Month: March 2017

Your Life Matters: Lessons from Saint Patrick

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

I’m a fan of the wonderful spring holiday of St. Patrick’s Day. I’m not Irish, but having corned beef, cabbage and Irish soda bread is a great tradition.  And then there is the tradition a friend of mine and I started years ago of enjoying chocolate in the form of “Black Bottom Cupcakes” on the day.  (See the recipe at the end of this post.) I don’t remember how or why, but having the ritual of chocolate consumption is never a bad thing.  But all that aside, there is a much more serious reason I love this holiday.

St. Patrick—he’s technically not a “capital S” saint since the Roman Catholic Church has never elevated him to that status—wields an amazing influence on us today. Let me explain.

In the early 5th century, Patrick was a young teen living in Scotland northwest of present day Glasgow. He was captured and enslaved by a barbarian Celtic lord. During his six years of captivity he returned to the faith he had abandoned. After escaping, he went back to Scotland and became a cleric. When he was nearly 40, he returned to Ireland.  Palladius, the first missionary to Ireland, had gone in 451 AD. Palladius wasn’t terribly successful in his mission to the pagan Celts in Ireland. Patrick, following about 5 years later however, had strong influence and is largely responsible for establishing the Christian faith on the Emerald Isle and virtually preserving Christianity and the Bible throughout the Western world.

There are many legends surrounding Patrick, but what I think is most important is that because he was faithful in sharing the Gospel of Jesus and working to teach and nurture Christian faith among the Irish we have Bibles in our hands today.  I can hear you exclaim, “What?!” Hear me out.

Ireland became and still is the home of many medieval monasteries. There in many of them, the Scriptures were carefully copied by hand by monks laboring quietly in Scriptoriums. These isolated places were first established in the 5th century about the time Patrick was working to share the Gospel.  Hear what “Ask About Ireland”-  a website shares in explaining this to school children:

 

The first monasteries were usually built in isolated places like Glendalough in Co. Wicklow or on islands such as Skellig Michael off the coast of Co. Kerry.   Some monasteries were also built near the forts of important kings like the monastery of Clonard in Co. Meath. The monks chose these isolated places because it allowed them to pray and work without distraction.

As well as praying and fasting, some monks spent their lives making beautiful copies of the Bible. The Book of Kells, written in the ninth century, about 800 AD, is a famous example of this. It was named after a town called Kells in Co. Meath where it was once kept. This book can now be seen in Trinity College, Dublin. Another famous book which was written by monks in Ireland is the Book of Durrow.

http://www.askaboutireland.ie/learning-zone/primary-students/subjects/history/history-the-full-story/early-christian-ireland/monasteries/

 

These manuscripts of the Bible were God’s way of preserving and extending the spread of His Word. There were no printing presses for nearly a thousand years yet and Europe was deep in what has been called the Dark Ages. While the rest of Europe was experiencing a time of illiteracy, superstition, cultural and intellectual darkness, these monks were laboriously and scrupulously copying God’s Word. Their work preserved the Scriptures which otherwise would have completely disappeared.

How amazing that the quiet life of Patrick and these unknown men faithfully following their calling have given us the unspeakable privilege of having the Bible in our hands today!

So, thinking of my life, my skills, my “calling” makes me reflect on our Faithful God who uses the most obscure and interesting ways of accomplishing His work. So I ask myself, “Have I been a faithful parent, teaching my children and grandchildren to love Jesus and His Word?  Have I used the opportunities that come because of my daily life to tell others of Jesus? Have I worked to build up and encourage others in their faith? How is God using me and my plain, obscure life to accomplish His Plan?”

Question:

What is your calling? Are you being faithful to it? Do you know that you will have an influence for generations to come if you are faithful?

And here is the promised recipe:

Black Bottom Cupcakes

Mix the following and set aside.

1 — 8 oz. package of cream cheese, softened

1/3 C. sugar

1 egg

6 oz. (½ C.) chocolate chips

Make the cake batter as follows.

1 ½ C. flour

1 C. sugar

¼ C. baking cocoa

1 tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

1 C. water

5 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 Tbsp. vinegar

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°. Stir dry in ingredients together. Mix liquids and combine with dry gradually. Spoon into 18 paper-lined muffin cups (Be sure to make 18!!)  Top with cream cheese mixture. Bake for 25 minutes until toothpick put into cake comes out dry.

Craving Joy

Posted on by Karyn Jeffrey

What is the goal of my life? What am I seeking? I think I and all other human beings universally seek joy and happiness. We want something to make our lives meaningful and delightful. Our pursuit takes us to the mall or the auto dealer, to the casino or lottery machine, to the computer porn screens and sexual encounters of every description. Others of us turn to jobs, family, travel and “experiences” as sources of validation and “happiness.” There are those who constantly change homes, remodel or build bigger, better ones in the pursuit of ultimate satisfaction. But it is quite obvious that every one of the ways we try to grasp joy is a vapor that slips through our fingers. The Preacher, speaking in the book of Ecclesiastes says:

“All that my eyes desired did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun.“ Ecclesiastes 2:10-11

In this season—very late winter— I have been tempted to grouse and complain about the snow and gloom that just seem to hang on and on. Most folks here in the Inland Northwest are feeling the same. This particular winter has been a rough one. Snow. Lots of snow. Gray skies. Lots of gray skies. To be fair, there have been some lovely breaks–when the world was freshly frosted with snow making a fairyland of an ordinary neighborhood. And when the drizzle of “precipitation” has broken to a wash of glorious blue sky. But mostly, it has been a “long, dark winter.” Definitely no obvious JOY in my attitude or heart.
During this glum time, I have been pondering my faith—where is the evidence that it is real? I’ve wondered about my worship and the reality of my life “in Christ.” What does it all mean? Is it real? Am I kidding myself and just living and believing what I was raised to believe and do? Why do I not experience joy and satisfaction that Scripture says are the lot of the believer in Christ?

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full.” John 15:9-11

Don’t get me wrong. I have a deeply settled conviction that God exists. He is real and knowable. He has spoken authoritatively to the creatures of His creation. What I am fussing about is my response to all this. I know that He in His sovereign might has reached down and transformed my “dead-in-sin” heart to a “new creation” heart that will live forever. But somehow, my love to this wonderful God seems so tepid. I keep loving my own interests and daily thoughts more than Him and His Word. Where is the joy Jesus says is mine? What does it feel like? What is it?
I’ve just begun listening to an audio version of John Piper’s book, Desiring God. In it he lays out a case for being a “Christian Hedonist”—one who craves and seeks the joys and delights of God Himself.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines hedonism as:
1: the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the sole or chief good in life

That is an amazing thought that my spiritual life should be marked by the pursuit of pleasure and happiness in God as my overriding goal and passion. I want to be saying with the Psalmist

“All my springs of joy are in You.” Psalm 89: 7b

I’m eager to finish this book. I am being challenged and somehow, I think that as my gaze turns toward Jesus my questions will be answered more fully. Already, I know that my faith in Jesus is real. I know I am not kidding myself about the reality of God and His Heaven and His promises and His Word. Yes, I was raised to this, but all these have borne the scrutiny of skepticism and intellectual thought.
Now I am looking to wade into these waters of joyous hedonism. I am eager and excited to find delight in God alone. I have the sense that I am on the verge of a very amazing time in my life.

Question: What is your goal in life? Will you seek to know, love and enjoy God above all else? Will you experience the “joy of the LORD” today?