Author: Wick

In the late 4th Century A.D., Patrick was growing up in what is now NorthEast England. His people were “Britons”, one of the “Celtic” peoples then populating the British Isles, though Patrick’s aristocratic family had gone “Roman” during Roman occupation of England. So Patrick was more culturally Roman than Celtic. His family was Christian, and his grandfather was a priest. Patrick heard some of the teachings through his family, but became only somewhat of a Christian. He ridiculed the clergy, and lived toward the “wild side”.

When Patrick was 16, a band of Celtic pirates from Ireland invaded his region. He and several other young men were captured and forced onto a ship. They sailed to Ireland, and Patrick was sold into slavery to a prosperous tribal chief and druid named Miliuc, who put Patrick to work herding cattle.

During his years as a slave, Patrick experienced 3 major changes.

First, periods when Patrick was isolated in the wilderness herding cattle connected him with what theologians call the “natural revelation” of God. He sensed with the winds, the seasons, the creatures, and the nights under the stars the presence of God; he identified this presence as the Triune God he had learned about from his family. Here’s a quote from Patrick…

“After I had arrived in Ireland, I found myself pasturing flocks daily, and I prayed a number of times each day. More and more the love and fear of God came to me, and faith grew and my spirit was exercised, until I was praying up to a hundred times every day and in the night nearly as often.”

Patrick became a devout Christian, and the change was obvious to his captors.

Second, Patrick changed in another way…he came to understand the Irish Celtic people, and their language and culture, with the kind of intuitive profundity that is usually possible only, as in Patrick’s case, from the “underside”.

Third, Patrick came to love his captors, to identify with them, and to hope for their reconciliation to God. One day, he would feel they were his people.

One night, after 6 years in captivity, a voice spoke to Patrick in a dream, saying, “You are going home, Look! Your ship is ready!” The voice directed him to flee for his freedom the next morning. He awakened before daybreak, walked to a seacoast, saw the ship, and negotiated his way on board.

Patrick returned to England, trained as a Priest, and served as a Priest in a parish in England.

One night, at the age for 48 – Patrick experienced another dream that was to change his life again. An angel named Victor approached him with letters from his former captors in Ireland. As he read one of the letters, he imagined that he heard the voice of those people, and they cried out as one voice, “We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.”

When Patrick woke up the next morning, he interpreted the dream as a call to take the Gospel to the Celtic peoples of Ireland. He asked the bishops to be sent on this mission. With the encouragement of the Pope, and the leaders, he was ordained as a bishop, and appointed to Ireland, as history’s first missionary bishop.

Why is this all significant? Come back tomorrow for more of the story!!!

“Shelo lishma ba lishma” – a phrase used by Cohen toward the end, which he was reminded of by a Catholic priest who urged him to “come to services anyway, because it eventually will have meaning for you.”

The book is written by the son of a Jewish Rabbi, whose faith had become routine and mundane at best. He saw things advertised both in theory and in practice throughout Jesus-loving realms that he desired in his own faith experience. He’s also a writer in a world of “writers doing year-long experiences in order to create a book” fads. So he spends a year in new spiritual worlds. He visits protestant, Catholic, and a few…well…”other” situations.

It doesn’t take long before a Christian reader would raise alarm. “He’s not really experiencing Christianity” would be easy to say. And it’s true. I’ll even give away the ending – he doesn’t “accept Jesus” in the end. But his openness to God, and description/vantage points offer us some important images some of us may see if we look in the mirror.

There are also insights into the Jewish world that can be beneficial for anyone who wants to follow Jesus (a Jew). Including the phrase above. It basically means “even if you do something desirable for the wrong reason, you’ll eventually end up doing it with the right intentions.”

And I think the converse can be true as well, as proven by Cohen’s desire to spend the year with Jesus. If we do something desirable with right intentions, eventually we may end up doing it for the wrong reasons. May God renew our passion and desire and LIFE toward HIS Kingdom. May we see beyond ourselves, and our consumerist nature. May we belong to something else for a larger purpose than what it offers us…as we all discover the part of the “body” God has created us to be.

Altogether a great book, personalized by illustrations from Cohen’s own life and childhood. Stories that poke fun at some of the sillier things that happen in the lives of Jesus-followers (and people who claim they follow Jesus), raise important questions about what it actually means to be a Christian, and participate in the body of Christ.

I’ll end with a quote, from Cohen’s visit to “Winter Jam”, a popular concert tour fronted by Mr. Toby Mac:

(just after a preview clip for the film “Amazing Grace”) “Slavery is at an all-time high this year!” The audience, not sure how to respond to this political declaration, does what it’s been doing all night when the various bands take the stage – they cheer.”

So I scribbled some notes from Bishop Thomas’ words to we the youth leaders of the denomination, on the topic of “Leadership Development”…

“We are inviting others into the journey of becoming someone others can follow.”

“Service is an ESSENTIAL part of discipleship.”

“Multiplication requires developing (your) leaders.”

“Shared ministry is the MOST effective.”

(in regard to what book to read) “I’d rather tell you what KIND of book to read/not read. If it’s formulaic (points a, b, and c will yield ____ results), it probably won’t help you a ton. If it’s bashing the church, without regard for healing and solutions, it probably won’t help you much. If you gave the book to someone from another culture, and they told you they couldn’t understand it, it probably doesn’t have the “big picture” truth to be very relevant.”

The general message of our time together, and of the words we were given, was an encouragement to be purposeful in our leadership development. Not simply future pastors or youth workers. But to target the people who are, and will be, followed….to develop them into those who are being followed toward Christ.

The body of Christ as a whole, and the Free Methodist Church needs to be raising people who will step into areas of need. Who will begin new conversations. Who will participate as committed members of a specific body that commits back to them in return, to say “let’s move toward Christ together, and experience an accountable community as we do this…”

These are all things that will not happen simply by allowing those who are charismatic or popular rise to the surface naturally. We (read that “I”) need to be identifying and developing more of those who have the characteristics of Christ, and guiding/calling them into leadership/discipleship. The valuable point was made that most leaders today weren’t called by a mystical “calling of God in the quiet moments”, but were actually tugged at through another person in relationship with God.

I pray that this continues to develop as I’d readily admit, due to my low administrative nature, my leadership development has lacked a sense of structure and discipline. Lord, help me…