Celtic Daily Prayer

As we move on into 2024 we will take a fresh look at Celtic spirituality as exercised by the Northumbria Community. The Northumbria Community is a dispersed network of people, hugely diverse, from different backgrounds, streams and edges of the Christian faith who follow a Celtic rule of life, praying Morning, Midday, Evening and Night. We start by looking at the Morning Prayer and see how it can apply to our lives in 2024.

One thing I have asked of the Lord,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life;
to behold the beauty of the Lord
and to seek Him in His temple.

Of this prayer, I want to concentrate on our understanding of what ‘His Temple’ means in our context. In  1 Corinthians 3:16 we read, “You realise, don’t you, that you are the temple of God, and God himself is present in you? No one will get by with vandalising God’s temple, you can be sure of that. God’s temple is sacred—and you, remember, are the temple.” (The Message)

So, when we pray the morning prayer that we might see the beauty of the Lord and seek him in his temple we are really looking for the presence of God in us! Robert Boer puts it this way, Bethlehem was God with us, Calvary was God for us, and Pentecost is God in us. To Paul, the Church was the very temple of God because it was the society in which the Spirit of God dwelt. As Origen later said, "We are most of all God's temple when we prepare ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit."

In the booklet My Heart, Christ’s Home (InterVarsity Press, 1954), author Robert Munger imaginatively describes the Christian life as a house. 

“When Jesus enters, He goes from room to room. In the library of our minds, Christ sorts through the garbage, cleaning out the worthless trash. In the kitchen, he deals with our unhealthy appetites and sinful desires. At the dining room table, He serves us the bread of life to satisfy our hungry souls and pours living water for us to drink and never be thirsty again. Through dark hallways and cupboards, Jesus uncovers all the places where sin hides. He works His way through every nook and cranny until His love, mercy, forgiveness, and grace have filled every space.” 

This allegory presents a beautiful picture of what it means to have Christ in us. So here is a new emphasis for a new year - to seek God in his temple.

Holy Spirit,

The Consoler,

Spirit of Truth,

You who are present everywhere and fill

the universe…

Source of life:

Come and take up your dwelling in us.

Cleanse us.

And, in your love,

lead us to Salvation.

Amen.