March 2017

In our annual calendar, each month is full of special days and weeks that commemorate one thing or an-other. Some are dedicated to heroes. Some are dedicated to a special cause. Others commemorate a special histori-cal event. Some are designed to prod our memory and others to stir our conscience. Some commemorations are religious; others historical; and yet others provide a challenge for us when we try to categorize them. Some deal with serious topics while others tilt the needle towards silly. For instance, religiously in March we have Ash Wednesday which marks the beginning of Lent. Historically we celebrate National Women’s History Month which bids us remember the contributions of women like Susan B. Anthony, Amelia Earhart, or Rosa Parks. On the silly side, we have days like “if pets had a thumb day” which asks that we contemplate what the world would be like if our pets had thumbs. I don’t wish to be critical of special days but I really have better things to use my brain for. 
However, with the exception of months of March where Easter is celebrated, no day in March captures our attention as much as Saint Patrick’s Day. I realize we have touched on this in the past but a short recap is that the seventeenth of March is supposedly the date of Saint Patrick’s death. He is best remembered for driving the snakes out of Ireland. For those of you who know how I feel about snakes, you can easily imagine why I am a fan of Saint Patrick. The question of whether it was literal snakes or the snakes of paganism continue. Whichever side of the argument we support, the idea that Saint Patrick got rid of something that plagued the people of Ireland stands. Such an action communicates the freedom that is found only in the Gospel message of Jesus Christ. Eve-ryone one of us who has proclaimed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has been delivered from one snake or another in our lives. Such deliverance gives birth to some questions about what are we doing with the news of our deliver-ance? Some of these questions are: 
(1) Do we commemorate it and rejoice in our freedom? 
(2) Do we tell others that we have been freed? 
(3) Do we share with others how they too may find such deliverance? 
The answer is “yes” to all three of those questions. For those of us in ministry, the question is augmented with another question: “How can we be a source of encouragement to help those in the church rejoice in the freedom they found in Christ and to go about the business of sharing with others how they can obtain that same freedom? ”One thing we can do is to say to each and every one of us: “Remember what Christ has freed you from.” Fol-lowed by “Now go tell someone.” 
As we go about the business of life in the month of March, let us do so with a mind toward what we have found in Jesus Christ and how we can help others find that same joy. 
Have a blessed March, 
Vic