In today’s blog post, we enjoy a guest entry by Patrick Garret, who was the teacher at Rolling Thunder Family Camp last summer. Enjoy!

“Dia duit!”

Or should I say 'hello'? The former is a typical Irish greeting which literally means “May God be with you”, and is a much better and more ancient greeting than the English “hello” — which according to Oxford may have come from an Old German word for hailing a ferryboat! (And I have it on good authority no true Irishmen anywhere at any time has actually said "top o' the moring ta ye!" or has requested a kiss simply because of their ethnicity despite what the shirt your dad wears may tell you.)

In writing this entry, I do not presume upon any truly Irish amongst the readership, but as you will soon realise, as it is written for March, this entry will nod to the patron saint of the Emerald Isle.

Before I continue, do let me introduce myself: As one partial to Northern Ireland particularly, I am a pastor to a Baptist congregation in Northern Ontario these past three years. I am a father of five, the husband of one, and have served congregations previously in Barrie, Oakville and Centre Wellington all in part-time to full -time ministry to youth and families.

I was asked to write an entry for the blog a few months back, and was given free reign as to what I would write. My history with Beacon is a relatively short but enriching experience: beginning with the first ever Family day event I was introduced to wonderful camp and its leadership. From there, my wife and eldest daughter attended a Mother/Daughter weekend, and my eldest son a boy's camp. I have been a leader at senior boys camp, attend a father/son weekend and as a family most recently we attended "Rolling Thunder" family camp in 2021 where I had opportunity to teach the adult chapel.

For the last several months since family camp, like everyone else, I've been growing through adjustments to life post-covid both in my community, congregation and family.

When I was asked to write this entry, and knew when it would come, I jumped at the chance to write about my namesake: St Patrick. From a young age, simply because of the name my parent's gave me, and being raised for a time in a tradition that honored saints, I have had personal enjoyment of growing to understand the saint. He has been the subject of a paper I wrote in seminary, a banner day to celebrate every year with family, and an excuse to listen to the Getty's just because! I have eaten more than my share of Lucky Charms, usually smell like Irish Spring, support both Hibernian & Celtic FC of the SPFL, and enjoy wearing green all year around. To boot, I was installed at my current congregation on St Patrick's Day in 2019! Yes, there were many allusions to this providence, closed the gathering with The Lorica, and shared a green cake to follow.

In all of this patrician devotion, however, one item in my study is of perennial value for me and others I will share. There is a sign in my study which came from a conference years ago, considering the life of the saint, and is titled "St Patrick: A Rule of Life". It encourages all of us believers to take a page from a life of one who pointed to Jesus as we seek to be ...

sacred instead of sensational

timeless instead of trendy

prophetic instead of popular

generous instead of entitled

meek instead of aggressive

quiet instead of attention-seeking

humbly prayerful instead of demanding

patient instead of prideful

inviting instead of isolating

understanding instead of judgmental

I close with a synopsis of Patrick's life taken from the short but excellent biography by Michael Haykin. “Patrick was a Trinitarian man, he had a zeal for mission, he was extremely biblical and had a great dependence on the Spirit. once we separate the man from the myth; the leprechaun and snake driving veneer, the drink-stained and nationalistic assumptions, the shamrocks and jigs, we are left with much for which we can thank God. This March 17th we can celebrate the life of a man who was taken from his home by kidnappers, made a slave but was called by the Lord while there, and later took the gospel to the very people who had kidnapped him. He planted churches, preached and wrote. His is a life of service to His God which should encourage us.”

Before I go, if you haven't already I recommend you try to learn a little more about the man and missionary by watching the short film the folks at Big Idea made a decade ago, or read the child-friendly biography by the Voice of the Martyrs -- and for theology geeks, you might enjoy the short video "St Patrick's Bad Analogy" at Lutheran Satire.

I pray you are blessed and thanking you for the opportunity,

(St) Patrick Garrett.