Learning from St. Patrick
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Earlier today I came across a quote attributed to Saint Patrick. It reads: “At Tara today in this fateful hour I place all Heaven with its power, and the sun with its brightness, and the snow with its whiteness, and fire with all the strength it hath, and lightning with its rapid wrath, and the winds with their swiftness along their path, and the sea with its deepness, and the rocks with their steepness, and the earth with its starkness– all these I place, by God’s almighty help and grace, between myself and the powers of darkness.”
I find these words to be fascinating. In a difficult time, when threatened by the pagan king of Ireland, Patrick invoked God’s help and does so in a way that may seem strange to most of us today. He calls on not just heaven but various elements of the earth—the sun, the snow, fire, lightning, the winds, the sea, and the rocks—to be his protector. Apparently he saw these as agents of God’s providence and protection.
I would love to know how St. Patrick would have explained this. I certainly cannot speak for him. I do, however, feel that he was on to something here. Nature can, in fact, still be seen as an agent of God’s protection today, and this in a number of different ways. Although some see some of the elements of nature Patrick mentioned as frightening, we have to admit that when God created the world God put things together in a way that would benefit and protect us. All the things he mentioned in his prayer have useful functions and serve God.
I believe that nature also offers provision and protection in ways that transcend the physical. Nature also offers us emotional and spiritual protection. When we are experiencing tough times nature has a way of calming us and giving us perspective. It has a way of connecting us with the Almighty God who is our true source of strength.
Celtic spirituality draws a close connection between God and nature. Nature could serve as “thin places” between us and God and nature could serve as instruments of God’s will. Do you find room in your own spirituality for this connection? It is a question worth pondering.
If we can accept the Celtic (and biblical) understanding of the closeness between God and nature it only makes sense that we will want to honor the earth and God by being good stewards of Creation. We are living in a time when environmental protection is being threatened. Should we not realize that failing to care for the earth is failing to care for ourselves? Should we not realize that it also has the potential to hinder our relationship with God and the ways God uses to minister to us? This St. Patrick’s Day would be a good time for us all to give thanks for God’s provision through Creation and to recommit ourselves to being good stewards of the earth.
–Chuck
(It took the three images shown above in California, Utah, and Tennessee. A special thanks goes to Lon Oliver for sharing the St. Patrick prayer noted above with me.)