DAY 14

Image by Marnie Jill

St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

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A GREETING
Every day, O God, you ordain your love toward me,
and during the night you bring me your song.
(Psalm 42:8)

A READING
Like a stag, a doe,
longing for streams of cool water,
my whole being longs for you, my God.
My soul aches with thirst for God,
for a god that lives!
When can I go and see God face to face?
(Psalm 42:1-2)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
“Why so dispirited?” I ask myself. “Why so churned up inside? Hope in God!”
I know I’ll praise God once again,
for you are my Deliverance;
you are my God.
(Psalm 42:5)

A REFLECTION
I also know that often what I need is simply the energy to keep going, help to carry me along in times of tiredness, grayness, apathy, and drift. Here, in the very form of the words themselves and in the texture of the verses, I find that I am given the sense of a vibrant and life-giving force into which I can tap. The high-king might light his fire, but the fire of St. Patrick is the new fire of Easter, the new light of Christ...
The sheer physicality of the Celtic tradition is indeed one of its greatest strengths for me. Because the Celtic understanding of the incarnation is deeply physical, fleshly, this then allows me to accept more fully the idea of my own humanity as also so totally physical.
- from The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination
by Esther de Waal

THE ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE PRAYER
(Part 6)
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye of every one who sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
- from a literal translation by Kuno Meyer

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"A Legend of St. Patrick," by Briton Riviere (1877)

There is a story about Patrick and the Breastplate Prayer which Esther de Waal tells in the book we have quoted several days in a row, "The Celtic Way of Prayer." In the story, Patrick and his community of brothers were on their way to a confrontation with the area king who was furious at Patrick for continuing to kindle a fire when all the fires had been requested to be extinghished, but the king's. Summoned to his presence in the court, the men set out, convinced they would be killed. As they walked through a woods, they recited the prayer to give themselves courage. Meanwhile, the king's men who waited to ambush them saw a mother deer and her calves passing through, instead of the monks. In another story, Patrick was drawn to a particular place to build his monastery. As he was scouting the location with others, he found a hind deer and its calf who refused to move. While the others prepared to kill it, he carried the calf on his shoulders and the hind followed him to where he released them in a woods. This is part of why Patrick is often associated with a deer and with Psalm 42 in particular.

In The Inclusive Bible version of the psalm, there is a particular emphasis on the desire for "a God who lives!" Like other psalms we have dwelled with this week, this psalm holds both despair and hope; frustration, futility -- and the eager longing for renewal. The psalm implores God to become somehow manifest in ways that are located in the body -- so that the body no longer thirsts or feels overwhelmed by a crushing wave. As Esther de Waal tells us, the Celtic tradition is to feel everything in the body, just as those who lived in the ancient world also did.

The story of the weeks before the start of the traditional Advent season is one in which we remember what Jesus' birth and death signify and hold hope in the knowledge of what the coming again of Jesus promises, which is a renewal of all things in him. Whatever rulers hold power in our own time, Jesus is the ultimate ruler: in an era when speaking truth to power means resisting self-made human kings, we hold fast to the truth that Jesus always reigns, and that building the kindom of God on earth requires following in the footsteps of the Jesus who loves justice.

As we come into the church calendar season of Advent, and continue to celebrate Celtic Advent, what are the justice issues that you most hold in your heart that you bring before the incarnate Jesus? If Christ is in all things, what does it mean to you that Christ will also become human?

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Image by Mozzer Cork

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
The next devotional day will be Monday, December 1.

†

LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 13

Image by Giuseppe Milo

St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

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A GREETING
When I was in trouble, I called to you, O God,
and you answered me.
(Psalm 120:2)

A READING
I lift my eyes to the mountains—
from where will my help come?
My help comes from you God,
who made heaven and earth!
You won’t let our footsteps slip:
our Guardian never sleeps.
(Psalm 121:1-3)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Now I know your word is a lamp for my steps,
for the path just ahead of me.
(Psalm 119:105)

A REFLECTION
When I read the breastplate and make it my own prayer on my journey, I find that while it is a desperate entreaty, a cry for help, it also carries a great feeling of confidence that the powers that I invoke will come to my aid. And while I call upon the majesty of the Creator God and all the forces of the angelic hosts of heaven, I also call upon the tenderness and the nearness of the person of Christ. So in the lorica I swing between the two poles of distance and immediacy, between the God who is remote and awesome and the God whom I can actually touch and feel and who is immediately close to me.
- from The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination
by Esther de Waal

THE ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE PRAYER
(Part 5)
From snares of devils,
From temptation of vices,
From every one who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in a multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and those evils,
Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets...
- from a literal translation by Kuno Meyer

VERSE OF REASSURANCE
For the sake of my family and friends,
I say, “Peace be within you!”
(Psalm 122:8)

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"Macauley Plains," (1907/8)
by Sophie Pemberton

Today's near-final verses of the Breastplate Prayer sound like they could be from the book of Psalms. In them we hear the honest and plaintive voice of Patrick naming his deepest fears. How much can we relate to these insecurities? How much do we worry over things we've said, or struggle with habits and addictions we don't know quite how to get on top of?

These verses come just before tomorrow's encircling images of the Christ who is with us in all directions. But we're not there yet. The 'walking the rounds' of yesterday in this part of the prayer is the pacing of things going round and round one's mind, stirring up emotions. It is not yet the confident walk of slow and meditative practice. Today's verses represent those deepest hours of uncertainty and anxiety, when we feel the most alone and unable to cope with life's challenges. These moments call to mind Jesus in the garden, longing for his friends to stay awake, even as he knows what lies before him.

Today's music also holds that loss and longing: it conveys the vision of a very deep sense of promise. The song names one by one the images of hope and restoration that the singer(s) long to share with loved ones. Later in the video, as Jacob Collier leads the audience in spontaneous harmonies, we see just how easy it can be to come together.

The Christian dream of restoration is a collective one. We need all of the parts of the body of Christ in order to be able to build the kindom. We need the neurodivergent folks and the people with invisible and visible disabilities. We need the ones who wait at street corners for your spare change, and the ones who lie asleep in front of shops with no sign or request. We need the people whose gender is not one you immediately recognize and understand but whose beating heart is smiling at you. We need the voices of the parents who are burying children lost in armed conflicts; we need the voices of the children who don't want to die. We need the more-than-human ones also. We need the animals and the plants and the rocks and the trees.
The kindom of God belongs to us all.

How can preparing for the coming of Jesus include staring down our deepest fears? How much do we believe that God is there in every moment?

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Image by Giuseppe Milo

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 12

Image by Bernd Thaller

St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

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A GREETING
God, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive to my voice, my cries for mercy.
(Psalm 130:2)

A READING
So I wait for you, O God—
my soul waits,
and in your word I place my trust.
My soul longs for you, O God,
more than sentinels long for the dawn,
more than sentinels long for the dawn.
(Psalm 130:5-6)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Put your hope in God,
for with God is abundant love and the fullness of deliverance.
(Psalm 130:7)

A REFLECTION
As I place my feet upon the earth, is it not a shared, reciprocal relationship? I treat the ground with reverence, but the ground also nurtures me. The Celtic way of seeing the world never lets me forget my relationship with the earth. For the Celtic peoples, God is “the Lord of the Elements” the name that St. Columba gave him. The strong sense of creation and of the presence of the Creator, of the unity that binds together heaven and earth, of men and women and the nonhuman, is something to which I am drawn back time and again, and for which I remain profoundly grateful.
- from The Celtic Way of Prayer: The Recovery of the Religious Imagination
by Esther de Waal

THE ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE PRAYER
(Part 4)
I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me:
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak to me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's host to save me.
- from a literal translation by Kuno Meyer

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Murmuration of starlings off the Aberystwyth Promenade in Wales.
Video capture by John Davies, found on Instagram at @ajohndavies_photography
Starlings move as a group through patterns of circling, 
taking a cue from each member of the flock.



Psalm 130 is a short hymn of longing to move from night into day, from a feeling of hopelessness into the certainty of God's embrace. Its verses read and feel like the rhythmic pacing of someone 'on watch,' or keeping vigil. The psalmist is acutely aware of their own inability to meet life without God's help, and at the same time there is a deep trust in God's abiding love.

In the last weeks of the church calendar, our readings often call us into wakefulness and being in ethical and right relationships with each other. We are reminded that it is through this way of being that we embody hope and help to fulfill that which Jesus came to establish. At the end of the church year, we are reminded of the Jesus who will return to us as we prepare to meet the Jesus who became incarnated and was born and lived among us. We are reminded that a kindom of God on earth cannot exist without being in community with each other.

Today's music is offered by the Kanneh-Mason family of musicians, each of whom is a proficient soloist (often on multiple instruments) in their own right. They are playing an old Welsh tune that describes the sadness of being parted from loved ones while awaiting a time of reunion. A family member can be like each itemized aspect of the way Patrick speaks of how God accompanies him: there is someone who has wisdom, someone who listens well, someone who protects, someone who guides. God is all of these things, but God works through our family members to help us have what we need. We bind unto ourselves our families.

On the other hand, families are not always there for us. Sometimes family members miss the chance to be with us through negligence or intentionally turning away. Sometimes family members betray us and sometimes they simply vanish, leaving us lonely. Families can be dysfunctional and disappointing. The family of Jesus is unable to stop what happens to him. The disciples, a chosen family, cannot prevent his Crucifixion either. Some stay with him through his ordeal; others flee.

In the excerpt from her book that started a revival of Celtic Christianity, Esther de Waal offers us the understanding that Creation is also our family. Creation holds us up, protects us, offers us wisdom. We can turn our back on that wisdom, exploit it, neglect it, or we can embrace how much we are a part of it. Her writings illuminate the sacred in every day life, especially routines that interact with the earth and offer hospitality to others. She writes that we can experience the sacred in the routine parts of every day life by remembering the sanctity of the place in which we dwell and by weaving prayer into everything that we do. Her books helped give rise to the New Monasticism movement of Christianity, in which people lived in intentional communities with each other (whether grouped in the same place or in larger settings), observing Benedictine practices and returning to some of the wisdom of the mystics.

Today's part of Patrick's prayer describes how much Patrick feels every part of himself being held by God. He is both solitary and enfolded by God. These verses begin the movement toward an image and rhythm of encircling that will continue throughout the rest of the prayer. The Celtic practice of 'walking the rounds,' imitating a spiral shape of moving closer to something by circling it ever nearer and nearer its center, embodies the belief that God is with us in all ways.

How can we be more awake to the divine that surrounds us? How much can we be encouraged to see the sacred in routine parts of everyday life?

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Image by Bernd Thaller

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

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LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 11

Image by Greg Clarke

St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

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A GREETING
How good it is to praise our God!
How pleasant and how fitting to sing God’s praise!
(Psalm 147:1)

A READING
Sing to our God with thanksgiving;
sing praise with the harp to our God—
who covers the heavens with clouds,
who provides rain for the earth,
who makes grass sprout on the mountains
and herbs for the service of the people,
who gives food to the cattle,
and to the young ravens when they cry.
God does not thrill to the strength of the horse,
or revel in the fleetness of humans.
The Lord delights in those who worship with reverence
and put their hope in divine love.
(Psalm 147:7-11)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
God heals the brokenhearted, and binds up their wounds.
(Psalm 147:3)

A POEM PRAYER
I want to witness Earth’s slow turning
with early light brushing over me,
a hundred hues
of grey, pink, gold,
speckles of Jackson Pollock light,
then ribbons of mist floating
like white streamers of surrender.

I want to look back down the trail
as if over my past, forgive a thousand tiny
and tremendous transgressions
because now all that matters
is how small I feel under the sky;
even the sparrow hawk takes no notice of me,
how enlarged I feel by knowing this smallness.

I want to be like St. Patrick,
climb the holy mountain full of
promise and direction and knowing,
forty days of fasting aloft among clouds

until my body no longer hungers
and something inside is satisfied
and my restless heart says here,
no longer dreaming of other peaks.
- A poem by Christine Valters Paintner, from The Soul's Slow Ripening:
12 Celtic Practices for Keeping the Sacred. 

THE ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE PRAYER
(Part 3)
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendour of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.
- from a literal translation by Kuno Meyer

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"A Coming Storm in the Adirondacks" (1879)
by Homer Watson

The 'lorica' prayer of St. Patrick calls on God for protection in a time of great vulnerability, but it also calls to God for strength in the day-to-day. In today's excerpt, Patrick is invoking the most essential elements of Creation and seems to be spiritually inhaling their gifts to strengthen him for his challenges. Remembering the 'I bind unto myself' of some translations of the Irish, it seems as if Patrick is putting on Creation like the breastplate itself, binding Creation to himself.

Although these are just images and metaphors for the very real power of God's will at work in our lives, we can also feel in today's reading, in the prayer excerpt and in Christine Valters Paintner's poem that Creation itself has unpredictability and differing ranges of power. Patrick invokes the light of the sun, not its scorching heat; he seeks the swiftness of the wind, not its power to uproot and destroy. We know that sometimes Creation 'binds' itself in ways that are helpful and unhelpful. Last week, we heard from Diana Beresford-Kroeger about how the roots of trees interact and communicate to the mutual benefit of the whole forest. But we also know that Creation can bind itself in challenging ways. Anyone who has watched a rapidly spreading cucumber vine take over and strangle a pre-existing tree has witnessed the problem. We call such botanical life 'invasive species' and campaign to get rid of it, pulling and uprooting the evidence wherever we see it. We as stewards of our own garden spaces make our own decisions about what is invasive. How does it impact our practices to remember that Christ is in the cucumber vine too, no matter its activity?

As a part of nature ourselves, we know that we too have challenges, behaviours and tendencies that thwart our own growth and our own ability to succeed in building the kindom of God. Prayer and worship are ways in which we work on that, alongside other resources and practices for increasing our own spiritual wellbeing. Patrick seems to be saying that Creation exists primarily to help, heal and hold up each other as species. We have the capacity to 'bind up wounds,' those of ourselves and those of others', as we hear in the meditative prayer. Prayer helps us to live with our shadow selves, while also reminding us of God's abundant presence amid the whole of who we are.

How can you love the challenging aspects of yourself, while working to keep them from thwarting your spiritual growth? How much are you aware of God's love for the whole of who you are?

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Image by Greg Clarke

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

†

LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 10

Image by Luca Sartoni

St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

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A GREETING
Answer me, O God, for your steadfast love is good.
(Psalm 69:16)

A READING
“Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:28-30)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
From the end of the earth I call to you, when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
(Psalm 61:2)

A REFLECTION
I find [Patrick's] story intriguing. Here was a man enslaved, who escaped by divine intervention, and then heard the call to return to the land of his slavery—and he went willingly... There are churches founded by Patrick in the area around Galway. One of my favorite sites is Inchagoill island on Lough Corrib, just a few miles north of us. Legend tells us that Patrick was banished here for a time by local Druids. The name of the place means “island of the stranger.” The island is now uninhabited, but there is a stone church at the site where Patrick’s fifth-century wooden church would have been...
Seeking out this strangeness and exile was at the heart of the monastic call. In going to the places that make us feel uncomfortable and staying with our experience rather than running away, they cracked themselves open to receive the Spirit in new ways.
- from The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Keeping the Sacred,
by Christine Valters Paintner

THE ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE PRAYER
(Part 2)
I arise today
Through the strength of the love of the Cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of archangels,
In the hope of the resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In prediction of prophets,
In preaching of apostles,
In faith of confessors,
In innocence of holy virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.
- from a literal translation by Kuno Meyer

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Celtic Tree of Life wire sculpture, by Jeanette Hibbert
.

The first words of today's and yesterday's excerpt from the Breastplate Prayer, are Irish words that are translated here as "I arise today." Among scholars, some believe the first verb should be translated differently, as "I bind unto myself today." What does it mean to 'bind' the self to God?

Yesterday, we heard how the 'lorica' prayer asks God to shield us from that which we fear is coming. In today's reading we hear an invitation to instead give our deepest fears, concerns and lived challenges to Jesus, to hold. Jesus takes on the yoke and burden of being bound to us, and we bind ourselves to him, in faith. Is this what Patrick means?

Images of being bound make us deeply uncomfortable. We can easily bring to mind prisoners and captives of war, those who have been held hostage and those in forced labour. Patrick himself was enslaved for much of his life. Why would he reach for images of 'binding' in his prayer? Wouldn't he prefer to imagine freedom?

Perhaps he is thinking of how Jesus talked about the yoke. The Greek word is ‘pra-us,’ which conveys a meaning of ‘mild’ or gentle’ but also has the cadence of ‘strength under control’ and even ‘showing power without harshness’. Jesus’ words are holding both that sense of authority as well as burdened suffering. Patrick perhaps felt Jesus walking with him and helping him in his work as an enslaved shepherd and then later as a free man with a monastic community in Ireland.

How can we bind ourselves to hope, knowing that having hope is an act of faith? How can we help Jesus carry our burdens, by helping to carry those of others?

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Inchagoill Isle. Image by Heribert Bechen

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Scripture passages are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.

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LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 9

Image by Gitta Zahn

St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer

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A GREETING
You, O Lord, are a shield around me,
my glory, and the one who lifts up my head.
(Psalm 3:3)

A READING
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
(Psalm 18:1-2)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
When my spirit is faint, you know my way.
(Psalm 142:3)

A REFLECTION
In the Celtic monastic tradition, a lorica is a type of prayer seeking protection, invoking the power of God to safeguard us against darker forces. The word lorica means “shield” and would originally have been a Druidic prayer engraved by soldiers on shields and breastplates as they went into battle... Likely the [breastplate] prayer is rooted in the precarious sense we often have of our own existence...These can be powerful prayers when we acknowledge our own places of woundedness and ask for protection from the inner struggles we all face. It becomes an unhealthy practice when we see all the evil forces as “out there” and don’t claim our own shadow work. This is rooted in a profound sense of our fragility as human beings.
- from The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Keeping the Sacred,
by Christine Valters Paintner

THE ST. PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE PRAYER
(Part 1)
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through belief in the threeness,
Through confession of the oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.

I arise today Through the strength of Christ's birth with His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension.
(From a literal translation by Kuno Meyer)

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Icon of St. Patrick, by Marcy Hall
found on AbbeyoftheArts.com

This week, we will pray with the entire St. Patrick's Breastplate Prayer, breaking it up into parts so that we can reflect more deeply on it. The prayer will also allow us to reflect on some of the themes that are present in the last three weeks of a traditional pre-Advent church calendar when we remember the past, present and future of Jesus as a shepherd, and one whose truth reigns through his endurance in all things.

At the same time, we will continue our reflection on contemporary saints, living and recently gone, whose work fosters deep hope in our world. To accompany us this week, we turn to the work of Christine Valters Paintner, an American Benedictine Oblate and spiritual writer who makes her home in Ireland where she has founded an online ministry and worldwide community known as Abbey of the Arts. Calling herself an Online Abbess, Paintner brings her Benedictine formation alongside a deep respect and ongoing passion for Celtic spirituality, often partnering with Irish and international writers, artists, musicians and dancers to dive deeply into themes of Celtic Christianity, through online courses and live webinars. She has written and spoken frequently about Patrick.

Patrick is by far the most famous of Irish Christian monks and yet his early relationship to Ireland was difficult at best. He was born and grew up in the west part of England where, at the age of 16, he was captured and enslaved by Irish slave traders and brought to Ireland where he was forced to tend to sheep. He was already Christian but it was during the time of being enslaved that his faith deepened. When he managed to escape and return to England he was recaptured and enslaved again, then escaped again. It was at this point that he began to wonder if perhaps the will of God was for him to actually remain in Ireland. Therefore, when he became a free man he returned by his own will and is credited with being one of the principal founders of Christianity in Ireland. His life was a profoundly difficult one, in part because of his generous and deeply felt sense of inclusion for everyone and everything. He worked to build good relationships with the non-Christian Irish as well. He strove to end slavery in Ireland and was a great supporter of the vocation of women. For these convictions and more, he was often on the edge of martyrdom.

The "Breastplate prayer," as Paintner tells us, is a 'lorica,' a prayer asking for shielding or protection. In prayer, we sometimes ask God or Jesus to shield us from the challenging circumstances or outcomes we most fear. As we will see, Patrick's lorica prayer is also a declaration of accompaniment, of knowing and feeling God's presence with him. In our own lives, how can we transform our desire for God to protect us from bad times into an invitation to be present before, during and after they may take place? How might this change how we live in the present moment?

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Image by Terry Ballard

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Scripture passages are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.

†

LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 8

Image by David Berry

†

The Ancestors of Jesus:
Mary



A GREETING
Smile on your faithful one;
save me in your love!
(Psalm 31:16)

READINGS
...Jacob begot Joseph, the husband of Mary.
And from her Jesus was born...
(Matthew 1:16)

My soul [magnifies] your greatness, O God,
  and my spirit rejoices in you, my Saviour.
For you have looked with favour
upon your lowly servant,
and from this day forward
all generations will call me blessed.
For you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,
and holy is your Name.
Your mercy reaches from age to age
for those who fear you.
You have shown strength with your arm;
you have scattered the proud in their conceit;
you have deposed the mighty from their thrones
and raised the lowly to high places. 
You have filled the hungry with good things,
while you have sent the rich away empty.
(Luke 1:46-53)

MUSIC
Sung in Medieval Latin, this song by Hildegard of Bingen, the 12th century mystic, 
describes Mary as the 'greenest branch,' from whom all goodness flows. 
"And, because of you, nourishment is given to the human family 
and great rejoicing to those gathered round the table."


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
The eyes of God look on those who stand in reverence,
on those who hope in God’s love.
(Psalm 33:18)

A REFLECTION
It was clear that everything in the natural world possessed innate value and was owed the same duty of care I granted myself and the people I held dear. This belief, that a person should love others and nature as much as they loved themselves, was at the very heart of Celtic philosophy. It had been drilled into me with every lesson. I can say now, after years of looking through eyes tinted with gorse, heather and sea breeze, that I can imagine no more fulfilling and joyful way of seeing the world.
- from To Speak for the Trees: My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest, 
by Diana Beresford-Kroeger

VERSE OF THE DAY
Wait for God—stand tall and let your heart take courage!
Yes, wait for God!
(Psalm 27:14)

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"Sunset," by Erika Pochybova-Johnson

Throughout this week we have focused on the ancestors of Jesus, the roots of his family tree.

Roots are the fundamental part of a tree's structure, stretching as deep into the Earth as its branches reach into the sky. The roots of a tree act like the neural network of ecosystems, connecting a single form of botanical life to many others. When we pull something up by its roots, we watch the feathery bits drop down and seem to go on forever. Or if we are transplanting pots, those roots have curled up into an internal nest, making concentric circles of winding and searching out nutrients.

Our human ancestors have believed themselves to be superior to these ecological systems which God created. Much of the time they have acted with wisdom and great stewardship. And at other times they have shown neglect and extreme exploitation.

It can be hard to believe that we are those roots for the generations to come. In her book Speaking to the Trees, Diana Beresford-Kroeger describes the moment when the root of an Irish oak tree was discovered by her uncle in the bog near where she grew up in County Cork, Ireland. This discovery was double-edged for her as it offered a beautiful remnant of what had been lost to the colonizing end oppressive forces of the English on the Irish. On the other hand, it represented a life that had been preserved.

When Mary said yes to God's request to carry Jesus, she was making a decision for the world to come. She was understanding her place as an ancestor, as someone who was the root of all of those who would follow in the footsteps of her son.

Where are we establishing the roots of faith with others? What can we do to make sure those roots grow into thriving communities?

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The East side of Point Pelee contains many trees which have
collapsed due to rising water levels. As they fall, they
expose their root systems. (Image by Sherry Coman)

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.
The next devotional day will be Monday, November 24th.


†

LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 7

Image by Jason Boldero

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The Ancestors of Jesus:
Bathsheba

A GREETING
I am like a green olive tree in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God for ever and ever.
(Psalm 52:8)

A READING
...And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah,
and Solomon the father of Rehoboam.... (Matthew 1:6b-7a)

So Bathsheba went to the king in his room. The king was very old; Abishag the Shunammite was attending the king. Bathsheba bowed and did obeisance to the king, and the king said, “What do you wish?” She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the Lord your God, saying, ‘Your son Solomon shall succeed me as king, and he shall sit on my throne.’ But now suddenly Adonijah has become king, though you, my lord the king, do not know it. The eyes of all are on you to tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
(1 Kings 1:15-18;20b)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
The woods and every fragrant tree have shaded the people at God’s command.
(Baruch 5:8)

A REFLECTION
We are all woodland people. Like trees, we hold a genetic memory of the past because trees are parents to the child deep within us. We feel that shared history come alive every time we step into the forest, where the majesty of nature calls to us in a voice beyond our imaginations. But even in those of us who haven’t encountered trees in months or even years, the connection to the natural world is there, waiting to be remembered.
- from To Speak for the Trees: My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom
to a Healing Vision of the Forest by Diana Beresford-Kroeger

A VERSE FOR THE DAY
They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season,
and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper.
(Psalm 1:3)

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AN IMMERSIVE WALK


Although they are thousands of years apart from each other in time, the advocacy of Bathsheba for her son to be king and the powerful witness of Diana Beresford-Kroeger for the boreal forest, hold a similar passion: a desire for a tomorrow full of the promise of new life. Bathsheba's story as told in 2 Samuel and 1 Kings is framed by her relationship to King David and the lengths he went to in order to have her. She has experienced abuse and trauma from the forced separation from her husband who is killed by David. But hidden in the story is Bathsheba's own determination to keep the House of David alive, by ensuring that Solomon comes to power.

On the other side of time, Diana Beresford-Kroeger speaks of forests that hold "genetic memory," referring perhaps to the way that the rings of trees offer scientists historical record of previous ecological challenges like drought or fire. In To Speak for the Trees, she writes about the ways in which trees convey knowledge to each other, transferring their embodied memory. She teaches us that like Jesus, Creation itself has ancestors.

Both women have confronted power: Bathsheba stands up to her husband the king; Beresford-Kroeger confronts corporate power to speak out about deforestation and unsustainable logging. Implicit in the stories of both women are the significance of the body, whether human or ecological: to carry life and to hold memory and communicate wisdom.

To be an ancestor means to take responsibility for the future. How will the Christ that is in all things endure if we allow environmental deterioration? What is the role you will play in helping to secure future generations?

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†

Scripture passages are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.

†

LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 6

Image by Pai Shih

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The Ancestors of Jesus:
Tamar


A GREETING
I bless the Lord, who gives me counsel;
in the night also my heart instructs me.
(Psalm 16:7)

READINGS
....and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar,
and Perez the father of Hezron...

As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “It was the owner of these who made me pregnant.” And she said, “Take note, please, whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.” 26 Then Judah acknowledged them and said, “She is more in the right than I.
(Genesis 38:25-26a)

MUSIC


A MEDITATIVE VERSE
Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
my body also rests secure.
(Psalm 16:9)

A REFLECTION
I was told I would be the last child from the Brehon world, from the ancient world of Ireland. And I was told to bring the message of the ancient world into you. And the time is now. I was told at the time now that the world would be in very bad shape. It would be heating up, and there would be a lot of floods. And the ancient wisdoms — not necessarily the knowledge — but the ancient wisdoms of the Celtic world were important to discuss with all of you now. And... I’m here. I’ve done it, and I’ve written all these books, and it has happened.
- Diana Beresford-Kroeger, speaking to a climate conference hosted by The New York Times
October, 2022. You can watch the interview here.

VERSE OF THE DAY
You show me the path of life.
In your presence there is fullness of joy.
(Psalm 16:11)

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"November evening in a Welsh wood (1885-95)
by James Thomas Watts

The bible includes many moments when women have been both carriers of wisdom and carriers of story. Tamar continues the example of Jesus’ women ancestors who survived through their own courage and faith. Betrayed by her father and brother-in-law after her husband’s death, Tamar contrives to carry the child of the patriarch Judah, thereby ensuring her future and the continuation of the Davidic line. Without her tenacity Jesus would not have been born into the family he has.

Courage, and perseverance in a patriarchal culture, belong also to Dr. Diana Beresford-Kroeger, an Irish climate scientist, biochemist, botanist, and more who has made her home near Ottawa, Ontario for the past several decades. Her life work has been studying, working in and building up the boreal forests of her region that have the capacity to be restorative of a carbon-filled atmosphere. She has also catalogued much of the world’s tree seeds in order to preserve them. In recent years, as we have finally begun to talk about climate and ecological degradation, her voice has become a prophetic one, attracting writers and celebrities, scientists and analystis. In all of these connections with others, she demonstrates a profound spirituality about nature.

In today's reflection, we hear her own account of her childhood. Her deepest influence has been an Irish childhood exposure to Celtic culture and the laws of Brehon, a medieval Celtic legal system that seeks to preserve the land as it was meant to be. It has much in common with Indigenous knowledge and in its time was often led by women.

Diana Beresford-Kroeger's use of words and language is part of how she expresses her life's passion. Her books are how she has communicated that passion with the world. “That is what a forest does for you every day: it farms the sun,” she says in another interview. The forest draws the carbon out of the air and cycles it into oxygen. Her words speak to the essential cycle of how life becomes renewed.

Over the next few days we will continue to explore Dr. Beresford-Kroeger's witness to the boreal forests of our world. How do forests hold the promise of new life -- in any season? Where can you walk in one today?

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Image by SC

†

Scripture passages are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition.

†

LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!

DAY 5

Image by Justin Kern

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The Ancestors of Jesus:
Jacob


A GREETING
To you, O God, I lift up my soul.
(Psalm 25:1)

READINGS
Isaac begot Jacob; Jacob begot Judah and his sisters and brothers...
(Matthew 1:2)

In the course of the night, Jacob arose, took the entire caravan, and crossed the ford of the Yabbok River. After Jacob had crossed with all his possessions, he returned to the camp, and he was completely alone. And there, someone wrestled with Jacob until the first light of dawn. Seeing that Jacob could not be overpowered, the other struck Jacob at the socket of the hip, and the hip was dislocated as they wrestled. Then Jacob’s contender said, “Let me go, for day is breaking.” Jacob answered, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”
(Genesis 32:22-26)

MUSIC
Sung in Irish, the lyrics are discussed in the write-up below.


MEDITATIVE VERSES
Turn to me, be gracious to me,
for I am lonely and anguished.
How heavy are the troubles of my heart!
Free me from my distress!
(Psalm 25:16-17)

A REFLECTION
As bees gather honey, so do we reap the sweetness from everything and build God. Even with the trifling, with the unseemly (when it comes by way of love), we begin with labor and with rest, with silence or with a small, solitary joy, with everything that we do alone, without comrades and without assistance. We begin Him whom we will not experience—any more than our ancestors were able to experience us. And thus they, these ancient ones, are for us as ground, as legacy, as our coursing blood, as a birthing that arises from the depths of time. What could ever take from you the hope of being at last in Him, the farthest, the ultimate?
- from Letters to a Young Poet: A New Translation and Commentary
by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Joanna Macy and Anita Barrows

VERSE OF THE DAY
May integrity and uprightness protect me,
for you are my only hope.
(Psalm 25:21)

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"Ocean waves," by Hokusai. (1833)

In today’s music, Zoë Conway and John Mc Intyre sing a song based on a poem by Irish poet Máirtín Ó Direáin that dreams of a place where the soul can be at peace and at rest. The poet (and the singer) imagine “solace,” on a “sea island” that feels like home. The song reminds us that when we are feeling ‘out of season’ with our lives, praying with nature is a good way to restore us to who we are.

At the same time, we can remember that we ourselves are also nature. We cannot be separated from what is around us: it is a part of us and we are a part of it. Rainer Maria Rilke was an early 20th century Austrian poet who wrote passionately in both poetry and prose about how the soul wrestles, and finds peace, with God. Over several volumes of translation, Joanna Macy and Anita Burrows came to appreciate how much he understood the relationship between humankind and nature: "We are moved by Rilke’s sensitivity to nature and the claim it should have on human behavior."

Macy has said about Rilke that he encourages us (and therefore she does too) to find the transcendent in the everyday ordinariness of life, which holds the sacred as much as our religious rituals do. Rilke's willingness to wrestle with his own waves of faith and doubt found their 'solace' outdoors, among all created life.

Jesus' ancestor Jacob wrestled all night with an unknown opponent. When, in the early hours of day, Jacob is wounded and his opponent wants to leave, Jacob asks for his blessing first. In Jewish tradition, to bless someone is to ask God to draw some of God's divine energy down into the one being blessed. "May God make God's face to shine upon you," we say, quoting Numbers 6. That shining radiance of God, and the struggles of a spiritual journey go hand in hand.

What are the daily moments of struggle and of transcendence that accompany your spiritual journey? How can you feel God blessing you in the midst?

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Image by Justin Kern

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Scripture passages are taken from The Inclusive Bible.

†

LC† Vigil in Hope is a devotional series of Lutherans Connect, supported by the Eastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Centre for Spirituality and Media at Martin Luther University College. To receive the devotions by email, write to lutheransconnect@gmail.com. The devotional pages are written and curated by Deacon Sherry Coman, with support and input from Pastor Steve Hoffard, Catherine Evenden and Henriette Thompson. Join us on Facebook. Lutherans Connect invites you to make a donation to the Ministry by going to this link on the website of the ELCIC Eastern Synod and selecting "Lutherans Connect Devotionals" under "Fund". Devotions are always freely offered, however your donations help support the ongoing work. 
Thank you and peace be with you!