From a Celtic Primer

SELAH WATER 3
©Kathy Hastings Used with permission.

Brendan O’Malley is Dean of Chapel and Part Time Lecturer at the University of Wales, Lampeter. He is a Canon of St. David’s Cathedral and the author of many books. O’Malley’s A Celtic Primer was one of the first books we used for creating Selah services. It’s quite an eclectic compilation, but full of great gems from the Celtic tradition. Here are two of our favorites.

Gaelic Prayer -
I lie down this night with God,
And God will lie down with me;
I lie down this night with Christ,
And Christ will lie down with me;
I lie down this night with the Spirit,
And the Spirit will lie down with me;
God and Christ and the Spirit
Be lying down with me.

Old Irish Prayer -
Evening Prayer
Let us adore the Lord,
Maker of marvelous works,
Bright heaven with its angels,
And on earth the white-waved sea.

 

From Glenstal Abbey

The Glenstal Abbey in County Limerick, Ireland, is a Benedictine monastery, operating a school, a ministry of hospitality, and providing an expression of Benedictine spirituality in the modern world. The pattern of the liturgy and prayer life at the abbey is a modified form of the ancient Benedictine structure. Their popular THE GLENSTAL BOOK OF PRAYER follows this structure and also provides other prayers and pertinent liturgical references. Here’s one of our favorites.

Glory be to God who has shown us the light!
Lead me from darkness to light,
Lead me from sadness to joy,
Lead me from death to immortality,
Glory be to God who has shown us the light!

 

From the Celtic Tradition

SELAH WATER 2
©Kathy Hastings Used with permission.

Many of the prayers that I utilize in the Selah service that are not directly from scripture originate from the Christian Celtic tradition. Many of these prayers take the language of the Biblical psalms and places them in the surroundings of the Celtic land where their authors lived, worked and worshiped God.

St. Patrick
As a youth in a Christian home (his grandfather was a priest) in Britain, Patrick was not particularly religious. Then came his capture by Irish slave traders into Ireland where his faith and calling by God was kindled. Eventually he escaped and returned home and even ventured to Rome where he experienced the vision of the Irish calling him back to walk among them with the Gospel of our Lord. He did so and organized a significant network of churches throughout Ireland that would eventually reach out to many other areas of Britain and Europe.

Our God is the God of all,
The God of heaven and earth,
Of the sea and of the rivers;
The God of the sun and of the moon and of all the stars;
The God of the lofty mountains
and of the lowly valleys.
He has His dwelling around heaven and earth,
and sea, and all that in them is.
He inspires all,
He gives life to all,
He dominates all,
He supports all.
He lights the light of the sun.
He furnishes the light of the night.
He has made springs in dry land . . .
He is the God of heaven and earth,
of sea and rivers,
of sun, moon and stars,
of the lofty mountain and the lowly valley,
the God above heaven,
and in heaven,
and under heaven.

Lord, be with us this day,
Within us to purify us;
Above us to draw us up;
Beneath us to sustain us;
Before us to lead us;
Behind us to restrain us;
Around us to protect us.

St. Columba
Born in Ireland, Columba was the great-great-grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages, an Irish king of the 5th century. A battle where many men were killed was caused by Columba’s hot headed dispute over a copied manuscript at the scriptorium under Saint Finnian. As penance for these deaths, Columba left for Scotland to work as a missionary. He ended up landing on the island of Iona with twelve companions where he established an abbey that would introduce the Gospel to the people of the Hebrides and beyond. He is credited as being a leading figure in the revitalization of monasticism which eventually spawned a revival of Christianity in Western Europe after the Fall of the Roman Empire.

Almighty God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
to me the least of saints,
to me allow that I may keep even the smallest door,
the farthest, darkest, coldest door,
the door that is least used, the stiffest door.
If only it be in Your house, O God,
that I can see Your glory even afar,
and hear Your voice,
and know that I am with You, O God.

My dearest Lord.
Be Thou a bright flame before me.
Be Thou a guiding star above me.
Be Thou a smooth path beneath me.
Be Thou a kindly shepherd behind me.
Today and evermore.

The path I walk, Christ walks it.
May the Land in which I am in be without sorrow.
May the Trinity protect me wherever I stay;
Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Bright angels walk with me. Dear presence – in every dealing…
May every path before me be smooth;
man, woman and child welcome me.

 

By David Adam

We heartedly recommend the books of David Adam who is the former vicar of Holy Island, on the coast of Northumberland, where he ministered to thousands of pilgrims and other visitors for many years. He has many books of Celtic prayers and liturgy.

From Clouds & Glory: Prayers for the Church Year
(Morehouse Publishing)

Eternal God and Father,
we thirst for your love,
we long for your presence,
we yearn for your peace.
Come, Lord, restore us that we may live to your glory;
through him who gives us the water of life,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From Traces Of Glory: Prayers For The Church Year
(Morehouse Publishing)

Come, Lord, come down, come in, come among us.
Enter into our darkness with your light.
Come fill our emptiness with your presence.
Dispel the clouds and reveal your glory.
Come refresh, renew, restore us.
Come Lord, come down, come in, come among us. Amen.

From Glimpses of Glory: Prayers for the Church Year
(Morehouse Publishing)

Lord our Saviour, our hope is in you:
no one is beyond your love,
no one is beyond your saving power.
Give us grace to recognize you and welcome you
as you come to us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 

By J. Philip Newell

SELAH WATER 1
©Kathy Hastings Used with permission.

J. Philip Newell is Scholar in Spirituality at S. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh, Scotland. He is the author of numerous, well crafted books offering original prayers in the Celtic tradition. We use his prayers often in the Selah Service and featured several of them on our SELAH AUDIO MEDITATIONS – VOL. 2.

From Celtic Benediction: Morning & Night Prayer
(Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing)

I watch this morning
for the light that the darkness has not overcome.
I watch for the fire that was in the beginning
and that burns still in the brilliance of the rising sun.
I watch for the glow of life that gleams in the growing earth
and glistens in sea and sky.
I watch for your light, O God,
in the eyes of every living creature
and in the ever-living flame of my own soul.
If the grace of seeing were mine this day
I would glimpse you in all that lives.
Grant me the grace of seeing this day.
Grant me the grace of seeing.

From Celtic Prayers From Iona
(Paulist Press)

O loving Christ
who died upon the tree
Each day and each night
I remember Your love.
In my lying down
and in my rising up
In life and in death
You are my health and my peace.
Each day and each night
I remember Your forgiveness
Bestowed on me so gently
and generously
Each day and each night
may I be fuller in love to you.