A Celtic Community Way of Life

January 12, 2008

Tags: Celtic, Following the Celtic Trail
Posted in: Uncategorized

Following is my project paper from the Following the Celtic Trail trip and course I did in August 07 with Bakke Graduate University. I have to say I’m not as proud of the paper as I’d like to be, but I think it may be helpful to folks out here on the ‘net.

Here ya go:

A CELTIC COMMUNITY WAY OF LIFE

On Holy Island of Lindisfarne, the Celtic Trail students were hearing Ray Simpson speak about his experiences with Community of Aidan and Hilda. In that conversation, Ray told a brief story that deeply impacted me and continues to resonate in my thoughts. It captured my attention in a way that I recognize and trust to be the leading of God. This paper continues to explore that story’s impact on my life.

Introduction

In one of our sessions with Ray at the Open Gate house, the home of the Community of Aidan and Hilda on Lindisfarne, the Community’s Guardian, Ray Simpson told of a young American minister who phoned him to say something to the effect of, “I’m a Baptist minister, I lead a church, I’m happy as a pastor and my church is healthy. But I feel like the Lord is telling me that I need to learn what it means to be a monk. Can you help me understand what that means?”

When Ray told that simple, seemingly innocuous story, I felt like an arrow had been shot into me that I would need to grapple with. I had gone on Following the Celtic Trail wanting to learn more about a spirituality that I relate to, and with plenty of questions about new, lay monasticism. This Trail brought focus to those desires, and it brought a certain amount of more experience and understanding.

As we met representatives of three Celtic monastic communities on the Trail, I sensed a deepening call to these two topics: Celtic Christianity, and monastic spirituality. In many ways, I would say that I have more and deeper questions than I had when I went on the trail.

I am married with two children. Even though I am highly introverted and deeply value my personal time I know that solitary monasticism is not my life’s path. I also know that intentional community – multiple families living in a single dwelling place – is not for my family (especially having tried it semi-intentionally a few times for various reasons). However, I know that there is something to this desire that I feel, and this paper pursues themes on this topic.

In this paper, I will look at Celtic monasticism and Celtic community and reflect upon the ways in which these topics are similar to and different from other spiritual forms that I’ve explored in the past. It is my hope that I can incorporate elements of Celtic spirituality in my own life, and in the life of any Christian community that I serve and lead within.

Following the guidance that the students received from Robert Calvert during the course, I am writing this paper more to discuss my questions and thoughts, and less to radically overhaul my own spiritual life or leadership.

I am writing this paper to a target audience of my family and friends, some of whom have participated in churches that I have led, and some have not. I also write it for the readers of my weblog, many of whom are on similar journeys of faith and leadership in a faith community, and others I connect with for very different reasons.

I am not currently leading a church. I have served on staff as an associate pastor, and then planted a church. The church plant we led was closed nearly a year ago, and I am in a stage of learning and listening, waiting for the voice of God while also continuing on with everyday life and with my studies for BGU’s Doctorate of Ministry program. I occasionally get to speak (preach) in the church my family is part of, or in friends’ churches, and these opportunities have helped me to clarify what I’m continuing to learn as a result of Following the Celtic Trail.

Exploring Celtic Monasticism

The Celtic church is a fascinating organism. Its historical roots have until relatively recently been ignored, but with a cultural interest in all things Celtic has come a renewed interest in Celtic spirituality – pagan, Druidic and Christian, and other varieties as well.

The church in Celtic lands grew rapidly had had a great historical impact, relative to its geographic size, but for the last several hundred years, its influence has been only weakly felt in global Christianity.

Historical Themes of Celtic Monasticism

The Celtic church developed in surprisingly distinctive ways when compared to the better understood, Roman church’s growth. Because of Celtic spirituality’s inherent tendency to seek the good in people, culture and practice, the Celtic Christians were shaped in ways that were very Celtic. A convert to Christianity in the Roman way would have been Romanized – they learned Latin, they worshiped in a Latin liturgy, their church building would have been in the Roman architectural style. A convert to Christianity in the Celtic way retained a sense of place, an identity with the land and Celtic-ness because Celts who were evangelized into the Christian community were allowed to remain Celtic instead of being expected to become Roman.

When Christianity arrived in Celtic lands in the era of Patrick and his disciples, it took root in the shape of a community life that in fact created community and inclusion among and for the surrounding people groups. The social fabric of the Celtic cultures was not distinctly different from that in most of the Roman empire, where villages and towns and cities collected the population. In Celtic lands, towns and cities virtually did not exist in the era of Patrick. Social life was centered on tribal kings, and Christian communities were established at the edge of these tribal villages, growing in a monastic shape. These communities were open, welcoming and benefited the surrounding tribe by educating, creating commerce and acting as training and sanctuary centers as well as worship centers.

In his book Colonies of Heaven, Ian Bradley notes three impacts from this monastic character of the early Celtic church.

“First, it produced a model of ministry that was collegiate and communitarian rather than individualistic.[1]” This allowed a wider range of leadership and often reduced the risk of the community following its leader, rather than the community together following Christ.

Second, Bradley notes “the great variety of types of ministry which it embraced and encompassed[2]”. Rather than a parish form of ministry led by a priest, communities were broadly different in size and consequence, including men and women, singles and married couples across a full range of ages.

“A third striking feature of churches based on a monastic rather than a parochial model of organization was their high level of commitment and discipline. Monasteries are places were people go willingly to live under rules and authority. They are communities of intention [...][3]”. This commitment and discipline produced committed and zealous disciples and missionaries to surrounding cultures.

Celtic monasteries grew in different ways from monastic forefathers in the Egyptian and African deserts. Celtic monasteries were not established to provide radical separation from the world, but to act as equipping centers for people deeply committed to the Christian way of life.

Celtic monasticism was different from what we today normally expect. “There were married and celibate monks, and woman as well as men took the monastic vow. It was not unusual for women to preside over mixed monasteries as St. Hilda did at Whitby and St. Ita at Killeedy in Limerick.[4]”

These monastic communities emphasized a balanced life. Most monastic rules emphasized work, study and prayer in balance. In addition, Celtic communities balanced the inward and outward spiritual impulses. These communities “also had an important role as centers for mission. It was from Iona and Lindisfarne that most of Scotland and the North of England were effectively evangelized.[5]”

We can learn from the early Celtic communities’ approach to the spiritual life and the way that they embedded themselves into, and often created, community among the surrounding peoples. “We need to identify and promote places which can become the bases of the new-style monasteria. At the very least, these need to have facilities for members of the dispersed monastic/ministerial community to meet and pray together. Ideally, they should be places which can also offer hospitality in some form, be developed as educational and resource centers and provide sacred space and sanctuary and the regular rhythm of prayer and worship.” Bradley doesn’t believe that it is realistic to expect that all of these communities are composed of people choosing to live together under the same roof, This may occur, but is not necessary for deep spiritual formation.

Contemporary Celtic Monastics

The three Celtic communities we were exposed to on Following the Celtic Trail (Iona Community, Northumbria Community and Community of Aidan and Hilda) each had monastic flavor or intentionality. Even though they are very different in approach and theological emphases, they had many common threads which stem from being self-consciously Celtic in nature and attempting to live out a Celtic faith in contemporary ways. This paper will examine three communities’ Rules (structured Way of Life), and the ways that each community allows relationship to be built with them.

Iona Community

The Iona Community is a dispersed community with homes in Glasgow and on the island of Iona on the west coast of Scotland. It describes itself this way:

The Iona Community, founded in 1938 by the Rev George MacLeod, then a parish minister in Glasgow is an ecumenical Christian community that is committed to seeking new ways of living the Gospel in today’s world. Initially this purpose was expressed through the rebuilding of the monastic quarters of the mediaeval abbey on Iona and pursued in mission and ministry throughout Scotland and beyond. The Community today remains committed to rebuilding the common life, through working for social and political change, striving for the renewal of the church with an ecumenical emphasis, and exploring new more inclusive approaches to worship, all based on an integrated understanding of spirituality[6].

The Iona Community publishes its Rule on its website. On the page which defines the Community’s Rule, they summarize it this way.

Our five-fold Rule calls us to:

1. Daily Prayer and Bible-reading

2. Sharing and accounting for the use of our money

3. Planning and accounting for the use of our time

4. Action for Justice and Peace in society

5. Meeting with and accounting to each other. [7]

The Community goes on to emphasize its value of action for social justice and for societal peace, including members’ specific commitments to active pursuit of peace and justice.

The emphasis on making peace and pursuing justice is a hallmark for this community. The history of the Iona Community is peppered with stories of these ideals, and its prayers resonate with them as well.

I found a healthy respect for the Iona Community, but I do not believe that I am called to walk the same path as them. In addition, it has been difficult to learn how they allow people to connect with their community, although admittedly I haven’t pursued this to great depth.

Northumbria Community

The Northumbria Community was the faith community which I was most aware of before this trip began. Creators and publishers of the book Celtic Daily Prayer which I have used to guide my prayer occasionally for several years, I first learned about Celtic spirituality’s uniqueness from them. I was disappointed that our Trail didn’t include a visit to their community house, although the brief discussion we had with Roy Searle, one of the community’s leaders, was a highlight of my Trail.

The Northumbria Community’s Rule is available on its website8. There are two elements to the Way for Living: availability and vulnerability. These two elements are lived out in ways that answer these questions which are critical for the Northumbria Community: How then shall we live? Who is it that you seek? How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

The call to be available is lived out in the individual heart in a call to exercise hospitality, prayerfully interceding for others, and participate in Christian mission.

The call to vulnerability is lived out by being teachable in prayer and Scripture, being accountable to others, by being willing to speak out and ask awkward questions to upset the status quo, and living as a church without walls in ways that our faith can be seen, challenged and questioned.

Connecting with Northumbria Community can happen in at least two ways[8]: inviting people to be companions and friends.

Companions of the Northumbria Community are those who seek to “follow a lifestyle of Alone/Together that mutually blesses and encourages one another on the journey.[9]” Connecting with the Northumbria Community begins with a candidate attending a Community Weekend at the Northumbria house, and spending time praying and reflecting upon the possibility of joining the community. The candidate is asked to embark on a process of background reading to understand how the community has grown. If a candidate wishes to continue, they are invited into another retreat with a deeper commitment level. The candidate then can enter into a community covenant, adopt the daily prayer discipline of the community, make a renewal of vows annually and attempt to be in local community as much as possible.

Friends of the community are those who are those who “think positively of [Northumbria Community] and supports the work we seek to do[10]”, and “want to keep in touch, pray for us and with us and be on our mailing list but who as yet have to been drawn to a commitment to the Rule.[11]”

Community of Aidan and Hilda (Lindisfarne)

The Community of Aidan and Hilda has its home on the island of Lindisfarne, in the north eastern coast of England not far from Northumbria Community.

They describe themselves this way on their web site:

The Community of Aidan and Hilda is a world-wide fellowship whose members seek to live out Christianity as a complete way of life. Being wholly available to the Holy Trinity and to the way of Jesus as revealed to us in the Bible, we seek to cradle a spirituality for today:

o weaving together the separated strands of Christianity

o healing the land

o resourcing people

In earthing these aims, we draw inspiration from Celtic saints such as Aidan and Hilda.

The Community of Aidan and Hilda’s Way of Life is described with three “Live-Giving Principles” and ten Elements of the Way.

The Live-Giving Principles are simplicity, purity and obedience. These are general forms of the traditional monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

Each member of the Community of Aidan and Hilda must have an anamchara or soul-friend to help them to apply the Way of Life in their own circumstances. Anamcharas are similar to spiritual directors in that they practice friendship and mentoring by listening for the voice of God in a person’s life, but whereas the spiritual director/directee role is hierarchical, the anamchara is closer to a peer relationship. The soul-friend dynamic is found throughout the literature of Celtic spirituality, and of the three communities that we interacted with, the Community of Aidan and Hilda was the most specific about its use in their community life.

The Ten Elements of the Way are:

1.Life-long Learning - of the Bible, the history of the Celtic church and other topics

2. Spiritual Journey – continued growth in spiritual life, taking regular retreats and making pilgrimages to holy sites

3.A Rhythm of Prayer, Work and Recreation – a commitment to keeping disciplined prayer times, working at paid employment or something that benefits others, and rest and recreation.

4. Spiritual Initiatives Through Intercession – practicing making requests and spiritual warfare through prayer

5. Simple Lifestyle – not practicing denial so much as being open, generous and giving with what we have, and cutting out clutter in our lives

6. Care for Creation – caring for and restoring God’s creation, recognizing that it is a sacrament

7. Healing Fragmented People and Communities – laying on hands to pray for sick people, bringing restoration to communities, and working to heal the land as well

8. Openness to God’s Spirit – allowing ourselves to be led by the Spirit of God and practicing spiritual gifts

9. Unity – not seeing ourselves as primarily within a denomination, but instead as having a primary identity that is in common with all other believers

10. Mission – evangelizing using organic methods and seeking out the poor, powerless and outcasts in society to minister to them

Connecting with Community of Aidan and Hilda happens in well-defined stages, according to their literature.

Explorers are those who “test whether or not the Community membership is for them by living the Way of Life with the help of a soul-friend and taking part in community activities.”[12]

These can choose to take a first set of vows and are now known as First Voyagers, because they are taking what is known in the Community as the First Voyage of the Coracle. The Coracle is a small wooden boat covered by animal hides which was the primary mode of transportation in earlier years. Coracles may be outfitted with oars or sails, but deep in the Celtic consciousness is the theme of being adrift on God’s ocean, going where he wills. Thus, the First Voyage of the Coracle speaks of simplicity and being led by God’s nature.

First Voyagers become Long Voyagers by “making the Way of Life their path, the dispersed Community their family, and their fellow Long Voyagers their brothers and sisters for the rest of their lives. They keep the community’s prayer rhythms at least three times daily, and give transparent account to the guardian during an annual retreat.”[13] Long voyagers can also live as solitaries (Solitary Long Voyagers), or be Monastic Long Voyagers.

Monastic Long Voyagers make deeper commitments to the Way of Life, and “also forgo work, possessions, relationships and commitments that hinder them living for God alone; they observe the prayer patterns four times a day; give surplus income to the community and possessions to others; are either celibate or married to a spouse who supports their vocation; are affirmed by the appropriate authorities in the Church stream to which they belong.”[14]

In addition to these individual commitments to the Community, there are a variety of ways in which groups of people can relate to Community of Aidan and Hilda.

A group of people who live in the same geographic region and who “commit to meet regularly for study, prayer, fellowship and outreach, all of which reflect the Way of Life”[15] are called Regional Groups.

Households who corporately follow the Way of Life intentionally and who have a household soul-friend are recognized by Community of Aidan and Hilda.

Affiliate Churches are churches who “adopt the ethos of the Way of Life; they use the community’s resources, support the community and have a community’s soul-friend”[16].

Sketes are voyagers who live in the same area, and may own or rent common land.

Cell groups meet at least monthly to explore and apply the Way of Life by exploring the structure of the Way together.

The flexibility described in these options is very attractive to me. It shows me that the Community of Aidan and Hilda is open to a wide range of expressions of people living their faith within a local context that may be different from the original Community’s. This means that they recognize that individual and community spiritual lives are shaped in their local neighborhoods and relationships, and I see this recognition as very helpful.

Open Questions

The biggest question that I have at the moment, and which I don’t feel was at all answered during our trip, was what the contemporary difference is between a healthy, functioning missionally-shaped church and a monastic community which isn’t an intentional community (a monastic community in which the members don’t all live together). This distinction is very murky to me, even after visiting these communities, asking questions and doing a large amount of reading.

Similarly, what is the difference between a monk who isn’t solitary or living in monastic community, and a devoted disciple who prays at fixed times?

I ask myself, when I consider my own call, whether I can be a member of a dispersed community and participate in, or lead, my own community? Others do it, but is that feasible for my own life?

The Community of Aidan and Hilda has an American sister community called Aidan Trust which provides a handful of helpful resources for download, in addition to opportunity for networking with like minded individuals.

One of the resources that Aidan Trust’s website provides The Order of St. Aidan, which discusses the ways that one can enter this lay order and compose your personal Way of Life.

Another helpful resource on the same site is A Celtic Model for a Local Church. This document outlines some focal points of a Celtic model for a local community which would be a very interesting, and brief, document to prayerfully discuss with a community as it is establishing its own vision. It is this document that forms the base for the following section of this paper.

Exploring a Celtic Model for a Local Church

I am not currently leading a church. However, I believe that the future quite possible holds that option, and as I’m studying Celtic spirituality, I find myself not just wanting to learn about individual Ways of Life, but to consider which Celtic spirituality markers may be helpful in the cultural setting of my local neighborhood.

I write this section of the paper as a parallel to a previous paper that I wrote for BGU which considered the ways that Benedictine spirituality could influence a missional, suburban church in a culturally progressive and post-religious city. Rather than rewrite introduction sections of that paper for this one, I will direct readers of this paper to that previous one on my weblog.

Overview of Aidan Trust’s Model

A Celtic Model for a Local Church is a brief overview of twelve themes which St. Aidan’s Trust USA, and presumably the Community of Aidan and Hilda in the UK, wish to propose as identity markers for Celtic churches. The paper is introduced with this brief statement:

This paper highlights some focal points of a Celtic model that seem worth exploring further.[17]

Similarly, the paper ends with this wrap-up:

We are keen to facilitate further exploration on the theme of this paper and we welcome contributions[18].

These bookends speak to me of life-long learning and faith as a journey, themselves elements of this Community’s Way. The paper presents a paragraph on the twelve elements identified as part of a Celtic model for local churches.

Thoughts on Elements of the Model

I will summarize this model for Celtic Christian community in my own words.

The first element is Community. In this focus, there is a flattening of the clergy-attendee model, and the church is composed of people with a variety of skills and tasks. This element may or may not also include having an intentional community or monastic house.

The second element is Journey. Programs should come and go from Spirit-led initiatives and not become dead ends. Worship gatherings should include ways to respond to the leading of the Spirit as well. People have not yet arrived at perfection in faith, but are proceeding along their own journey as well.

The Celtic church should have many Access points beyond just its Sunday worship service and the building which holds it. These should provide Christian presence to the community in a variety of ways and feel part of the normal fabric of life in the community.

Hospitality is a key Celtic value. A Celtic church should open the entire church (all rooms) to visitors, and provide food, beds and acceptance to all. Retreat houses and hostels are possible expressions of this value.

The Celtic church should practice Contemplative and combative prayer. This element stresses intercessory prayer – contemplative, silent or not silent, and be open to practicing spiritual warfare and the use of the charismatic gifts.

Celtic churches will incorporate signs and blessings. These are religious symbols and practices which incorporate the creative arts to form sacraments and to “re-kindle a Christian imagination.”[19] Celtic churches practice creativity in arts and in approach.

Celtic worship should reflect history, harmony and humanity. It is reflects the rhythm of the church and natural calendars. It draws upon ancient traditions as sources, and it is deeply embedded in the personal needs of contemporary life.

A Celtic church lives Orthodox Faith but diverse practice. The learning of theology and the doing of it must be retained together – it is not theoretical but real. It expects a variety of styles in its churches.

Celtic churches practice people-friendly patterns of evangelism. It affirms the good in humanity and human interactions, and tells the story of the Good News of God without pressure or unnatural techniques.

These churches will plant roots in the original Christianity of the land. Celtic churches don’t identify themselves as catholic or protestant, but more fully see roots in the Jewish faith, the Eastern desert mystics and monastics, and the early Celtic church as well. It is self-consciously historically rooted.

Celtic churches practice renunciation of power. They are not driven by ego or power, but they practice simplicity and avoid triumphalism. Power is shared among leadership. Success is communal.

Finally, Celtic churches live in Unity with the universal church. They are catholic (with a small ‘c’), non-sectarian and build relationships with other Christian churches.

Summarizing Thoughts

These elements are very similar to what the church that I planted lived by, with a few notable differences. I am struck by how similar they are to the identity markers of the missional church movement, which I deeply identify with. One set of identity markers for the missional church comes from the website “Friend of Missional[20]”.Description of a Missional Church· A missional church is a collection of missional believers acting in concert together in fulfillment of the missio dei.1· A missional church is one where people are exploring and rediscovering what it means to be Jesus’ sent people as their identity and vocation.· A missional church is individuals willing and ready to be Christ’s people in their own situation and place.· A missional church knows that they must be a cross-cultural missionary (contextual) people and adopt a missionary stance in relation to their community.· A missional church will be engaged with the culture (in the world) without being absorbed by the culture (not of the world). They will become intentionally indigenous.· A missional church understands that God is already present in the culture where it finds itself. Therefore, a missional church doesn’t view its purpose as bringing God into the culture or taking individuals out of the culture to a sacred space.· A missional church is about more than just being contextual; it is also about the nature of the church and how it relates to God.· A missional church will seek to plant all types of missional communities.· A missional church is evangelistic and faithfully proclaims the gospel through word and deed. Words alone are not sufficient; how the gospel is embodied in our community and service is as important as what we say.· A missional church understands the power of the gospel and does not lose confidence in it.· A missional church will align all their activities around the missio dei — the mission of God.· A missional church seeks to put the good of their neighbor over their own.· A missional church will give integrity, morality, good character and conduct, compassion, love and a resurrection life filled with hope preeminence to give credence to their reasoned verbal witness.· A missional church practices hospitality by welcoming the stranger into the midst of the community.· A missional church will see themselves as a community or family on a mission together. There are no “Lone Ranger” Christians in a missional church.· A missional church will see themselves as representatives of Jesus and will do nothing to dishonor his name.· A missional church will be totally reliant on God in all it does. It will move beyond superficial faith to a life of supernatural living.· A missional church will be desperately dependent on prayer.· A missional church gathered will be for the purpose of worship, encouragement, supplemental teaching, training, and to seek God’s presence and to be realigned with God’s missionary purpose.· A missional church is orthodox in its view of
the gospel and scripture, but culturally relevant in its methods and practice so that it can engage the worldview of the hearers.· A missional church will feed deeply on the scriptures throughout the week.· A missional church will be a community where all members are involved in learning “the way of Jesus.” Spiritual development is an expectation.· A missional church will help people discover and develop their spiritual gifts and will rely on gifted people for ministry instead of talented people.· A missional church is a healing community where people carry each other’s burdens and help restore gently.

· A missional church will requires that its leaders be missiologists.

There is obvious overlap in these two sets of identity markers. It may be arguable whether each is particularly unique, but the shape and culture of a church following either of these structures (or both) would quite probably be very contrary to contemporary American, evangelical church culture. It is this counter-culturalism which is attractive to me, but more than this, I am attracted by what I sense as more raw, pure, focused faith communities living out a Gospel story which less encumbered by American religious culture.

If I plant another faith community, I will ask our team (whether this means leaders or core group or entire community, I do not know) to study, think and discuss their way through both sets of content.

Where I Want to Go Next

Learn about Orders and Monastic Rules

I’d like to learn about missional orders and monastic rules. In addition to the Aidan Trust’s and Northumbria Community’s Rules discussed above, there are other possibilities as well.

Shortly after our return from the Trail, a missional network named Allelon19 gathered several people to discuss the possibility of a missional order. I was hoping to attend this event, but my work schedule didn’t allow it. I have read much of the writing since that event, and while the topic is still very interesting to me, the gathering itself didn’t appear to make much progress beside just exploring the idea and hearing from people with particular approaches to describe. I would like to continue keeping abreast of developments with Allelon, however.

Create a Personal Way of Life

I am by temperament and practice a disorganized and flighty kind of person. I don’t like a lot of structure in my life, and yet I yearn for some organization. As I’ve participated in monastic communities (on retreat with the Benedictines), and read about other community orders, I feel drawn to these communities’ lifestyles and the way that they approach spiritual formation.

I want to establish my own personal Rule. I like the structure of the Way of Life that the Community of Aidan and Hilda uses, and particularly I like the flexibility that the Community of Aidan and Hilda’s Way of Life encourages – much like the Benedictine Rule, it recognizes that people are on a journey and are in different places on that journey.

I am most attracted to a sense of rhythm in my spiritual life. I enjoy morning prayer that is guided and allows me a sense of connection with the church beyond my room. Although this rhythm continues to be difficult to maintain, I find that morning time prayer is the best way for me to focus my day. A mix of prayer forms helps – sometimes lectio divina, sometimes praying from one of my organized prayer books, sometimes freeform. I find somewhat less benefit at the moment from midday and evening prayer, but I also love the rhythm of compline prayers. I am currently praying through a structured Advent prayer series in order to help establish this form of rhythm.

I also appreciate the way that rhythm is informed by the church season, and so paying attention to the seasons, to feast days and holidays, enables me to see beyond my own circumstances and recognize that I am a part not only of a global church, but a historically rooted church.

Perhaps the most difficult portion of a Way of Life for me to incorporate is the call to simplicity. It probably is my most needed growth area, however. I find that the spiritual discipline of simplicity is a necessary focus with my lifestyle and my work, and I want to create a Way of Life which will help me in this specific area.

Talk to Friends Who Are Abbotts/Monks

I would also like to discuss this topic with friends who see themselves in the Celtic and monastic models how they are shaping their own spiritual practices in order to follow this call. I am considering doing a blog interview series, or perhaps a podcast series based on audio interviews with a handful of these people, some of whom I have met in person, and many who I only know from the Internet.

I am familiar with several people who are Benedictine oblates (lay people who are committed to a Benedictine lifestyle), and another handful who lead or participate in self-described new-monastic communities.

I hope that these conversations will give me insight into the reality of this form of church so that any ways in which I may be either unclear or overly romantic can be corrected. I also believe that these conversations can give me valuable insight into mistakes that I can avoid and ways that I can explore a spiritual life that is off the beaten path in many ways. I believe it is wise to learn from those who have gone before – whether that is by centuries, or by months.

Visit Orthodox Trail

During the Following the Celtic Trail course, fellow student Fr. Mihai Pavel announced that in the summer or fall of 2008, there would be a similar course exploring Eastern Orthodoxy.

Given that there are such close ties between Celtic and Eastern spiritualities, and since the monastic influence is strong in Orthodoxy through today, I would love to attend this Trail. I am still trying to balance that desire against remaining credit requirements with BGU, but I am strongly considering attending that Trail, even if it is only done as an audit. I believe the experience will be extremely helpful as I’m continuing to research for what I believe my doctoral thesis will be.

People I Want to Contact

The Mustard Seed Community in the Seattle area promotes spiritual formation in a variety of forms. In particular, they are teaching workshops and retreats on Celtic spirituality, and pursuing a Celtic monastic community on an island not far from Seattle. I am subscribed to their mailing list, and their most recent update included the following excerpt.

Our Celtic workshop and retreat spurred more interest in development of a Celtic Community on Camano Island. Our planning group is forming an exciting vision for this important tool to expand the work of Mustard Seed Associates.20

When we were in Downpatrick and heard from Roy Searle of Northumbria Community, he mentioned to me a person local to me who is pursuing the same questions I am. As I wrote in my journal above:

I thanked Roy deeply for his time with us. He suggested that I contact Colin Greene, a member of the community who teaches close to me at Mars Hill Graduate School in Seattle, who has been pursuing questions about what it means to be neo-monastic in the suburbs, which is where I live and minister (and feel called to remain) as well.

I will contact Colin either directly, or through a common friend, as I know at least one other person on staff at Mars Hill Grad School.

Because Seattle is such a unique city, I am very much looking forward to talking with Colin and getting to know him better. If he’s been a member of Northumbria community for any time, and is in my geographic area, and teaches at a school that I highly respect, I can imagine that he would be a great journey mate to talk to over coffee or beers.

Summary

The early Celtic monasteries made a deep impact in the spiritual lives of Celtic peoples by practicing highly committed spiritual lives in flexible communities. Their historical impact is remarkable, and the recent resurgence in interest in Celtic spirituality provides an opportunity to learn from the best of these practices and incorporate them into our spiritual journeys today.

I find myself deeply involved in understanding ancient Celtic spirituality, and even more, contemporary Celtic spiritual influences that can shape a healthy walk for my own journey of faith, and for the communities that I am engaged with now and in the future.

[2] Bradley, 6.

[3] Bradley, 8.

[4] Bradley, 71.

[5] Bradley, 74.

[6] Iona Community Main Page, http://www.iona.org.uk/community/main.htm

[7] http://www.iona.org.uk/community/main.htm

[8] http://northumbriacommunity.org/WhoWeAre/whoweareTheRule2.htm

[9] http://northumbriacommunity.org/WhoWeAre/whoweareJourneyingJoining.htm

[10] http://northumbriacommunity.org/WhoWeAre/whoweareJourneyingJoining.htm

[11] http://northumbriacommunity.org/WhoWeAre/whoweareJourneyingJoining.htm

[12] Ray Simpson, A Pilgrim Way (Kevin Mayhew Ltd. 2005), 239.

[13] Simpson, 240.

[14] Simpson, 240.

[15] Simpson, 240.

[16] Simpson, 241.

[17]Resources for Ministry in the Celtic Tradition, A Celtic Model for a Local Church, 1994, 1.

[18]Resources for Ministry in the Celtic Tradition, A Celtic Model for a Local Church, 1994, 4.

[19]Resources for Ministry in the Celtic Tradition, A Celtic Model for a Local Church, 1994, 2.

[20] Friend of Missional, http://www.friendofmissional.org/

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