One Leaf or Three?

by Susanne Dietze

I’ve gotta say, I like Patrick. He’s most famous for teaching about the Trinity using a shamrock as a visual aid, asking, “Is it one leaf or three?” “It is both,” was the people’s reply. Much like God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, One God.

Image by wikipedia

That story may just be a legend, but the truth is, Patrick was a man who knew what he believed. He understood Scripture, theology, and his faith. And he knew how to talk about it in such a way that others understood.

Can the same be said of us?

Patrick died over 1500 years ago, but many things in the world haven’t changed. Some folks, like the Druids who enslaved him as a youth and to whom he returned to share the Gospel, are hostile to Jesus. Others, believers and non-believers alike, struggle with big issues for which they have no basis of understanding. Have you ever talked with someone who blamed God for taking away their job or snatching a loved one to heaven because He needed more angels? Or who can't accept that Jesus is God and consider Him a prophet or decent guy? Unfortunately, Christians can’t always answer these types of questions, because they often don’t know the Bible or our theology any better than the secular culture.

And boy, does our culture misunderstand and misrepresent us. In her essay, “Psalm 23 And All That” (Christianity Today, Feb. 7, 2000), Frederica Matthews Green recalls reading an essay in a well-known magazine where “the author asserted that the Bible ranks hope along with faith and love (good so far) in the 23rd Psalm (uh-oh). It’s a dumb mistake, but it wasn’t hers alone; editors, proof-readers, even fact-checkers comb every word in a magazine of this stature. But everyone no doubt had a dim memory of something like this being in the bible, and so it was rubber-stamped into print.”

Matthews Green notes this type of Bible blooper isn't a one-time thing. Even the 1980's anti-hunger anthem "We Are the World" nods to the Bible and gets the imagery totally wrong. (Jesus was tempted to turn stones to bread, but He didn't do it, Mr. Willie Nelson.)

Matthews Green continues, “Often we are blocked by the other’s determined misunderstanding of what the Bible says or Christian faith teaches. (For example, secular America is nearly unanimous in agreeing that what Christians worry about most are sexual sins, because the only way to get to heaven is by doing good deeds.) In no other field of study would people lean so much on understanding they hadn’t updated since early childhood, but here unwarranted confidence abounds.”

Childhood-level knowledge, she suggests, does no good for our faith, or for the world around us. Asking tough questions and grappling with theology is an important part of maturing in the faith. Christianity is full of big questions, but it’s important to ask them, to keep learning and growing, and to know the Bible and what we believe. Adult questions and issues require mature understanding.

Patrick knew Scripture, theology, and his audience well enough to articulate the Gospel in a productive way.

Image by wikipedia

I don’t have any shamrocks growing wild where I live (nor does McDonald’s offer those yummy Shamrock shakes anymore) but now, the very idea of one directs me to think of the triune God, described by Patrick in his “Confession,”

"For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe....And he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance....and we worship one God in the Trinity of holy name."

This was the message he shared with the folks of Ireland. And because of his example, I’m challenged to be better able to articulate the Triune God – and other tenets of our faith – with those around me, to know what I believe and why I believe it, so I can pass it on.

(To learn more about Patrick's life and his example of evangelism and releasing prejudices, please read Niki Turner’s marvelous post here.)

My favorite secular St. Paddy's Day tradition involves potatoes...Do you celebrate any fun customs?

Susanne Dietze has written love stories set in the nineteenth century since she was in high school, casting her friends in the starring roles. Today, she writes in the hope that her historical romances will encourage and entertain others to the glory of God. Married to a pastor and the mom of two, Susanne loves fancy-schmancy tea parties, travel, and spending time with family and friends. Her work has finaled in the 2010 Genesis Contest, the 2009 Gotcha! Contest, and the Touched By Love Contest, 2008 and 2009. You can visit her on her personal blog, Tea and a Good Book, http://www.susannedietze.blogspot.com/.