Byzantium Cadoc’s Blessing:
Be Still: Simon deVoil
https://momentsofthesacred.wordpress.com/2018/11/21/a-memory-from-the-past/
Format of Class 2020
- Song – sing together or listen to a song that is the theme of class
- Silence
- How are things going (share what is on the heart at the level you feel comfortable)
- Pray
Celtic Journey Class
- Tuesday 6:30pm – 8:00pm
- March 24 – We begin the Journey to go on a Pilgrimage with God who is our journey companion.
- March 31 – The Cross
- April 7- Journal the Journey
- April 14 – The Trinity
- April 21- Three aspects of the Celtic Journey
- 1. Embraced by God.
- 2. Environment and creation
- 3. Passion for God.
- April 28 – Overview of Mark’s Pilgrimage from the Summer of 2019 Talk about a Pilgrimage to Scotland 2021
Other Possibilities
- We could conclude with a video called the Celtic Pilgrimage to be the finale to our Celtic Study with a carry in lunch or dinner.
https://www.matttommeymentoring.com/podcast.html
- Possibly at another time offer Celtic Journey with a long weekend retreat for those who want a Celtic Pilgrimage in the USA. Going to Columcille Megalith Park in PA a mini Iona.
2155 Fox Gap Rd, Bangor, PA 18013, USA +1 610-588-1174
Kirkridge 2495 Fox Gap RoadBangor, PA • 18013 Tel:610-588-1793
- Go to Scotland on Pilgrimage 2021. (Lindisfarne)
The Celtic people are women and men like you and I. Living, breathing, having their ups and downs. They look to God or turn to God in their life journey wherever they are.
The Celtic Saints, Pat Robson calls them “men and women afire with the spirit of the living God.” I like this image, it sounds living and vibrant, and courageous, as if they are being empowered by the Holy Spirit. This is what I believe them to be, being open to the supernatural leading of the Lord. This is how I view Cuthbert, being led by the Holy Spirit, and a conduit of blessing.
This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16 NIV
“The Celts were wanderers by nature. They loved their homes but they loved to explore, for exploring creation is to explore God’s handiwork and so discover more of the nature of God the creator. The knotwork is no mere meandering trail. It has a definite pattern that can often only be seen when one stands back from it. This is a picture of our lives. It is often easy for us to feel that our lives are pointless and aimless, but it is as we stand back we begin to discern a pattern in the hands of the master-craftsman. Jesus is the ‘way’, the alpha and the omega: we travel with him as people of the way, often twisting to and fro in life, covering the same ground time and again, yet always different because of the intervening experiences.” Martin Wallace, The Celtic Resource Book, pg 147.
Leeland – Way Maker (Official Live Video)
God is a waymaker and our journey companion and instructs us to stand, look, and to ask for ancient paths, to look for good ways. Walk-in this way and find rest. There is, however, a reluctance, a waywardness, we don’t want to look at the past, the old ways, we generally want to be looking to modern new ways to live our life. We can find old ways helpful or get at times stuck in old habits unhelpful old ways.
https://momentsofthesacred.wordpress.com/2018/02/19/the-ancient-paths-and-ways/
A Journey begins with the first step you take!
What is the first step to take?
Foot (A) What motivates and excites you?
Foot (B) What holds you back and discourages you?
Download and print or draw in your journal to fulfill the exercise.
Write words on each foot answering the questions!
Question to discuss with a a trusted friend or ponder later in your journal:
What path are you on; and is it the path you desire to be walking on?
What is a step to be taken or step you have taken, How difficult are these to take?
How much easier is it with a friend by your side?
First steps: Sometimes they are small baby steps and not giant steps. We have to walk in the footsteps of those who have gone ahead of us, and have confidence, God was with them, and is with us. Let us not despise the day of small beginnings. Just take the next step of action.
The Ancient Paths
The journey begins by looking for those ancient paths, or taking a voyage of discovery on a Coracle not literally. However, in the feeling of being adrift, as if having been set out to sea, and at the mercy of the ocean currents. It is more than this, it is at the mercy of the Lord who is bigger than the ocean. Trusting that this flimsy vessel will be lead by the Lord of the Universe. We go in faith trusting the leading of the Trinity, we are invited into community with the triune one. Welcomed and now we are just along for the ride.
The saints of old did likewise went along for the ride, trusting they will land where the Lord desired then be. To then start a community where they had been washed ashore. With next to nothing, they trusted the Lord for all that they needed off, believing that the Lord would not leave them without support. Application build a Coracle as a craft and let it float away taking with it our prayers, hopes, dreams and aspirations. Or place in the Coracle those sorrows that prevent us taking the needed step of faith to enter into the next season of our life.
Looking at our spiritual heritage; these saint of old can inspire us to have the faith as they had. We need to have a desire to enter a path of least resistance, by yielding to God, and with this, create forward motion, and with this momentum, be in the Coracle, resting in the vessel, as if resting in the hand of God. Resting in the knowledge that, the current will take us where the Lord would have us be. To start a new, a beginning, of new opportunities, resurrection. This can only be accommodated if we are in the flow of the Holy Spirit’s leading. To function in our gifting and strengths, to be brought to a place of fulfillment, and finding meaning for life, and having a faith purpose.
Be Thou My Vision:
It is about being brought to a place of finding our worth, finding our place of service, having a love of the world and life. And having a love of God, and a love of self, and other fellow pilgrims on the journey. Our Life journey is like being on an actual Pilgrimage of being alongside ordinary people, and finding joy in the moment in our ordinary everyday life.
In tracing our heritage, linage, and ancestry, it is a process of discovery, discovering where it will take you, the thrill of the destination unknown at times, most of the time this is the case in the journey of life. We need not be afraid of the uncertainty of the unknown; see it as being allowed to soar, like that eagle in the wind currents, or like the description of the Holy Spirit described as the wind. “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” John 3:8 of the bible.
Do I want to be blown along by the Spirit, destination unknown? Or as the Celts say: The Wildgoose is leading to allow us to enter the sacred and the good and bad, to teach and mold us into Christlikeness. We need to allow the spiritual director to take control in our lives, the Holy Spirit teaches, inspires, and motivates us to go on forward, bring things to our remembrance, so as to enhance our lives, this is the process the Lord uses toward shaping and forming us, ultimately toward being better people, and like Jesus.
Christ as a light, illumine and guide me. Christ as a light, guide us. Amen.
