Western Massachusetts church’s Celtic services offer meditative worship through nature, storytelling
A Celtic worship service at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia. Photo: Screenshot
[Episcopal News Service] Every year during the autumn and winter months, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, offers a monthly Celtic worship service for members of the community to pray in a nature-based and meditative setting.
“It’s a beautiful and very peaceful service that brings the congregation into the service in a very physical way,” Susan Baldwin, ministry leader for St. Andrew’s altar guild. “Each month, you can see how the seasons unfold and how tradition is passed on.”
St. Andrew’s contemplative Celtic service takes place at 5 p.m. Eastern on the second Saturday of each month from October through March. The tradition started in 2015, when the Rev. Derrick Fetz, now the Diocese of Southern Ohio’s missioner for stewardship, was the church’s rector. Today, between 50 and 100 people from St. Andrew’s and the general Longmeadow community attend the Celtic worship services.
The Celtic services run without a sermon, but Eucharist is offered.
The ancient Celts were various Indo-European tribal groups living in parts of western and central Europe during the late Bronze age, around 1600 B.C.E., and the Iron Age, around 1500-500 B.C.E. They settled in the British Isles, the Brittany region in northwestern France and the Iberian Peninsula, where their cultures flourished for centuries. Many pre-Christian Celtic customs and symbols remain recognizable today and are incorporated into Christian traditions. Several of those Celtic traditions and symbols, such as nature imagery, are included in St. Andrew’s Celtic services.
An altar for a Celtic worship service at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Photo: Susan Baldwin
Each worship service’s theme revolves around the month it occurs. The theme for the next scheduled service on Jan. 11 is “A New Beginning,” marking January as the beginning of the new year and a time for families to bless their home through “saining,” a Scottish folk blessing ritual involving juniper smoke, water, poetry and prayers.
Baldwin decorates the altar in accordance with the theme and time of year. For example, in February, the altar will include St. Brigid’s cross – a variant of the Christian cross handwoven from straw or rushes – to mark the Feb. 1 Feast Day of St. Brigid of Kildare, one of three patron saints of Ireland. Baldwin also adorns the altar with Scottish tartan cloth, Trinity candles and various symbolic Celtic items.
Celtic prayers, poetry, stories and music are curated to follow the designated monthly theme. Special guest musicians also perform traditional and modern Celtic music each month. For the Jan. 11 service, a guitarist and a mandolinist will perform.
“I enjoy planning the service and picking out the Celtic hymns and tunes, but I really look forward to joining the service itself, where I’m able to just sit there and be quiet and worship and listen to the wonderful guest musicians,” Sue Riley, St. Andrew’s music director, told ENS.
All services are heavily lit with Orthodox beeswax candles that stand upright in a box filled with sand. Congregants are welcome to light a candle and pray during the service.
“We never blow the candles out – blow away people’s prayers,” Baldwin said. “The candles melt into the sand while their prayers go up with the smoke. It’s a very quiet and a very peaceful, symbolic moment that physically brings the congregation into the service.”
St. Andrew’s will also offer Celtic worship services on Feb. 8 and March 8. The February theme will be “The Coming of the Light” and the March theme will be “In the Wilderness.” After a break during the spring and summer months, the Celtic services will resume in the fall.
“It’s a much more relaxing worship environment than Sunday morning services,” Riley said. “Everything about the Celtic service is gentle and soothing.”
Celtic worship services are also offered at Trinity Episcopal Church in Asheville, North Carolina, Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Knoxville, Tennessee, and other Episcopal parishes.
-Shireen Korkzan is a reporter and assistant editor for Episcopal News Service. She can be reached at skorkzan@episcopalchurch.org.
