St. Patricks day

So I misplaced my notes from my sermon for the seniors which took place on march 20Th 2011, Today (4-10-2011) I intended to run in the Sacramento zoo zoom 5k But a member of my church asked me to swap my scheduled sermon day to this morning, No run but I found my notes from last month, If you don't mind I feel I must share since knowledge is power even if it's not on time !!!
SERMON
So as I have for the last 5 months come to you for my monthly sermon it once again fell on or around an American celebrated Holiday. This week was St Patrick's day, this is one of my favorites, I'm Irish and my son was born this day 17 years ago.
As usual I found my self searching for meaning of this holiday, where does it fit in with religious beliefs ??? Why the green, shamrocks, beer, leprechauns, rainbows with pots of gold or even kiss me I'm Irish buttons, Or even where does the snake story fit in ??? I began my search with Who was St Patrick,,,
There is not much about him in the history books because such records were not really kept back then, Here's what I found, First off he was not Irish, At around the age of 16 Patrick was captured from Britain by Irish raiders. Taken to Ireland to be slaved. He remained one for more than 6 years. Once he escaped he returned back to his family, He the entered the Roman Catholic church, There he became a ordained Bishop, Once he was chosen to leave and serve his own district, He chose North West Ireland where he was a slave, Little was written what he done there but he was a missionary spreading GOD and giving hope to those who had very little. By the 7Th century He had become the revered saint of Ireland. No snake story found or written.
Was it a MYTH or a fact that was hidden from the books. I was shocked when I found the truth, Something I grew up to believe as truth was not the real story, In fact No snakes exist on the island of Ireland today or ever in the history of history, Since it is an island surrounded by icy cold ocean waters, No snake could ever migrate onto it's soil.
So where did the "snake" story come from,,,well its a metaphor, You see when they said "St Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland" What they meant was he drove the pagan ways out of Ireland bringing a new age of faith and becoming an Irish saint.
So I covered whom the holiday was named for so where do all the other stuff come from ???
The Shamrock, It grew plentiful in Ireland during that time and was used as a symbol of the Holy trinity (the father, the son, and the holy spirit) Much later in time after his death the Monks used them on this day to celebrate St Patrick bringing faith to the Irish
Corned beef and cabbage, This tradition was given a free pass so to speak on this day to celebrate heritage since St. Patrick's day fall on a day during lent.
It wasn't till the 1970's when eastern America, especially N.Y. and Boston did this Holiday take the form as we know it today. The priests would speak of it during this time and the people began to celebrate using True Irish tradition, They added the beer and whiskey Since "GOD created those drinks so the Irish don't rule the world" (My child hood priest gave me that one at an AA meeting) Every thing else as we know came to fruition due to our society commercializing another tradition, Whether you celebrate the modern way or the Christian way Just be safe and have fun !!!
I find it great to gain knowledge from facts, Something you have always believed to be one way can easily become another once you gain some more knowledge from true Historic facts not family myths, This leads back to my favorite life long saying "The more you learn the more you earn and I don't mean monetarily" Until next time "JDP" OUT