Dallas Willard writes:
‘The Old Testament experience of God is one of the direct presence of God’s person, knowledge and power to those who trust and serve him. Nothing – no human being or institution, no time, no space, no spiritual being, no event – stands between God and those who trust him.’
(The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, page 78)
How much more, therefore, for we who believe that Jesus ushered in the Kingdom ought we not to expect to see the signs of God’s Kingdom breaking in. It’s not surprising that Jesus spoke of ‘signs and wonders’ in Mark 16: 20, while Luke writes the same in Acts 2: 22 and in Acts 6: 8. It’s equally not surprising that the Celtic Christians expected God to make himself known through signs and wonders.
To introduce the reality of signs and wonders in the Celtic Church and in our day, I want to tell you about:
St Cuthbert
Cuthbert was taught the Christian faith by his foster mother, Kenswith. At age 16 he was on a hillside with other shepherds when, in the night sky, he saw a vision of angels bathed in beautiful light ascending to heaven. Cuthbert said to his fellow shepherds, ‘Tonight, surely some holy person has entered into the bright realms of light, yet we struggle on in the dark.’
Cuthbert returned home and reported the vision to his mother who confirmed what he believed, that it was a call from God and that he should go immediately to the monastery at Melrose. To speed Cuthbert on his journey she sent him on horseback with a servant and a spear, lest on his important journey, he be waylaid.
Arriving at the monastery, Cuthbert dismounted, and with just the clothes he was wearing and a sense of God’s call on his life he approached the monastery. When Boisil, the Abbot of Melrose, saw Cuthbert approaching he, prompted by the Holy Spirit, said to a monk beside him, ‘Behold the servant of the Lord.’
So, Cuthbert, still a teenager, entered the monastic life. Not many days later monks from Lindisfarne arrived with the news that Aidan had died. Astonishingly, the time of his death corresponded exactly with the time that the young Cuthbert had seen the vision of angels ascending into heaven.
Melrose below the Eildon Hills. Ruins of a more modern Abbey visible
Cuthbert devoted his life to God and became a monk at Melrose. Some years later when Boisil, the Abbot of Melrose, was dying of the plague he was given a word from God that he would die but that Cuthbert, who had also contracted the plague, would live. We are told that Boisil spent the final week of his life on earth with Cuthbert beside him reading the Gospel of John. Bede writes that, ‘They used the time for deep meditation rather than much conversation’ and that, ‘They dealt only with the simple things of the faith and not matters of dispute.’
Boisil spoke into Cuthbert’s life and prophesied that he would become a bishop, much to Cuthbert’s dismay as he already felt called to a solitary life of prayer. Some time after Boisil’s death, Cuthbert became Abbot of Melrose and his ministry of preaching and teaching blossomed with ‘signs and wonders’ following. Bede writes, ‘He was wont to resort unto those lonely places and preach in those hamlets lying afar off in steep and craggy hills, which other men had dreaded to visit, and which from their poverty as well as uplandish rudeness, teachers shunned to approach; tarrying in the hilly part, he would call the poor folk of the country to heavenly things with the word of preaching as well as work of virtuous example.’
Cuthbert later moved to the monastery on Holy Island and while Aidan had been seen as the torch bearer who brought the light of Christ to Northumbria, Cuthbert was seen as ‘the fire of the north.’ Many came to faith through his preaching while healing and deliverance were commonplace.
Prayer Island on Lindisfarne
Cuthbert spent nights in prayer, sometimes waist deep in the North Sea. There is a story of a monk who ‘spied on him’ and saw the otters warming Cuthbert’s feet at the end of his vigil. When the monk was discovered Cuthbert made him swear to secrecy.
(Fire of the North by David Adam, pages 44–47)
Also a story of Cuthbert and his monks being trapped by a violent storm while on a mission to the Picts.
(Fire of the North by David Adam, pages 47–48)
So Cuthbert’s ministry is shot through with ‘signs and wonders’ following his preaching. However the call to the solitary life persisted and Cuthbert finally moved to one of the Farne Islands in the North Sea where he built his hermitage. After some time the King prevailed upon him to return to Lindisfarne as Bishop. He exercised his Episcopal ministry for some years with great vigour and later returned to his hermitage on Farne Island to pursue his calling as a hermit.
There is a story of birds eating his seed.
(Fire of the North By David Adam, pages 67–68)
After his death Cuthbert was buried on Holy Island. Eleven years later, with the Viking raids intensifying and the monastery threatened, the monks exhumed his body and found it to be ‘uncorrupted.’ The monks carried his body for years from place to place in a heavy wooden coffin, fleeing the invaders and eventually laid his body to rest in a grave on a hill overlooking Durham. Cuthbert’s burial place became a focus for pilgrimage and the present cathedral was built incorporating his simple grave behind the high altar.
Wooden Statues depicting the monks carrying Cuthbert's body
A glance through the chapter headings of historian Bede reveals how awesome were the signs and wonders in the Celtic Church:
How, among innumerable other miraculous cures wrought by the cross ….
A certain youth had his lame arm healed
How a traveller’s horse was restored
A young girl cured of the palsy
A boy cured of an ague
Of signs shown from heaven when the mother of that congregation departed.
How a pestilential mortality ceased through the intercession of King Oswald
How Ethelwald calmed a tempest when the brethren were in danger at sea
How Bishop John, by his prayers, healed a sick man.’
(Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People)
Ray Simpson writes of the straightforward way in which St Columba approached potential converts, ‘Columba spent little time arguing with potential converts. His approach was: You say you have power? Well, whatever you have got I bring a greater power, that of God, the Almighty Trinity.’
(Exploring Celtic Spirituality by Ray Simpson, page 126)
Cuthbert’s sensitivity and openness to ‘hear’ God in creation is beautifully illustrated in the following account of his visit to Queen Lurminburg:
‘Cuthbert saw through the false divisions we make between heaven and earth, God and ourselves, other people and ourselves. Cuthbert was aware of the unity of creation that we have become insensitive to, though the modern world is learning once again that nothing stands alone, all things are in unity with other parts of God’s universe. Heaven is woven into our world, and is here and now. A world viewed with this insight gives us a vision of a world that is ablaze with the glory of God.’
(Walking the Edges by David Adam, page 124)
Another story is that of the vision by which Patrick saw God calling him to return to Ireland.
(Celtic Daily Light by Ray Simpson, March 17th)
Other stories include:
Columbanus: Flood Tide;
Martin: Pagan Oak tree;
Boisil re Cuthbert and prophetic words.
Personal stories:
Healing: Miss Currin (Following Christ the Healer sermon);
Deliverance: Patrick Kota’s wife / Young confirmand in tent;
‘Prophetic words’ Hand to the plough Luke 9: 62;
Joyce’s banner dreams and Bevan’s deliverance;
Camino; Countless small ways. Doctor / Hospitalero at Sahagun;
Stick from Peter after losing mine on mountain;
God’s Positioning Service at Judas Peak.
Signs and wonders were not simply for the apostolic age but ought to be evidence of the church appropriating,‘ …. his incomparably great power for us who believe.’
(Ephesians 1: 19)
