The Path of Celtic Prayer

Well, I finished the book by Calvin Miller yesterday. What can I say? Less than stellar.

Not to say that it was a complete waste of time. In fact there are some helpful thoughts that I intend to capture in my own prayer life. So I'm glad I read it. Not sure I'd recommend it.

Miller draws six lessons or ways of prayer from the Celtic tradition. They are not all necessarily unique to Celtic prayer nor are they completely discrete.

First is the importance of Trinity Prayer, addressing the fullness of God in all forms of prayer. How much of our prayer today is addressed to only one person, generally either the Father or the Son? But for the Celts it wasn't just to pray in the name of the Trinity but to enter into relational communion with the Trinity.

Second is Scripture Prayer or praying the Bible back to its Author. The Psalms in particular were embraced as an avenue of spoken prayer. (We also see this in the Benedictine tradition among others.)

Third is Long, Wandering Prayer wherein life is seen as a single, unending prayer. For the wandering Celtic monks (peregrini), it was not the destination but the journey that was important. In the journey union with Christ was sought through a life of prayer. I see some similarities, in purpose at least, with the practice of The Jesus Prayer in the Orthodox tradition. Miller describes it all this way:

The life of pilgrimage praying isn't merely punctuated by prayer. The pilgrimage is the prayer. The peregrini weren't going somewhere to pray, they were praying as they went, wherever they went. They were pilgrims without a shrine. Life wasn't a destination. Life was the journey. They never really "arrived," so they never stopped praying. (p. 79)

Well, this may be easy to describe, but it's rather hard to do, isn't it?

We say that we are committed to following Christ wherever he leads. But the truth is that when Christ doesn't reveal where we're going, we get antsy. To be happy, weve got to know our destination. Rather than tarrying in prayer, we make plans for ourselves. we make secondary plans in case our primary plans don's work out. We make tertiary plans in case our secondary plans don't work out. The very notion that God holds our plans and that we get there only by trusting scares us to death. (p. 84)

Fourth is Nature Prayer, the offering up of poetry and praise in ordinary life. There is a "nowness" to Celtic prayer. "Only in the present is it possible to pray. Try to put devotion anywhere else and it dies." (p. 94) And part of the Celts "nowness" was living in nature where they saw signs of the Maker everywhere which broke forth in praise and poetry.

One of the reasons I like to come to Oceanside, Oregon is that the beauty of the ocean, of the coast, of the islands all cause me to praise and I feel closer to my Creator than when I'm in concrete suburbia.

Fifth is the Lorica Prayer or asking God for protection. "At heart the lorica says, God, only while I live can I serve you, so please protect and extend my life." (p. 119) I really don't pray this way at all … and yet, why not? Isn't Ephesians 6:13-18 rather similar to the lorica?

Finally, there is the Confessional Prayer or living in agreement with God. Miller shows 3 meanings for confession: 1) the assent to a proposition, creed or doctrine, 2) the admission of sin and guilt and 3) a spiritual autobiography (such as of Augustine or Patrick). All of these are means of agreeing with God in prayer, even though we tend to think in terms of only the middle one.

Naturally, for all of these points, Miller unpacks and expands each category. The book is wonderfully filled with prayer illustrations from the Celtic tradition that give voice to the points Miller is making. Perhaps it was just that I was already familiar with much of the territory covered, but I was definitely hoping for more from this book.