I just discovered an interesting post from Sally Coleman about Celtic Christianity. She manages to present this in a very attractive light. I’m not quite sure about how she uses it to build bridges to the pagan or neo-pagan community – but then I don’t think there are many of them around here, although there may be where Sally lives, nearly 100 miles north of me.

But I was especially struck by her picture of the Holy Spirit as a wild goose:

In the Celtic tradition the Holy Spirit is represented as a bird, but not the peaceful and serene dove landing on Jesus at his baptism. For their symbol of the Holy Spirit, the Celtic church people chose the Wild Goose, (An Geadh-Glas).

Why did the Wild Goose speak to those ancient Celtic Christians? To begin with, wild geese aren’t controllable. You can’t restrain a wild goose and bend it to your will. They’re raucous and loud. Unlike the sweet and calming cooing of a dove, a goose’s honk is strong, challenging, strident and unnerving – and just a bit scary. In much the same way the Spirit of God can be, demanding and unsettling. Think about the story of Pentecost, and the impression the disciples made on the crowd. People thought they were drunk and disorderly!

Its one thing for a gentle dove to descend peacefully on Jesus – it’s something all together different when the Spirit descends like a wild, noisy goose!

Well, I have a friend who does catch and restrain wild geese, with proper authorisation as part of a bird ringing group. But his stories about this include colleagues being knocked into the mud by frightened birds. So I’m sure Sally is right that they cannot be tamed. As Chris Tomlin wrote in his song “Indescribable”:

Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing, God.
All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim:
You are amazing, God.

It is no wild goose chase to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit even when we don’t know where it will take us.