In uncertain and dangerous days of high infant-mortality rates, leprosy and plagues, the Celts breathed candid prayers out of the reality of their lives: Desperate prayers for protection. Praise for the God who was king over all creation. Honest prayers of confession. In these pages, Miller introduces us to six types of Celtic prayer that can connect us to God more deeply by helping us pray out of the circumstances and uncertainties of our own life.
I wouldn't recommend this book to someone who wasn't very spiritually mature because you need to have discernment when reading through this kind of theology. (There are definitely some things the author discusses that I don't agree with). I also think the writing style leaves something to be desired. But there are some hard-hitting nuggets of truth in there that have helped me in my prayer life.
The premise is that there are 6 different types of prayers that the Celts prayed, and after describing each of them in depth, the author provides an outline for you to fill in with your own thoughts and prayers. The first thing they explain is that the Celts were very in tune with the triune nature of God and would often to pray separately to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. At first I thought that sounded a bit redundant, but Miller made a good point that when we pray today we tend to give the big things to the Father and the personal things to the Son, but pretty much ignore the Holy Spirit. Definitely a challenging thought considering the Holy Spirit is supposed to be a huge part of our connection with God. He also talks about how the Celts would memorize scripture and pray it out loud. This is a practical thing for us to be doing today because it keeps us open to what God wants to say to us through the Word instead of only expecting Him to listen to our requests. The Celts would also go on long pilgrimages where they completely relied upon God to take care of them, and - of course - they went out into nature and worshiped God for His creation. They also focused a lot on confession and how being aware of our sinful nature increased their need and desire for a relationship with God.
The section that hit me hardest in my life right now is what they called "The Lorica" or, in English, the "Breastplate" of God. This stems from the verses that talk about putting on the armor of God for protection. Miller writes about how we often feel like it's a selfish thing to pray for protection and good health, but since the Celts lived in such hard times and had nowhere else to turn for help, they always asked God to look out for them. The common prayer "As I lay my head down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep" was created by them because they were genuinely afraid of not waking up in the morning. The key to the Lorica is that you ask God to take care of you - not for your own comfort - but so that you can go on worshipping Him and serving Him on earth. This was a great encouragement to me because one of the biggest things I struggle with is the fear and uncertainty concerning my health, and having this new form of Christ-centered prayer provides me a wholesome way to address and lift that burden.
As we're getting ready to make this big step into the next phase of our life together, I can echo the words of St. Patrick:
Lord, set me on the rampart.
Give me health enough to live to complete the dream.
1 comment:
The Celtic Christians are definitely fascinating to read about! I've always felt connected to them based on their focus on God as revealed in nature/creation -- I've always felt closer to God when I'm outdoors, reveling in His works! I think we've lost something of the practicality of faith and prayer in this day and age -- we tend to hyper-spiritualize everything, perhaps because we feel it would be too self-centered to pray specifically. I'll never forget one chapel speaker we had here years ago who, replying to someone who thought her prayers for protection for our troops in Iraq weren't being answered because another roadside bomb had just gone off, countered with, "Do you pray that they'll find the bombs?"
I always think of that when I pray now, knowing that God doesn't need me to give Him some high-falluting mumbo-jumbo prayer. No matter what circumstance I'm praying about, I always stop to think first: "pray that they'll find the bombs..."
I think the Celts were really onto this, with all of the practical hardships they faced every single day (i.e. literal fear of dying during the night!). Good to study!
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