This week sees the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King. The small town Baptist Pastor who found himself projected into the Civil Rights Movement and, recognising the grave injustices, set out to “redeem the soul of America”. His recognition that love, translated into non-violence, would win the day was inspirational and his speeches, quoting liberally from the Bible, heralded a new day. In the speech from the Lincoln Memorial Building in Washington he quoted Isaiah chapter 40, “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together” bringing hope of a better future to millions. He said, in his descriptive language, “With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope” little did he think that he would be that stone. In his final address in Memphis he etched his vision in the memorable words, “I have been to the mountaintop, I have seen the promised land”. The next day he was to enter it, cut down at the age of 39 by an assassin’s bullet. His memory is perpetuated in an annual holiday while the place of his death, now a memorial, is largely ignored, visitors to Memphis preferring to visit the home of that other famous son, Elvis Presley. In many ways this reflects the treatment his Master, Jesus Christ received. He was the one of whom Isaiah spoke. Jesus’s death and resurrection opened up the way for sinners to be forgiven and enter into a new life. Jesus too has public holidays. The fickle crowd enjoy the holidays but largely ignore the life and teachings of the one commemorated. Are you one of that crowd? If so read and reflect on the “Two Ways to Live” elsewhere on this site and you may find that you too are part of the outworking of Isaiah’s prediction.

After years of trying to produce a secular state in Stalinist Russia there was a large political gathering one Easter. At a defining moment in the proceedings someone shouted the words, “He is Risen”. Out of the mouths of the thousands present came the Christian response, “He is Risen Indeed”! The life of God in the soul of man is not easily extinguished. Most civilisations have the view that the soul is immortal but, uniquely, Christianity claims that the body will arise too. Our identity will be with us in the next life. We will be known to one another just as Moses and Elijah, although they lived in different eras on earth, knew each other and spoke together on the Mount of transfiguration. Some may say, “Others have come back from the dead”. What makes Jesus so special? Was Jesus simply another Lazarus? But Lazarus and all the others eventually died had a funeral and a grave where their bones were laid. Only Jesus arose, never to die again. He is the first fruits of a new kind of human life, a life in which the body is made perfect, no longer subject to weakness, aging, or death, but able to live eternally. With such a glorious future you might think that no-one in their right senses would shun Christianity. The resurrection is the mega miracle that would clinch for everyone! Wrong! Jesus scotched that idea in his parable of the rich man in hell who thought his brothers on earth would repent if he was able to warn them of his fate. Jesus referred him to the scriptures, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’ St Luke Chapter 16 verse 31. It is by believing what God has said in the scriptures that we are saved, not through witnessing miracle no matter how dramatic. Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” St John Chapter 5 verse 24. Jesus resurrection is the first fruits – “He has Risen” will become “They have Risen” to the praise of His glorious Name.

It’s now official; the Rev Ian Paisley says that St Patrick was a Protestant!   He might as well claim him as everyone else seems to claim him too.

The more remote the culture gets from his beliefs the more enthusiastically the culture celebrates his day!    It would be hard to find any resemblance of the authentic Patrick in any of the multitude of parades that bear his name although there is no doubting the commercial and community value of these occasions.

Patrick’s first visit to Ireland was as a slave and during the six years before his escape he had an encounter with God.    This is how he described it in his ‘Confession’:-

“I was taken into captivity to Ireland with many thousands of people. We deserved this fate because we had turned away from God;…. This is where I am now, in all my insignificance, among strangers. The Lord there made me aware of my unbelief that I might at last recognise my sins and turn wholeheartedly to the Lord my God.

Patrick’s second visit to Ireland was as a missionary. As he said;

I cannot be silent then, nor indeed should I, about the great benefits and grace, which the Lord saw fit to confer on me in the land of my captivity.”

Patrick a Protestant? Perhaps it would be more accurate to simply call him a Christian as the concluding verses of his famous hymn make clear:-

Christ with me, 
Christ before me, 
Christ behind me, 
Christ in me! 
Christ below me, 
Christ above me. 
Christ at my right, 
Christ at my left! 
Christ in breadth, 
Christ in length, 
Christ in height!