Ensign: Patrick's Day

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Isaiah 18:3

 

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS 17 March 2014

I know at least three people here in Minot whose birthday is today. And my nephew Patrick whom I talked about a few weeks ago was named “Patrick” because it was thought back in 1992 that he would be born today, but he came thirteen days early. But perhaps the best-known person bearing that name lived nearly sixteen hundred years ago and he’s honored today at the patron saint of Ireland. You’ve probably heard someone say (or at least pinch you for not wearing green) “Happy St. Patrick’s Day” or seen of worn something green for an occasion that seems like little more than an excuse to have some fun. And sometimes we don’t even need an excuse!

All that we know of Patrick’s life with reasonable certainty comes from two letters he wrote (it would be like if all we knew of Paul was from his letters, forget the book of Acts) and get this – he’s not even Irish! He was kidnapped from Britain when he was young and escaped Ireland after six years as a slave. Later in his life he became the bishop of a region of Ireland and due to many miracles attributed to him – driving snakes from the country – as well as his teachings – especially embodied in the shamrock, from which the Trinity was taught as different yet the same Being (e.g., God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all God, all Jesus, and all the Holy Spirit, three in one), upon his death he was canonized as a saint.

I’m not sure how many people recognize the religious origins of what we celebrate today. But it occurs to me that we’ve never quite removed or at I least I haven’t seen a serious effort to remove the “Saint” (or “St.”) when we talk about … well, Saint Patrick’s Day. Except from some older calendars, it seems to have been excommunicated from Valentine’s Day years ago. When the last time you saw or heard someone wished a “Happy SAINT Valentine’s Day” on the fourteenth of February? True, there’s between five and fourteen people I’ve heard who could be THE St. Valentine, but it’s this holiday that gets a not-so-rosy alternative proposed to it (sort of an anti-Valentine’s day) but not St. Patrick’s Day.

This is a good sign. It suggests at least to me that Christianity in our world isn’t quite hanging on by its fingernails yet. To eliminate any reference to God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit in our culture would require far more expurgation and far more zeal than atheists, agnostics, and outright adversaries of our Lord have yet managed. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall never pass away” appears three times in Scripture – in Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, and Luke 21:33 – and if we’re to believe the words of Jesus, they’ll never manage it. This might sound (gasp) un-Christian of me, but I’m not getting worked into a sweat raging at our world because God and prayer is being given the heave-ho in the public square. I disagree; it’s a person’s choice to honor and serve God or not, and from there transform the world around them.

That you or I may or may not take global warming, evolution, or even Christianity seriously doesn’t keep any of these ideas from exerting a most powerful influence on what we do, say, or think. (The first two I REALLY don’t take seriously.) Am I saying don’t pray? Am I saying do nothing? Of course not. Jesus never counseled us to just stand back from life, but know that our duties to our families and friends and society have to take a back seat to serving Him. It sounds harsh; certainly those at the end of Luke 9 one of whom asked to go bury his father and the other who asked to say farewell to the people in his house thought they were making perfectly reasonable requests.

But look back several verses to Luke 9:23. “And [Jesus] said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” I can take up my cross, perhaps not physically lift one every day, but I can handle or believe I can handle doing unto others as I’d have others do unto me (the Golden Rule, the “deny himself” part of this verse) over a lifetime. But DAILY, every day of my life? I’m reading that as I type this message and I have problems saying that. For I have bad days, yes I do. “Bad hair days” seem popular among today’s youth, but how we feel never has to determine how we act. Jesus could have put the cup down in the garden before He was arrested, tried, and killed and HE could have been saved, but what about the rest of us?

What about the rest of us. Unlike Jesus, we’re definitely not sinless, we have a broken relationship with God that needs to be restored by Someone Who never had His relationship with God broken in the first place, even though He Himself was broken on the cross. Our new life in Christ when we choose to accept Him as Savior and Lord doesn’t end with the crucifixion but begins with the resurrection – what the whole season of Lent now on its ninth day leads up to. But you don’t have to wait until Easter Sunday to accept the promise of God through Jesus to restore your life; you don’t need an excuse, you just need the will to do it. The will and the choice is yours.

Happy Patrick’s Day,

David

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book and I hope to be an encourager too! If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!

We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us! Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world.

Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either.

Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad. Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son. And may we all seek and have a blessed week! Amen.