30 Comments

So interesting, thank you for sharing! I'm a new follower and was intrigued by your use of "Celtic Christian" to describe yourself. The only way I'd heard of it before was in the "Brother Cadfael" book series, in which the Welsh practice an older "flavor" of Christianity while the monks just over the border in England follow Roman rites. I'm a Catholic revert but my love of the ancient agrarian cycles of the year has lead to fascination with Christianity rooted in the natural world and the view of God present in creation. Your religious practices sound lovely.

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Apr 20, 2023Liked by S.E. Reid

This is amazing. Thank you very much for sharing your faith journey with us and taking the time to answer our questions. There is A LOT here, more than can be absorbed at first glance--and there's a lot of lessons here for surely people of all "flavors" of faith but I see some specifically applicable to my own Catholicism.

I am not going to comment overmuch beyond that, because I want to ruminate on this a bit. But thank you very, very much for writing this out.

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Apr 20, 2023Liked by S.E. Reid

Well, as one with an Irish grandmother named Nolan, I personally have always found God in the forest, especially the mosses and lichens and ground flowers. It's in the Franciscan tradition, of course. And I love the word "flavor" instead of "denomination". (My mother showed me traces of "Teenie-Weenies" in the woods - they wear hollyhock blossoms to dress up for church.)

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Thank you so much for sharing this! I still remember when I found you on Instagram many moons ago and how your particular flavor of Christianity gave my heart and soul permission to lean into something that I'd been feeling for a long time. I grew up in circles of Christianity that almost seemed fearful of nature ...somehow enjoying nature and its rhythms was pagan to them. I was blessed beyond measure to find a community of people who followed Jesus and appreciated a deep connection with Creation! Thank you for sharing, today and always.

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Apr 20, 2023Liked by S.E. Reid

Ok wait! I LOVE THIS. I wrote on my own unique, off brand Christianity (Catholicism more specifically) last week. I'll link it here if you're at all interested: https://thesolstice.substack.com/p/paths-to-god

Thank you for sharing this so openly and compassionately. I like to think God knew there was no possible way every soul was going to be able to experience him identically. And so the beauty is all the varying roads people can take to reach that same bliss.

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Fascinating! Thank you so much for sharing. The seventh century directional shift makes much sense with my understanding of history. I have significant Celtic ancestry, which also runs over the channel to Brittany, France. There is a strong correlation between my own "French Catholic" (heavy on Celtic French Brittany) spirituality and the Celtic spirituality you describe. The Celtic influence on the faith has been an interest of mine for a long time both because of its beauty and my own ancestry. Your day-to-day postings demonstrate much integrity to what you explained here. I enjoyed this very much!

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Thank you for sharing! It makes me want to drink herbal tea in the backyard (or maybe fold laundry?) with you while discussing all the things - theology, scripture, traditions and flavors, relationships, beauty

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This is really interesting! I am also a Believer with ideas that don’t quite fit the American (read Southern Baptist) traditions. I love the liturgical seasons and I wonder in amazement at the Creator. The church I attend is multiethnic and growing more multicultural, which to me is a reflection of heaven. I strive to default to Grace and love the way Jesus does. I’m a work in progress, but that’s the nature of sanctification

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Wow! This is amazing. Thanks for sharing your journey and helping us understand your take on Celtic Christianity. Really thought provoking.

One of the man things you said that I connect with is the idea of poetry as devotional. For years I have written poetry in response to my time with God in His word, and I now have a slew of deeply personal poems I plan to make public one day. But even if I never do, it is the act of getting on paper what the Lord is showing and doing in me that matters. Thanks. I’m going to be reading more of your spiritual writing from now on.

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Apr 24, 2023Liked by S.E. Reid

(Serious nerd comments incoming)

"Historically speaking the ancient Celtic Church had more in common with Catholicism until the Synod of Whitby in 664..." Since Catholicism didn't branch off and differentiate itself from Orthodoxy until the Schism in 1054, would it not be more accurate to have said Orthodoxy here? Or, considering how very little we have recorded from those times (it's just unknown), and considering Margaret of Scotland likely brought over a good dose of Roman influence from the mainland when she played her big part in introducing Christianity to Scotland (for one regional example), do you think that Catholicism's flavors of belief and praxis were pretty much the default in the Celtic areas? Personally, since the Roman mission withdrew from the British Isles for a good while during the Sack of Rome, I like to think its added influence was kept away, leaving the deep themes of Celtic Christianity you mentioned to thrive, and then remain in those remote pockets.

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Fascinating! Thank you for sharing!

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Apr 22, 2023·edited Apr 22, 2023Liked by S.E. Reid

You seem a gentle soul and I see how you intertwine with Celtic Christianity. We have a daughter that is probably more mystical than we and she probably has leaned us more that way. I don't know if a labyrinth is Celtic but the first time I walked one, I immediately sensed the intuitiveness of the spiritual journey to God. So many hidden things in nature to be unpackaged. Keep writing; I think I could go on for hours!🙄

Ps: great title!

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Raised Old World Pentecostal: come as you are, Holy Trinity, speaking in tongues and spiritual trance; our tabernacle was next to a Shaker church (holy rollers) and among the Plain Folk of Anabaptists. Faith and mysticism have always been easy for me to integrate.

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I've woven with Celtic Christianity myself, and had a stretch where I co-led Celtic Christian monthly offerings at our local Episcopal Church, and co-led some workshops on various themes drawn from the traditions (such as on pilgrimage). Having recently "re-planted" myself in Catholicism, I find that my Celtic Christian practices and prayers can easily come with me. I agree: Celtic Christianity isn't a denomination. It's practices and prayers and a way of leaning into the Nature of our world (which includes saints and angels, nature in all forms), and more - in our daily life, that is drawn from a particular set of traditions, landscapes and the peoples who belong to those places, history, and an intimate way of experiencing God. So rich and intermingled! Thank you for sharing for sharing your faith journey!

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This is so interesting and thought - provoking, thank you! I've been raised Catholic in a latinamerican setup. Eventually had my own upheaval and it's been only in the last year when I somehow found myself coming back to religion in a sense, more like back to my God connection. I'm still processing and learning but it's definitely a whole new way for me to feel.

Thanks for sharing this, it's super interesting! I've always wanted to learn more about faiths in general. I've explored and studied some too, and it's always fascinating to see. Even more when you can travel and experience it in situ at times.

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When you go to study an "about" page but end up on the faith rabbit trail..

This is fascinating and I'm very appreciative of you sharing. I'm currently "church homeless" as my wife and I have decided to step away from the United Methodist Church denomination, so I'm really trying to learn more about aspects of Christianity I'm not familiar with. The Orthodox, Catholic and now Celtic Christianity is among those.

I'm curious... As it is not necessarily a "denomination" is there Celtic Church you attend on Sundays? My neck of the woods is saturated with Baptists, Methodists, and other types sprinkled in. But in my light travels to other areas I don't ever recall seeing a standalone Celtic Christian Church. Is this a thing?

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