Sumballo: Celebrating Patrick

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Celebrating Patrick

The Celts were perhaps the last group of people by 440 AD to hear about the life and death of Jesus Christ. When Patrick felt God calling him to Ireland, nearly all of Europe had been visited by missionaries. But not the Celts. Yet within 100 years of Patrick’s work in Ireland, the Celts were sending missionaries out to Europe.

Ironically, the monasteries of the Celts became the safe haven for many Christian documents. When barbarians rushed through Europe burning and pillaging, most copies of the Bible were destroyed. But the texts were kept safe in Ireland.

Patrick was Scottish and had been kidnapped by Celtic raiders at 16. He was a servant to a Celtic farmer for several years but escaped. In that time, his life was turned around. In his own words, he called himself “the least of all the faithful, and utterly despised by many….I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity to Ireland with many thousands of people – and deservedly so, because we turned away from God…” (From The Confession of St. Patrick)

Patrick’s life is an example of acting on God’s grace. Did you notice that Patrick was Scottish and his captors were Irish? Yet Patrick obeyed God’s call to return to Ireland and tell the people about God’s salvation.

Some of his accomplishments:

Founded 365 churches, with schools attached
Monasteries not isolated from world but involved in community.
Monasteries were colleges for training young men.
“Monks” transcribed Bible, cultivated sciences and instructed youth.
Community/relationally evangelical.
No printing press, no Roman roads, no finances, BUT calling from God.
Mission teams sent out to Europe based on Patrick’s work in Ireland.

Patrick changed the face of Ireland – and Europe – because he reached out with God’s grace to the very people who had kidnapped and enslaved him.

Today’s St. Patrick’s day – when he died in 461 in Downpatrick, Ireland after a rich life serving God and loving God’s people. Patrick made a difference to the people of Ireland and further. Let’s celebrate his work – not with green beer and wild revelry – but by recognizing the grace that underlined his life and facing the One who is that Amazing Grace.