In our collect for today, we ask for God's grace always to precede and follow us. The image that comes to my mind on hearing those words is God going before us to make the rough places smooth and coming after us cleaning up the messes in our wake. I see the Holy One paving the way, lighting the path, opening doors of opportunity, closing off dead ends, providing protection on the journey as we follow along. And thank Goodness, we can trust God to mend the fences we've broken in our haste, to heal the relationships we have shattered in our self-centeredness, to protect others from the consequences of our decisions which impact them.

That picture is reminiscent of Celtic spirituality. Think of St. Patrick's Breastplate: "Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, . . . Christ beneath me, Christ above me . . ." (The Hymnal 1982, 370) The enfolding, encircling love of God is here "to comfort and restore me" as the hymn says. The Irish use a caim prayer to act out this encircling presence. Individually, in a caim prayer, a person may stand and draw a circle on the ground or in the air around him or herself and call on the protecting love of God to keep him or her safe in the circumstances of life. In a group, the person needing prayer stands in the center of the circle, while those surrounding may join hands or not, and may move "sunwise" (clockwise) or not, while praying aloud or silently for the needs of the individual. It is one way of incorporating the body into prayer. It can be very powerful for those participating.

As we come to experience that enfolding grace of God in our lives, we will "be given to good works," inspired with generous self-giving to incarnate God's love in the here and now.