St. Patrick's Day!

Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? Admittedly, I have never been super into St. Patrick's Day. Most of my knowledge about the holiday has been commercialized so here is what has always informed my opinion: It's an Irish holiday and my Irish heritage is minimal. If you don't wear green it gives people license to pinch each other. I don't care enough to remember to wear green. I don't like being pinched. I don't like pinching people. People get really drunk. Not my scene. Y'all, I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't even know it was a religious holiday. Apparently, I had been living under a rock? Possibly.

It wasn't until the last couple of years that I thought I would do something fun for the kids. Read: I expanded their green participation to shirts, fun glasses, and ribbons or bows. Then this year I decided to really find out what all the fuss is about. That's when I learned that the root is all about faith! Who knew? Who knew that all that those drunken parades you see on the internet stemmed from a guy who reconciled how he could work for God and made huge changes in Ireland? I certainly did not.

If you're like me and know next to nothing, let me give you a little history on St. Patrick.

St. Patrick History

St. Patrick was 16 when Irish Raiders kidnapped him from his home in Britain and took him to Ireland. While in captivity he worked as a shepherd where he found himself isolated, afraid, and lonely. He turned to his Christian faith for comfort and peace. After six years, he believed that God came to him and told him it was time to leave Ireland. He escaped his captors, walked 200 miles, and eventually made it back to Britain. Soon after his return, God spoke to him again telling him to go back to Ireland as a missionary. To better equip himself, he studied for 15 years before returning to Ireland. It's reported that he wasn't well received upon return and had to bounce around a bit before finding a place to land. St. Patrick, knew his audience and their pagan beliefs so he used familiar things to teach about God...Enter the shamrock as an illustration of the Trinity. During his mission, it is said that he converted more than 300 tribes to Christianity and baptized an estimated 120,000. It is believed that St. Patrick died on March 17th and that day became an observed religious holiday in Ireland.

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day in Ireland was observed by going to church and then a celebratory feast. Who doesn't love a good feast? The parade came later and not even in Ireland. That started in America as observance for the holiday. Over the years the festivities have grown into what we know and love today.

Why This Matters

Once I learned all this information, I realized what a great opportunity it is to talk to my kids about faith! I'm always here for a history lesson that gives us an opportunity to talk about faith. Here are my talking points specifically to St. Patrick's life:

1. Surrender, Adversity, and Circumstance: St. Patrick was held captive for six years and worked as a shepherd. He was alone, in a strange place, doing a job he didn't sign up to do. Still, he turned to faith for comfort. One history site said that he laid looking up at the night's sky and that was where God spoke to him. I can imagine him laying in green grassy fields looking up at the starry sky, and being moved by God's creation. He could have sat in his bitterness. He could have given up and died. He could have survived by his own will. Yet, he surrendered his circumstance to the Lord and in the face of adversity, stayed faithful. This is an important lesson for our kids to know.

2. Faithfulness and Fear: St. Patrick stayed near enough to God that he heard God telling him where to go, not just once, but twice. Okay, one of those times was in a dream, but roll with me. God told St. Patrick what to do and he did it. He left Ireland when God told him to, and then he went back when God told him to. I would imagine that his return prompted some fear to stir inside of him. This was the place where he was held captive. The place where he was a stranger. And still, St. Patrick was faithful.

3. Forgiveness: It would have been easy for St. Patrick to resent the Irish people for what happened to him. I certainly wouldn't have blamed him for it. Also, we probably wouldn't have any idea who he is because what makes his story so great is how God helped him forgive the people (generalized) that hurt him. St. Patrick is a great example of what can happen when we forgive those that have hurt us and let God mend the brokenness for His good.

4. Relevance: St. Patrick was pretty good at creating relevant teaching to those pagan tribes. It is said that the Celtic Cross was created to incorporate the sun (an important piece of worship) into the story of Jesus. He used the shamrock to teach the Trinity and so on. Sometimes, we think people need to completely mold to our cookie-cutter version of church and faith when in reality, we can adapt our efforts to reach people. If the main point is the Gospel, then hold to that and be fluid with the rest. It's hard for non-believers to change everything they know, sometimes you need to baby step them in. That's okay. Be relevant to be heard.

Last week, I decided that I wanted to do something special for the kids for St. Patrick's Day. Now that I know the holiday is religious, I thought I would amp up the celebration. So tonight I'm making a large rainbow out of tablecloths I bought at the Dollar Tree. (Fingers-crossed that it works). A rainbow is a symbol of hope and promise. After a season of hardship, God gave a rainbow to Noah and his family. I want my kids to see that rainbow in the morning and know that even though we have had a season of hardship, like Noah, like St. Patrick, God will use this season for His glory. We only need to stay faithful.

UPDATE:

Finished rainbow with pot of gold! ------------------------------>