Celtic Spirituality -- Divine Omnipresence . . . (Bruce Epperly)
What does it mean for God to be omnipresent? If God is everywhere what does that say about the way we live in this world? Is there a difference between sacred and secular spaces? How do we see each other in this context? These are some of the questions that Bruce Epperly deals with in this second posting in his series on Celtic theo-spirituality.
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Celtic
Theo-spirituality I:
Divine Omnipresence and The Circle of Blessing
Bruce G. Epperly
I began
this series, based on my most recent book The Center is Everywhere: Celtic Spirituality for a Postmodern Age, with the
affirmation that Christianity needs the wisdom of Celtic spirituality and
theology. Christianity needs to recover
a sense of the divine, present in every place and time, moving through the
human as well as non-human worlds, and inviting us to partnership in healing
the world.
Today, I
want to reflect on God’s presence as experienced through the Celtic practice of
the caim, or the “encircling.” I believe that good theology involves the
interplay of vision, promise, and practice, that is, our world views and
practices help us open to reality in its depths, most particularly the divine
movements in our lives.
Celtic
theology has a clear sense of God’s presence in every moment of life. God’s “thin places,” the intersection of
divinity and creation, are everywhere.
Grace abounds in every situation, despite our turning away from it. Even the most fallen creature is constantly
being inspired by God. We are not
depraved, as Augustine and the Calvin proclaim.
How can we be depraved if God is moving, albeit subtly and anonymously,
in our lives? Like Jacob, we need to be reminded
that God is in this place – our very lives – and we did not know it! Spiritual practices awaken us to God in every
encounter and each moment.
One of
favorite Celtic practices is the caim, or
encircling. The encircling joins vision, promise, and practice in its intention
to awaken us to God’s omnipresence. It
invites us not just to talk about omnipresence, but to “live” God’s
omnipresence, trusting God in moments of elation and desolation. The traditional Celtic “caim” or encircling prayer involves simply drawing a circle around
yourself or another person physically or in your imagination. As you draw the circle, you may choose to
recite a prayer from scripture, poetry, tradition, or an extemporaneous blessing.
This encircling prayer is grounded in your awareness of God’s loving
omnipresence - the constant companionship and protection of the Holy Adventure. For the Celts, and for today’s process
theologians, omnipresence is not an indifferent energy, but a loving movement
gently, providentially, and non-competitively moving through life.[i]
One
traditional prayer of encompassing invokes our awareness of the Ever-present
Companion with these words:
The God of the Elements’ guarding,
The loving Christ’s guarding,
The Holy Spirit’s guarding,
Be cherishing me, be aiding me.[ii]
Another
prayer of divine encompassing proclaims:
The encompassing of God and God’s
right hand
Be
upon my form and my frame;
The
encompassing of the High Ruler and the grace of the Trinity
Be
upon me abiding ever eternally.
May
the encompassing of the Three shield me in my means,
The
encompassing of the Three shield me this day,
The
encompassing of the Three shield me this night
From
hate, from harm, from act, from ill,
From
hate, from harm, from act, from ill.[iii]
Though the pilgrim – and we all are
pilgrims -may fear the darkness of the night and the strange shadows of the
woods, she knows that her journey will be encompassed by the Divine Pilgrim,
the Lively Encircling God, for whom even the darkness is light. This sense of divine encircling, guiding and
protecting us with every step inspired St. Patrick’s Lorica, or Breastplate prayer.
Threatened with death by a local chieftain, Patrick invoked the
Encompassing God, he placed his life in God’s circle. Though he trusts his soul to God, this
pilgrim’s daily path is fraught with dangers that tempt him to lose heart. With every footstep, he takes courage from
his own affirmation of faith:
Christ behind and before me,
Christ
beneath and above me,
Christ
with me and in me,
Christ
around and about me,
Christ
on my left and on my right,
Christ
when I rise in the morning,
Christ
when I lie down at night,
Christ
in each heart that thinks of me,
Christ
in each mouth that speaks of me,
Christ
in each eye that sees me,
Christ
in each ear that hears me.[iv]
A
contemporary prayer of encompassing proclaims the loving nearness of God in
every situation:
Circle
of love,
Open
my heart.
Circle
of wisdom,
Enlighten
my mind.
Circle
of trust,
Protect
my path.
Circle
of healing,
Grant
me new life.
An
important element in the spiritual journey is our blessing of others. To bless another is simply to place them in
our hearts with the intention that they be surrounded, enlightened, and
inspired in body, mind, and spirit by the Encompassing Love of God. I often say the following prayer as I
visualize friends and family embraced by the Divine Circle . I symbolically encircle them in my
imagination by imaging myself drawing a circle around them using flowing
dance-like movements. In so doing, I
commit them to God’s omnipresent care.
Circle of love
Encompass _____________.
May your love well up within her/him
May your passion enlighten her/him.
Circle of healing
Encompass ______________.
May your healing touch rest upon
her/him.
Circle of protection
Encompass ______________.
Surround _____________ with your
eternal safety
Protect her/him from all temptations
and ills
Give her/him courage and strength
To live always from Your safe and
powerful center.
Celtic
theology can be experienced. We can live
God’s omnipresence through the ups and downs of the economy, health situations,
relationships, and the aging process.
Divine omnipresence is not just a fancy word, but a way of life that
gives us courage even when we are afraid.
Wherever we are God is here, and will provide for our deepest
needs. We are always in the circle of
divine love.
(For
more on Celtic spirituality see, Bruce Epperly
The Center is Everywhere: CelticSpirituality for a Postmodern Age and John Philip Newell, A New Harmony.)
Bruce Epperly is a theologian, spiritual guide,
pastor, and author of twenty one books, including Process Theology: A Guideto the Perplexed, Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, Philippians: An Interactive Bible Study,
and The Center is Everywhere: Celtic Spirituality for a Postmodern Age. He may be reached at drbruceepperly@aol.com
for lectures, workshops, and retreats.
[i]
Bruce Epperly, Process Theology: A Guide for the Perplexed
[ii]
Esther de Waal, Celtic Vision, p.
104.
Comments
God is more than everywhere and more than existence and more than what occurs.
God is persistently pervasive and present.
All that is wherever it is - is in God.
As such, creation is continuous, not an incident.
As such, God does not intercede, God participates as an influence and a calling.
There is no Satan, demons or angels.
There is no heaven and hell. There is only the prevasive presence of God that extends beyond existence.
The only hell, that is - the only separation from God, is in our free-willed refusal to sense and hear and see and be in relationship with God.
I linked to your post and it looks like I'll have to buy your book. Good Stuff!
Esp. like "I believe that good theology involves the interplay of vision, promise, and practice, that is, our world views and practices help us open to reality in its depths, most particularly the divine movements in our lives."
Blessings and Peace!
Bob
God Bless Your Heart!
Bob
Click my picture and you'll see the post I linked to. I would be interested in what you think about it.