Themes
Community ~ most expressions of church today have more to do with consumerism than community. Many are looking for a model of church not shaped by either society or medieval models. The Celtic tradition draws heavily on Biblical and Desert Monastic models of community; community is not a mark of the Celtic church, but the mark. Communities are flexible and varied in size, often gathering around a common “Rule of Life”. I am a member of the Northumbria Community, and seek to live by its Rule of “Availability and Vulnerability”. All Rules seek to encourage community members to pray together daily, to live simply and to create unity, to be inclusive, rather than exclusive, to help seekers find Jesus and to grow in relationship with him.
Pilgrimage ~ Celtic thought sees life as a journey. On this journey certain places are significant, they are “thin places”, where God seems closer, places that invite prayer. Just as Jesus was drawn to the desert and the mountain top to spend time alone with God, many find that a journey to a special place becomes a landmark in life, a place of new beginning or of fresh resolve.
Soul Friends ~ if life is a journey, it can be a lonely one. We all need friends
along the way. We all need a mature, experienced Christian, who will walk the road
with us, modelling the life of Jesus. The Celts in Ireland referred to such a person
as an anamchara, a soul friend. They may help us to develop a more Christ-
“A person without a soul friend is like a body without a head.”
Brigid of Kildare
Contemplative lifestyle ~ most evangelical/charismatic prayer is of the intercessory
type, spending time with God in order to ask for “stuff”. Contemplative prayer,
on the other hand, is spending time with God for its own sake, allowing him to set
the agenda. Developing a God-
Rhythm ~ the first Christians and the Celtic believers lived much closer to nature than we do today. They were aware of the rhythm of the seasons, of rites of passage and of tradition. As the church became more urbanised, this link was lost. We need to rediscover the natural rhythms of prayer, work, rest and play. We need to rediscover the power of rites of passage events as ways to draw people closer to God. We need to recapture the great truths of the Celtic Christian tradition and reinterpret them for our own time. I use the Daily Office of the Northumbria Community both as a way of maintaining a rhythm of prayer in my urban environment and as a way of keeping solidarity with other members of my dispersed community.
“Here was a group of Christians who emerged into history ... living out the nearest thing this nation has ever seen to authentic, New Testament Christianity.”
Mark Stibbe