Celtic Ways to Pray: Finding God in the Natural Elements

by Ruth Lindberg Pattison

Overview

Celtic traditions point to God in the natural elements in this refreshing take on how to pray.

Where is God when we pray? Artist and priest Ruth Pattison looks to the legacy of Celtic spirituality to say God is in all of creation that surrounds us—earth, fire, water, air—and not up in the clouds. She invites the reader into a grounded spirituality rooted deep in Celtic tradition that sees everything as infused with the Spirit—including humanity.

The material will deepen the experience of worship with creative hands-on spiritual practices for the context of liturgy. It can also be used for creating the structure and substance of retreats, spiritual formation classes, and for helping parents who want to learn to pray with children.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640654310
Publisher:	Morehouse Publishing
Publication date:	02/22/2022
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	111,677
File size:	468 KB

About the Author

THE REV. RUTH PATTISON is the associate rector for pastoral care, liturgy, and creative ministries at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church in Atlanta. Her lifelong career as a parish priest has been immersed in an everyday spirituality with Celtic underpinnings of Creation and Incarnation. She uses this experience to offer, in terms that stir the imagination, practical initiatives for the person who longs to find God in ordinary life. Ruth completed the School of Celtic Consciousness with John Philip Newell and coordinated a self-directed Celtic Pilgrimage to the British Isles, culminating in Iona. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About My Theological Journey 1

About the Initiatives for Prayer 5

A How-to for the Oratory and the Prayer Journal 6

Part I God in Earth 9

1 What Does God Smell Like? 16

2 The Spirituality of Stacking Stones 24

3 Guardian in Clay 30

4 Dorsey and Jim 37

Part II God in Fire 49

5 Domestic Justice 55

6 Who Are You? 63

7 Invitation to Play 73

8 Bare Feet 82

Part III God in Water 91

9 Over It, Through It, In It 96

10 It Is Finished 109

11 Open Water Swim 117

12 Mistletoe 124

Part III God in Air 133

13 Pavilion for Play 139

14 Lenten Jester 149

15 Dancing around the Grave 155

16 Flying Feathers 162

Notes 169

Editorial Reviews

"Celtic Ways to Pray infuses prayer with a whole new world of meaning, pregnant with new possibilities. I am thankful for this refreshing, eloquent and beautiful exposition on seeing and experiencing God through prayer and the wonders of nature."
-Beth-Sarah Wright, PhD, author of Becoming Who I Am

"Rich with poetic prose, this sublime approach to experiencing God in the material world beckons us, personally and corporately, to an ancient yet ever-timely way of relating with all our senses to our Creator. Ruth Pattison's innovative prayer experiments will break open your sheltered soul and enrich your worship of this elemental God wherever you are."
-The Rev. Peter M. Wallace, author of Getting to Know Jesus (Again)

From the Publisher