I remember the first time I wanted to move to Ireland.
Ah, I saw a beautiful photo like this:
Myloupe/Getty Images
And later, I was fascinated by films that painted fascinating pictures of Irish village life.
Serve something Irish and I don't mean a shamrock-shaped domino's pizza. I'm sure there's a law that means you have to eat potatoes to truly celebrate Ireland.
But the real reason why it is held firmly in my elementary school mind was to read the story of how St. Patrick expelled all the snakes from Ireland.
And man, do I hate snakes?
Of course, I finally realized it was a myth. It was all about driving the pagans out of the Emerald Isle, or something along those lines.
But I might still have to move to Ireland. Because there's something cool here. Clearly, the fossil record shows that there were no snakes in fact. That's my idea of heaven!
But in reality, it turns out that the coolest thing about this is Patrick himself. (And I'm going to call him Patrick, because all of us who were saved by faith in Christ are now His saints.
Good explanation of that truth. )
The real patrick
Patrick was an Englishman and was born into a Christian family around the 5th century. He appears to have actually not been the follower himself, but things changed at the age of 16 after being captured by the Irish Raiders who forced him into Irish slavery. The difficulties he endured brought him back to God, and his faith deepened.
Six years later he was able to escape to his British family, but after a dream in which God understood God as commanding him to return to Ireland and convert the Pagans to true faith in God, he did just that.
Patrick didn't drive out all the pagans (or snakes), but it is reported that he planted churches and created thousands of converts. He was quite an grasp of the Bible as a theologian and pastor, perhaps because of his Christian family, including deacons and perhaps other learned individuals.
Kevin Deyoung Notebook:
In his “Confessio”, Patrick writes inspiringly about his burden of evangelizing the Irish. He explicitly associates his profession with biblical commands. Biblical indications like “The nation comes to you from the edge of the earth”, “I have placed you as a light among the nations”, and “I will make you a male fisherman” flow from his pen. Seeing the work of his life through the lens of Matthew 28 and Acts 1, Patrick prayed that God would “never allow me to leave his people who have won the end of the earth.” For Patrick, the end of the earth was Ireland.
But what I find most exciting about Patrick is that he may have been the first person in Christian history to take it literally. I understand that leading Christ to “all nations” means “to teach even the wild bars who lived beyond the boundaries of the Roman Empire.” And this after they've been enslaved!
What a wonderful heritage. If you want the whole story, Deyoung would recommend it.”Conversion of the Wild People: From Paganism to Christianity“This explains how Christianity was (slowly) cleaned up throughout Europe.
So, celebrate Patrick on March 17th or another day. Of course, getting drunk (a traditional adult celebration activity) doesn't seem to be a proper compliment to men, so there are better family-friendly suggestions.
