Sweet silence

Lutheran, The, Apr 2004 by Jerde, Lyn

CELTIC WORSHIP IS 'A WONDERFUL WAY ' TO START THE WEEK

Although they're careful not to slip on the patina of ice covering the sidewalks of St. Paul, Minn., the people walk briskly and talk eagerly as they approach the church door. But as they enter, their steps slow and their voices quiet.

"Have you been here before?" a greeter asks. "No? OK, take this candle, light it from the large one in the center and place it in the sand." The white sand, holding more than 100 lit tapers, rests in a box shaped like a Celtic cross.

This is Celtic worship at Pilgrim Lutheran Church-a perfect fit for an area heavy with Irish and Scottish influence. Worship doesn't start until 6:51 p.m., but there's plenty to occupy the souls of those who pack the pews. Candles. Soft music of cello, drums, Northumbrian smallpipes, recorders and whistles. And sweet silence.

"This is a wonderful way to end one week and begin a new one," says new member Barbara McCawley.

Carol Tomer, a pastor of Pilgrim, says the church offers once-a-month Celtic worship on a Sunday partly to connect with the "de-churched" who live in or near the neighborhood. "A lot of de-churched people have a spiritual longing and wonder when it is safe to come back to the church of their youth," she says.

The 6:51 starting time commemorates a leader in the Celtic Christian movement, Aidan, abbot of Lindisfarne, who died in A.D. 651. Tomer laughs when recalling that after they decided on the worship time, "we realized that 651 is also our area code."

Celtic music is resurging in popularity, Tomer observes. But until recently modern people knew little about the Celtic worship style that characterized the British church as early as the fourth century after Christ's birth.

Pilgrim developed this service in 2002, thanks to a worship renewal grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Mich. Dick Hensold, Pilgrim's composer-in-residence, plays the smallpipes as part of a trio of musicians. Each service has a different theme, with Tomer writing the words and Hensold composing music.

Member Mary Ellen Erlandson says she attends for "the peacefulness, the silence, the meditation, the spirituality and the music."

One evening, she met a newcomer who came because of a poster in an area bank. One Sunday morning, she met another person exploring membership after attending Celtic worship. Erlandson says, "Celtic worship seems to reach people at a deeper level. Silence and reflection are things that Lutherans often don't take time for in their regular worship."

This worship style often appeals to people who grew up in the church, left for one reason or another, but want to come back, Tomer says. And they are coming back-attendance grew from 101 in November to 143 in January.

Michael Burk, ELCA director for worship, agrees that those returning to church may find in this service a good opportunity for re'entry. "Going into a setting where there are fewer boundaries, where worship is more free flowing than what some people have known, can be less threatening," he says, but cautioning that these and similar worship experiences not become "another crowded place to be alone." If worshipers don't become connected to the faith community and to a common mission, it's not all of what worship can be.

At a recent service, there were so many candles in the sand, they burned each other out before the service was over-depriving Tomer of one of her great pleasures, serving communion to those whose faces are bathed in candlelight. "Aren't those joyful problems?" she asks, smiling.

For more information about Celtic worship,contact pilgrim@pilgrimstpaul.org. To discuss this article with Pastor Carol Tomer April 13-20, see www.thelutheran.org (click discussion boards)

Jerde is a free-lance writer living in St. Paul, Minn.