Reading verses from Psalm 18
I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
so I shall be saved from my enemies.
The cords of death encompassed me;
the torrents of perdition assailed me;
the cords of Sheol entangled me;
the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called upon the Lord;
to my God I cried for help.
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears…
He reached down from on high; he took me;
he drew me out of mighty waters.
He delivered me from my strong enemy
and from those who hated me,
for they were too mighty for me.
They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my support.
He brought me out into a broad place;
he delivered me because he delighted in me.
Reflection
Pilgrimage can profoundly change how you see the world and your place in it. God is not distant but woven into the very fabric of creation; alive in wind and water, flame and stone. When Psalm 18 speaks of the Lord as rock, fortress, and deliverer, a Celtic imagination might hear not only metaphors but also encounters the Divine Presence that pulses through the natural world.
God is not an abstract refuge; God is the firmness of the granite beneath our feet, the sheltering curve of the hills, and the steady rhythm of the tides, perhaps along the Northumbrian coast.
The Psalm describes a God who hears our cry and bends low, who moves heaven and earth to reach us. In Celtic spirituality, this is the God who walks the shoreline with us, who whispers through the rustling of oak leaves, who meets us in the ordinary places where our hearts become quiet enough to listen.
The Psalm’s imagery of God reaching down into chaos to draw the psalmist out mirrors the Celtic sense of God as Anam Cara; the soul-friend who descends into our depths, not to condemn but to free.
To be found and to be freed from the self-imposed guilt of failure and regret at not having been strong enough alone withstand loss and sorrows.
Service then becomes an act of gratitude, a response to being rescued and restored. Joy comes from gratitude not perfection. It is okay to not be perfect.
To answer God’s call is to step into a path that is both ancient and deeply personal. It is to trust, with the Psalmist, that: “He brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me because he delighted in me.”
The broad place is not only safety; it is vocation. It is the wide-open field where our gifts, wounds, passions, and hopes are gathered and offered back to God for the healing of the world.
Prayer
Lord, if we listen for You,
You can rescue us from the dark places,
that we place ourselves in.
Your voice calls us to serve You, Lord.
We are grateful to You.
Let our gratitude become our joy,
and may that joy be pleasing to You.
Amen