Volume 27, No. 11
March 17, 2002

The Sham and the Rock

   When it comes to St. Patrick, it’s hard to separate even the basics from the blarney.  But his life holds some powerful lessons, whether you’re a mature Christian, or just green!

   According to author Charles Panati, the patron saint of the Emerald Isle wasn’t Irish, and his given name wasn’t even Patrick.  It was Maewyn.  Historians say he was born about A.D. 385, probably in Wales.  By his own admission, Maewyn’s early life was one of sex and greed, but that came to a jarring halt when he and other villagers were carried off to slavery by Irish raiders.

   For six long years, Maewyn herded sheep in the lush, lonely pastures of unfamiliar Ireland.  Amid soul-wrenching solitude, the young man slowly began to feel the pull and Presence of a mighty God.  He responded with true repentance, renouncing his rebellious ways.  In Confession -- one of his two surviving books -- Maewyn described himself as “a sinner, the most rustic and the least of all the faithful.”

   When he finally escaped his captors, the new Christian found himself in France where he spent twelve peaceful years in a monastery until he felt a keen desire to evangelize.  But though the young priest planned a return to Ireland as her first bishop, his superiors didn’t think Maewyn had enough tact or education.  When he finally got the nod two years later, he’d already adopted the Christian name Patrick.
 
  With his imposing personality and lack of pretense, Patrick turned thousands to Christ, angering Celtic priests.  They arrested him a dozen times but he always got away and continued his travels around the country, establishing churches, schools and monasteries.  After thirty years of missionary work that transformed Ireland into “the Isle of Saints”, Patrick died on March 17, likely in 461.

   Though many doubt a legend that says Patrick preached a hillsidesermon that drove all snakes from Ireland, a story about his link with the shamrock is almost certainly true.  It tells of how the preacher struggled one day to explain the Trinity – the teaching that although the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are separate and distinct, they form one God.  Plucking a nearby shamrock,  Patrick compared each of the three heart-shaped leaves to one of the holy Trio, showing how all the leaves were joined into a single clover by the stem, which represented the Godhead.  When Patrick died years later, shamrocks were worn in his honour on his feast day – St. Patrick’s Day.

   The Bible says every committed Christian is a saint.  When Paul wrote “to the saints in Ephesus” (1:1), he wasn’t just addressing the spiritual superstars.  In fact, he calls those saints “the faithful in Christ Jesus”.  The original Greek word means “devoted to God”, which is far different from the way most people think of saints today.  “What’s a saint?” a Bible teacher once asked her class.  A little boy who thought immediately of the church’s stain glass windows replied, “Someone the light shines through.”  Exactly.

   A saint is someone the Light shines through.  But that process begins when the Holy Spirit illuminates our hearts and minds from the inside, showing us how we’ve been carried off into the slavery of sin.  It’s often out of loss, loneliness and longing that we first feel the gentle tug of Jesus.  Maybe you’ve felt the same perspective as Patrick and Paul:  “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” the apostle wrote, “and I was the worst...  But that’s why God had mercy on me, so Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners.  Now others will believe they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:15,16)

   But that will only happen if we get out of our self-made monasteries and share our personal stories.  The snakes are still among us, but so is God.  Whatever opposition we face, He’ll provide a way out.  Whatever opportunity we face, He’ll provide a way in.  Remember, true seekers won’t expect you to be perfect, just unpretentious.  Think of your life as a shamrock that must demonstrate the fullness of God in your heart, mind and will, all three held together by love.  Our actions won’t always match our ideals.  But if we put the emphasis where it belongs, people will see past the sham, to the Rock.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications