Celtic Spirituality - 1

A rule.

One of the things Mary and I worked on at St. Mikes before I left for this sabbatical was establishing a rule of life for ourselves. For me it has been daily morning and evening prayer for the prayer part. Some time doing physical activity every day - sometimes something extravagant, but at least 30 minutes of yoga. Reading each day - starting with archeology texts, and moving on to spirituality texts. There are other things, but one can start to get an idea of the kinds of things that a rule might encompass.

One of the planes I rode in to get to Edinburgh.

Why a rule? The goal is to live intentionally. So the time I spend is spent in service to a higher goal. In my case, the goal is to discover a deeper walk with God, with my wife and with myself. To that end, the most important part of the rule - be in the moment. I am working each day to focus my efforts and intentions on what is actually going on, where I am and who I am with.

The high cross outside of Durham Cathedral

This is how monasteries worked back in the day. Each group of folks had a rule they lived by. So when you see images of monastic places, that is one of the reasons they are extra interesting to me. The history of all the people who have lived intentionally in those places. Some of the places I have been in the last 10 days have been wild places. Some places have been holy places. Some places have been thin places. The thin place is a place where one can sense a holiness about the place. Where the veil between this reality and heaven is especially thin. For me a common thin place is in front of a tabernacle that is occupied. Monastic sites are often like that; churches and cathedrals too. Groups of people gathered in prayer also often qualify.

The east coast of Scotland on a Sunny day.

When I arrived in Scotland I had a few days before Mary arrived. It was a day of travel that started with a wake alarm at 5am and ended with lights out in a hotel at 11:00pm. I was exhausted. It was good to sleep. I woke the next morning and prayed, stretched and read a little. Then I traveled down the east coast of Scotland to Durham Cathedral. It it still a magnificent place. It was a huge center of learning and praying and still anchors a college and a thriving community.

The view from the bell tower to the Cathedral floor - almost 500 steps high.

The bones of St. Cuthbert and The Venerable Bede are both here anchoring opposite ends of the Cathedral. At some point I will have lots to say about both - probably at an adult forum in the fall. For now, I'll just let you know the places they are buried feel exceedingly thin to me. There are no photos allowed inside the cathedral so I'll just have to use words. The high altar has Cuthbert. It is set in a special place of prayer. I did get to spend some time there trying to comprehend the connection of my current spiritual practice to this gifted missionary monk.

A work of art outside the cathedral. Six monks carrying a casket.

We can learn much from stories of Cuthbert's life. It is a story that happened after he died that I will share today. Durham was chosen by the monks who were Cuthbert's successors as the place they would build a church with him as the major relic. They only did this after walking around for 7 years, carrying his casket on their shoulders. They were looking for a place that would be safe from Viking raiders. They found their spot on a bend in the river Wear. The cathedral is on a spit of land surrounded almost completely by the river on top of a rocky outcrop.

The Cathedral.

Venerable Bede at the other end of the Cathedral overlapped Cuthbert's life by about 12 years. Bede is famous for several important things. In writing an early history - The Ecclesiastical History of the English Church - he used a couple of innovations. He was the first to use footnotes and apparently the first English writer to use the idea of AD - Anno Domini - After Christ. Bede wrote in a narrative style, another first; and footnotes allowed him to include important information, while not breaking the flow of the narrative. The slab on his grave features a poem that uses the Latin for venerable because it worked better than any other word to describe him and rhyme. That is why Bede is The Venerable and not Saint Bede. I was free to spend as long as I wanted in that place. It was lovely to pray and ask for learning and understanding.

The refuge knocker. If you knocked on the door, you could expect unquestioning refuge for a period of time while you worked out your affairs.

Also in Durham is a lovely tower will bells and 460+ steps to climb. The view is great from there and the bells are much much louder. There is so much more to tell about Durham. I will tell it at an adult forum some time in the future. One last bit - I have a son-in-law who is pretty serious about Lego, so I paid to place a brick onto the Lego Cathedral they are building as a fundraiser and as a tribute to him.