White Martyrdom

I remembered something about Celtic monks that I thought I'd share - some of you may know much more than I about this history, but I hope you will find something of value in this illustration.

What do we mean when we talk about the leadership of the Spirit? If you are remembering Bible verses, one verse that probably comes to mind is Romans 12:1 Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God.” One of the problems with a living sacrifice is that it keeps trying to crawl off the altar! We just don’t like being up there.

Being on that altar like a living sacrifice is what the Celtic monks called “White Martyrdom". White martyrdom is a commitment to live a sacrificial life that will result in one's ultimate death, rather than a "red martyrdom" of being killed in some bloody way for the faith. Ascetic monks who lived in the desert were white martyrs; people who were missionaries in places so far-flung they would never make it home were white martyrs.

Around the 800's Irish monks would embrace white martyrdom by setting sail from the coast in round, brown leather boats, called coracles, that had no rudder. The idea was that they would let the ocean currents (guided by the hand of the Holy Spirit) take their little boats and deliver them to wherever it was the Spirit wanted them to work - hence, they needed no rudder, sail or helm, other than the Spirit's hand. Because of the way the currents flowed, they would likely never return home, and certainly could not turn around and go back intentionally, so they would die at their ultimate destination.

Once we die, we can do nothing else for the Kingdom of God on this earth. If we are to serve our Lord, it must be in this life. This is where the hurt and pain are most evident. It is in this life that the Comforter is needed. It is here that we feel lost and alone. It is here where we need to be reminded of the goodness of God even as we are surrounded by the apathy of the world. Dying for Jesus is easy. It is living for Him where we encounter our failings and our weaknesses.

The deeper and broader question is, “If, when we are in our round boat, we could know where the winds of the Spirit would take us, would we craft a sail, oars, and a rudder in order to get there more quickly?

Pastor Craig