Diocese celebrates our courageous Patron Saint
The diocese has celebrated another St Patrick’s Day with several hundred pilgrims joining us for the Festival Service in Down Cathedral.
The theme, Courage in the Line of Fire, both honoured our patron saint and spoke to some of the challenges facing Christians today.
Mr Ian Bingham, Director of Christian Action, Research and Education (CARE) in Northern Ireland, gave the address at Saul where the day began with Holy Communion. Bishop David was the celebrant whilst the Dean of Down, the Very Revd Henry Blair, led the intercessions. The readings were given by Daithi Green and Revd Peter Booth.
Ian spoke on the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who faced literal fire for refusing to bow before a golden statue, and Patrick, who often found himself in the line of fire. All four, he said, refused to conform to what everyone else was doing, but they didn’t let the fear of the consequences impact their decisions.
Ian challenged us to consider if we were in danger of conforming to the culture rather than taking a Biblical stance when it came to some important societal issues.
“Many Christians are afraid to speak out and say anything and so instead, they cower away into the background for fear of retribution or comeback”, he said.
Demonstrating courage in the line of fire, is however, worth it, as Ian concluded:
“Standing up for Jesus. It requires dogged perseverance. Bold determination. Unwavering commitment to King Jesus. It means swimming upstream against the tide a lot of the time. It means standing up while others are bowing down. It means knowing the consequences but going through with it anyway. It may be tough for a while. You may feel like you are in the midst of a raging fire, but I assure you that one day, whatever that fire is, it will be extinguished, and in the end, it will all be worth it when we get to glory and the Master turns to us and says those words we all long to hear,
‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’”
After the service and led by Laurence Bellew, around 100 pilgrims set out from Saul, stopping to pray together at several points on the route to Down Cathedral and the Festival Service.
In keeping with the Celtic flavour of the occasion, Irish dancers from the McCartney School of Dance took part and harpist Maria Doyle performed a solo. The Revd John Scott read Daniel 3:12-18 in Irish and the Revd Matthew Gaw read Acts 5:27-42 in English.
The Chancellor of the Diocese, Mr Jonathan Dunlop BL, led the prayers of intercession and worship was led by Down Cathedral’s choir and organist, Mr Michael McCracken, along with the band led by John McGrath and Helen Blair.
Our guest speaker in Down Cathedral was Finnish MP, Päivi Rasanen, who has become known worldwide for her courageous defence of free speech. She recently testified before US Congress about her six-year-long criminal prosecution for tweeting a Bible verse under Finnish “hate speech” law. She and a co-defendant have twice been acquitted but await the ruling of the Finnish Supreme Court.
In a wide-ranging address Päivi related her story and urged us to be courageous Christians who remained true to the Bible.
She said: “Dr. Martin Luther handled the issue of the consequences of faith. He said, ‘If you believe you speak, if you speak, you must suffer; for faith, confession, and cross belong together and are the part of the true Christian.’ “
Päivi continued: “If we do not use our freedom of speech, the space for acceptable speech grows smaller. The more we keep silent about the teachings of the Bible and the painful issues of our time the more powerful is the reaction. So, Christians need to encourage one another and stay strong in Jesus. The conviction based on the Christian faith is more than only an opinion.”
She also described how she had found God to be utterly faithful throughout her recent experience.
“During my legal process, my biggest surprise has been how much joy and opportunities this has opened. I have gained much more than I have lost. From the beginning I deeply felt that the entire process was in God’s hand and it has a purpose. I have considered this fight my calling and Jesus has been so good, so faithful during this process to fulfill his promises and very very concrete.”
In concluding, Päivi encouraged us to remain in Jesus and his Word so that we would be fruitful in whatever calling God had placed upon us.
Following the service, Päivi laid a wreath on Patrick’s grave and many people stayed on in the cathedral for a complimentary ‘Picnic in the Pews’.
