The story of Saint Patrick that most of us remember has to do with driving snakes out of Ireland. That’s the legend, anyway. What do we know or care to know about the real Saint Patrick? Patrick’s father was an English clergy man. Patrick memorized all of the Psalms as a youth. Tragically, Patrick was abducted in England and brought to Ireland as a slave. In the midst of his slavery, Patrick writes that he heard God tell him to walk across Ireland all the way to the coast where he would find a boat waiting to return him to England. It seemed like a dangerous long shot—he would be returned to his master and killed if anyone heard his Irish accent—but Patrick followed the Lord’s advice. He found the ship. The crew was not inclined to help him until Patrick shared the memorized Psalms which had sustained him through his captivity. The crew of the ship assumed they were helping a clergy man (and thus would receive blessings) and so obliged Patrick in his quest to return home.

However, once Patrick arrived safely home he felt God calling him back to Ireland, this time as an apostle of the Good News of Jesus Christ to the largely “Druid” population. Patrick is credited with converting all of Ireland to Christianity. He is also credited with spreading literacy and with abolishing the slave trade which had interrupted his own young life.

Fascinating! But all I ever hear about the man is some unbelievable story about snakes. Meanwhile I am confused about the other stuff that has grown up around Saint Patrick—green beer, pot-o-gold and Soda Bread. No-one ever told me that the shamrock was used by Patrick to teach non-believers about the concept of “Father, Son and Holy Spirit”. All I knew was that there was supposedly some “Luck of the Irish” (which seems unlikely given the abundance of green beer).

What do people know about Jesus? Some “unbelievable” stories as wild as the story of Saint Patrick persuading thousands of snakes to follow him out of Ireland? Are they confused about what all these traditions which have grown up around Jesus have to do with Jesus' reason for being? How are we Christians helping non-believers with their questions and assumptions about all of this Jesus stuff?

Lent is an excellent time to get real about Jesus. Jesus was a real man with real temptations, real courage and real faith. Our friends may not be able to make the leap to the miraculous teachings about Jesus. That is fine for now. There is plenty of good material to teach people about him without asking people to believe “snake stories”. Start with the Matthew chapters five and six and the “Sermon on the Mount” teachings. Follow that quickly with sharing what you know about Jesus. Of course it won’t matter what you say about Jesus if your life doesn’t reflect the Sermon on the Mount.

Need some help remembering what Jesus is all about? I’ll look for you Sunday and we can remember together.

Give Me Back That Fillet-O-Fish

On March 9th through the 11^th our Jewish friends celebrated “Purim”. The Holydays center around the book of Esther and the way that Jewish Queen Esther engineers a crafty plan to save her fellow Jews from certain death. It is a great, short book of the Bible that you can read in thirty minutes or less. I would like to suggest that we step out of Lent for one day to celebrate the way Jews do at Purim.

People gather in synagogues to hear the story, but they also get to participate in the story. They are invited to bring noise makers and to hiss at certain points of the story (such as when the name of the evil villain is shared). For those of you familiar with the cult classic movie “Rocky Horror Picture Show”, you’ll remember how people who attend late night showings of Rocky Horror are expected to bring toast, newspaper and to interact with the movie at various points. Purim is the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” of Judaism. Not only is the story meant to be a raucous affair in the house of worship, it is also a raucous home gathering. One of the expectations of Purim is that participants drink until they have trouble distinguishing between the Book of Esther names “Haman” and “Mordecai”! I suppose Boston-based Jews could then simply keep that spirit going straight into Saint Patrick’s Day!

Of course another expectation of Purim is offering food to the needy. Afterall, what good is enjoying a feast when brothers or sisters cannot? The point of the Book of Esther (which never mentions God, by the way) and Purim is that one person took responsibility for lots of people.

We are in the Christian season of Lent, a penitential, serious season. Traditionally there is to be no feasting but instead, fasting—abstaining from excesses. However, the Roman Catholic tradition, while discouraging meat consumption through the week, nevertheless allows fish on Friday. McDonalds knows this and so we always see McDonalds “Fillet-O-Fish” Commercials in Lent. When else do you see them?

United Methodists are not bound by that fish tradition, but I think we still need a day like Friday or like Purim to step out of the seriousness of Lent. It would be a day where we could sing and laugh together, like my friends and I do when we see that McDonalds “Fillet-O-Fish” commercial. A day of feasting and taking care of those without the resources to feast. It could even be a day to think about one person taking responsibility for many others—being inspired by such a story! Thankfully, we have just such a day to step out of Lent seriousness and into celebration. Sunday. Sundays are not a part of the 40 Days of Lent but are, rather, little Easter celebrations.

So I hope I will see you for celebration on Sunday! Bring your noise makers!

Pastor Doug