Celtic Vespers, an evening prayer service, will welcome all when it begins Thursday, Oct. 16, at First Presbyterian Church in Westfield.

To be held every third Thursday of each month at 7 p.m., “Celtic worship, as well as its modern survivals in such worship communities as the famous Iona Community in Scotland, is a beautiful service of evening prayer,” according to Presbyterian Pastor Dana Vaughn.

The evening will feature responsorial psalms, prayers from the Carmina Gadelica, a candlelight procession, a brief incense rite, music based on Celtic tunes and even a recitation of The Lord’s Prayer in Gaelic.

The Iona Community was founded in Glasgow and Iona in 1938 by George MacLeod, minister, visionary and prophetic witness for peace. From a dockland parish in Govan, Glasgow, he took unemployed skilled craftsmen and young trainee clergy to Iona to rebuild both the monastic quarters of the mediaeval abbey and the common life by working and living together, sharing skills and effort as well as joys and achievement.

That original task became a sign of hopeful rebuilding of community in Scotland and beyond. The experience shaped – and continues to shape – the practice and principles of the Iona Community.

As for Carmina Gadelica, the most complete anthology of Celtic oral tradition ever assembled, Alexander Carmichael (1832-1912) spent hours with peasants in their huts in front of peat fires listening as the “intoned in a low, recitative manner” these poems and prayers.

Carmina Gadelica is a large collection of hymns, prayers, charms, poetry and rituals of the people in the Highlands of Scotland in the 19th century.

Iona remains a center for pilgrimage and tourism to this day. The daily services of the Iona Community in the Abbey church and worship elsewhere on the island are open to all. There is a year-round population of more than 100 – long-established island families as well as more recent arrivals.

The abbey is managed by Historic Scotland, and the Iona Community remains in residence as a living, worshipping presence.

The Celtic Vespers will offer a truly unique spiritual service. All are invited to bring family and friends for this new worship ministry.