This St. Patrick's Day, I pretty much had the best St. Patrick's Day ever. I was invited to Hall of Men, which, I'm sure as you gather from the name, is a strickly male event. I have been jealous of the little gathering ever since the first time they met and my dad told me about the table they sit around (carved by George Elder), the toasts, the orating, and the home-brewed beer. My time at the Hall of WOmen, as my friend Tom insightfully labeled it, was all that I hoped it would be and more. Not only did we get to hear live music, something that always entertains me, but we got to hear a very well-told story about St. Patrick (being the faithful Protestant that I am, I have to resist quotation marks there), the Namesake of this day on which most wear green, some wear orange, and some just get pinched.
Though the story was incredibly interesting and educational, one of the facts about St. Patrick that stood out the most to me is that he prayed 100 times every day. As soon as this was said, there were some "wows" from the little gathered assembly. I am sure many people felt guilty that they don't pray 100 times a day. But I, cynical person that I am, had a different thought. I thought it was weird that someone knew exactly how many times he prayed each day, especially when the number was so high. I wondered how Patrick kept track of all of his prayers. Did he count them in his head? That would be difficult to do, and someone like me would lose track well before fifty! Maybe he tallied them with a feather dipped in ink or a stick in the sand. Still, that's a lot of counting. I wondered if he could really rest each day until he had prayed his hundredth prayer. I wondered if he ever missed a day. When he did, I wondered if that made him feel like a failure.
Let me be clear: I need to pray more. It would do me well to pray 100 times a day. But praying 100 times a day will not earn me favor with God. It will probably bring lots of good things my way (communication with God is always a good thing!), but it does not make me a good person. St. Patrick's story painted him in a pretty amazing light. He definitely had a hard life and seemed to rise above the circumstances dealt him. He did some wonderful things in the name of Christ. But we have to remember that if he is in heaven today, it is not because he prayed 100 times every day. It is because he was a sinner saved by grace. It was because his old man was crucified with Christ on the cross, and it was no longer Patrick who lived, but Christ who lived in him.
It is so easy for us, as humans, to put other humans up on pedestals on which they don't belong. (I say this, not because I felt the storyteller was putting St. Patrick up on a pedestal, but because I do it all the time.) The problem is that this takes the focus off of Christ and places it on a mere man - a man who probably had a lot of selfish, sinful motives for doing all of the good deeds he did. But let this be a comfort to you, next time you hear that someone prayed 100 times a day and you think, "hm, I should be doing that. I wonder if God is happy with me?" Christ didn't come for the healthy, righteous man. He came for the sinner. There is only one way to heaven and it isn't through you. You can't work your way there; you can't earn God's favor. It is only through trusting in Christ's perfect Righteousness that one can be saved. In Christ alone our hope is found! It reminds me of one of my favorite hymns, Rock of Ages:
Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy laws demands
Could my zeal no respite know
Could my tears forever flow
All for sin could not atone
Thou must save and Thou alone!
Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to Thy Cross I cling
Naked, come to Thee for dress
Helpless, look to Thee for grace
Foul, I to the Fountain fly
Wash me Savior, or I die!
