St Patrick's Day

I usually enjoy going to the pub on St Patrick's Day. Kostya and I developed the tradition in Australia. It is one that I have tried to keep up in Russia. Back in 07, a friend and I found an Irish pub in Novosibirsk that was celebrating St Patrick's Day. They had some good live Irish style music.
Things have been a little more disappointing in Krasnoyarsk. Last year I went to the "Dublin", they had nothing on, they claimed they would celebrate on the weekend. This year, it was on a Saturday and they still had nothing. But at least Kostya came there with me to keep our tradition of a Guiness on St Patrick's day.

Melody decided to celebrate the day at home with a party. She made all sorts of green food and bought green drinks, including green beer. We invited who ever would come. Our neighbours Sonya and Oleg came, a few believing friends came.

The day turned into a reflective and worshipful day. Early in the day a friend suggested some "good music for the party" on facebook. She suggested listening to a group called Rend Collective Experiment. I had never heard of the group before. but within 10 minutes of looking them up on youtube I had bought both their albums on itunes.

Rend Collective Experiment are from Belfast, so the northern not southern Ireland. I understand that there are a lot more Christians in the north than the south. I was really blessed by this group and their worship music. Their song Second Chance jumped out at me.

That set the tone for the day.

Melody learned the story of St Patrick's life and shared it over lunch. His story is quite an extraordinary one. Look it up for yourself. The biggest thing that struck me from his story, was that during his slavery from the age of 16 to 22 he learned to pray. He began talking to God for solace in his slavery. Before he knew it he was praying over 100 times per day. Patrick knew God intimately. So it was no surprise that God could tell him when it was time to flee his slavery for a boat off the Ireland. And later, it was again that God spoke to him through a dream. In his 40s, God called Patrick back to the Emerald Isle. By the end of his lifetime the majority of Ireland was Christian. Following Patrick's lifetime one of the great missionary movements then came out of Ireland, spreading to northern Europe which was still unreached for the gospel.

When our little boy PJ (who is incidentally Patrick Joel), was born a friend gave us a laminated card with a prayer on it. It's called the Breastplate of St Patrick. It's a really powerful prayer, one which we have started praying in our family, one which is a prayer for our Patrick's life too.  And, yes we knew that when we named our boy Patrick we were naming him after a rather special missionary. We too have some Irish blood flowing in our veins and carry the gospel legacy of St Patrick.

The Breastplate of St. Patrick

I bind unto myself today

The strong Name of the Trinity,

By invocation of the same,

The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind this day to me for ever.

By power of faith, Christ's incarnation;

His baptism in the Jordan river;

His death on Cross for my salvation;

His bursting from the spicèd tomb;

His riding up the heavenly way;

His coming at the day of doom;*

I bind unto myself today.

I bind unto myself the power

Of the great love of the cherubim;

The sweet 'well done' in judgment hour,

The service of the seraphim,

Confessors' faith, Apostles' word,

The Patriarchs' prayers, the Prophets' scrolls,

All good deeds done unto the Lord,

And purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today

The virtues of the starlit heaven,

The glorious sun's life-giving ray,

The whiteness of the moon at even,

The flashing of the lightning free,

The whirling wind's tempestuous shocks,

The stable earth, the deep salt sea,

Around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today

The power of God to hold and lead,

His eye to watch, His might to stay,

His ear to hearken to my need.

The wisdom of my God to teach,

His hand to guide, His shield to ward,

The word of God to give me speech,

His heavenly host to be my guard.

Against the demon snares of sin,

The vice that gives temptation force,

The natural lusts that war within,

The hostile men that mar my course;

Or few or many, far or nigh,

In every place and in all hours,

Against their fierce hostility,

I bind to me these holy powers.

Against all Satan's spells and wiles,

Against false words of heresy,

Against the knowledge that defiles,

Against the heart's idolatry,

Against the wizard's evil craft,

Against the death wound and the burning,

The choking wave and the poisoned shaft,

Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,

Christ behind me, Christ before me,

Christ beside me, Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself the Name,

The strong Name of the Trinity;

By invocation of the same.

The Three in One, and One in Three,

Of Whom all nature hath creation,

Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:

Praise to the Lord of my salvation,

Salvation is of Christ the Lord.