Why I love Saint Patrick
St. Patrick or Patricius (his given name) was captured at age 16 by Irish maruders and taken to Ireland as a slave. After about six years he escaped and returned to England. After being home for a while Patrick had a vision in which he saw people from Ireland calling him – “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.” Patrick understood this as a call from God to go and evangelize Ireland. And he responded by going.
Ireland at the time of Patrick’s missionary work was a dangerous and dark place. Full of superstition and the religion of the Druids. The Druids were polytheists, but also deified elements of nature, such as the sun, the moon, and the stars, looking to them for “signs and seasons”. When Patrick went to evangelize the Irish he faced a culture which had no Biblical understanding of God, of sin or man or a biblically informed moral conscience. Patrick faced a situation very much like the one Christianity in the U.S. faces. I love Patrick because he demonstrates to us that the gospel of Jesus is powerful and able to bring men and women, boys and girls to a saving faith no matter what obsticles we may face to believing. Patrick gives me great hope that our mission to reach our communities with the gospel is something that we can actually do. Patrick faced danger. Patrick faced many entrenched beliefs that made preaching the gospel difficult. Patrick was confronted with the need to find ways to clearly communicate the gospel in ways that his audience could understand. Yet, consider the great impact St. Patrick made on Ireland. By the time he was finished he had planted over 350 churches. He had ordained over 300 bishops and ordained over 3000 elders. Praise God, this former slave heard the voice of the Lord and obeyed and see how God blessed his obedience.
Many Christians are held in a state of cowering by a culture that has relentlessly sought to marginalize us until we have come to believe that we dare not risk the disapproval of those around us by suggesting that the gospel is true. Every dimension of popular culture conspires to create the impression that being a seriously committed Christian is a bit like having a mental disorder. This is how worldliness works. It makes righteousness seem abnormal and sin seem normal. That propaganda has been very effective. It has caused many of us to feel absolutely dumbstruck by the culture around us. But I want to encourage you with this – think of Patrick. He was an ordinary man who believed Jesus was bigger than the hostile culture into which God sent him to preach. And consider the outcome. We can do it! We can be faithful to the gospel and we can reach those around us.