Meaning of the word "Celtic"

During a conversation with my son, Troy, who is stationed in Japan with the U.S. Marine Corps, when he casually asked the question, "What does the word Celtic mean?" I knew in my heart what I understood it to mean, but I really never gave it a thought as to what others might understand it to mean, so I came up with the following.

The online Dictionary.com defines the word as a noun in terms as: "a branch of the Indo-European family of languages, including esp. Irish, Scots Gaelic, Welsh, and Breton, which survive now in Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, Wales, and Brittany," or as an adjective in terms as "or relating to the Celtic people and languages."

Okay! Thus, it is safe to say that culturally, a person who speaks some form of the Celtic language regardless of where that person may reside or when that person may reside could be technically regarded as a Celt.

Since we are dealing specifically with The Celtic Episcopal Church, and we are dealing with the Church as it was during the First Millennium in the British Isles, it could be safe to say that when the first Christian Missionaries arrived on the islands, we would subscribe to the idea that Joseph of Arimathea was the first of these who was the Apostle to Glastonbury, they encountered people called Druids and Bards. We would also subscribe to the notion that some of these Druids and Bards were generally like Hebrew Priests and others like secular pagan priests not unlike wiccan followers of today.

I will only speak to the Hebrew like group as I know little if anything of the other group. The Druids and Bards who were like Hebrews were very well educated, were educators of religion, medicine, astronomy, agriculture, seasons, husbandry, and were also practicioners of religion, science, and the practical application of agriculture and animal husbandry. They were the leaders of the culture of the land. They knew of the man Jesus or Yeshua in the Hebrew, as it is told that the boy Jesus traveled with his Uncle Joseph of Arimathea to the British Isles, principally the region of what we now know as England, to trade in tin. When Joseph, now Missionary, told of Jesus as the Messiah, the Druids who were like the Hebrews embraced Him as Messiah easily, thus was the birth of Christianity in the Celtic world during the First Millennium. The Gospel of John, The 10 Commandments and the Psalms were treasured most of all.

The whole structure of the Celtic community was family, life to its fullest, music, worship, food, alcoholic and other kinds of drink, dancing, frolic, nature, animals, crops, ocean, air, sky, heavens, death, birth, laughter, conversation, honesty, sharing, care of the weak, friendship, honor, and the beauty, gusto, and earthiness of marital sex.

The flavor of Christianity offered in this time period was Orthodoxy that came from monastic influence that came from the Egyption desert fathers. Alot of "came froms," but you get the idea.

The record from this early period is not extant as it was predominately of the Oral Tradition because the Druids and Bards mistrusted anything written. It was only much later that these stories and what was to be labeled legend and myth were penned as poetry and prose. Never the less, survive they did.

That sort of gives us something of a historical backbone to overlay the Church that we enjoy today, so let us see what it might look like to be called a Celtic Christian in the USA in the 21st Century.

1. To Love the Lord and Each other.
2. To Love the Creation of God and care for it.
3. To be Orthodox in Theology.
4. To worship in a Western Orthodox liturgical manner.
5. To understand the Holy Scriptures in a pure 1st Millennial way using the early Eccumenical Councils as a guide.
6. Look to the Pre-Nicean Fathers as proper commentators of scripture.
7. Love family, love children, love life, have fun, enjoy that which God has given.
8. Avoid sin in all of its forms. If you should happen to sin, keep short accounts, repent, confess, receive forgiveness, and keep on living life.
9. Focus on victory, healing, wholeness, deliverance, freedom, peace, tranquility, and the eternal reward of paradise.

One does not have to speak gaelic to be Celtic. One does not have to be born in or be decendent from the British Isles to be Celtic. To be Celtic is to be a person who desires to embrace the outline above as the real stuff of their life. Be real, transparent, and honest. Allow God to be God. Relax and let God do what He likes to do in us. Be Celtic! Be Christian! Be governed by Bishops! You will then be perfect for the Celtic Episcopal Church.

Hope this helps.