North, East, South, West. Our focus this morning on Celtic spirituality invites us to ask if there is any place devoid of God’s care and love. It is a challenging and relevant question in our day.
The ancient Celtic believers, both those who lived before Christianity came to Ireland and in the centuries since, were people who believed with all their hearts, souls, minds, and bodies that the divine was everywhere. In trees, plants, sky, stars…in people, animals, and crawling creatures…in the elements of earth, air, fire, and water…in the pleasant and the unpleasant events of life…all embodied the spark of Divine Life…through each, blew the winds of the Divine to refresh and renew. Just as we have learned from the prophet Ezekiel and from Jesus and Lazarus this morning, that spark of Divine Life would always win out. To the ancient Celt, as for Jesus, life trumps death, every single time.
This Spirit, this Spark of Divine Life was named by the Celts with various names. There were Ones who were above and below, around and within; they were honored on various feast days, on full moons, and new moons, much as we honor God, Christ, and Spirit, throughout the cycle of the Christian year. Birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection—we share with the ancient Celts experiences of these various seasons of life, and, through these ongoing journeys we share with them a belief of the divine with us.
Is the divine to be found blowing in all the four winds? We Christians heartily sing, “In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north…” and by that we mean to say that the divine presence through Christ is everywhere, all at once.
Yet, sadly, we live in a world where, this week, the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq reached the scandalous total of 3,974; and, based on news reports in the five years since the occupation began, the numbers of dead Iraqi citizens now insanely number over 1,182,000. With these staggering statistics, each one a beloved child of God, we can rightly ask, is the spark of divine life blowing in the eastern wind?
This morning we heard the beloved words of Psalm 23—the shepherd psalm that so poetically reminds us of the protective presence of the divine. Yet just this week, the janjaweed on the ground in Darfur, have returned to their violent mass campaigns, horrific tactics that have resulted in the deaths of more than 400,000 of God’s sons and daughters. This news causes us to ask if the divine wind is to be found blowing in the south—in the continent of Africa and its sufferers?
We are lifted this morning by incredibly complicated music—tunes that, like artistic Celtic designs, interlace and intertwine, decorating our ears with exquisitely beautiful sounds. Yet for the past seven years, our own government has been battling over the destruction of beauty, natural beauty in Alaska, in our national parks, in our wilderness areas, all in order to fulfill our insatiable lust for oil, our greed for more and more financial gain. Plan after plan to destroy nature has been proposed and passed into law; according to author and environmentalist, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. in his book, Crimes Against Nature, corporate favoritism in the past few years has brought our government to an embarrassing abandonment of its duty to safeguard our health and to protect our nation’s wilderness beauty. This distress in our own homeland causes us to ask if the winds of the divine are to be found blowing in the north, or in the west—in these breathtaking arenas of God’s created beauty?
We could go on and on. For centuries, prophets and preachers have pointed to what was wrong in their worlds, to what needed fixing in their communities, to what was despairing in their homes. Speaking the truth—the cold, hard truth—has not made them popular. Perhaps the Celts can help us.
Look at the cycle of the seasons. Winter precedes spring. Death comes before resurrection. Twigs on seemingly dying trees give birth to buds which later become new green leaves. We know this to be as true in our own lives as in the cycles and seasons of nature. We need not fear the bad news, nor need we avoid it. This morning, also, we have heard from Ezekiel about dry bones dancing with new life, and we have heard Jesus call to the tomb of Lazarus, “Come out!” From these amazing stories, we join our Celtic ancestors in daring to believe that God can bring life out of death, hope out of despair, and wonder out of doubt.
Today we honor the four directions—north, east, south, west—and as we do, we make a sacred circle that encompasses all creation. A circle that excludes none, that encourages and provides hope. As Christians, as fellow travelers with the ancient Celts, we know that day follows night, that full moon follows new moon, and that just as the moon nightly shines because it is reflecting the light of the sun, we are here to reflect the light of the divine.
We know, as did our ancestors in faith, that the reality of evil and suffering in the world does not negate or erase the presence of the divine.
North, East, South, West—in all the four winds, God is present. For in all the blowing winds we are present—courageously, gently, lovingly, decisively, compassionately—acting as the bodies and minds and souls of the divine. North, East, South, West—wherever you stand this week—in whichever direction you send your energy and focus your vast resources, God is present through, in, with, and around you.
This road we share with our Celtic ancestors is thus a sacred path, a circle that transforms all we touch. Whether in Iraq, Africa, Alaska, or Redlands…Be it immoral occupation, intolerable genocide, or unconscionable raping of the landscape…Our voices, our signatures, our phone calls and letters and emails, our listening ears and active compassion all prove that the divine, caring presence is to be found blowing in every direction.
Saint Patrick, whose Christianity was enfolded into the existing spirituality of Ireland to create a gentler, kinder spirituality that honored the seasons and natural cycles of life, gave us some very good theology and equally helpful advice when he said,
“I arise today, through the strength of heaven,
The light of the sun, the radiance of the moon;
Splendor of fire, speed of lightening,
Swiftness of wind, depth of sea, stability of earth and firmness of rock.
I arise today, through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak through me, God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me.
From the snares of devils, from temptations of vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill, afar and near, alone and in a multitude,
I ARISE TODAY!”
As we arise, so also does God… |
