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| 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.
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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!
