A long, cool drink...
Life has been pretty busy recently – we’ve had a Spanish student staying with us for the past month which has meant lots of days out and evening activities too, and before that in June I went to a ‘Roots & Branches’ weekend festival, all about community activism from the roots up, which was amazing and inspiring and really confirmed that the community work I’m doing as a pioneer minister is where positive opportunities for change and growth can be discovered and nurtured…
Since my last blog post, I’ve begun to explore more deeply elements of Christian mindfulness and Celtic spirituality, partly in preparation for ‘Sunday Rest’ - a new monthly evening gathering I’m starting from September which will include mindfulness, reflection, Celtic prayers and contemplation, all based on the natural changes in the seasons month by month - and party due to my own natural curiosity! The idea was also inspired by the Roots & Branches festival, where I saw how people of all faiths and none can connect in a spiritual way with the natural world around us as a way of connecting to something deeper, to something bigger than us, whether or not we would define this as 'God' - and that this very simple and natural way to restore the soul is something we have lost touch with in our modern, fast-paced, activity rich yet spiritually poor way of life.
I joined the mailing list for the Centre of Action and Contemplation, after listening to a podcast by Richard Rohr all about rediscovering the essential wisdom and goodness in each of us through meditation and contemplation. I was hooked! Something about this approach to Christianity, which emphasised our deepest goodness rather than focusing on our inherent failures and sinfulness, was so refreshing!
At the same time, I started reading more about Celtic Christianity which views God as present in every aspect of the natural world and explores what it really means to be made in the image of God, the creator, the divine being, the source of life and light. Yesterday, a new book I ordered arrived, called ‘Christ of the Celts’ by John Philip Newell. I’ve only read the Prelude and half of the first chapter so far but I already love it! It feels like for the first time, I have words to describe my theology, that all of the struggles and doubts and difficulties I’ve had all my life with traditional Christian doctrines like original sin, substitutionary atonement (the belief that Christ died to pay the price for our sin so that we could be forgiven/healed) and salvation for the few rather than the many.
The Celtic Christian approach has an entirely different, and yet connected, view of Christ, God, creation, sin, grace and salvation. Celtic Christian theology believes that the essence of life is Love – it vibrates in the heart of all things. Christ discloses this love to us and so the cross reveals God’s self-giving love and the desire for oneness – for the restoration and healing of all things – rather than somehow needing to appease a vengeful and judgmental God, which flies in the face of all we know deep in our hearts about love and forgiveness. It feels like a long, cool drink – that at last something I’ve been thirsty for my whole life is being satisfied – and I want to just keep drinking it in…!