Part 2 of many: Celtic Christianity as Paradoxical Spirituality

According to the Encarta Dictionary for North America the word, “paradox” means, “a statement or proposition that seems to be absurd or contradictory, but in fact is or may be true.”

The posture of Celtic Way enjoys, believes in, and lives out of several life-giving paradoxes. For example, for us God is one and also three. We say the Three in One or the One in Three; we believe that the natural world is the living embodiment of the Divine, but it is not the Divine. There is a distinction between the creator and the creature even though we cannot separate or take the Divine out of nature (or it would die!). We believe that God never changes and that God (in anthropomorphic/metaphorical lingo) is evolving and is ever new. For us time is linear as we seek to measure history and time is cyclical, always bringing us the seasons in a familiar pattern.

We are comfortable in our paradoxes and uncomfortable as well. Our faith journey is seemingly contradictory and certainly true.

Stay with me as I now make a radical turn without explanation…Have you noticed the gorgeous mural our Mother Nature is painting for us here in Colorado these days! Oh, my loving God! We are surrounded by that which is breathtaking, spell-binding, and captivating. The majesty of it all will only be short lived. We know this deep inside ourselves. When the time suits Her, She will send forth Her silent call and many of the trees and several varieties of bushes will release their hold. They will relinquish their short-lived beauty in exchange for nakedness. The great undressing will come about, so, that which once adorned, will fall back into the earth and “die.” The process of death arrives only to slowly and intentionally transformed into a source which will lead to a spring filled new yet familiar life.

It is autumn now. This particular season clears her throat and raises her voice in invitation. “Let go! Let go! Release your grip, open palms and heart. Make room in death. Trust the change and the One who brings it all about.”

There is one constant in life; it is the constant state of change. Welcome, O paradox! Welcome, Life!