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A Few Words From Pastor Bryan
So Who Was The Real St. Patrick?
Some things I'll bet you didn't know...
Author and activist Shane Claiborne posted the following words about St. Patrick which I found very interesting. Check this out but then please read what I had to share after it for some additional things connected to St. Patrick and his legend that are particularly meaningful to me and kind of important for us as a congregation.
Here's Shane's post:
Happy St. Patrick's Day
Before there were green beer parties or little green people, or gaudy plastic hats -- there was the real St. Patrick. He was kidnapped as a teenager and forced into slavery, only to escape and become one of the legendary figures in Christian history. Here's a little more about the real St. Patrick.
At the age of sixteen, Patrick was kidnapped from his home by Irish marauders and taken to Ireland, where he was sold as a slave to a chieftain and forced to herd livestock. After six years of slavery, Patrick escaped to Britain.
Because he believed that God's hand was in it all, Patrick devoted his life to ministry. While studying for the priesthood, he experienced recurring dreams in which he heard voices say, “O holy youth, come back... and walk once more amongst us.” He convinced his superiors to let him return to Ireland in 432, not to seek revenge for injustice but to seek reconciliation and to spread his faith. Over the next thirty years, Patrick established churches and monastic communities across Ireland.
When he was not engaged in the work of spreading the Christian faith, Patrick spent his time praying in his favorite places of solitude and retreat.
This prayer is attributed to Patrick:
Christ be with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Amen.
Thank you brother Patrick -- for your life. May we celebrate you well today.
Thanks for that Shane. And here's some stuff that Shane did not get into.
While it's true that Patrick gave his life to trying to preach the Gospel to the people of the country that had captured and enslaved him, if you ask someone what Patrick is most known for, most of us have heard something about him driving out all the snakes from Ireland. What we don't hear often though is that historians tend to doubt that this part of his legacy is literally true. Some argue that there were very few if any snakes in Ireland to drive out in the first place. There is a good deal of conjecture that the "snake" was actually a symbol of the "evil non-Christian pagans" that were very prevalent in Ireland when Patrick was there trying to convert them to Christianity--or drive them and their evil spirituality out of the land altogether. The "snakes" that Patrick drove out of Ireland were largely the non-Christians. It was a kind of "spiritual cleansing" as in "ethnic cleansing." Yuck.
In other words, this is another example of the Church condemning and disrespecting (and often killing) those who practiced a different spirituality and religion than the official Christian (Roman) Church. I can't help but be grateful once again for the Celtic Christians of that time who were more inclusive and unapologetic in their desire to draw from beautiful pagan rituals and traditions and to celebrate the common ground that they felt around so many spiritual Truths that were central to both Christians and those who practiced an indigenous spirituality. The emphasis on the color green, associated with life everlasting and with the fertility of Spring, came to Ireland from their pagan religious traditions, and the three-leaf clover as well. The three-leaf clover or "shamrock" as it's often called, was used in Celtic pagan rituals to drive out evil spirits. Ironic that they themselves were later regarded by the Church as the evil to be driven out! St. Patrick was credited with turning this pagan symbol into a symbol of the Christian Trinity. Also not a bad use of it--but there was no need to regard non-Christians in Ireland as evil.
Once again, this is one of the reasons why we are joining forces with Jessica Riphenburg and Be The Light Shamanic Healing in our Equinox and Solstice celebrations. Since the upcoming Spring (Vernal) Equinox will be next Monday, March 20th, I love the idea of this ritual being so close to St. Patrick's Day. When Jessica helps to create sacred for our ritual by calling in the Spirit of the 4 directions and the symbolic "helping spirits" of her tradition, the first direction addressed will be the South, and the animal spirit involved is usually the Serpent, who teaches us how to live close to the earth, to be grounded, and to know when to quietly and naturally "shed our skin" when it is time to let go of ways that no longer serve us and others, and for a new season of Life to be embraced.
I"m so glad and grateful to be a part of a Christian Church that is clear about out love for Jesus and the biblical Story we hold so dear, but who are also open to finding common ground with other religions. We are all better off for it, our own spiritual journeys are all the more rich as a result, and we bring a little healing to that history in which the Church too often regarded "others" as toxic or dangerous or evil (i.e. snakes).
I hope to see you Sunday as we continue our Lenen sermon series on the meaning of the Cross, and I hope to see a bunch of you Monday evening for our fire ceremony.
Have a happy St. Patrick's Day!
Pastor Bryan
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