A Celtic Eucharist is offered each Sunday at 11:00 a.m.
For the Sunday Celtic services, we sit in chairs in the nave for the Liturgy of the Word, and gather, standing, around the altar for the Liturgy of the Table together. The service follows an Order for Eucharist as outlined in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Some services are celebratory and others are of a more contemplative nature. Services are participatory, and include communal discussion of the readings. Music is at the heart of all these services. We sing and enjoy excellent instrumental music by a host of musicians. Children are welcome and there is also childcare available for this service. Some families opt to have younger children attend that program and then join their families after the readings and discussion for the liturgy at the table and communion together.
Calendar for evening celebrations
All are invited to continue the Celtic journey at St. David’s on any of these evening celebrations. Celebrations are held at 7:00 p.m., and include sung chants, Celtic prayers, a welcoming community and music by Janet Dodd. A potluck snack reception follows.
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A reflection from the community -- The Celtic circle
by Mary Ann Sinclair
Some of you may be wondering what this “new” Celtic emphasis is at St. David’s. The fact is Celtic spirituality is not new at all. As Roman domination swept the European continent in the earliest centuries of the church, a fledgling Christian population that had also melded their folklore into their understanding of Christianity was preserved among the native Celts. Native Celts shared a Gaelic language in common, coming from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Northern England, Brittany and beyond.
Rooted in the Desert Fathers and Mothers and Celtic monastic history, Celtic spirituality is a different outgrowth of expression from that of the Roman church. People were not set apart as mystics hidden in monasteries. They took the monastic lifestyle to the streets, creating a spirituality that was lived by everyone. It was based on a communal model for living the Christian lifestyle. Priesthood (leadership) was shared by the people, and spirituality was practiced in the home in unique ways. All Celts prayed always in song, poetry and chants as they worked.
I attend the Celtic Eucharist because it offers me a different model of church and ministry from the Roman model. We are stepping back in time to get the core truths of how to live Christianity and then shaping it for today. It is not much different from the way early Christians lived in the time of Jesus, another indigenous group who were defining themselves other than Roman.
It is more right-brained and flexible. It is smaller and intimate. It is inclusive. It is a place of nourishment and enrichment, and encourages a spirituality that is not set aside just for Sundays. It is a quest to live Christianity more deeply. It offers us a way of seeing ourselves as an extension of leadership in a committed active community.
Celtic spirituality is creatively inclusive of every one of all faiths and practice within our own church as well as extended to all others who wish to become a beacon pointing to the God of all, by living example. While accepting the definition and origins of St. David’s, we are not limited by the church building, doctrines, or rituals, but reach for the God before us. We are actively listening to God as a group more than as individuals and asking not "what I must do" but "what WE must do." There is safety in listening to each other rather than just one voice, to resonate whether we are on the true path. It is a way of seeing ourselves as an extension of leadership in a committed active community. Rather than being “led,” each person is taking active responsibility for their spiritual walk and their response to the God who created us to be a mirror image.
Yet, when we step back and look, we do not look that different at all. We are all seekers. Sometimes, we just have to turn our minds just a quarter turn to get another aspect or perspective. Some people shine with the sunrise; others wait for the sunset. We are a blended family.
More about our Celtic worship
The purpose of the Celtic celebrations is to worship in an informal and communal setting by exploring the theologies and spiritualities of creation-centered Christianity. We seek to address the hunger in some Christian circles for worship with a theology based on the goodness of creation and humanity. It is not an attempt to mimic prayer and liturgies from other times and places, but to draw from the spirituality of ancient and indigenous cultures.
The style of worship remains flexible and evolving as we draw freely from alternative Anglican and ecumenical sources. We believe that worship should engage all the senses including our bodies, and so movement is an element of the worship for those who choose to enter into that experience. Depending on the occasion, the style of worship ranges from contemplative to one of celebration.
We believe that God's revelation is on-going and not confined to holy scripture, and so other voices from the Christian tradition are heard with the proclamation of the Gospel. The breaking-open of the Word is a task we share within the community. The readers share one stole to remind the community that our proclamation of the Gospel is the work of all the people. The service is supported by other Episcopalians and seekers in search of a spiritual home. Always at the center we meet Christ and one another in a celebration of the Eucharist or Christian communion.
More background about our Celtic celebrations is available in these articles from The Fig Tree, Spokane's ecumenical newspaper:
Celtic worship moves to traditional hour -- May 2012
Celtic Christianity delights in nature, human goodness -- December 2009
Search for other Fig Tree articles about Celtic worship
For more information about St. David’s practice of Celtic Christian spirituality please contact our parish administrator, Jackie, by email or at 466-3100 and ask for the brochure.
Celtic worship moves to traditional hour -- May 2012
Celtic Christianity delights in nature, human goodness -- December 2009
Search for other Fig Tree articles about Celtic worship
For more information about St. David’s practice of Celtic Christian spirituality please contact our parish administrator, Jackie, by email or at 466-3100 and ask for the brochure.
