Filed under: My poetry | Tags: Celtic Spirituality, christian spirituality, Christianity, Evangelicalism, God, Jesus, Peace, Poetry, Religion, Sociology, spiritual formation, spirituality, Theology
Plump and round, waddling out of the house
Rosy cheeks and a big black belt with a big fat buckle
Bald as a bat and smiley as a salamander
Furry animal companion jolly as can be
Skin white as snow with wooden puppet eyes
Wooden puppet eyes and a wooden puppet soul
Waddling out of the house of the black neighbors
Why is Santa man wearing a gun?
Why does he have five clones? and that’s not a reindeer!
And it’s not Christmas Eve!
Five white men waddle out of the black neighbor’s house
Searching for a reason to pull the trigger
Searching for a reason to perpetuate the disparity between
Black and white in a “free society” with “opportunity” and an “American dream”
Excuse your interruption, wooden puppet eyes
I know my neighbors and my neighbors know me
But I don’t know you and your hot lead weapon is not welcome here
Excuse your interruption wooden puppet eyes
While we were busy crossing cultural lines and getting comfortable
With each other’s skin
You brought your warrant and your hot itchy gun.
Thanks for the unwarranted reminder
Of white man’s oppression and the scars of our fathers
Of power and control and who’s in control
Of why it’s not okay to trust a white man
Even with plump rosy cheeks and a jolly grin and fury companion
We could have talked about it over dinner
But you brought it to our doorstep along with your hot lead weapon
So back to work you go and back to work I go
But listen closely Santa man while I tell a prophecy
Hope will see the end of the hot lead weapon
We’ll burry it deep in the earth and it will join the granite of old
Faith will bring forgiveness and reconciliation
And heal the deep scars of our fathers
Love will see us through our differences
So that we can hold each other’s hands and each other’s hearts
These three, and only these three will remain. And that is our work.
*This poem was inspired this morning as I looked outside my window to see five deputies searching my neighbor’s home.
Filed under: Celtic, J. Philip Newell | Tags: Celtic Christianity, Celtic Spirituality, Christ of the Celts, christian spirituality, Christianity, contemplative prayer, Discipleship, Emergent Church, Evangelicalism, Faith, God, Grace, J. Philip Newell, Jesus, Mysticism, spiritual formation, spirituality, Theology
Christ is often referred to in the Celtic Tradition as the truly natural one. He comes not to make us more than natural or somehow other than natural but to make us truly natural. He comes to restore us to the original root of our being. As the twentieth century French-mystic-scientist Teilhard de Chardin says much later in the Celtic world, grace is “the seed of resurrection” sown in our nature. It is given not to make us something other than ourselves but to make us radically ourselves. Grace is given not to implant in us a foreign wisdom but to make us alive to the wisdom that was born with us in our mother’s womb. Grace is given not to lead us into another identity but to reconnect us to the beauty of our deepest identity. And grace is given not that we might find some exterior source of strength but that we might be established again in the deep inner security of our being and in learning to lose ourselves in love for one another to truly find ourselves.
J. Philip Newell, Christ of the Celts (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass) 10.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Celtic Christianity, Celtic Spirituality, Christ of the Celts, christian spirituality, Christianity, contemplative prayer, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Faith, God, Gospel, J. Philip Newell, Jesus, Mysticism, Religion, spiritual formation, spirituality, Theology
I do not believe the gospel, which literally means “good news,” is given to tell us that we have failed or been false. That is not news, and it is not good. We already know that much about ourselves. We know we have been false, even to those whom we most love in our lives and would most want to be true to… Rather, the Gospel is given to tell us what we do not know or what we have forgotten, and that is who we are, sons and daughters of the One from whom all things come. It is when we begin to remember who we are, and who all people truly are, that we will begin to remember also what we should be doing and how we should be relating to one another as individuals and as nations and as an entire earth community.
J. Philip Newell, Christ of the Celts (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass) 8.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Celtic Christianity, Celtic Spirituality, christian spirituality, Christianity, contemplative prayer, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Faith, God, J. Philip Newell, Jesus, Mysticism, spiritual formation, spirituality, Theology
In my latest read, Christ of the Celts, J. Philip Newell challenges the church’s doctrine of original sin, saying that “it teaches that what is deepest in us is opposed to God rather than of God… it is a doctrine that disempowers us”. Rather than seeing man as inherently sinful or fallen, Newell presumes the inherently divine, viewing the created man as an extension of God. He further invokes the 4th Century Celt, Pelagius from Whales who opposed the doctrine of original sin because it would “distance Christ from what is at the core of our being (p 19)”.
Newell argues that “Christ comes to restore us to our depths” and remind us of our true identity as divine creation– not condemn us for being sinful. I appreciate his point of view and also think that the implications for his view of self vs. sin cultivate space for a much more intimate and authentic relationship with God. In many ways, many of us Evangelicals have a very shame based faith as a result of our understanding of sin. This is what drives people to an immense amount of guilt, pain, and countless recommitments to Christ at the latest Billy Graham Crusade.
Newell goes on to say that the “doctrine of original sin was a convenient truth for the builders of [the Roman] empire. They could continue to conquer the world and subdue peoples. And now they could do it with a divine calling… It was to be a religion of dependency.” (p 20)
Filed under: My poetry, Uncategorized | Tags: Beauty, Celtic Christianity, Celtic Mysticism, Celtic Spirituality, christian spirituality, Christianity, Evangelicalism, Faith, God, Jesus, justice, love, Mysticism, Peace, Poetry, Religion, spirituality
Poet of poets, magical prose
The rocks they heard you
The trees bear witness
The birds teach the song to their young
And the sun comes up and the sun goes down
The moon swings and arcs
Your words they live for eternity
Up with the dew and down with the rain
Through the seasons
The trunk of a tree, the face of the stone, the beginning of a page
Listen, listen, do you hear?
Walk in the woods
Pay attention to the wind
Working through the old whispery pines
Enter their quiet and understand
Without knowing for they are constantly changing
But the message stays the same:
Peace, Justice, Love, Beauty
Amen
*I wrote this poem for a poetry party over at Abbey of the Arts. I thought it was a good fit for Journey Something as well. I snapped the photo at Jay Cooke State Park near Carlton, MN.
Filed under: Poetry | Tags: Celtic Christianity, Celtic Spirituality, christian spirituality, Christianity, contemplative prayer, Discipleship, Faith, God, Jesus, Poetry, prayer, Religion, spiritual formation, spirituality
I am the wind on the sea.
I am the ocean wave.
I am the sound of the billows.
I am the seven-horned stag.
I am the hawk on the cliff.
I am the dewdrop in sunlight.
I am the fairest of flowers.
I am the raging boar.
I am the salmon in the deep pool.
I am the lake on the plain.
I am the meaning of the poem.
I am the point of the spear.
I am the god that makes fire in the head.
Who levels the mountain?
Who speaks the age of the moon?
Who has been where the sun sleeps?
Who, if not I?
Amergin mac Miled, 1530 BCE
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Celtic Christianity, Celtic Spirituality, christian spirituality, Christianity, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Faith, God, Jesus, Mysticism, Religion, spiritual formation, spirituality
I’m still searching high and low for blogs that emphasize Christian Spirituality. If you’ve come across any recently, please let me know. In the meantime, check these out:
Happy Blogging!
Filed under: Rich Mullins | Tags: Celtic Christianity, Celtic Spirituality, christian spirituality, Christianity, Contemplative, contemplative prayer, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Faith, God, Jesus, Mysticism, Religion, spiritual formation, spirituality
As I look back on most Christian musicians that I listened to growing up, I am sorely disappointed. Generally speaking, they lacked authentic artistic expression, the music was cheesy, and it conveyed a very narrow, black and white view of God. However, there is one musician who stands out among the rest: the late Rich Mullins. Rich, who died in a car accident in 1997, was a compassionate leader among Evangelicals. He lived on a Navajo reservation, was seldom seen without his trademark blue jeans and white t-shirt, and wrote songs that reached our hearts as few poets could. Rich was living the life of a radical Christian while most of us were still trying to get as many people as we could to “pray the prayer”. Here’s one of his quotes from one of his last concerts:
Jesus said whatever you do to the least of these my brothers you’ve done it to me. And this is what I’ve come to think. That if I want to identify fully with Jesus Christ, who I claim to be my savior and Lord, the best way that I can do that is to identify with the poor. This I know will go against the teachings of all the popular evangelical preachers. But they’re just wrong. They’re not bad, they’re just wrong. Christianity is not about building an absolutely secure little niche in the world where you can live with your perfect little wife and your perfect little children in a beautiful little house where you have no gays or minority groups anywhere near you. Christianity is about learning to love like Jesus loved and Jesus loved the poor and Jesus loved the broken.
Below are the lyrics to my favorite Rich Mullins song, “Hold Me Jesus”:
Well, sometimes my life
Just don’t make sense at all
When the mountains look so big
And my faith just seems so smallCHORUS:
So hold me Jesus, ’cause I’m shaking like a leaf
You have been King of my glory
Won’t You be my Prince of PeaceAnd I wake up in the night and feel the dark
It’s so hot inside my soul
I swear there must be blisters on my heartCHORUS
Surrender don’t come natural to me
I’d rather fight You for something
I don’t really want
Than to take what You give that I need
And I’ve beat my head against so many walls
Now I’m falling down, I’m falling on my kneesAnd this Salvation Army band
Is playing this hymn
And Your grace rings out so deep
It makes my resistance seem so thinCHORUS
You have been King of my glory
Won’t You be my Prince of Peace
Which musicians from your past influenced you in a positive way?
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Celtic Christianity, Celtic Spirituality, christian spirituality, Christianity, contemplative prayer, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Faith, God, Jesus, Mysticism, Poetry, prayer, Religion, spiritual formation, spirituality
Nowhere left for exploration
It’s all been done before
Pike, Boone, Lewis and Clark, ha!
Mapquest, Google Earth, GPS
You’ll never get lost again
See it before you’re there
The Rockies have died
The Appalachians devoured
The Great Plains fertilized to hell
The desert made into a city
Is this Wild no more?
Is there nowhere left to explore?
Hush, hush quiet now, don’t say a word
Can you see, can you hear?
Put away your fancy technology
Your GPS is useless here
Let the old Abbas and Ammas be our guides
Let the silence lead you
May the Saints they watch over you
To the ancient pathways
And terrain undiscovered
The universe is whispering
And the further you go
The less you know
Just you try and map my soul
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Celtic Christianity, Celtic Spirituality, christian spirituality, Christianity, contemplative prayer, Discipleship, Evangelicalism, Faith, God, Jesus, Mysticism, prayer, Religion, Spiritual Direction, spiritual formation, spirituality
Spiritual listening is not listening to words, to arguments, to pros and cons, to positions and opinions. It involves listening to the delicate intersection of the human heart, with its desires and dreams, and the vast and silent mystery that is God.
Wright, Weavings: A Journal of the Christian Spiritual Life, May/June 1994.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Celtic Christianity, Celtic Spirituality, christian spirituality, contemplative prayer, Discipleship, Evangelism, God, Jesus, Mysticism, prayer, Religion, spiritual formation, spirituality, Theology
Last month during our class session at Christos, one of the facilitators taught us The Jesus Prayer. I’ve been trying to use this form of prayer as often as possible lately. Interestingly enough, I’ve especially found that while walking and hiking, it naturally comes to me– almost like a song that I can’t get out of my head. So far, it has kept me company and reminded me of God’s presence during simple tasks. The most common form of the prayer is “Jesus Christ, have mercy on me,” but for whatever reason, I usually rehearse the following: “Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
In his book, Thirsty for God, Bradley Holt tells us that “the idea of The Jesus Prayer is to pray constantly” and that “this requires a kind of attention to God that becomes habitual while one goes about the tasks of daily life.” The prayer seems to be an ancient gateway to God and most pray it in rhythm with one’s breathing or heartbeat (Holt, 53).
I’m rather embarrassed to have only been exposed to this discipline through my parent’s recent conversion to Eastern Orthodoxy (where the Jesus Prayer is ingrained into their faith) and even more recently at Christos. Ha! Christians have only been practicing this prayer for hundreds of years (it’s a shallow Evangelical faith we have at times, eh?). Either way, I’m excited to become more and more familiar with the prayer and hopefully let it become a natural habit in my own life.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Celtic Christianity, Celtic Spirituality, Christianity, contemplative prayer, Discipleship, Emergent Church, Evangelicalism, God, Jesus, John O'Donohue, Mysticism, Religion, spiritual formation, spirituality
In January of this year, Krista Tippett interviewed the late John O’Donohue on her radio program, Speaking of Faith. The Gaelic mystic, poet, and philosopher provides some inspiring commentary on beauty, the soul, and Celtic Christianity. I highly recommend listening to the show which aired in February here. Below is a brief excerpt:
Paraphrasing Meister Eckart: ”There is a place in you where you have never been wounded, where there is still a sureness in you, where there is a seamlessness in you, and where there is a confidence and tranquility in you… and I think the intention of prayer and spirituality and love is now and again to visit that inner kind of sanctuary.”
