cELtic cHRiStiAN bAptiStS

“Gospel Community Rivermont” (Formerly: “Rivermont Avenue Baptist Church”) Lynchburg, Virginia

“The Celtic Christian Service features ancient poetry, intentional silence, and music in the styles of the British Isles.

                                         

                                                “This is the day that the LORD has made;                                                  we will rejoice and be glad in it!”

 

   -Psalm 118:24

 

 

“The Celtic Christian Service is a mystical,

  contemplative service rooted in the ancient

5th and 6th Century

  Celtic Christian tradition.”

 

       

The first thing people do after entering the quiet sanctuary

        is pause at a table to light prayer candles

for friends and loved ones,

the tiny flames adding to the glow

of nearby candle trees.

 

 

The ministers wear oat-colored, hooded robes tied at the waist with ropes and guide their flock through ancient prayers,

 

a litany of confession and silent meditations marked by a series of bells. 

 

Hymns are accompanied by an ensemble that includes fiddle, acoustic guitar, wind chimes, pennywhistles, a Bodhran and even bagpipes.

 

This Coming Sunday is the day Before the feast of St. Patrick.  

 

Thus, worshippers will sing the great prayer of Ireland’s Missionary Bishop

 

 

“Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.

 

…I arise today through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

 

through belief in the Threeness, through confession of the Oneness, of the Creator of creation.”

 

tHiS iS NOt yOuR typicAl SOutHERN bAptiSt SERVicE

Painting: "Heart's Door" by Warner Sallman. © Warner Press, Inc. Anderson, Indiana. Used by permission.

 

Nevertheless, this Celtic service is held every Sunday at this historic church in Lynchburg, Virginia.  

 

The goal is to use ancient rituals to touch postmodern souls.

 

“Postmodern people — like Baptists in general — like to take some of the old and mix it up with some of the new and then put it all together.  

 

We’re comfortable with the unusual juxtapositions that may occur when you do that,” said Karen Swallow Prior, who selects and reads many of the rite’s Celtic prayers.  She is an English Professor at nearby Liberty University.

 

“We don’t think that what we’re doing is getting back to the ancient ways.  We think that we’re using elements of the past in ways that make sense to people who are alive today.  The goal is to create something new.”

 

In the lingo of Southern Baptist life, Rivermont is known as a “moderate,” or even progressive, congregation. 

In addition to the Celtic service, it also offers the plugged-in, energetic contemporary worship common in “seeker-friendly” congregations across America. 

 

The bottom line:

Different kinds of people worship in different ways.

 

The contemporary service is larger and the pews are filled with Baby Boomers who have become the established, middle-aged core of the congregation. 

 

For them, pop praise choruses and a chatty atmosphere have become normal.  What was once “modern” is now strangely “traditional.”

 

Meanwhile, said Prior, the Celtic service is attracting a unique blend of young adults, who are drawn by its beauty and mysticism, and the elderly, who appreciate peace and quiet.  

 

Church leaders refer to this as a gathering of the “pre-moderns and the postmoderns.”   What was once “traditional” is now strangely “innovative.”

 

“How will the postmodern church worship?” asked Chad Hall of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

 

“One thing we know about postmoderns is that they are extremely experiential.  That is, they learn, grow, develop and commit based on their own experience with truth not according to someone else’s encounter or someone else’s retelling of an encounter.”

 

Postmodern believers want to use all of their senses, stressed Hall.  They want smells and bells…They look for God in nature, as well as Scripture.  They want to encounter God, not mere words about God.

 

But this doesn’t mean they want to change their beliefs.  The faithful at Gospel Community Rivermont remain steadfastly Baptist, said music minister Wayne Bulson

 

While they use elements of ancient liturgy, they believe that the Irish Bannock bread is still bread and the grape juice is still grape juice.  They are embracing symbols, not sacraments.

 

“People want a sense of the ancient, but they still want something that they feel is appropriate to their lives, today,” said Bulson. 

 

“I mean, we’re still Baptists.  We’re not Catholic or Orthodox or anything else. …We’re not pushing for Baptist monasteries.  What we’re trying to do is find out what will be meaningful to our people, what will help them experience God in their lives.

 

We’re not proud.  We’re willing to borrow things from all kinds of traditions, as long as they work for us.”

_______________________________________

Bede: "Ecclesiastical History of the English People" (Celtic Christian Section)
"Ancient-Future Faith: Rethinking Evangelicalism for a Postmodern World" by Robert E. Webber

 

Simplicity lacks the emphasis on complicated rationalistic doctrine found in most of Western Christianity.

 

Holism refuses to separate life into the spiritual and material, the heart and head, the sacred days and workdays, etc.  Modern Christians tend to compartmentalize life.

 

Mystery speaks to the mystical unity that arises from understanding the limitations of human knowledge.  Much of the Christian subculture in America is bureaucratic, programmatic, and political.

 

Immanence teaches that God is present with His creation.

 

Environment encourages earth-keeping as a way to honor God.

 

Equality regards all persons as equal and erases the separation between clergy and laity, men and women, etc.

 

Hope looks first for good rather than for evil in all things.

 _________________________________________________________

Gospel Community Rivermont Text & Photos Copyright 2004 Rivermont Baptist Church.  All Rights Reserved.       _________________________________________

 

Note:  We have slightly modified the Excellent List (Above) for Memorization purposes – adding Scripture Verses with their Verse References and added a Memory Aid Acronym:

 

“He/Me/His” on our webpage: Celtic Christian: Seven Distinctives (Features Category)

 

yOuR cOMMENtS: HEAtHEr W. (NORtH cArOlLnA)

I learned from your website about the Celtic Christian services at the Gospel Community Rivermont Church in Lynchburg, Virginia.

 

My parents live near there, so we all went to the Celtic Christian Christmas Eve service this year.  It was very beautiful.  

 

Thank you,  

-Heather W. (North Carolina)

yOuR cOMMENtS: pAtRicK , BAptiSt MiNiStER (ArKaNSaS)

I would like to thank you for your ministry.  It has been a great encouragement to me…as well as for my spiritual growth.

 

I often turn to your website for information and encouragement.  I hope to be able to become a Lay Monk soon.  Keep up the great work that God has called you to.  

 

In Christ’s service,  

-Patrick (Baptist Minister; Arkansas)

yOuR cOMMENtS: pAStOR QuiNcy c., bAptiSt (NOVA ScOtiA)

…a year ago, I stumbled across the idea of New Monasticism.  This morning as I researched articles on the “net,” imagine my joy to find a prayer movement for evangelicals devoted to the core areas of my interest

 

I immediately forwarded your link to my prayer group of pastors who meets every Monday afternoon.  Together we are Christian Reformed, Baptist, Congregational, Anglican, independent Christian Reformed Evangelical, and Apostolic Pentecostal!  So, please add me to your email list.  My thanks for calling us back to our common roots.

 

Every joy from Nova Scotia, Canada which has as its Scottish roots the motto: 

100,000 welcomes!  

-Pastor Quincy C. (Baptist; Nova Scotia, Canada)

yOuR cOMMENtS: HigHLaNd fAitH fELLoWsHip (SOutHERN bAptiSt)

We are actively involved in a Celtic church planting project here.

 

-Eric D. Benson, D.Min.

 (Highland Faith Fellowship: a Celtic Southern Baptist Community of Faith;

West Virginia)

biLLy GrAHAM

pOLycARp Of SMyRNA

 
“Being a Christian is more than just an instantaneous conversion –
 
– it is a daily process whereby you grow to be more and more like Christ.”
 
“My home is in Heaven. I’m just traveling through this world.”
 
“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost;
 
when character is lost, all is lost.”
 
-Rev. Billy Graham (1918-2018)
 
Christian History Magazine - "Billy Graham: Apostle of Changed Lives and Second Chances"

 

“Let us, therefore, forsake the foolishness of the crowd, and their false teachings, and turn back to the word delivered to us from the beginning.”

 

“Beware of greed and remain pure and just.  Restrain yourself from every vice.  He who cannot restrain himself, how will he be able to teach others restraint?”

 

“You threaten me with fire that burns for an hour and in a little while is put out, for you do not know about the fire of the judgment to come, and the fire of eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly.  

 

But why are you waiting?  Bring what you will.”

 

    -The Martyr Polycarp, (69-155 A.D.)     86 year-old Bishop of Smyrna, before being publicly burnt at the stake in the Smyrna Colosseum, for the Capital Crime of Being a Christian and refusing to renounce Christ.

_______________________________

Documentary: "My Journey to Life: On the Trail of Celtic Saints" by Rainer Walde
"Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey with Celtic Christianity" by Tracy Balzer
"Sun Dancing" The Story of the Monks of Skellig Michael by Geoffrey Moorhouse
"Prayer as a Celtic Lay Monk: Learning from Celtic Christian Prayer" by S.G. Preston
"The Path of Celtic Prayer: An Ancient Way to Joy" by Calvin Miller
"Flame in My Heart: St. Aidan for Today" by David Adam

This Website:  PrayerFoundation Evangelical Lay Monks   Built by:  S.G. Preston Ministries

Copyright © 1999-2024  S.G. Preston.  All Rights Reserved.  

 Photos & Text Copyright © 1999-2024  S.G. Preston.   All Rights Reserved.

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