Celtic Spirituality
Celtic Christianity is a new interest of mine of late. Thought I'd share it with the friendly folk who read my blog.
I think most people, like me, are deterred from this quasi-denomination prima facie because of the word `Spirituality` in the name of a form of Christianity. However, as with most things, it's good advice to look deeper beneath first impressions.
To the best of my knowlege, it's the form of Christianity set up in England/Scotland/Ireland during the convertion of the pagans by the early Christian apostles, namely Columba and Aiden.
Celtic Christianity has a very earthy approach to faith, so unlike the bulk of churches stuck in modernity and structuralism, or evangelical churches who tend to engage heavily in the control of people or masses - CS lends itself to a more natural muse on faith so it takes patterns from the seasons or moons as aids to prayers. Again, to orthodox evangelicals that might sound wierd, but all it means is that prayers sound like:
One interesting thing about CS is because it evolved in the world of the Pagans, it takes a fair few cues around spirituality and may explain why there's such an emphasis on nature and the earth. But I don't see this as anything against which to draw conclusions - after all, wasn't the Vatican built out of political gain? And isn't the modern evangelical church a mere rammification of the `we want x-y-z... we want to hurry along decelopment...` consumer culture we live in.
The very thing that endears me to CS is how it's so unadulterated unlike the modern or postmodern churches... even the emerging church with it's burn-your-bra approach to church structuralism is adulterated by the persuit of its own liberty at parts. I believe that our culture removes us from God and things like the God channel or mega-churches do nothing to hide that. But the principle of Iona or Lindisfarne being havens in God's physical wilderness where people pursued Him strikes me a much more real or perhaps authentic being of Christianity than www.sacredspace.com or whatever corner of our lives we find to put God into.
I think most people, like me, are deterred from this quasi-denomination prima facie because of the word `Spirituality` in the name of a form of Christianity. However, as with most things, it's good advice to look deeper beneath first impressions.
To the best of my knowlege, it's the form of Christianity set up in England/Scotland/Ireland during the convertion of the pagans by the early Christian apostles, namely Columba and Aiden.
Celtic Christianity has a very earthy approach to faith, so unlike the bulk of churches stuck in modernity and structuralism, or evangelical churches who tend to engage heavily in the control of people or masses - CS lends itself to a more natural muse on faith so it takes patterns from the seasons or moons as aids to prayers. Again, to orthodox evangelicals that might sound wierd, but all it means is that prayers sound like:
MY SOUL'S HEALERCeltic Christians also tend to believe that there's a fundimental element of God in all of us that's distorted, but never overwhelmed, by sin.
My soul's Healer,
Keep me at even,
Keep me at morning,
Keep me at noon,
On rough course faring,
Help and safeguard
My means this night.
I am tired, astray, and stumbling,
Shield me from snare and sin.
One interesting thing about CS is because it evolved in the world of the Pagans, it takes a fair few cues around spirituality and may explain why there's such an emphasis on nature and the earth. But I don't see this as anything against which to draw conclusions - after all, wasn't the Vatican built out of political gain? And isn't the modern evangelical church a mere rammification of the `we want x-y-z... we want to hurry along decelopment...` consumer culture we live in.
The very thing that endears me to CS is how it's so unadulterated unlike the modern or postmodern churches... even the emerging church with it's burn-your-bra approach to church structuralism is adulterated by the persuit of its own liberty at parts. I believe that our culture removes us from God and things like the God channel or mega-churches do nothing to hide that. But the principle of Iona or Lindisfarne being havens in God's physical wilderness where people pursued Him strikes me a much more real or perhaps authentic being of Christianity than www.sacredspace.com or whatever corner of our lives we find to put God into.
posted by Ben F. Foster Esq. (c) @ 12:57 AM
1 Comments:
At 5:16 PM,
Timothy V Reeves said…
I like the "burn-your-bra approach to church structuralism" reference! I'll see if I can fit a reference that in somewhere in my blogs!
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