Sermon for 5th Pentecost (Year C Proper 8) St. Luke’s July 1, 2007 Rev. Susan Lee
Gracious God, may the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts be always
acceptable in your sight, O God our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.
“No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God”
(Luke 9:2).
Christianity is a missionary religion. From the time of Jesus, the conversion of
others to the Christian faith has been an important part of who we are as the Church. We
put our hand to the plow and look forward, not back. Jesus does not want us to
congratulate ourselves on our past achievements, but look forward to breaking new ground
for the sake of God.
In carrying out our Christian mission, we have role models in the saints of the
Church. A number of saints had a real missionary spirit, carrying the faith to new groups
of people. For my sermons this summer, I would like to talk about several saints
associated with the Church in the British Isles, the spiritual forbear of the Episcopal
Church. I would like to begin with Celtic Christianity, the spiritual practices of Christians
in the fifth, sixth and seventh centuries in Britain and Ireland. Now that’s Celtic – “keltic”
– not Celtic – “seltic” - like the basketball team!! I don’t know how the Boston Celtics
came to be pronounced with an s rather than a k. But the proper pronunciation for the
word – from a religious point of view – is Celtic with a k. Celtic Christianity had a
missionary spirit, carrying the Christian faith to pagan groups in the British Isles, giving us
a good role model of Jesus’ command to break new ground for the sake of God.
Celtic Christianity began in Ireland with St. Patrick in the 5th century. St. Patrick
was actually British! He was kidnapped by some Irish tribes as a young man and after
escaping, returned to Ireland as a missionary. Ireland was a tribal society at that time,
with local chieftains and kings governing the tribes. Patrick made his appeal through the
local chiefs and kings, and then the people followed.
Ireland did not have cities and had never been incorporated into the Roman
Empire. The early Christian church had developed through the Roman cities – so
Jerusalem, Ephesus, Antioch, Damascus, Rome were all important centers of early
Christianity. The early Church followed the administrative structure of the Roman
Empire. Our word “diocese” comes from the Roman term for an administrative unit. A
city with the towns around it would be called a diocese. As the early church developed in
the Roman cities, they adopted the administrative structure of the Romans. The church in
each Roman diocese had a bishop to head the church in that area.
But in Ireland, there were no cities, and the Roman Empire had not been too
interested in that far-flung island. So when Patrick began his work in Ireland, he couldn’t
follow the methods of other places in the church. Instead, he developed monasteries as his
religious centers. The head of a monastery is called an abbot. So the leaders of the church
in Ireland originally were not bishops, but abbots. So we can say that one of the
characteristics of Celtic Christianity was that it was centered on monasteries, and abbots
were the important figures rather than bishops.
St. Patrick had to contend with the local religious authorities, the Druids. The
Druids often opposed the new religious faith that St. Patrick was introducing. To deal with
loyalty to the Druid traditions, St. Patrick located his monasteries on Druid sacred sites. So
the reverence given to the site was transferred over to Christianity. Patrick didn’t try to
suppress Druid traditions entirely but worked with them while introducing Christian ideas
and practices. Druids revered sources of water such as springs and wells, for instance, and
Patrick incorporated these Druid sites into Christian rituals such as baptism, making the
springs and wells “holy water.” Patrick also worked with the Druid love of nature and the
belief that God speaks to humans through nature. So another characteristic of Celtic
Christianity was that it worked with the local customs, especially the reverence for nature,
and adapted local beliefs to Christian purposes.
In the monasteries that Patrick established, both men and women could be
monastics. An important woman in Celtic Christianity was St. Brigid, a nun who founded
several monasteries in the last half of the fifth century. At first, they were convents, or
monasteries only for women, for nuns. However, there were men who wanted to join her
convents, and so she developed the idea of a double monastery, a monastery with a wing for
men and another wing for women. They would all meet in the chapel for services together.
Since Brigid was the founder, she was the head of the monastery. These double
monasteries became common in Celtic Christianity. The head of the monastery, after its
founder had died, was often elected by the nuns and monks, and sometimes a nun was
elected. A woman abbot was called an abbess, and there were several prominent abbesses
in the Celtic church, with authority over both men and women. So we can say that another
characteristic of Celtic Christianity was that it offered a degree of equality between men
and women that was not characteristic of the Church in other places at that time.
The Celtic monasteries became important centers of learning. In those days,
especially in Ireland, very few people could read and write. They were farmers, eking out a
living from the land, and they didn’t have the resources to become educated. If someone
had ability, they entered a monastery and took up the religious life. Monasteries taught
people to read and write. There were no printing presses back then, so all books had to be
copied by hand. The monks and nuns spent considerable portions of their time copying the
Scriptures and other religious books. A Bible was a treasured and very expensive book,
and usually only very wealthy families could afford to have a Bible at home. Bibles mostly
were only in the monasteries and their chapels.
The high value placed on these books was a crucial factor in bringing Celtic
Christianity from Ireland to northern Britain. Another prominent figure in the Celtic
tradition was St. Columba, who lived in the sixth century. He had founded several
monasteries in the northern part of Ireland. Like all monks, he spent much of his time
copying books. At one point, he secretly copied a Book of Psalms belonging to another
monk who had been his teacher. He wanted to keep the copy for himself. But when the
other monk found out, he was furious. Columba refused to give up his copy of the Psalm
book, and the two monastics appealed to the local king for a ruling. The king decided for
the other monk and ordered Columba to return the book. “To every cow its calf,” the king
said, “to every book its copy.” But Columba still refused to give up the book! He was
known as a passionate and fiery man, and access to the Holy Scriptures was something he
felt strongly about. His clan took up his cause, and before long, a major battle ensued
between Columba’s clansmen and the king’s soldiers. Of course, Columba and the other
monk did not take part in the fighting. But during the battle, they each prayed for victory
for their side. Columba’s clansmen won the battle, but a huge number of people were
killed, some 3,000 men lost. It’s hard for us to fathom today that the matter would have
come to such a drastic outcome. We can hardly say that it speaks well of the religious faith
of the people involved.
Nonetheless, God brought some good out of this mess. Columba was stricken with
remorse and agreed to a strict penance. His confessor told him that he was to go into exile
from his native land and convert as many souls to Christ as had been lost in the battle.
Columba sailed with 12 men across the Irish Sea to northern Britain and landed on an
island called Iona. He established an important monastery there that become the center of
Celtic Christianity in northern Britain. It also served as a significant link between
Christians in Ireland and in Britain. Columba and other monks from Iona traveled back
to Ireland for church meetings and maintained contact with people in Ireland, exchanging
news and ideas. Monks at Iona later produced the stunning illustrations of the Book of
Kells.
These three saints, St. Patrick, St. Brigid, and St. Columba, became the patron
saints of Celtic Christianity in Ireland. In the early Middle Ages, after the fall of the
Roman Empire, the Celtic church provided a structure for order and learning in the
British Isles. What lessons can we draw for Christian life today from the experiences of
these early Celtic Christians?
From St. Patrick, we can learn about compassion for those who have mistreated us.
St. Patrick returned to those who had kidnapped and enslaved him, a real act of courage.
He lived out the command to love your enemies! He might have returned with an army to
punish the wrong-doers, but instead he returned with faith in a generous and forgiving
God. He didn’t reject those who disagreed with him but worked with their beliefs to bring
them into the Christian fold. He adapted Christianity to the new circumstances,
developing monasteries where the traditional structures didn’t quite fit. So he was flexible,
creative, and generous in his efforts to convert the Irish to Christianity.
From St. Brigid, we can admire the openness of the Celtic spirit in fostering faith
and ability wherever God sows it. This was only the fifth century, and yet women were
allowed to exercise leadership at the highest levels of the Celtic church. Just like St.
Patrick, St. Brigid showed flexibility and creativity in promoting Christian worship. When
men wanted to join her convents, she worked out a way that men and women could serve
God together as monastics. Other leaders of the church supported her efforts and followed
her lead. It allowed women and men to feel that they were equal partners in the Christian
faith, focused on serving God together.
From St. Columba, we can learn that God works even through human selfishness
and mistakes to bring about God’s holy purposes. Humans often feel that violence and war
are the only solution to our problems, and we forget in our passionate self-righteousness
about the loss of life that war brings. It is only after the battle that remorse sets in and the
disputes can be set in perspective. Columba learned humility too late for the people who
died in the conflict he fostered. Nonetheless, he eventually did learn humility and served
God well on his holy island. We remember him for years of devotion in bringing God’s
word to the tribes in northern Britain. God brings good even out of human foolishness. St.
Columba also shows us that sometimes one has to leave a comfortable home to serve God.
The Christian mindset is one of service to God, eyes forward, hand on the plow, not
increasing the cushiness of one’s nest or resting on one’s laurels. We are missionaries,
followers of Christ, called to head out on the road like the Celtic pilgrims.
Let us pray.
Gracious God, you inspired your servants in Ireland to follow you no matter the cost. They
devoted themselves to your service and fostered a strong church in the midst of a pagan
people. Give us the grace to follow our Celtic ancestors, serving you with flexibility,
creativity and devotion. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.