Joyful Praise of God and His Creation

path_of_one

path_of_one

Embracing the Mystery
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I found this on a Celtic Christianity website and thought I'd share it with you all. Being both a lover of God and of Nature, it really speaks to me. This sums up very well the joy I find in going out into "God's world"- the wild that He created. I pray we always have such places to find His Presence and Power.

"Canticle of the Sun"

Sing to the sun, the bringer of day, he carries the light of the Lord in his rays, the moon and the stars, who light up the way unto Your throne.

Refrain:
The heavens are telling the glory of God, and all creation is shouting for joy
Come, dance in the forest, come play in the field and sing,
Sing to the glory of the Lord

Praise to the wind, that blows through the trees, the seas mighty storms, the gentlest breeze, they blow where they will, they blow where they please, to please the Lord

Praise to the rain that waters our fields, and blesses our crops, so all the earth yields, from death unto life her mystery concealed, springs forth in joy.

Praise to the fire, who gives us his light, the warmth of the sun to brighten our night, he dances with joy, his spirit so bright, he sings of You.

Sing to the earth, who makes life to grow, the creatures You made to let Your life show, the flower and trees that help us to know the Heart of Love.

Praise to our death, that makes our life real, the knowledge of loss that helps us to feel, the Gift of Yourself, Your Presence revealed to bring us home."
 
Nice. ;) Reminds me of an old Cat Stevens song:

"Morning has broken, like the first morning
Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird
Praise for the singing, praise for the morning
Praise for the springing fresh from the word

Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dewfall, on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where his feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning
Born of the one light, Eden saw play
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day"


v/r

Q
 
Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful--Praise for it all!

I believe that Eleanor Farjeon may have written the lyrics--(okay, I am sure--and I was thinking very much about posting them myself) but the artist that honored them did so well. With the music and the Spirit.

People have lots of issues with "Cat". I do not know everything, but I still love him.

InPeace,
InLove
 
Hello--Namaste--Peace to All Here--

path_of_one, I don't really know you, but somehow, I do. The Celtic (Druid?) history is something I am very interested in--I think there is a possibility that I may even understand it.:) What I am saying here is that I am not sure it can be "taught".

You are the anthropologist. You must know I am torn--but you are also in the Spirit, so therefore, we know each other.

The lyrics that Q posted are so very dear to my heart, and when I read yours, I thought of them. If there is no other song I can play beautifully on my piano, it is Cat Steven's version of that hymn (with my own spin--the music, not the words) from that old Methodist music book. (Would you believe I have so many hymnals--old and new--from so many places and denominations that I cannot count them all and they are stacking up around me as I type?)

Anyway, I just wanted to write and let you know that I was going to tell you, somehow--intelligently and from the heart-- that I love what you posted. How much power does one little word have?

What board are we on? LOL--sigh of relief? Maybe not?

I guess I have said enough for now.

InPeace
InLove
 
Hello, In Love. :)

InLove said:
path_of_one, I don't really know you, but somehow, I do. The Celtic (Druid?) history is something I am very interested in--I think there is a possibility that I may even understand it.:) What I am saying here is that I am not sure it can be "taught".
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I would wager that many people on this board know me better than many people off this board. ;) My spirituality is the deepest essence of who I am, and many people I know off this board have little interest in it, so it is odd but true that many of you know me without knowing me. And yes, I think in a deeper sense, all who are in Christ know one another, because we are the Body of Christ, and the body is one, even if the cells are functioning independently.

As for the Druid history, there isn't much history there. There's lots of Celtic history, but the Druids are clouded in mystery. I suppose we can teach the little bit we know through archaeology and historical documents, but the Druids were based on an oral tradition of passing on wisdom, and much was undoubtedly lost. We do have the remnant of Druidry in the Celtic "flavor" of Chrisitanity- a reverence for nature, the tendency for goddesses and gods to become saints, and the former sacred places to become church sites. We have the Church in that area recording the mythology of the ancient Celts, albeit with changes along the way. We have the Welsh triads, or wisdom sayings. We have the Bardic school that continued into Christendom.

But, we don't have much that can be taught, no. We have only a few guideposts toward a sort of experience. Modern Druidry is either a reconstruction or a complete creation (albeit informed by some amount of scholarship), depending on the Druid you talk to. It cannot be what it once was, because it was part and parcel of the Celtic society, an occupational class as much as anything else. One can now embrace Druidry as a religion, a spiritual path, a philosophy, a heritage. For me, it's a description of a path I was already following, and one that I couldn't find in the many U.S. Christian churches I tried out. I have always been a nature-oriented person, and had a deep sense of spirituality in the wild. There is a wisdom and sentience there for me. And yet I am not polytheistic, nor do I believe it is appropriate for myself to worship nature spirits. I believe in Christ and God, a unified God. But I am very much about embracing the mystery rather than hammering out doctrine.

Perhaps if I was born in the UK, things would be different- perhaps I'd have found a relatively liberal Celtic Christian church and happily blended in. But, I was born here and there's no appropriate label I've found to describe my spiritual life. Christ-following Druid is as close as I can get without annoying Christians who believe I'm not worthy of the label. Personally, I hate labels, but some amount of short-hand is beneficial for communication.

You are the anthropologist. You must know I am torn--but you are also in the Spirit, so therefore, we know each other.
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What do you mean you are torn? How so? To be honest, I'm a little lost... but very interested.

The lyrics that Q posted are so very dear to my heart, and when I read yours, I thought of them.
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Yes, thank you for posting them, Q. I love that song. I haven't heard it in a long time! It speaks to the same experience to me. Music and art is such an integral part of spirituality to me. It seems so natural. In the moments where I just feel a very powerful Presence of God, I can hardly help breaking into spontaneous song or dance. There are just moments of such profound joy that I have to celebrate and become giddy like a young child, no matter how silly I look to all the somber adults around me. Natural places often do this to me- I just feel God there so powerfully, so immanently- that I have a tendency to cry, or sing, or have a peaceful calm just wash over me as I get lost in the moment. This has happened during worship time at some churches as well. Certain hymns and even certain modern songs just make me lift my hands in praise and worship. They move my heart.

Thanks for the love, y'all. :)

I really appreciate being welcomed here, though I know I'm a bit odd as a Christian.

In keeping with the Celtic Christian bit, I'll post another lovely bit that sums up a lot of my own faith:

"My Druid is Christ, the Son of God,
Christ, Son of Mary, the Great Abbot,
The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost."
- St. Columba

and from St. Patrick...
"I arise today,
Through the strength of Heaven:
Light of Sun, radiance of Moon, splendor of Fire,
Speed of Lightening, swiftness of Wind, depth of Sea,
Stability of Earth, firmness of Rock.
I arise today, through God's strength to pilot me:
God's wisdom to guide me, God's eye to look before me,
God's way to lie before me, God's shield to protect me.
From all who shall wish me ill, afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.
Against every cruel and merciless power
that may oppose my body and my soul.
Christ be with me, Christ be before me,
Christ behind me, Christ in me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left.
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me."

In Peace,
Kim
 
Hello, and Peace to All Here--

Dear path_of_one,

I have a confession to make, and I suspect you may already know at least part of what I am about to tell. I have been thinking about posting it all morning long. After reading your last post, I believe I will go ahead with it:).

Let me preface this "cleansing" with a couple of details. Any posts I made last night are likely to be very clumsy and perhaps accompanied by a level of emotion or confusion that I hope I do not usually employ. (In fact, this post is likely to be a little goofy-sounding, as well!) So my apologies to you and everyone for that--there is a crisis in my family right now, and I received some disturbing news yesterday afternoon. As I have told lunamoth, who picked up on the nuances (thanks for your kind pm, luna), I really probably should not have been posting anything at the time. But CR is a blessed distraction, sometimes, and since I couldn't do anything (physically) about the situation at hand, I retreated here. (See? I still sound silly--a little--can't seem to make the word choices I would like to.) LOL--I fell asleep at some point and never logged out all night! Woke up with "QWERTY" on my forehead:)! (Not really--I just like to say that.)

Okay--clumsy posting has been addressed. Now to the heart of my confession: I am a little disappointed in myself. Why? Because I started to "pick" about the difference between giving praise to the beautiful things of nature and giving praise for them. Yep--I started to do that:eek: . Then I realized that what I was doing--or perhaps the way I was doing it-- was coming from outside the Spirit, and not from within. Having already posted, unable to edit, I tried to "fix" what I had begun. It came out looking a bit strange, and I knew it.

Perhaps it really is something that is worth discussing, and if you would like, I would love to read your thoughts on it. You are quite eloquent in speech, and I have a feeling that when and if you do post on this subject, I will read it and say, "Yes--that is how I would like to have put it." (It is amazing, sometimes--you and a couple of other folks in CR often say things using many exact words I would use--and I always smile when that happens, because you manage to use them in such a way that I, for now, can only aspire to. (there's another clumsy statement:), but under the circumstances, I am going to leave it there.)

Well, lemme see..what was the question? Just kidding:).

InPeace,
InLove
 
Oh, InLove, that's all OK. We all have times that life is a difficult road and our usually eloquent speech fails us. I am so sorry to hear about a crisis in your family and I hope and pray that God gives you comfort and peace in a time of turmoil. It is perfectly understandable that you would seek some distraction if there is no action you can take at this time, and I for one feel blessed if my posts provided any.

No need to apologize for any feeling of nit-pickiness over the issue of praise, either! Even if you sincerely feel there should be a distinction between giving praise to vs. praise for creation, that is entirely acceptable and understandable to me! You have always approached me in love, just as your username promises, and so any disagreements in theology are not hurtful at all. I thank you for your kindness.

Edited to add: I am a little dense today and was a bit confused as to why you felt the need to apologize. I just re-read all the postings and realized that my statement of how Druidry and Christianity fit together made it sound a bit like I was responding to your post in a more direct manner. Actually, I just figured it was a good place to briefly describe how the two fit together for me and are compatible. I only thought, InLove, that you were curious about how they fit together and where my sense of Druidry was coming from. I didn't think you were correcting me in any way. :) Sorry for any confusion.

As for giving praise... I will try to briefly summarize my feeling on this. Giving praise for me is not the same as worship. All God created, for me, is sentient- it has wisdom, emotion, spirit, and thought. Though the wind, trees, my horses are not human, to me they have spirits, and can communicate. I think of them as teachers. I have human teachers, and animal teachers, and tree teachers, and teachers in the moon, sun, earth, and winds. And conversely, I am a teacher for others, some human and some not. I give all these teachers (and students) praise and gratitude, just as one gives praise and gratitude to one's children, or human students (if one teaches), or parents, or mentors. But one doesn't worship one's children, students, parents, or mentors. One recognizes the gift of personal wisdom, time, communication, love from each individual, while giving worship only to the One (God) behind all wisdom, time, communication and love.

Thus, I am likely to head out into the wilds and give praise and gratitude for the time spent with the trees, the wildflowers, the bear I meet up with... to tell them thank you for all they give me. And yet I kneel only in front of God.

My heart goes out to you in your difficult time, and I will keep you in my prayers...
 
Hi, again, path-of-one,

Well, first I cried a little tear or two (I needed it). Then came the smile, because here it is:

Giving praise for me is not the same as worship.
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I knew you would say that--word for word--you told me this morning when I was sitting out on my patio. :)

InPeace,
InLove
 
:) Please note the edited little bit. Boy, I am a bit dense today.

As for the last bit you posted- it made me smile. You do know me well, though we have never met.
 
Hi--me again!:)

Edited to add: I am a little dense today and was a bit confused as to why you felt the need to apologize. I just re-read all the postings and realized that my statement of how Druidry and Christianity fit together made it sound a bit like I was responding to your post in a more direct manner. Actually, I just figured it was a good place to briefly describe how the two fit together for me and are compatible. I only thought, InLove, that you were curious about how they fit together and where my sense of Druidry was coming from. I didn't think you were correcting me in any way. :) Sorry for any confusion.
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I didn't see that before my last response--No worries at all--I didn't think anything about it. I really am very interested.

Thanks for everything--this conversation has indeed been one I will remember.

InPeace,
InLove
 
Canticle of the Sun reminds me of our own American Indian Heritage.:)

One I like is by Beethoven, The Heavens are Telling

& we used to do one in the Episcapol Church

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful:
The Lord God made them all.

The purple headed mountains,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning
That brightens up the sky.
 
Love that one too, Bandit. The first four lines are titles of James Herriot's novels. Always loved his books, of course, since I have such a thing for animals. :)
 
Oh beautiful, for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain
for purple mountains magesty, above the fruited plain,

America, America God shed His grace on thee
and from thy good with bountyhood,

from Sea to shining Sea...

Should have been part of the national anthem.

v/r

Q
 
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