Preparing for Saint Patrick's Day

Christians should party a lot more. Feast days and celebration were established by God in the Old Testament as monuments and reminders of God's provision and character. God is the central focus of each one, surprising us time and again with the way his touch transforms the potential of a human life. We celebrate those moments throughout human history as a reminder that faith is not blind. It is built on the testimony of history and gives us a real, living hope for today. That is certainly the case with Saint Patrick.

The story of Saint Patrick is not about snakes and shamrocks. Those were all added centuries later. Instead, his life is a reminder that God's wisdom is more powerful than our own. That God's strategies are better than our own. It is the story of God touching a sinful youth and proving that the outreach strategy expressed by the Apostle Paul is more effective, dynamic, and exciting than any we would seek to replace it with. It is also more costly, but the return for that cost is a fierce and powerful love.

Patrick was an Englishman whose life spanned the fourth and fifth century. By his own admission he was a godless youth whose life originally disqualified him for missionary service. At age sixteen he was captured by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. An older slave shared the gospel with him, and Patrick gave his life to God.

We talk so loosely about giving our lives to God. Most often we really mean that we want God to bless our lives while we continue to pursue our desires and dreams. Patrick was a slave. His dreams were gone. He had a meager life to give God, but God had a bigger life, His life, to give Patrick. The first lesson of Christ. He isn't interested in fair exchanges. Our life is precious to us, but it doesn't compare with what God has in store for us.

Patrick tells us that God sent an angel to him that lead him out of captivity. Once he found freedom, he decided to give himself to the priesthood. Once again the angel came to him and pointed him back to Ireland, to serve those who had enslaved him. We don't know what went through Patrick's mind when the call came, but he had given his
life to God, and he allowed God to direct him.

Patrick wasn't the first missionary to Ireland, but he was the first effective one. Former missionaries had brought their culture with them. They believed that people had to be civilized, be Romanized, in order to be saved. Patrick believed he had to become Irish to reach the Irish. Irish art and customs were incorporated into Christian life whenever possible. He followed the example of Jesus and Paul by living close to the people rather than separating himself the way other missionaries had. Perhaps his most effective strategy was that he allowed people to belong to his community before they believed. Former missionaries had built numerous walls that had to be scaled before they were included in any meaningful way.

In this, Patrick was following the model of Scripture. Jesus' prayer for us was, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." (John 17:15-18)

Paul tells us, "Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings." (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)

Patrick took these teachings and more to heart, and God transformed a nation. I see many today who try to change the world using other strategies. Politics, marketing, power, and a holy separation that has little to do with God's call on our lives. These strategies are just as ineffective as those of the missionaries who proceeded Patrick. Our feast days and celebrations should be times of remembrance of the wisdom of God and his acts that defy human wisdom but bear such glorious fruit.

This year don't just settle for last minute plans on how to turn your food green (although that's really cool). Take some time to prepare. Learn a bit about Patrick and the Scripture that shaped his life. The God that transformed his life is still waiting to touch each of us.

(A great place to start your exploration is the short but important book, The Celtic Way of Evangelism, by George G. Hunter III)