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Good morning
I’m a Methodist minister and saints don’t loom large in Methodist practice. Yet earlier in the week I mentioned the birth of St. Nicholas, and today as an Irishman I am obliged to speak about St. Patrick… St Nick dressed in red and St Paddy in green are arguably two of the most iconic images of saints… But both popular images have little to do with historic truth. I said we have little written proof of St. Nicholas’ life or actions, but whilst we do have documents probably written by Patrick, they don’t feature much in public celebrations… Instead we have fanciful stories of shamrocks and banished snakes, and the drinking of copious amounts of black or even green beer, an aberration reintroduced, like parades and other St. Patrick’s Day traditions, from ex-patriot Paddies in America.
Now I’m not one to pour cold water on celebrations, although Patrick himself allegedly would stand all night praying in pools of cold water, which I doubt many will do today… 
However, perhaps some aspects of his life, might put a different spin on this day… Not least him having been enslaved as a child… and in one of his later writings he challenged fellow British Christians who enslaved his Irish flock… 
Today many of us who call ourselves Christian here in Ireland and elsewhere,  doubtless unintentionally, turn a blind eye to commerce that relies on child trafficking and slave labour. Might a better way to celebrate Patrick be to support campaigns to banish such practices – as the popular legend says St Patrick banished the snakes from Ireland?
God of Saint Patrick, who was once a slave and later a missionary to his captors, may we do all that we can to bring good news to the oppressed and enslaved of this world. AMEN