Tentpegs

St. Columbanus, a Celtic Christian leader and church planter of the late 6th and early 7th centuries, answered his critics from Rome with “Amor non tent ordinam” (Love does not concern itself with order). The Roman church would go into an area, build its worship place, and then bring the people there up to their standards so that they could become members of that church. The Celts would wander here and there serving people in the name of Jesus. During a period of several hundred years, according to Thomas Cahill in his wonderful How The Irish Saved Civilization, Rome failed to create any new churches while the Celts established scores of them all over Europe… including in Italy!

While the Roman church was noted for its Holy Orders, those orders had strict disciplines attached to them. The style of dress, the prayers and when they were said, what music or chants were allowed, and how they were to make a living… even how and what they were allowed to eat — all were determined by the Order. The Celts, on the other hand, were diverse, spontaneous, and marked only by their constant prayers and referring to God during each and every task. To the Celts, religion was not an “order” but a relationship. I find it fascinating that many in our postmodern world are rediscovering what those early, wandering Christians knew 1500 years ago!

When the Gypsies got to Europe, they told a story that explained their wanderings. Whether that story originated with them or with the church they encountered is an unsettled question of history. The story was that the Tinkers (Irish Travellers) or Gypsies provided the nails — unwittingly — that were used for the crucifixion of Christ and, therefore, they were cursed to roam the earth. Note that roaming the earth was considered a curse… but not to the Celts.

Rather than searching for order, for a pattern for all things, and attempting to make Christianity a legal agreement between God and man, they prayed throughout the day and spoke to God about the task ahead even if it was as simple as lighting a fire to cook a meal. The largest collection of Gaelic prayers, the Carmina Gadelica, is full of prayers about sewing, cooking, walking, waking, etc. Some more modern descendants of those wandering Celts “got it” and added to the prayers of the the wandering church. Among them was Thomas Merton who wrote this prayer:

We are exiles in the far end of solitude, living as listeners,
With hearts attending to the skies we cannot understand:
Waiting on the first far drums of Christ the Conqueror,
Placed like sentinels upon the world’s frontier.

I’ll leave you today with a prayer of blessing on the road. This prayer was written by Mary MacDonald, a crofter on the tiny isle of South Uist.

God be with thee in every pass,
Jesus be with thee on every hill,
Spirit be with thee on every stream,
Headland and ridge and lawn;
Each sea and land, each moor and meadow,
Each lying down, each rising up,
In the trough of the waves, on the crest of the billows,
Each step of the journey thou goest.