Saint Brendan of the Ninth Wave Celtic Church

Our First Sunday Brendan Study will be on February 5 from 4:00 – 5:30 at Marty and Karen’s home. And we will be finshed in time for the Super Bowl!

Reading: Chapter 15 (Can be downloaded from the “Voyage of Saint Brendan” page)

Our January Gathered Eucharist on the 15th at 10:00 a.m. at the home of Newt and Deb will celebrate the Epiphany, and Mabon ap Modron (Divine Child of Divine Mother, from Welsh mythology.) Bring a star, any kind of star, from home to be blessed!

14 For while gentle silence enveloped all things,
and night in its swift course was now half gone,
15 your all-powerful word leapt from heaven, from the royal throne,
into the midst of the land . . .
— Wisdom 18:14-15

Prayer for Blessing of the Bread and Wine at the Christmas Eucharist, from the Saint Brendan’s Missal, written by the Rev. William Melnyk:

A Eucharistic Prayer for the
Christmas Season

Celebrant: Lift up your hearts.
People: We lift our hearts to God.
Celebrant: Let us give thanks to God Most High.
People: It is right and good to give our thanks and praise.

The Celebrant continues
It is truly right to offer thanks and praise to you, most gracious God, creator of the universe, for in the fullness of time, while gentle silence enveloped all things, and night in its swift course was half gone, your all-powerful Word leaped down from the heights of heaven into our midst, and became flesh and dwelt among us. And in the Word made flesh, you drew the whole world to yourself.

Joining our voices with followers of Jesus throughout this world, with those who have gone before, and with the heavenly chorus, we praise you as we say:

Celebrant and people
Holy, holy, holy God, Giver of Light and Life,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is the One who comes in the name of our God.
Hosanna in the highest.

Then the Celebrant continues
Draw us now with you in our imagination to the stable in Bethlehem where, with shepherds, we come to find Mary and Joseph, and the newborn baby lying in a manger, wrapped lovingly in swaddling clothes, and closely guarded by his mother.

As the shepherds look on, Joseph reaches into his traveling bag and withdraws the last of the couple’s meager provisions for the journey. On a board next to the manger, he lays out a small skin of wine, and the remains of a loaf of bread. Mary unwraps the Sabbath candles they have brought with them, and lights them from the small stable fire. “Blessed are you, Lord God, Ruler of the Universe,” she says, “for you bring Light into the world.”

Joseph pours some wine into a small cup, and offers the Sabbath prayer of thanks, remembering especially the joy he and Mary feel at the birth of their first child. Holding the bread high, Joseph blesses God and says, “Blessed are you, Ruler of the Universe, for from the grain of the earth you give us bread to eat, to sustain our lives. Amen.”

Then Joseph lifts the cup of wine, and again gives thanks to God, saying, “Blessed are you, Lord God, Ruler of the Universe, for from the fruit of the vine you give us wine to make our hearts glad. Amen.”

Mary and Joseph share the Bread and Wine of Thanks. Then together they offer it to their shepherd visitors, while the Holy Child lies quietly by. As they eat and drink, the Bread and Wine they share becomes forever linked with the life, future, and work of this Child. The Child stirs, and Joseph asks the shepherds to step outside so Mary will have some privacy. Mary softly and gently raises the Infant to nurse where he, too, may share in their Meal of Thanks.

Therefore, recalling the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, born this day, we bring before you our own gifts of bread and wine. We ask you, Gracious God, to hear our Christmas prayer. Send your Holy Spirit now upon these gifts of Bread and Wine, that they may truly be for us the Real Presence of the Christ Child in this our Christmas celebration. Fill us now with your grace, and make us the Presence of Christ for this world in which we live.

Celebrant and People together
Come, Lord Jesus, come.
Be among us as the Light of the world.
Fill us with your grace
That we might live and proclaim your love.

Celebrant
All this we ask for the sake of the Holy Child, your Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ. Through Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, all honor and glory are yours, eternal and holy God, now and to ages of ages, AMEN.

Eucharistic Prayer by the Rev. W. William Melnyk, Christmas, 1999(adapted).

The members of the Celtic Church of Saint Brendan of the Ninth Wave are committed to being a “House Church.” What does that mean? For one thing, we are small. We fit into each other’s living rooms. For another, Saint Brendan’s Church, though pastored by a retired Episcopal Priest with a seminary M.Div. degree, we are not affiliated with any larger association or denomination. And though we celebrate in a way that is catholic and sacramental, we do not reserve spiritual or ecclesiastical authority to the Priest. For, indeed, we are a Priesthood of Every Believer.

Saint Brendan’s Church is a voluntary association of individuals, having no power or authority to raise, maintain, or spend funds, or own property, in its own name.

We have not building, only a mission. We meet twice a month in each other’s homes: On the third Sunday of the month for our Gathered Eucharist, and on the first Sunday for our Brendan Study & Communion.

But our commitment to the ideal of “House Church” goes far deeper than that, for on the other Sundays of the month we have set the goal of becoming familiar and comfortable with the celebration of the Holy Eucharist in our own homes, among our own families, or as individuals. In the practice of our liturgical faith, it is this that most sets us apart from the established Church from which we spring. It is this commitment which impelled us to embark upon the sacred voyage with Saint Brendan as our Patron and Guide.

Our “Saint Brendan’s Missal” contains forms of the Holy Eucharist for use by families or individuals in the home.

In that Missal we affirm: The earliest of all altars to the Holy was the hearth, around which people gathered for

fellowship and safety, to share meals, and to tell stories. In many societies and in many religions today this remains so. Early in its particular history, the Christian Church removed all sacramental rites from the home, and reserved them for conduct by the Priest within a dedicated Church building. As a result, for many practicing Christians an encounter with the Holy is reserved for attending Church on Sunday mornings or special holy days, and the home has become void of the sacred. Yet the hearth remains the oldest of altars, and the individual or family in the home remains the oldest and most sacred of Priesthoods. our Order for Holy Communion in the Home (page 27 of the Missal) stands on its own as a morning or evening devotion, or may be combined with the family meal. Any number of family mmbers may share in the role of worship leader.

But there are many homes in which the family is composed of a solitary person. This single person is also worthy of celebrating the sacrament of the Eucharist. It has been traditional in the larger Church to assume that the Holy Eucharist, or Holy Communion, is to be celebrated in community, and therefore most Churches have prohibited Celebration by an individual alone. Yet an individual is never alone in the Church, being always a member of the Communion of Saints, the Body of Christ. Therefore, the individual may celebrate our rite of Communion in the Communion of Saints and the Whole Company of Heaven at any time.

In the profoundest of senses, Saint Brendan’s Church is a “House Church.” More especially, we are a “Home Church.” All our members and companions are encouraged to live this deep experience of the Presence of Christ. All our visitors are welcome to do the same.

Blessings of Spiritual Freedom,
Father Bill+

The Christian season of Advent is near upon us. Being Latin for “coming to,” it reminds us that the birth of Christ is coming to us. Though Christmas is a later holiday than the season of Advent, which originally for the Church was a preparation for the Feast of the Epiphany, or the manifestation of Christ, on January 6th. Of course a season of something coming is even older than that, for northern European Pagans of many varieties at this dark time of year found themselves looking forward to the coming of the return of Light at the Winter Solstice.

Indeed, before the turning of the seasons was fully understood by the common people, no one was entirely sure that, in such time of cold and darkness, the Sun would ever return. Many ritual oberservances of “sympathetic magic” were employed to entice the Sun to come back, as the darkest night of the year approached. Bringing evergreens into the house, and weaving them into circular wreaths, provided symbols of eternal life – and the hope that a new Spring, and new Life, would indeed come again. These wreaths, and all areas of the home, would be decorated with candles during the long dark between mid-afternoon and mid-morning. More and more candles might be lit as the weeks before Solstice progressed, until the Solstice celebration itself brought the celebration of the Unconquerable Sun.

As Christianity spread to northern Europe, most of the old Pagan ways were kept, but reinterpreted with Christian meanings. When we go to Church on Christmas, we practice the Christian celebration of Christ’s Mass. But everything we do at home is Pagan in origin – Advent Wreaths, Christmas Trees, Candles, Bright Lights, Santa, Reindeer, Gift Giving, and more.

The Advent Wreath has always been a fixture in Catholic Christian homes. In recent decades this has become true among Protestant families as well. And throughout December Christians add more and more light to their homes as Christmas approaches, even as many Pagans do the same in anticipation of Solstice.

With the development of the Christian Advent Wreath, and the adoption of December 25 as Christmas, the Birth of Christ, in the early 4th century, Christian meanings were adopted for the old Pagan symbols. Eternal life shown in the evergreens and circular wreaths no longer symbolized the endless turning of the Wheel of the Year, but Eternal Life in Jesus Christ. The growing number of lighted Candles on the wreath each Sunday in Advent symbolized no longer the return of the Unconquerable Sun, but the Coming of the Son of God. (A pun that works only in English!) Of course Celtic Christians found, and still find, that this whole range of symbolism can stand well together!

As for the candles, it is the light itself that matters, and an additional candle is lighted each Sunday in Advent, until the wreath is ablaze with Hope. In all likelihood, the candles on the first wreaths were white.

When Advent was originally a time of penitential preparation for Epiphany Baptisms, the penitential color of purple was chosen. Because it was hard to be penitent all the way through the season when the rest of the community was joyfully celebrating Solstice, the third Sunday in Advent became a slight relaxation of the Advent fast. Thus the candle for that Sunday became pink – “not so purple” – because the fast was eased.

In many parts of England, especially around Salisbury Cathedral, blue was used as the color of Advent, for blue is Mary’s color, and Advent is the season of Mary’s pregnancy. If you use blue for your candles, it signifies a joyful expectation of the approach of the Holy Child, so no “relaxation of the fast,” or pink candle, is needed. All four are blue.

At RavenOak we use green candles, to emphasize the theme of evergreen as the winter promise of life. But you can use any color you wish.

Watch this website for a suggested Celtic Advent Ritual for the home.

At Saint Brendan’s Church Gathered Eucharist on the 20th of this month. Bring your Advent Wreath candles to be blessed
at that service.

In this dark and fallow time of the year, new light and new life are not far behind, and the coming of the Lost Child of Light is nigh.

Advent Blessings,
~ Fr. Bill+

See the updated page on Prayer Beads for Saint Brendan.

A new addition at RavenOak is the small Saint Brendan’s Chapel, under the eaves on the third floor.

Help me to journey beyond the familiar into the unknown.

Give me the faith to leave old ways
and break fresh ground with You.

Christ of the mysteries, I trust You
to be stronger than each storm within me.
I will trust in the darkness and know
that my times, even now, are in Your hand.

Tune my spirit to the music of heaven,
and somehow, make my obedience count
for You.

From an article by Mark M. Mattison, describing the nature of the “House Church.”

“The most effective way to reclaim the simplicity of the New Testament’s church life is to follow its principles and patterns. Without real estate, buildings, staff salaries, utilities, and mortgages, the church’s financial resources can be reallocated for more effective ministry. Without pulpits, pews, or sermons, the church can be free to pursue the mutual ministry of every believer in the assembly. Mutual participation is far more attainable in the small-group setting of living rooms. Furthermore, without the limitations of a church building’s size, house churches can multiply indefinitely.”

Do you want to experience this first century expression of the Jesus Tradition? Visit the Celtic Church of Saint Brendan of the Ninth Wave. And see the rest of the article under our Founding Principles/House Church menu link.