As part of the Berea Celtic Festival, held each year the 3rd weekend in August, Union Church celebrated Celtic spirituality and music in our worship service. We were joined again by Irish harper Jeni Balcom with her daughter Simone Westercamp on fiddle. Many of the songs and prayers were drawn from Christian writers, new and ancient, from the Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and Brittany. In exploring the deep connection with nature that Celtic Christians always affirmed, Pastor Kent reflected on the “grit” it takes to be earthy and faithful in world of violence and suffering. Here is the prayer offered in the service by worship leader Larry Brandenburg. This prayer comes from the Isle of Iona and was (very slightly adapted) from prayers written by the Iona Community, a diverse and dispersed community of deep spirituality steeped in social justice.
O God of Grit and Grace, you are the creator of the high heavens; you are the creator of the deep seas; you are the creator of the stable earth. We know you to be the God of all peoples, that you created our souls and set their warp, that you created our bodies and gave them breath, made in your own image. We give you our worship with our whole lives. We give you assent with our whole power, we give you our existence with our whole mind, we give you our kneeling with our whole desire. Kindle in our hearts-within a flame of love to our neighbor, to our foes, to our friends, to our kindred all. Christ of the poor and yearning, from the humblest thing that lives to the name that is highest of all, kindle in our hearts-within a flame of love.
–A prayer from Iona, Scotland, very slightly adapted from
The Iona Abbey Worship Book
Watch the Full Service here:
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