Feast of St. Brigid Feb. 1
Brigid’s cross is associated with Brigid of Kildare, one of the patron saints of Ireland. The crosses are traditionally made in Ireland on St Brigid’s feast day, 1 February, which was formerly celebrated as a pagan festival (Imbolc) marking the beginning of spring. Many rituals are associated with the making of the crosses. Traditionally they were set over doorways and windows to protect the home from any kind of harm. (Wikipedia)
The Feast of St. Brigid and the Imbolc festival are celebrated mid-way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, when it is still winter but we begin to look forward to spring.
Land Acknowledgement: We acknowledge with respect the history, spirituality, and culture of the K’omoks First Nation and the Coast Salish peoples on whose traditional and unceded territory we meet. We also honour the heritage of all Indigenous peoples as we recognize the need to seek a new relationship between the descendants of settlers and of those who were here before colonization. As a congregation of The United Church of Canada, with them, we take responsibility both for past injustices and the need for healing and reconciliation. We love and honour this land upon which we meet and live and all whose footfall has trod and will tread upon it.
Lighting the Candle: (from A Contemporary Prayer Book by William John Fitzgerald)
We gather at the edge of spring, the last gasps of winter. We light this candle remembering that, for almost a millennium, a perpetual flame was tended at Brigid’s shrine in Kildare, and that the hearth fire was considered to be a spiritual gift from Brigid. We light this candle as a reminder of Mary’s feast and the goodness bestowed by God upon all women.
CALL TO WORSHIP:
Bright blessings at midwinter to all!
Brigid has returned with the sacred flame, watching over home and hearth.
Come, and allow the warmth of Brigid’s hearth to embrace you.
Allow the light of her flame to guide you.
Allow the love of her blessing to protect you.
As we form a simplified Brigid’s cross around our candles, we acknowledge the four directions (place 4 straws or toothpicks of equal length centred around the candle to form a cross):
Celtic Blessing to the Four Directions (from bayart.org)
Great Spirit of Light, come to me out of the East with the power of the rising sun. Let there be light in my words, Let there be light on the path I walk. Let me remember always to be thankful that You give the gift of a new day. Let the color of fresh rising in my life be glory to you.
Great Spirit of Love, come to me with the power of the North. I come to you and ask for the strength and the power to bear what is cold and harsh in life. Make me courageous when the cold winds of life fall upon me. Give me strength and endurance for everything that is harsh, everything that hurts, everything that makes me squint. Do not let the winter blow me away. Let me move through life ready to take what comes from the North.
Great Life-Giving Spirit, I face the West, where the sun goes down each day to come up the next. Let me remember everyday that the moment will come when my sun will go down. You are the powerful cycle, which pulls me to transformation. Never let me forget that I must fade into you. I ask for the blessings of the sunset. Keep me open to life’s changes. Give me a beautiful color, give me a great sky for setting, so that when it is my time to meet you, I can come with glory.
Great Spirit of Creation, send me the warm, gentle and refreshing winds from the South. Comfort me and caress me when I am tired and cold. Unfold me like the gentle breezes that unfold the leaves on the trees. And as You give to all the earth your warm moving wind, give to me, so that I may grow close to you in warmth.
OPENING HYMN VIDEO: “Turn, Turn, Turn” by Pete Seeger, sung by Judy Collins
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3kKqfTjsj0
HEARING AND REFLECTING
Luke 10:38-42 Common English Bible
38 While Jesus and his disciples were traveling, Jesus entered a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his message. 40 By contrast, Martha was preoccupied with getting everything ready for their meal. So Martha came to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to prepare the table all by myself? Tell her to help me.”
41 The Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things. 42 One thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better part. It won’t be taken away from her.”
Reflection:
In his article “Saint Brigid offers healing for today’s divided world”, Kenneth McIntosh opens with this joke: A Muslim, a Jew, a pagan, and an atheist all walk into a coffee shop. They laugh and joke, drink coffee, and become friends. It’s not a joke, it’s what happens when you’re not a jerk.
It’s a funny joke and a hopeful one. It’s also a bit sad to notice that there are no Christians included in this happy little gathering. One suspects that Christians are the “jerks” that just aren’t open-minded enough to talk respectfully with other faith traditions. That’s especially sad because many of our traditions are so firmly rooted in the spiritual practices of other faiths. Easter is one example, when the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus coincides with the Jewish celebration of Passover and the ancient festivals celebrating Eostre, the goddess of spring.
The feast day of St. Brigid of Kildare is a less well-known example, especially within Protestant traditions. As Kenneth McIntosh discovered in his conversations with shamanic pagan Lilly Weichberger, “the Brigid we know today is a mixture of legend and history” and her feast day coincides with the pagan celebration of Imbolc, the Christian tradition of Candlemas, and even Groundhog Day on Feb. 2.
I’m not going to try to cover all the history and tradition behind St. Brigid and her roots in pre-Christian Celtic culture. You can read more about her, if you wish, in the articles I will link at the end of this service.
What I would like to do is highlight a few of the properties attributed to her, some of which are named in the traditional Celtic prayers in this service. I won’t attempt to separate her gifts to us into Christian or pre-Christian traditions. As Sister Rita Minehan is quoted as saying in McIntosh’s article, “It may be an exercise in futility to try separating the historical Christian Brigid from the goddess…Neither the boundaries of Christianity nor the older beliefs can contain her exclusively.”
Multicultural and Classless
McIntosh identifies Brigid as a “third culture” person, at home “nowhere yet everywhere”. She was born to a Pict slave mother kidnapped from Scotland, fathered by an Irish chieftain, and raised by a Druid priest. She is said to have had great compassion for the poor, often giving away both her own possessions and those of her father. Eventually her father granted her freedom and she went on to found a monastery at Kildare.
Keeper of the Hearth
Brigid is strongly associated with the hearth flame and with the hospitality of the home. An eternal fire burned at her abbey. In her hospitality and in her devotion to Christ, she expresses the spirits of both Martha and Mary in today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke.
Lady of the Lambs
She is also linked to healing, fertility, and midwifery. It’s fitting that her feast is celebrated at spring lambing time when snowdrops, the earliest flowers, begin to appear in the winter fields and woods.
Cleaning out the old, welcoming the new
Brigid’s feast is often marked by sweeping out the house and the hearth, making it clean and ready to greet a new season.
Brigid of the Mantle
Legend tells us that when Brigid asked the king for land for the monastery, he told her she could have as much land as she could cover with her cloak. After asking for God’s favour, she laid her mantle on the ground where it grew to cover a vast tract of land.
I am just at the beginning of my journey with Brigid, discovering her rich heritage and her gifts that bridge centuries and traditions. I hope this very brief introduction will inspire you to also set out on her unifying pathway.
Once more in the words of Kenneth McIntosh, “May Brigid spread her mantle in our troubled time, teaching us the ways of peace.”
Suggestions for reflection:
What draws you to Brigid?
Which of her gifts do you need right now?
WE RESPOND IN PRAYER AND ACTION
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https://denmanislandunitedchurch.ca/donate/
Prayer of Dedication ( Prayers to Share Year C by David Sparks)
Bless our offerings, O God.
In offering, we will receive your gift of challenge;
in offering, we will receive your gift of compassion;
in offering, we will receive your gift of gratitude;
in offering, we will receive your gift of peace.
We offer our gifts in the name of Jesus Christ, whose self-offering completes ours. Amen.
WE PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER:
Silently share your prayers of concern with God for yourself, for others, and for the world.
Saint Brigid.
You were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness.
You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious, and may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.
Brigid you were a voice for the wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us.
Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into greater wholeness in mind, body and spirit.
Amen.
THE PRAYER OF JESUS: (an adaptation by Parker Palmer)
Heavenly Mother, heavenly Father,
Holy and blessed is your true name.
We pray for your reign of peace to come,
We pray that your good will be done,
Let heaven and earth become one.
Give us this day the bread we need,
Give it to those who have none.
Let forgiveness flow like a river through us,
From each one to each one to each one.
Lead us to holy innocence
Beyond the evil of our days,
Come swiftly Mother, Father, come!
For yours is the power and the glory and the mercy—
Forever your name is All in One.
CLOSING HYMN VIDEO: “Bless This House” by Helen Taylor, sung by Mahalia Jackson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxbr1fXjoy8
CLOSING PRAYER:
Brigid of the Mantle, encompass us,
Lady of the Lambs, protect us,
Keeper of the Hearth, kindle us.
Beneath your mantle, gather us, and restore us to memory.
Mothers of our mother, Foremothers strong.
Guide our hands in yours,
Remind us how to kindle the hearth. To keep it bright, to preserve the flame.
Your hands upon ours, Our hands within yours,
To kindle the light, Both day and night.
The Mantle of Brigid about us, The Memory of Brigid within us,
The Protection of Brigid keeping us from harm, from ignorance, from heartlessness. This day and night, From dawn till dark, From dark till dawn.
Blessing:
This is a time of rebirth and fertility, and as the earth grows full of life, may you find abundance on your own path.
Go in peace and go in love, accompanied by the Holy Spirit, to be Christ’s feet and hands and face and hearts in the world.
Amen.
Additional Resources:
“St. Brigid offers healing for today’s divided world”, by Kenneth McIntosh
https://uscatholic.org/articles/202001/st-brigid-offers-healing-for-todays-divided-world/
“February: Imbolc and Candlemas, and Brigid” by Yorkshire Plus from Outdoor Worship and Forest Church
https://issuu.com/goober2702/docs/forest_church_low_res_proof-compressed/s/14606204
How to make a St. Brigid’s cross
