22 November 2020 – Neil Millar Over the past five weeks we’ve been exploring different aspects of Celtic Christianity – its history and theology, the Celtic experience and understanding of the world. We’ve touched on their commitment to prayer and poetry, their appreciation of the physical world, and of life’s pattern and flow. This morning, … [Read more…]
15 November 2020 – Ann Munro From out the Hebridean mistsappears a vivid star:‘Bethlehem of the Isles’;small in stature,yetfor the Wild Goosea nurturing place;from whence,by Columbaand other faithful followers,Christ’s message soared afar.Bethlehem of the Isles: Iona, by the Scottish poet Kenneth Steven. The heyday of Celtic Christianity was from the fifth to the eighth centuries, … [Read more…]
8 November – Neil Millar These sonorous opening lines of the Altus Prosator, a somewhat forbidding poem attributed to Columba, paint a picture of God as primordial, foundational, utterly transcendent and awesome’ (Bradley 2018.67), and a similar emphasis on divine mystery and ineffability pervades many of the prayers and poems of the so-called ‘golden age’ … [Read more…]
1 November 2020 – Ann Munro The Celtic, pilgrim, sailor saints set out to find the promised land in open boats of skins stretched out on wood: the Cross and just themselves was all they carried. Carrying within their hearts the God they sought; exiles for the love of Christ, they hoped to reach their … [Read more…]
25th October 2020 – Neil Millar Last week Ann gave a very helpful introduction to the Celts and their culture prior to the advent of Christianity, and next week she’ll share another chapter in this unfolding story. In my reflections, I hope to expand a little on aspects of Celtic Christian spirituality. In taking this … [Read more…]
18 October 2020 – Ann Munro In the final centuries of the first millennium BC, the new technologies of the Iron Age fanned out to put all of Western Europe on the anvil. They hammered their way to Spain and France, Britain and Germany, Denmark and Norway, in the hands of an emotional, energetic, creative … [Read more…]
(Matthew 22.1-14) – 11 October 2020Neil Millar Many are called, but few are chosen.’ What did Jesus mean when he said this? I have to say, I find it puzzling coming as it does at the conclusion of this tale of the wedding feast. As I hear the parable, it seems more a case of … [Read more…]
(Psalm 104) 4 October 2020Neil Millar ‘Apprehend God in all things, for God is in all things,’ writes 13th c. Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart. ‘Every single creature is full of God, and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God. If I spent enough time with the tiniest creature – even … [Read more…]
(Ezekiel 47.1-9 & John 7.37-39) 29 SeptemberNeil Millar If you type ‘Australian rivers’ into an internet browser, one of the first things to appear is a series of riverscapes. Pictures of wide, winding waterways flowing slowly through agricultural land; and of fresh Alpine streams splashing over moss-green granite; and great northern rivers set in red … [Read more…]
Irene Lund (Weston Creek Uniting Church) (20 September 2020) Australians are familiar with drought and the life-giving properties of water just as people in Old and New Testament time were. Today’s passage from Jeremiah tells of the shame, the dismay and the consequences of prolonged drought. In contrast, the passage from Isaiah tells of God … [Read more…]