Notes for the Week Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost September 1 2019

Dear friends,

It’s Celtic Festival time, and we’re wondering, who will be our champion caber* tosser this year! What? We don’t have a caber tosser? Then perhaps a hammer thrower? This could be you running forward, holding up an entire tree, or throwing that iron ball across campus. Just look at that elegant form. If we want to be serious about our game, we’ll have to start practicing, and soon.

Of course, we’ll have our chance to practice our new fundraiser on Saturday. Running the Tea House, the Refectory and selling Bumbleberry pies, playing music, singing and just plain talking to people, takes energy, strength and determination. As does doing booth duty. All that explaining everything about our Celtic Festival to hundreds of people (well, maybe hundreds), and helping people to make masks at the art camp booth, selling this and that, and talking about Sandy River and our plan to go green, and pointers about bees, and birds and all things that grow in creation, like people and kids who like to create. That’s really Celtic.

Celtic is more than just highland dancers or throwing things, although they add a lot of flavor. Celtic is about loving all God’s creation and all that grows in it. It’s about loving the earth, and one of God’s favorite saints, Mother Nature. It’s about God wanting us to preserve Mother Nature, to nurture Nature herself so that she can continue to nurture us. To help Nature take care of all the responsibility it takes to sustain earth and sea. And it’s about making music and art as a response to Mother Nature and all things authentic and natural. About being filled with joy and gratitude that we are a part of it all, part of Creation itself. No wonder people celebrate all things Celtic all over the Western world.
We are blessed with all of the above, here at St. Aidan’s in our little corner of God’s creation. And to celebrate, we will fill our day with beautiful music, poetry, art, dance and good food. Like these lovely people to our left. Regular little rays of sunshine, who might brighten considerably at the prospect of some shepherd’s pie, or a cup of tea.

Regardless, of how we measure success, or who comes to see us on Saturday, or what their interests might be, our Celtic Festival is our day to enjoy. We are mere infants in the Celtic Festival game, and that’s just fine. We are still learning, still growing, still finding our way. We’re on track and that’s what counts. We may not have perfected our caber tossing or our hammer throwing, but we’re getting pretty darn good at making people welcome. So, come prepared to enter in, to enjoy and have fun on our day to be together with good food and fellowship, as we continue to build for the future. The hundreds may not show up this weekend, but they are on their way.