Outdoor Worship

I love outdoor worship (not to be confused with worshipping the outdoors!) Once a year my hometown church holds church outside. It was terribly hot, but I still enjoyed it. It was comfortable otherwise (love my folding chair!) and I feel closer to God outside of a building. That's a very Celtic concept, by the way!

Here are a few shots I took. The blue tent housed the sound guy. The singers were behind the little locust tree, and the band was to the left in the background. The worshipers were spread out, mostly in the shade where I was! Note the shoes in the first photo. I wonder if the man took them off because he was on holy ground. I admit that I slipped mine off when I saw that! :)

My New Book!

Celtic Wisdom, Treasures From Ireland is available for pre-order at Amazon UK, but strangely I've noticed other sites, like this, offering it now and posting the cover image.

I hope you'll check it out!

Happy St. Brendan's Day!

photo via creative commons by fhwrdh

I almost let this day pass. Shame on me. Brendan the Navigator is one of my favorite Irish saints because of two things: his wondrous journey, which had to have taken a huge measure of faith and trust in God, and the numerous monasteries he founded. He wasn't alone in that, of course. He is one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland--all of whom were hugely influential in the way they spread the faith. There is also the fact that he founded a convent, which was headed by his sister Briga. He took his dying breath in that place. It's a story (most of it in my imagination) that I hope to tell one day in a novel.

So, enjoy the day and look for your own adventure.
Read about Brendan here.

Irish Pub Bans Danny Boy!

The Irish owner of a pub in Manhattan has banned the playing of Danny Boy for the entire month of March. He says, "It's overplayed, it's been ranked among the 25 most depressing songs of all time and it's more appropriate for a funeral than for a St. Patrick's Day celebration."

While it's true that it's not a traditional Irish song (at least not the lyrics, which were written by someone who never set foot in Ireland) I find the pub owner's remarks amusing. St. Patrick's Day does, after all, mark the day of the patron saint's death.

Irish songs are depressing? Who would have thought that?

I do agree that it's overplayed. I'm tired of it myself. Your thoughts??

Read more here.
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