celtic christianity

This page is under construction - right now it is a mass of things that follow my stream of conscious. If I had my way, it would all be one big paragraph. I've broken it down a little, however, to make reading easier. I do go back and add things at times (I'm sure you can tell where), so it may seem at times to be very random. Someday I will reorganize this when it gets too long to leave on one page.
These are all my own thoughts, based on my life experiences and things I have read. I apologize for information which may be untrue (please let me know if I have a fact wrong); I plead ignorance rather than intentional deceit.

Recently I've been reading books on Celtic Christianity. I have had an interest in the Celts since high school and have recently begun looking closely at their views on Christianity after reading The Sword and the Miracle by Melvyn Bragg. The book I have read most recently is The Elements of Celtic Christianity by Anthony Duncan. He had some interesting points regarding St. Augustine's influence on the church's views of sex ("an essential hatred of women and of 'the feminine' in general, and an outright identification of sex with sin") as well as how Celtic Christianity developed.

I find it interesting that a lot of what Duncan attributed to St. Augustine and later to John Calvin can be found in modern-day Baptist churches. It seems that a lot of the more conservative Baptist churches are slipping towards Calvinism (my own comparison...it may be ignorant). Many churches today are going back toward the legalism of the pharisees, concentrating too much on following rules and how things look to others instead of "liviing their life with their head in their heart" (Duncan). Instead of "what can I do to help myself get closer to God" it seems that "what can I do to improve my witness/keep my witness from being destroyed" is being emphasized. "You can't..." rules are emphasized, making Christianity appear to the outside world to be a ball and chain relationship with God. This is why it appears hypocritical when Christians say that "Christianity frees." Those outside the religion look at those who go to church and don't see freedom. Books that I have read lately seem to "cookie-cutter" Christians. "There is only one way to God, anything else is bad/of the Devil/etc." No wonder non-Christians don't want to give us a second glance. With our pained expressions and meloncholy faces due to concentrating too much on the fall and redemption and our own worthlessness, we seem to contradict every hopeful word that we speak. Joy should be how we live. Yes, we are sinners, but Christ died as a sacrifice for us...the last sacrifice. So, rejoice! Don't frown and brow beat. This is something to be happy about.

Think about the last time you did something to someone and they smiled and said, "I forgive you." It should have brought great joy to your heart. Think about the last time you saw a rainbow, a pretty sunset, the wind flattening tall grass, a pretty flower growing in a stranger's yard. Did you stop to thank God for it? Did you even notice it? We should. He put those there for you. See? Another source of joy in our lives.

Even if it's cloudy out...when was the last time you looked at the clouds. In Texas, they turn a beautiful shade of dark blue right before it thunderstorms. Watch the lightning and listen to the thunder and the rain. With all the scientific explanations in this world, it seems we have lost the ability to wonder. Remember when you were a child and the storm scared you? It's because it was an unknown - both beautiful and terrifying in its own right. That is how God is! Awe-inspiring and wonderful all in one. We have a right to be terrified of Him, yet think of how He has shown love to us.

Losing the ability to wonder has changed the world in so many ways. I think it has even led to the disregard for life. (I'm not saying that technology is bad...or that we shouldn't try to better ourselves, increase our knowledge of the world around us, or anything like that.) I mean, look at the present argument about "when does life start?" I don't think that life starts at birth. I mean, the fetus/child has a heartbeat and brain waves at two weeks after conception. The baby kicks before it is born, moves around, sucks its thumb. If whether one has a heartbeat and/or brain waves is our standard for when a person is dead or alive when they are out of the womb, why shouldn't it apply universally? The only difference is location.

I guess I still don't understand about why people would want to clone humans. (Not that that was the biggest thing about the cloning of the sheep...to be explained in a bit.) What happens after we've cloned a bunch of superhumans? Then what? Where do we go from there? How would that affect us spiritually? It is for these very reasons/questions that goverments are making the first steps towards banning the cloning of humans. How would you feel if you were alive only to supply parts for your "original" if he/she should happen to get hurt? Will clones have any rights? Something to think about before we jump into something we haven't thought through.

Being able to clone wasn't the big deal with Dolly, anyways. The fact that previously it had been thought that once a cell had committed to being a skin cell, a brain cell, a liver cell, a mammary cell, it couldn't change was challenged. The scientist who cloned Dolly took a cell that was "committed" and it adapted to produce an entirely new animal. This was the big deal about Dolly. The media just jumped on the cloning part and ran with it.(Amazing what the "angry mob" we call the media can sway us to believe. Too many people these days don't question what they hear.) But...that is something to ponder at another time.

Again, I say rejoice! Joy is all around you if you just look for it. A stranger's smile (people really do need to smile more), a father reading to his children in the bookstore, holding hands with someone you love. These are also cause for joy. Find joy even in the sad. Joy does not equal happiness. If it did, there would be no joy in the world. We are not always happy. Joy exists beyond happiness. Joy is something like optimism - knowing that you can find good in all things. Even if you are going through some tough times, there is some good to be found in your life, I am sure of it. Are you not still breathing? Has not God given you a fighting spirit? Why not use it? Look for it deep down; we are not to be quitters. Realize that God does not close one door without opening another; you just may need to search for the door first. He doesn't always have neon signs pointing the way (although He did come pretty close with the Star of Bethleham). I am a firm believer that God does not put anything on you beyond what you are able to bear. He loves us enough to sacrifice His Son, who was also a part of Him. Can we say that for those we love? (This is not meant to be a chastisement - if we aren't able to do so for those we say we love, how much more does He love us?)

Because of this joy, prayer should flow naturally. I disagree with the Baptists and whoever else teaches that prayer has a set formula that must be followed. What ever happened to spontaneous prayer? This is usually the most hearfelt prayer ever prayed! The "O, God!" that is cried out by the father who is watching his house threatened by a wildfire is in more earnest usually than the "designated pray'er" in church who intones "Dear heavenly Father..." as he/she reads the prayer that they typed the night before to impress the church. This is not always the case, but I'm sure is true the majority of the time. I believe that spontaneous prayer is an important part of Paul's command to "pray without ceasing." Madeleine L'Engle spoke through one of her characters in A Ring of Endless Light about prayer when she said that prayer was offering someone up to God's care in love. She has spoken about prayer in some of her other books, concluding that prayer does not always have to be in words. I think that prayer can also take the form of pictures and sounds and however else the mind thinks. For me, to just remember a person is to pray for them.God knows their needs (the Holy Spirit intercedes for us constantly), even if I don't.

It also seems that too much importance is placed on the confession portion of prayer. I agree that it is important, but it goes back to my earlier point about dwelling too much on the melancholy and on our worthlessness. We are not worthless. God so loved us that He gave up the ultimate sacrifice. This is part of the reason that I don't like Christians who are constantly berating themselves and focusing only on the sinful portion of their nature. I think it is enough to say "I'm sorry" and "I'll try better next time, but I need your help. Give me a willing spirit." I don't think that it is healthy to dwell on sin, to count it out and make lists. If we are truly born again we are sorry for what we have done. We don't mean to do it; we can't help it. It is part of our sinful nature. I think God knows we're sorry. To be truly sorry...this is what God wants. He wants us to try to do better - this I feel is a measure of whether we're truly sorry. Yeah, it's nice to go to confession and list out our sins, but if we go right back out and do them again, what good is that? Why dwell on our sin anyways. Forgiveness is supposed to be freeing. God forgets our sin (He removes them as far as the east is from the west...he throws our sin into a lake with a sign that reads "No Fishing"), so why can't we? After asking forgiveness, we should feel as light as a feather and as clean as the new-fallen snow.

To me, this is why Lent is so important before Easter. How can we truly appreciate the joy of Easter unless it is contrasted with Lent. To me, Lent is a time of self-preparation for the joy of Easter. It's a time to examine our lives, our goals, our motivations and make sure that they are what they should be. This is the same with Advent, except Advent should be a time to prepare our hearts for Jesus' entrance into the world (Christmas). Both times should be a time of self-examination and quiet meditation. I guess this is another thing that bothers me about non-denominational and Baptist type churches. They don't really obesrve the church calendar except for the portions that they like: Easter and Christmas. I know it may seem that approving of Lent goes against what I said just a few moments before, but I don't think that Lent should be all sacrificial. I agree with L'Engle when she mentions that anything that you might consider bad enough to give up for Lent probably should be given up during the rest of the year too. I agree with her when she says that Lent would be a good time to start something: a more regular quiet time, going to church more regularly, reading your Bible. It doesn't even have to be religious-related. What about volunteering your time at the local homeless shelter or at the local convelescent home? How about picking up a few extra cans everytime you go grocery shopping and dropping them off at the local food bank? Things like this that would make a difference in others' lives for the better are things that, as Christians, we should be doing year-round to set an example for those around us in the community. It could also be something as simple as writing a friend with whom you haven't talked in a while. It's the small things in life that spread joy to others.

It is nice that times of great joy are precluded by times of quiet. It is easier to appreciate joy when the soul is quiet and not preoccupied with many other things of the world. How nice it would be to not have a million things swimming in our head when the time comes: did I finish my work project? did I pass that test? Many of our worries could be eliminated if we spent time in preparation: studying for that test, cleaning off our desk and prioritizing at night, putting things away after we are finished. The same is true for our spiritual life. Wouldn't it be nice to know that at any moment, if we were to die, that we would leave no unfinished business? That if Jesus were to come back in 2 seconds, we could leave without looking back. (Hopefully for those who do look back, they won't turn into salt like a certain woman in the Old Testament who must have had some unfinished business she was leaving behind as she fled judgement.) In no way am I that prepared, but as these things become apparent to me as well as you, I make resolutions to take care of my business before it's too late.

For me, to be aware of and joy-filled by the things all around me is to worship God. He created it and proclaimed it good, so why should I be the one to proclaim it otherwise? The Celtic Christians were this way. To them, appreciation of nature was a natural extension of their faith and taking care of the environment was a logical next step. To love something is to want to take care of it and preserve it.