Great stories of courage, sacrifice and unselfishness can inspire us to live better lives. One such story is that of Patrick of Ireland. Patrick, who had grown up in Great Britain with all of the accoutrements of upper middle class wealth, was captured by Celtic slave-traders as a teenager and spirited away to Ireland. During the many years of his captivity, he worked as a shepherd. Throughout this lonely and destitute time of his life, he learned to lean upon the God whom he had abandoned in his youth. One night, God gave him a vision that he would escape his place of captivity with these words: “Your ship awaits you.” Patrick fled his master and travelled over 200 miles on foot until he reached a small port town. After spying out a ship that was loaded and heading for Great Britain, he talked his way on board. After many weeks, Patrick was reunited with his family who had long since given him up for dead.

The story could have ended there with a young man understandably making the choice to return to a comfortable lifestyle. But, the same God who had freed him had other plans in mind. One night, Patrick experienced another vision. In the vision a man named Victorius came to him carrying a number of letters. One of the letters carried the strange title, “The Voice of the Irish.”  Phillip Freeman, in his book entitled, St. Patrick of Ireland, shares what happened next:

All of sudden, he heard an enormous chorus of voices singing to him,
and it seemed as if the sound were coming from the letter itself: “Holy boy!” they sang, using Patrick’s mockingly given nickname while he
was a slave among the Irish, “Come here and walk among us.”

Shortly thereafter, Patrick set foot again in Ireland. This time, however, he came as a willing ambassador of freedom. He was around the age of 47 when he began his ministry in Ireland. Before his death, he would live to see the slavery trade abolished and well over half of Ireland following the life and teachings of Jesus.  His method was both simple and organic. He followed the vision that had been given him by God – he walked among the people. He was able to somehow celebrate the Celtic culture as well as provide for it a new moral compass by showing them how to follow the humble carpenter from Galilee. Without a lot of fanfare and without all of the trappings of modern day organized religion, Patrick changed a nation.

The name we bear in our ministry, “Patrick Crossing”, is a marker for how we have chosen to live out our faith. It is our desire to not hide behind the walls of a church building and meaningless structures, but to heed the call of Patrick by crossing over and simply walking among people. We celebrate life, family, music, food & friendships – all the things Jesus enjoyed while on the earth. We believe that a lot of people have not been interested in Jesus because His message has been sullied by politics, mixed signals, institutionalism, and self-righteousness. Our desire is to try, with a deep awareness of own weaknesses, to reintroduce Jesus as the loving, wise, and life-transforming person that He is.

The Journey...