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| 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!
