Photo Courtesy: https://cdn.ringofgullion.org/2019/11/entry-id-117.jpg
Just a few months before Amy and I moved to New Hampshire in 2013, we had the privilege to visit the town of Downpatrick in Northern Ireland. This is the place, according to legend, where St. Patrick began his ministry and the place where he is buried. Out from the town of Downpatrick, there is a tiny little church at a place called Saul (which is a word that means “stable” in old Irish). And at this church, built on the site of an old stable, is where Patrick began to build a small community of believers.
If you travel just a mile or two from Saul, you will come to a “mountain” (which is really more like a high hill) known as “Slieve Patrick” that has a large statue of Patrick, his right hand raised in blessing, facing the rest of Ireland.
At the time Amy and I climbed Slieve Patrick, I was feeling some anxiety about our big move from Georgia to New Hampshire. Was everything going to work out? Would everything be okay? And, as we were climbing up the hill, I kept thinking and humming a hymn that I knew, based on the Prayer of St. Patrick:
God, be the love to search and keep me;
God, be the prayer to move my voice;
God, be the strength to now uphold me:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.
Bind to myself the Name of Holy,
great cloud of witnesses enfold;
prophets, apostles, angels witness:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.
Brightness of sun and glow of moonlight,
flashing of lightning, strength of wind,
depth of the sea to soil of planet:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.
Walking behind to hem my journey,
going ahead to light my way,
and from beneath, above, and all ways:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.
Christ in the eyes of all who see me,
Christ in the ears that hear my voice,
Christ in the hearts of all who know me:
O Christ, surround me; O Christ, surround me.
The words “O Christ, Surround Me” began ringing in my mind and heart – over and over and over. And, when I reached the top of the hill, standing beneath the big statue of Patrick, I felt surrounded (in a good way). I have felt surrounded ever since, and am so grateful.
May you be surrounded this day. . . and every day.
Grace and Peace,
John
Prepare for Worship
This Week: “Who sinned?” (Narrow Vision and New Insight)
- Read John 9:1-41
- Read or sing Hymn # 177 – “I Will Come to You“