | | learn to part the curtain that has separated us from |
| So it is, I feel, that we need to rid ourselves of | | | | our Christian heritage and take from the past that |
| some of the romanticism that has been handed | | | | which can enable us to grow spiritually today. |
| down concerning the early Christian saints, and whilst | | | | We might also find that in doing so we can begin to |
| acknowledging the influence that they undoubtedly | | | | connect with a culture that cannot connect with the |
| had on the early Christian communities, concentrate | | | | denominational jigsaw that is the Church to which we |
| on those elements of their faith, doctrine and lifestyle | | | | belong, but is seeking to follow a spiritual path which |
| that can bring illumination and spiritual growth into our | | | | until now has often only been catered for by other |
| own. | | | | faith systems or new age philosophies. |
| We are not seeking to live in the past, or drift | | | | It matters not whether we can claim Celtic roots or |
| toward paganism but take what is valuable from our | | | | not, it is within the scope of all of us to look at the |
| Christian heritage and bring it into a contemporary | | | | landscape with spiritual as well as physical eyes, and |
| setting, where Christianity struggles not against | | | | begin to appreciate it for what it is and for the way |
| invasions of Angles, Jutes and Saxons, but against | | | | that it influences our understanding both of ourselves |
| the enemies of indifference, denominationalism and | | | | and our Creator. A growing passion for the beauty of |
| rejection. | | | | the world in which we work can lead to a renewal in |
| In an age where time is money, and lack of time a | | | | our attitudes to the mundane tasks that we face |
| serious problem for so many; where the stresses | | | | day be day. |
| and strains of daily living take their toll both physically | | | | We can acknowledge the importance of friendship in |
| and spiritually it is not difficult to see the attraction of | | | | our lives, and appreciate how the love of our friends |
| a way of faith that finds time to be alone with God; | | | | mirrors the love and companionship of God, and as |
| that is God-centred rather than self or work-centred | | | | our faith begins to show forth new growth our |
| and which brings both beauty, truth and wholeness | | | | journey can begin to take us from the familiar into |
| into lives that are, if not empty certainly not as | | | | more challenging circumstances - into mission. If you |
| fulfilled as they might be. | | | | want inspiration then consider Brendan the Navigator |
| If we sift the wheat from the chaff and look at | | | | whose voyage was immortalized by Bede. In the |
| elements that the early monastic Church brings to us | | | | sixth century legend has it that Brendon took to the |
| then we see the following general features: | | | | sea, travelling without oars and without sails, |
| - A genuine love of nature and a passion for God's | | | | navigating the storms of life, and trusting in faith to |
| creation, coupled with a sense of closeness between | | | | carry him through. He may, or may not have landed |
| the natural and supernatural. | | | | in North America. |
| - A love of art and poetry, seen within surviving | | | | I quote from the Iona Community: |
| illuminated Gospels and other works. | | | | 'The past is all around us. We are the inheritors of |
| - Although they seem to have been theologically | | | | the Celtic tradition, with its deep sense of Jesus as |
| orthodox, there was a distinct emphasis on the | | | | the head of all, and of God's glory in all of creation. |
| Trinity, respect for Mary the Mother of Christ, the | | | | So we use prayers from the Celtic Church for |
| Incarnation and the use within worship of early forms | | | | welcome, for work, and in expressing the needs of |
| of liturgy. | | | | the world. We are the inheritors of the Benedictine |
| - Within their religious life we see an emphasis on | | | | tradition, with its conviction that 'to work is to pray', |
| solitude, pilgrimage and mission, sacred locations and | | | | its commitment to hospitality, and its sense of order, |
| tough penitential acts. | | | | all reflected in our services and our lifestyle... |