St. Patrick Day

There is no need to write another article about who St. Patrick was or what he did.  So instead of writing another I will just refer you here.

However I did want to mention a few things that we can learn and apply the life of St. Patrick

1. Live As A Missionary – Patrick lived among the people.  He feel in love with the because Jesus loved them.  They were not the best people.  Moral is not the word you would use to describe them.  Despite all of this Patrick wanted them to know about the love of Jesus.  Do we love those that many would just let continue sinning?

2. Use Effective Methods – Patrick wanted the people to know about Jesus.  To do this though he had to change his methods.  The Irish were very “spiritual” people.  They already had lots of things that they used to reach things they considered deities.  Patrick used unconventional methods to draw people to Jesus.  To the surprise of many it worked.  What can we do as the church today that may seem odd to older generations but is both Biblical and Missional?

3. Expect Resistance – The unconventional methods that Patrick used where not taken well by the Catholic Church.  They saw him as insubordinate.  His methods and the Celtic Christians did things differently from Rome and this cased some clashes.  No matter how different they where however, Patricks churches where sound and anchored in good theology.  Are we willing to take some hits for the Gospel so that some may know Jesus?

Let all the drunken parties that occur on St. Patricks day remind those of us that are Christians that there is still work to be done.  That we are meant to be missionaries not monks.  We are to live among the people and tell them about Jesus, not sit in our high towers talking among ourselves about how bad they are.