What does it mean to be a Christian in Ireland today?

“…I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour” (John 4:38)

John 4:31-38 (Year C: St Patrick’s Day / The Second Sunday in Lent 17^th March, 2019)

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A NOTE ABOUT TODAY’S READINGS

I have chosen to work, here, with the suggested readings for the Festival of St Patrick from the Church of Ireland. These are: John 4:31-38, Tobit 13:1-7, Psalm 145 and 2 Corinthians 4:1-12

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SERMON NOTES (1,580 words)

Go raibh briathra uile mo bhéil agus smaointe mo chroí taithneamhach leatsa a Thiarna, a charraig liom, is a shlánaitheoir (Sailm 19:14) 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer (Psalm 19:14)

These opening words sometimes said by one about to preach are taken from Psalm 19. However, in the verses just read and taken from the same Book of Common Prayer there is a small but significant difference as between the Irish and English language versions. The Irish version refers to the Lord God as a ‘carraig’ or ‘rock’. As it turns out this is closer to the original Hebrew ṣūrî which also means rock. In the English translation, the term ‘strength’ is used instead. For sure, the Lord God is both our rock and our strength; but I suggest that rock is more graphic and meaningful in this context. In the ‘Confessions’ attributed to Saint Patrick whose feast day we mark on this second Sunday of Lent the author writes:

So I am first of all a simple country person, a refugee, and unlearned. I do not know how to provide for the future. But this I know for certain, that before I was brought low, I was like a stone lying deep in the mud. Then he who is powerful came and in his mercy pulled me out, and lifted me up and placed me on the very top of the wall

Patrick, an exile and a foreigner, was raised up like a stone and placed on a rock foundation and that foundation was Christ. But where and how did he find his rock?

When Patrick, a Briton of possible Roman extraction, was roughly brought ashore by an Irish raiding party of thugs and slave dealers (rather like what happens in some parts of the world today), he was walking into a damp, strange land with pagan rituals, human sacrifice and constant driving rain (well some things never change!). This placed called Hibernia or ‘Winter land’ by the Romans was not a welcoming place for someone like Patrick. Indeed so inhospitable, cold and remote was this island that the Romans did not even bother to investigate it.

It is clear by Patrick’s own account that his stay, here, as a slave was a brutalising and cruel one. However, it did not break him. The seeds of faith had already been sown through his family upbringing. And when Patrick escaped back to his homeland some years later he became haunted by Glór na nGael – the voice of the Irish calling on him to come back and to walk among them and this time to tell the good news. Patrick answered that call – the call of the Irish – to come back and to undertake a most difficult and dangerous mission. We know that he met with stiff opposition and danger from the very start as his message and way of life directly challenged the existing order of things including the power of the Druids and the kings and chiefs in their various bailiwicks. It emerges that Patrick was betrayed and hounded by some of his own people and clergy in Britain

Patrick planted the seeds of Christianity on this island over 1,500 years ago. Others would reap what he had sown as it says in today’s gospel (John 4:37). In the course of the following millennium and a half invasion after invasion would ensue as various ‘visitors’ to this island like the Celts before them set up camp, put manners on the incumbents, sometimes inter-married and other times moved on. 

For sure Ireland has had a troubled history. To an outsider, it might look like a case of two main warring tribes that cannot agree about religion, or politics or history or identity or something else. The reality is more complex. There are many shifting strands to Irish society and history.

The Ireland that I knew growing up in the 1960s and 1970s bears very limited resemblance to the Ireland of today. Social norms, religious traditions, laws, customs, ways of living and economic prosperity have changed almost beyond recognition. Add to this an Ireland that has become incredibly multi-cultural with over a hundred nationalities living in a large commuter town near me.

Irish identity is indeed complex. So is Christian identity. We should not mix up the two even if Irish language, culture and is fite fuaite or inter-woven with Christian faith.  As we know, there are many ways of following Christ but there is always the one Christ. There are many ways of approaching the throne of God’s mercy but it is for us who profess Christ always through Word made flesh.

We find ourselves together in a land that has been hallowed by a line of witnesses not afraid to take a stand for Christ. The tragedy of our history is that the different expressions of being Irish and being Christian have been distorted and defaced. At the same time, it is true to say that Irish Christianity has made a precious and proud contribution to the spread of the good news across the globe. Its contribution has been very significant at various times including what some historians called the ‘dark ages’ (and it might be suggested that they still abide in our time).

Today, in Ireland, we celebrate a huge and very welcome level of diversity in the population.  Moreover, there is a much greater acceptance and welcome as people ‘cross boundaries’ to worship in traditions and communities that were not part of their childhood experience. A striking feature of church engagement in modern Ireland is the extent to which the new Irish or those living here but coming from other continents have reinvigorated Irish church life. Specifically, I am thinking of the great contribution of Nigerian Anglicans to the Church of Ireland or Polish Roman Catholics or Irish-Africans who have embraced Pentecostal forms of worship and community on our own doorsteps.

All of this is positive and welcome. But, we need to take an honest look at ourselves. Let me illustrate the point by way of example and metaphor. One hundred and fifty years ago the Irish language went from being the main spoken language of 4 million people to being the language of a mainly elderly population of a quarter of a million people in the early 20^th century in the space of two or three generations. Is religious practice and faith a bit like this? What I mean is this: look around yourself at mass or holy communion or morning prayer this Sunday. How many families are there? How many children are there in the congregation? How many persons between the ages of 15 and 45 are there?  I know from my own experience and memory that this was not so 40 years ago in the faith community with which I have been most familiar.  Today congregations tend to be a lot smaller and certainly older. Yes, it is true that there are many exceptions to this and some excellent work is being carried out by and among young people. However, in the main, we are a bit like native Irish speakers in the early 20th century.

Will there be a revival of some sort? Nobody knows. We need to name things and talk about these matters. Ireland has fast become rather like most other European countries – nominally Christian according to the census and occasionally ‘churched’ for occasions like baptism, Holy Communion, confirmation, marriage and death – typically in that order! And even that pattern is beginning to change as various alternatives to organised religion become respectable and commonplace. Just as the Irish language died a death as a living community language in all but the most remote areas of the Western seaboard, Christian faith and practice is, I suggest, in full-scale retreat. Let’s be honest about this and let’s avoid blaming this or that trend (for example I have heard people cite the rise of Sunday sports as a factor – seriously now!).

And, yes, I do accept that Christian faith and living is much, much more than turning up at church and saying prayers. However, a life of prayer and engagement with Word and Sacrament is a vital part of being Christian.

But is our time up? Are we the last generation and children of Patrick to turn the lights off? Where do we go from here?

I suggest three points for reflection and action:

1. We need to rediscover the power of personal and community prayer just as Patrick did on the side of a mountain in county Antrim.
2. We need to return to the beauty, richness and simplicity of the Word of God in which Patrick and many who followed him were steeped.
3. We need to throw open our doors to the stranger. Who knows but it will be the Glór na nGall (the voice of the foreigner) who calls us back to Christ more than Glór na nGael.

That rock foundation of Patrick which was Christ is ours for the offering. And the following words may be on our lips as we go forth in this world and in the time that remains to us here:

…Christ with me, Christ before me,
…..Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me….

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SOME IDEAS FOR INTERCESSIONS

 Blessed be God who lives for ever, because his kingdom lasts throughout all ages (Tobit 13:1).  Together with all the whole church catholic throughout the world we pray for:

• Peace, prosperity and human rights for all people on all the island of Ireland…..
• Peace, reconciliation and understanding among all peoples throughout the world as we remember in a special way this Sunday the people of New Zealand as well as the Muslim community throughout the world.
• Peace and protection for the various Christian communities suffering violence and oppression in many parts of the world.
• The European Union and all of its 28 Member States at this time …
• The communities in which we live and work…may we extend a genuine and warm welcome to those who are strangers….May we hear the voice of the foreigner as well as the familiar
• One another….
• Other named persons ….
• Remembering and rejoicing together with thanks those who have gone before us and thanking you for the labours of those who brought and maintained the Christian faith in our land….
• … praying in silence….

Almighty and merciful God, who in days of old gave to this land the blessing of your holy Church; do not withdraw your grace from us but correct what is missing and supply what is lacking that we may more and more bring forth fruit to your glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen*

  

*this final paragraph is adapted from the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of Ireland, page 145.