Midweek – The Life of the Church: 6, Patrick, Apostle of Ulster

Part 6 of our teaching on church history. This week we look at Patrick, the Apostle of Ulster.

The Life of the Church – Learning our Church History is a teaching series from Annalong Presbyterian Church.

Transcript

So we’ve come to the end, we’ve reached certainly where I want us to finish for now. And from last week, whenever we were looking at Constantine, we’ve jumped, not that much Constantine, it was the early 300s where we’re going really a century later. Happened in between. We’ll come back to look at those, but simply because we’re heading towards St.

Patrick’s Day on Sunday, I thought let’s take a look at who this man was, Patrick. We’ve already done this as part of men’s night during lockdown. Some folks remember that, and I know during lockdown men’s night, It wasn’t just men that watched, and ladies, you’ve confessed you’ve watched them as well.

But this is not just a repeat of that. We’re gonna take key things about Patrick and what we understand him  to be. And I’ve entitled tonight, Patrick The Apostle of Ulster. And where that comes from is from a book that was written called Patrick, the Apostle of Ulster by Nelson McCausland.

It was published in 1997. Nelson McCausland was writing to try and give a perspective on Patrick that wasn’t simply for one community within Northern Ireland. But that it was a perspective that would be for the church that we would know who this man was. And Pamela often gives off to me, you have to remember Pamela was born in the Republic of Ireland.

And she often gives off to me that I don’t call him St. Patrick, but there’s a very good reason for that, that we will come to towards the end of our time. It’s not that I’m trying to make a point, I’m just trying to be accurate. So if that doesn’t whet your appetite I don’t know what will, but stay to the end and you’ll find out why that is.

The Apostle  of Ulster. Because tonight what you need to do is you need to forget everything that’s associated with St. Patrick’s Day. Because the vast majority of what happens in St. Patrick’s Day is not accurate. Connections with Patrick that are perceived today are simply false. And so we’re going back to what Patrick says himself, as well as knowing a little bit of what happened in Roman Britain at the time, so that we can piece together truly who is this man who came to Ireland.

As a missionary, and not just a superficial missionary, but as you’ll discover, he was what was an early expression of the Reformation in how he approached and how he presented the gospel of Jesus Christ. Patrick wasn’t airy fairy. Patrick wasn’t naive. He proclaimed a gospel, and we know that he proclaimed a true gospel because it  lasted.

And so that’s one of the living legacies we have. And so as we begin with the beginnings, where we begin with the history books of Patrick. And no matter what church history book you go to, you will find him there. He’s not an insignificant figure on the platform of the church. And this is for two reasons.

Number one, most church history books come from America. Americans have the largest St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the world. The second country, by the way, Australia. Ireland comes in third in its celebrations. The irony is not lost on us. And so from America’s perspective, they’ve tried to recapture a little bit of that as well.

But secondly, there’s a book that came out about 15 years ago entitled How the Irish Saved Civilization. Whenever, and this is how we’ll finish this evening, whenever Europe was in the dark ages with a lot of Christian resources being destroyed, really a persecution  in Europe, they never came, the dark ages never really came to Ireland.

And because of the structures and the communities that Patrick’s established and set up, we still retained the truth of the gospel, where then Irish missionaries became the light into Europe. And that led then to the spark of the Reformation. And Patrick is seen within church history as very significant.

Be it over a period of almost a thousand years, but very significant in what he established and what he set in place. I was nearly going to do a quiz, thinking of lighting things up, then I thought that would take too much time, because we do want to get to the end and do everything that we normally do.

But, you’ll see there in the the second part, of the, uh, first paragraph that actually St. Patrick’s Day celebrations began around the 1600s in North America, long before they ever came here. Because of course there was great immigration from here. The Irish community had to identify around something, and so they identified around the patron saint.

Up until this point, in around the 1600s, there was very little thought of Patrick. If you knew anything about your saints, every saint does something for you. Saint Anthony. Whenever I was doing my travel and tourism, I was taught in our Ma Saint Anthony was the patron saint of Travel. Saint Anne, who Martin Luther cried out to was the patron saint of miners.

Patrick, he is not connected with anything in particular. You might through a, grasp at a straw and say he’s the patron saint of snakes, I don’t know. And again, we’ll come to that. He isn’t connected with anything. So it was, he wasn’t really recognized in any particular way here, prior to a community in America wanting to gather around something to celebrate.

on a day. And so they gathered around the figure and the person of Patrick. So he  is iconic but as I said at the start, mostly made up of what is said of him and how he is celebrated. But what we do is we have someone who was neither Protestant nor Roman Catholic because there was one church at the time in the 400s whenever Patrick was about.

He was of the church of the apostolic succession. In terms of, as we’ve seen in this, passed on from one generation to the next, not apostolic succession in terms of a church, but in terms of the message where the apostles passed on to their disciples, that passed on to their disciples and their disciples.

And it’s spread, as we saw last week with Constantine, throughout the whole of the Roman world. And so we have Patrick. And we don’t, to be honest, know an awful lot about him. What we do know about him comes from his confession. Patrick’s confession is a book of about 14 pages. You can go and see it today, but you can get a free copy online if you want.

You can buy a nice copy, but it’s very thin. Or you can  see one of the inscripted ones in the book of Armagh down in Trinity College. Now, you can’t physically turn the pages. They do that every day. a couple of weeks. It’s behind a glass case, but it is the early manuscript from the 900s. So it’s written long after Patrick written in the 900s of Patrick’s confession.

And it’s from this that we learn who he is. And the first thing we know is that he’s Roman. Because he lives at a time when the Roman Empire is still holding its own. And by the time that Patrick has come the Empire actually has gone beyond Hadrian’s Wall and they’ve pushed up north in Scotland, and really will come to see that their reach was that line between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

And that’s quite significant for the story of Patrick, but he was Roman and he was born there as it says around A. D. 385. So again, we’re talking 60 years after the Council of Nicaea. We’re talking within the  lifetime of people who knew Constantine and the changes of Constantine. It’s in these 60 years that the church is established and grows as one of the official religions of the Roman Empire.

And so even though Patrick is born on the furthest borders of that empire. He is a Christian. He hears the message. And as we’ll see, in his confession, he tells us, and you have it there. He says I thought I had it in for you. There you go, at the top of page two. He says, I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful, and most contemptible to many, had for father the deacon Calpurnius, and most contemptible Son of the late potus, a priest of the settlement vicar I can’t even pronounce where it was.

And he had a small villain nearby where I was taken captive. I was at the time, about 16 years of age. I did not indeed know the true  God. Now, that’s interesting to say because if you’d asked the 16-year-old Patrick, did he know the true God? He would’ve said yes, he did, but he was basing that on his father who was a deacon.

And his grandfather, who indeed was a priest, not a Druid priest, not a priest of the local religion, but of Christian faith. But actually it wasn’t until he went to Ballymena that he realized his need of a true God. And again, we’ll come to that. So Patrick was from Roman Britain. And there you have a map of what Roman Britain was like.

We’re all familiar with Hadrian’s Wall. That’s that middle line there. So we know it, particularly in the last couple of years with the sycamore tree being cut down and everything like that. So we know of Hadrian’s wall, that dividing wall between Roman Britain and really what was barbaria, the barbarians, the Scottish, as it were above that, the Celts.

But after Consta, after Hadrian, sorry, his son, Antonine he pushed further  and he built a wall that really, as I say, goes from Edinburgh across to Glasgow. And so that was the extent and the reach about 50 years after Hadrian and that was the extent and the reach of the Roman Empire. It was below this wall somewhere near the coast on the west coast of Scotland that Patrick was born and that’s significant because he says it is from this place that he was taken.

He told us what his father was like. His father was probably some form of local government and so he would have had a villa And a villa, a Roman villa at the time, would have looked like this within Britain. Maybe Patrick’s was slightly smaller. But it would have been a place for farming. It would have been a place for hosting meetings of people.

And for family gatherings. And so it is from this place that Patrick is taken captive by the marauding Irish. They come  across the Irish Sea and they take him as a slave. Now, here’s a young boy who isn’t overly wealthy, but he’s certainly of significant stock. He’s not poor, he’s educated of some kind, and he’s taken as a slave.

These marauding Irish came across the Irish Sea in their boats and they simply made their way along the coastline and just took whoever they could. And on this day, we’re told that Patrick was taken, but we’re also told that others were taken as well. And so Patrick wasn’t on his own. He was taken with many to be a slave in Ireland.

And he was taken and he was brought to a man called Milcu who farmed around Slemish. And it was there that Patrick settled and he was keeper of the sheep. Now, you can make all the jokes you want about  Balaamina and maybe it was the bleakness of Balaamina that put perspective on Patrick’s life and he knew he needed something else than simply Balaamina.

But he was ministered to, not by an evangelist, because Ireland at that time, although there had been Christian missionaries that had come across. Ireland was really Druid territory. And when you think of a Druid, don’t think of big hats and everything like that, Stonehenge esque. Something similar, but Druids were an organized religion that had local chiefs as the local religious and spiritual leader.

And they had supreme authority in every fashion. And everything within Druidism was very much based on the natural world. And so it was based on what was around them. And so they were very animist. There was gods of the the forests. There was what we now call fairy trees. Those trees in the middle of fields.

And if you were a good economist, you’ll go cut that down and you’ll get more  production. And everyone will go, Oh, no, you can’t do that. They believed in that. They believed in all of these kind of things. This is the land to which Patrick came, so there was no church, there was no small group, there was no Bible study, there was no evangelist, there was no preacher.

Patrick’s conversion came through his knowledge from his father who was a deacon, and his grandfather who was a priest. But they came through dreams and visions, and this is a significant part of Patrick’s life. Because in a number of occasions he talks about dreams of where the Lord came to him in a dream to lead him on whatever his next step would be.

So here’s Patrick in Ireland, and he’s a slave and he has a dream one night about a port. And about getting on a boat and getting away from Ireland. And his story is quite dramatic in how this happens, but we don’t have time to go into it. But he eventually  escapes from Milkhoo, and from Ballymena, and he heads south, and he probably sets sail from just below Dublin, and he goes across to Wales.

And from Wales he makes his way back to Roman Britain and his way home. And whenever he gets home there is, quite literally, a prodigal son welcome. And his parents tell him that he’s never to leave again. But Patrick is a changed man. He’s been transformed by the Spirit of God. And God comes to him and ministers to him again to say that he must go back to Ireland.

Patrick’s now about 22. And he has this dream that he must go back, but nothing comes of it until he’s about 24 or 26. And so what we have to do is we have to bust some myths about what Patrick and who Patrick is. And if you go to page three there, there’s these bullet points. Whenever Patrick was going to come back as a  missionary, it’s believed that he went to Rome to get the blessing of the Pope, who was Leo I at the time.

That didn’t happen. There’s no record of papal approval of Patrick’s mission to Ireland. That is something that is believed within this island, that it was a formal missionary endeavour of the church. It wasn’t. Patrick was not blessed by the Pope. The papacy had no, and by the way, the papacy at this time is not the papacy that we know today, nor is it the papacy of the of the Reformation.

It is a papacy that is structuring the church. And at the moment, the center of the church is still Jerusalem for this first century. It’s not really until after the Dark Ages that Europe becomes the centre of the Church, that Rome becomes the centre. But at this point, the succession, the apostolic succession, as perceived, is based in and around  Central Europe.

So Leo I doesn’t bless him to go to Ireland, but also Patrick doesn’t wear, or did not wear robes of a priest when returning. There’s a belief in stained glass windows, as you see, that Patrick, in his priestly garb, comes back as a priest to Ireland, to minister to the flock. But Patrick doesn’t tell us that.

He tells us clearly that he came back to evangelize. That’s not the work of a priest. He came to tell of the good news. And in many ways, he started when he came back as an itinerant preacher. And he has a mission to Ireland, but to get to Ireland, he has to go to France. You might think, that’s a bit of a long way round to go.

And what happens is, he has another dream, and here’s what’s said in the dream. There in a vision of the night, I saw a man whose name was Victoricus.  Coming as if from Ireland, with innumerable letters, and he gave me one of them. And I read the beginning of the letter, the voice of the Irish. He took this as God telling him, there’s an invitation, there’s an open heart by the people to hear the gospel, so you need to come.

And this is what it goes on to say, we beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and shall walk again among us. And I was stung intensely in my heart so that I could read no more, and thus I awoke. Thanks be to God, because after so many years, the Lord bestowed on them according to their cry. So he goes to France, and he goes there because he wants to meet with the Bishop of Aix et Aix.

And he wants to learn, he wants to study, and actually, he spends 30 years getting ready. Because whenever he comes back to Ireland, he’s in his late 50s, early 60s. And so he spends time learning.  Learning deeper in the faith, what it means to know the Lord. And so this is the guy that he talks to, Germanus of Auxerre.

And he is the bishop who, who really trains him for this period of time so that he will be ready. And you can understand why, because Roman Britain is very different from the Gaelics of Ireland, as they would have been perceived. But there was something similar between the French Gauls. And the Irish, and so it was not only just theological, but there was something cultural about it.

But of course, Patrick already had this cultural experience. And so after 30 years, the time comes to return to Ireland. He makes his way directly from France to Ireland, sailing up the Irish Sea, and he comes into Strangford. By the way, do you know why Strangford is called Strangford? Strangford. It was the Vikings that called it Strongfjord because of the currents.

And it was  also the Vikings that named Carlingfjord, and that was because of the big brewery there that you can see. Oh come on, you’re bound to laugh at that. Someone’s getting it now. That’s not true, that second bit. Carling Brewery did not exist in Carlingfjord. That was just to check if you’re still awake.

But he came to Strangford, and that’s the connection now with Saul and Downpatrick. He went to Saul first, and there was the first place he was met by what was familiar. green fields and sheep. And so he spent time there and in the local town of Downpatrick, but he knew that wasn’t where he was supposed to be.

And so he made his way inland and landed himself in what we now know as County Armagh. And he went to a place and asked, or he asked if this is the way to Ardenmacha, as it would have been known in those days.  And so he was sent up into the hills above Armagh and he was told, no, this is not Ardmacha. And so Patrick named the place Armagh Brig.

And Armagh Brig simply means false Armagh. And it’s also where my grandparents are buried. So he went then the 11 miles down towards Ardmacha. And the significance of Armagh is that it was from the 300s BC the centre of the High Kings of Ulster. So you had Brian Burrough, who’s buried at the top of Armagh.

You had all of the succession of those High Kings of Ulster. So it was a place that was established, it was a place of great importance for In terms of this island and it was there that Patrick went to, he went to where the people and those of influence were. And if you know anything of Armagh, Armagh is built on seven hills called  drumlins.

And on these drumlins, one outside the city where Navan Fort is, that was the centre of pagan worship. Navon Fort wasn’t a fort as we know it in terms of a fortification. It was actually a huge Ceremonial place where it was built and then it was set on fire as an offering to the gods. It was a huge thing And so there was already a religion in that part that Patrick knew about, it was the centre of it, and so he went to challenge it.

So that’s one of the drumlins. Today if you visit Armagh you will find two cathedrals on two hills. Those are the other two drumlins. Another drumlin is the palace and the palace stables. Another one is where the observatory is. And so Armagh takes its shape from these seven little hills. Patrick started at the bottom.

He went and established his first church in what is now Scotch Street in Armagh. It’s now a fold an elderly  fold down the middle of Scotch Street. And that was his first church, but he very quickly outgrew it and he needed somewhere bigger. But he also was getting a tax from those who didn’t like what he wanted.

So he had to move up where he could be more fortified. And so he moved up Scotch Street to what is now Market Street and firmly established a church. And a settlement on the top of the hill where St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral is today, which is also the burial place of King Brian Boru. And it was here that quickly stemmed up a church of faithful witness and worship.

And around this grew a monastic settlement because it was Patrick who established that it would be a place where there would be learning for the soul, so healing for the soul. But it would also be a place of the mind Where people would learn, where missionaries would be trained to go out to into Ireland and learn, and this is a, an early map.

of what Armagh would have looked like with Patrick’s mission at the  top and the streets and the everything coming down from it. And so it was here that Patrick trained the people who would not only go out to Ireland, but in due course after the Dark Ages, their generations would go out into Europe and would proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ throughout Europe.

Patrick did many things. He organized scriptoriums, where scribes would copy the Bible. There was no printing press. Rather, they got their goose feathers and they went out and crushed their berries and made it into ink and then they transcribed. And if you go to the book of Armav, Generations to Come, they did beautiful imagery of the Gospels so that people would have an idea of what was the overall meaning of these books.

And so they kept a repository, a library of all of these texts. That were kept, and as I say, whenever Europe went into the Dark Ages and whatever was contained in Europe was destroyed by fire and  persecution, it was then the Irish who brought their copies into Europe And the monasteries of Europe then took on that role of proclaiming the good news of the gospel in those places.

And so Patrick lived, he completed what was established in Armagh when he was 64 years of age. And one of the things he gave to us was what we call the high crosses. It wasn’t just about the monastery or the academy as Calvin would come to call it. Cal Patrick was about getting out into the community.

In many ways, he was very Presbyterian about it. Now, let me he would fit very well into a Presbyterian church. You might be shocked at that, but let me tell you why. Patrick had a very good grasp of Scripture. Whenever we read how he taught Scripture, it was very systematic in how we would know the Reformed teaching to be.

He didn’t believe in a hierarchy, as we now see in the Anglican Church, where it’s top down. He believed very much in a in leading and making decisions by consensus by a group of people, rather than someone dictating downwards. In terms of his missional approach, it was very much about learning the language.

It was about learning the culture. Things that the early Presbyterian missionaries did in India. To get into, to embed into the culture. And how he did this was, he took down the high places of the Druid religion and placed them with what we now call the Celtic crosses, but these high crosses. And whenever you look at a high cross, if you’ve never seen one before, there’s images on each side of it.

These images are Bible stories. They normally start with Adam and Eve. They then go to Cain and Abel, they then go to the flood, the burning bush, there’s a rhythm to these and so these twelve  panels around a Celtic cross or a high cross were used as visual aids. They became centres where people would gather, it’s the equivalent of the old, do you remember the old flannel graph that used to be used?

That’s what it was. It was where someone could point to a picture and talk about Adam, talk about Eve and there was a tree in the middle with a snake going round it. These were revolutionary of their time and they lasted for a thousand years for people in town centers to gather around places of meeting so that People could learn the stories of scripture because it took years to copy out the Bible You didn’t have your own copy and even if you did you probably couldn’t read it And so it was important, and this is one of the things that Patrick did, he ensured that throughout this island there would be places of gathering where teaching could be undertaken.

The time would come for Patrick’s life to end, and at the age of 74, he died on the  17th of March, A. D. 461. Traditionally, we’re told he died in Saul, he was making his way back. But there’s claims that he’s buried in Saul, he’s buried in Down Patrick, and even Armagh would claim that he’s buried there.

So you take your pick of what you want to believe. Maybe now is the time to confess that I was a tour guide in Armagh for about four years about all of this, so I might be slightly biased. Patrick, the monasteries were important. Because they grew. After his death, his legacy was in what was taught. His legacy was in what needed to be taught.

And this whole community idea of people gathering to learn, people gathering to worship, but people going out and proclaiming. Whenever that book came out about how the Irish saved civilization, it is genuinely true because it was the people, the  Christian people of this island. that retained the faith while Europe was being torn apart from 900 onwards.

And whenever that ceased around 12, 1300, it was missionaries from this island who went out and proclaimed it, all because of the pattern and the model that Patrick had established. And it was that model that sparked a reformation that would come in the 1500s as the truth of the gospel was recaptured again because of the faithful teaching and proclamation.

And so we have to come again and we have to bust some of the myths. And so here’s some of the things that are said that we need to be very aware about. Patrick, we’re told, was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church. That’s not true. That’s why he’s not technically a saint. There is no record of the canonization of Patrick.

It’s only local folklore that has made him a saint. And so when I say to my wife, he is simply Patrick and not Saint Patrick, the finger goes up and I go, ah, but. And so there you have it. He is Patrick. He may be called the patron saint of Ireland, but he is, he has never been officially canonised as such.

Patrick, we’re told, used the shamrock to explain the trinity. No, because as we have learned, relatively recently to Patrick’s life, they’d only started to define the trinity. And there’s no way that Patrick could have used this. It’s only in later writings that we find this. Patrick never tells us himself that he used the shamrock as a teaching aid.

It might be feasible, but he doesn’t say he did it. And it’s only later that it was told that it was the great saint who did this. And did he drive those snakes of  Ireland into the sea? If he did a pretty good job because I haven’t seen a snake in Ireland except behind glass in my lifetime.

But I think you know as well as I know that’s allegory. That’s something that is said that has an image that has a deeper meaning. Patrick did chase the serpent from Ireland because he proclaimed the truth of the gospel. And as I said, it is the, it was the true gospel because it was the gospel that lasted.

He chased the pagan druids out of Ireland. He chased the snake out of Ireland. That was still trying to tempt people and make people believe that God is wrong. There were no physical snakes here, but he certainly did chase Satan from his hold on this place. That’s Patrick. You make your own mind up, but this is the historical man who is  not who should not be held captive by one community or one church, or perceived to be a political emblem that we may not agree with.

Patrick, like you and me, was a born again believer in Jesus Christ. He knew the true gospel. And much of what has been said about him is false. And it has been said because it suits a particular narrative. This is one of the Church’s first missionaries. In those very early ages, the Gospel was brought to him and he took it.

He took it to the barbarians and God was faithful. I want us to turn as we wrap things up this evening to 1 Timothy chapter 1 and verses 12 to 17.  Let me read this for you, but do turn to it because there’s a couple of things I want to point out because Patrick does leave us with a few things to think about, as does Paul.

Because Paul says something of the same as Patrick then goes on to say in his confession. So 1 Timothy chapter 1 verses 12 to 17 says, I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service. Though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent, But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I receive mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect  patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life.

To the king of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. This is a powerful little section that Paul writes to Timothy. It’s Paul’s testimony, in shortened form. And it says, It’s really the pinnacle of what he believes and how he lives. And whenever we read this, particularly verse 15, which I’ve given to you there at the top of page 4, whenever we read that, we see the life of Patrick reflected in it, because how did Patrick start his confession?

I, Patrick, a sinner, the least of all the faithful. How does, what does Paul here say about himself? I am, Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost.  Patrick isn’t simply taking Paul here and copying him. Patrick has a similar position in terms of how he sees himself under God just as Paul did.

And so what we learn from Paul is that he, he recognizes that he was an opponent of God. It’s just that he was, it just wasn’t that he was ignorant. He was an opponent because there’s no middle ground. No one can say that I simply didn’t know try telling that to a police officer when he stops you from speeding.

I simply didn’t know officer It doesn’t work and so it is with God. We can’t say to God I simply didn’t know if you’re not for God you are against him There’s no middle ground. Paul tells us this here, but Patrick knew that as well. Of his generation, of those he knew, he declared himself to be the least of all the faithful.

He knew himself to be a man who needed grace and mercy,  just like Paul. And so I want to leave us with three things that are there in the top of page four of what we learn about Patrick that I believe should be reflected in ourselves. Patrick knew his position before God. He was the least of all the faithful.

He didn’t look at someone else and say I’m better than them. He knew his position that before the eyes of God, he was the most rottenest of sinners. And that’s a position that we all most have, all must have. We can’t say I’m maybe not the best, but I’m certainly better than them. No, we can’t say that.

We have to echo Paul and we have to echo Patrick and say that, indeed, I am the least of

That, that’s the position that we must have so that we can know that we are the ones in desperate need of God’s grace. and God’s mercy. The second thing about Patrick is he proclaimed the true gospel  and people came to faith. He was truly an Apostle of Ulster. And I wonder sometimes do we feel that we don’t believe that’s going to happen.

Oh, it’s going to be the big evangelists. It’s going to be the passionate people who have no fear in the world of proclaiming the gospel. They’re going to be the ones who are going to see things happen and things change. But where did Patrick begin, He began with a humble position before God and what was he willing to do?

Because again, what does Paul say there in those verses? He says that he was called, appointing me in verse 12, to his service. And that’s what Patrick tells us in his confession, that he was called to go to the Irish to answer their cry. Not that he would be the answer, but that Jesus would be the answer.

And that’s still true today because the cry of the Irish today Be they Roman  Catholics or Roman Protestants, the cry of the Irish is still a need of the Savior. They may not cry for that because they may not believe it. But our perspective, just like Patrick and just like Paul, is that the answer is Jesus.

And so we too must be looking for the opportunities to continue to proclaim the good news of Jesus to the Irish of today. And thirdly, Patrick was content. Again, that’s what Paul tells us. That’s why he finishes the way he does with a, with an inexpressible joy in verse 17, to the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.

Amen. Paul knows exactly that it is not his work, but that it’s God’s work. So he was content to be in the Lord’s service, as was Patrick. Patrick said, for I can do no  other. I must answer the cries. Amen. follow. I wonder are we content in the Lord’s service? And to be able to answer that we have to be serving.

That’s what living faith in Jesus Christ calls for. And yes, it might be in Sunday school. It might be in BB or GB. It might be in catering. It might be in different aspects in music and singing in the church. Yes, those are acts of service. Those are vital and needed and we need more. to be involved in so much.

But our acts of service continue beyond these walls because they’re about providing for where there’s need. It’s about quite literally helping someone across the road. It’s about living Christ and speaking Christ. To be  able to give a reason for why we do it, not just that we’re nice people and kind people, but that we have Jesus in us, and it is the motivation of Jesus.

brings us to do that. Patrick was crazy to go back to Ireland. It’s where he was a slave. What if he ran into Milco? What if he ran into his former slave owner? But he knew it was worth it because it was God’s call in his life, and so he was content in the service of God. Patrick not only left us a living legacy of faith and a heritage of faith, but his life, as we see now, reflected in the life of the Apostle Paul.

And as we look at all the biographies of God’s people, it’s a similar standpoint. We need to know our position before God. As we proclaim the true gospel, we must  believe that people will come to faith, and we must be content in the Lord’s service. And I knew tonight would go on because I know this portion of history.

I, it was a job for me. Of course, the last bit was never part of what I told tour groups in Armagh. Throw me out. We need to learn and there’s a few questions for discussion at the bottom there whether we’ll get much time to discuss them or not But there’s certainly questions to go home and think about What have you learned about Patrick this evening?

That is new or Challenges what you thought you knew have we straightened the path for you a wee bit and how we understand Patrick Secondly, how can the example of Patrick influence our proclamation of the gospel today? He was the master of visual aids But he was also the master of gathering people that, that they would learn more.

And thirdly, are  you content in your service of the Lord today? Why or why not? Maybe let’s take a couple of minutes and talk about one or two of these before we come to pray. But let me finish off this bit in prayer just now for us. Let’s pray. Our Father God, we have talked about a man today from history who, in a particular popular culture, is not who he truly is.

But we thank you for the man that he is before you. One who knew the gospel and brought it far and wide. And in many ways, as we look to Patrick in these days, As we look at his life and look at his example, as we see it reflected in the Apostle Paul in Scripture, may we be the generation that continues to be faithful to you and living in this way of your people of old, so that we will be faithful to what it means to live, to serve,  and to worship you.

So be with us in our thinking and in our conversation tonight. In Jesus name.