Happy St. Patrick's Day

...your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as in heaven.

- Lord's Prayer

Toward the end of the fifth century when the Roman Empire came to an end, Western (or Roman) Christianity also began a long season of decline. But far away from the Roman halls of power, an alternative expression of Christianity was emerging in places like Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

This alternative expression of Christianity, planted by missionaries like St. Patrick, is commonly called Celtic Christianity. Some of the characteristics common to Celtic Christians included:

- A religious life organized around monastic communities, as opposed to hierarchical structures common in Rome.

- Celtic Christian priests were allowed to marry.

- Women held positions of leadership equal to those held by men.

- There was an emphasis on the sacredness of creation and the connectedness of all things.

- Celtic Christians loved mystery and paradox more than doctrine.

- They found poetry and music to be especially helpful.

This was a radical (from the roots) approach to the Christian faith. This approach lent itself to Celtic Christians having eyes to see God’s kingdom come in this world. Or at least to see the thin places where the kingdom was more apparent. As the old Celtic saying goes, heaven and earth are only three feet apart, but in the thin places that distance is even smaller. A thin place then is where the invisible becomes visible and one is able to catch a glimpse of the kingdom in all its glory.  As the contemporary poet Sharlande Sledge writes:

     “Thin places,” the Celts call this space,

      Both seen and unseen,

      Where the door between the world

      And the next is cracked open for a moment

      And the light is not all on the other side.

      God shaped space.

      Holy.

It was at the heart of Celtic Christianity to trust (believe) that God’s kingdom and will were already active in the world, redeeming the whole creation. The thought would have never crossed their minds that God was some how not active here, today. If there were any doubt, the grace of thin places gave them the assurance that earth and heaven touched, that God was here, that God’s kingdom was continuing to come and God’s will was continuing to be done on earth as in heaven.