On Sunday mornings this Epiphany season we are offering an Adult Forum series called, “Eco Saints.” We are highlighting people of remarkable faith who have particularly raised our consciousness about the sacredness of the universe, our world, and all of life – the sacredness of earth and birth.
These saints are steeped in an ancient, if alternative, wisdom within the church – that of Celtic Christianity. Although the imperial Roman tradition ended up dominating in the West, the tradition that developed in the Celtic regions persists to this day. The Celtic “flavor” of our faith is grounded in the understanding that there is a divine imprint within the whole cosmos, including every human being.
The Celts also have produced some of the most lovely and lyrical prayers and songs in the church. In the nineteenth century, Alexander Carmichael collected many of them and published them as the Carmina Gadelica (“The Songs of the Gaels”). Here is one of the prayers in the collection, reminding us of the deep interconnection of divinity and humanity within each of us:
God to enfold me,
God to surround me,
God in my speaking,
God in my thinking.God in my sleeping,
God in my waking,
God in my watching,
God in my hoping.God in my life,
God in my lips,
God in my hands,
God in my heart.
May you feel the divine imprint and presence of God within you and surrounding you today and always!
(And if you want to read more, check out John Philip Newell’s Sacred Earth Sacred Soul: Celtic Wisdom for Reawakening to What Our Souls Know and Healing the World.)
