Just re-read my wife's blog about St. Patrick's. I wish I was articulate and erudite as she is. She captures what we want to be so well. So.... I stole what she wrote and posted it here:

For years now I have been inspired by the story of St Patrick and his miraculous call and vision. For those of you who do not know his story, I urge you to read How the Irish Saved Civilization to get the full story of this amazing saint. St Patrick was an Englishman who went to Ireland and established monastic communities of faith that helped convert the Irish to Christianity. St Patrick and his followers lived Christianity into the Irish culture in amazingly innovative ways, using everyday forms and pictures to tell the Christian story - the shamrock and other real world examples of the trinity, simple repetitive prayers that imparted deep theological truths, symbols and ritual embedded in everyday life as well as special feast days. St Patricks monastic communities were not isolated from the surrounding culture but were safe havens that welcomed the stranger and helped them to experience God in everyday life and work. Being welcoming to outsiders did not mean that Irish Christians had to water down the message of Christ to make it palatable to the pagan Irish. These communities fostered deep friendships and intense discipleship and were all the more inviting because their commitment ran deep. St Patricks monastic communities were also centers of learning and artistry that influenced deeply Irish cultural life. Many years after St Patrick came to Ireland, the now Christianized Irish sent missionaries all over the British Isles and Northern Europe.
Our hope is to embody these features in our modern day St Patricks - to be a community that loves and serves the stranger, that fosters the arts and learning, that is marked by deep friendships and discipleship. These things are not my passion because they are strategies to grow a successful church. They are rules of life and ministry that can form us deeply into the image of Christ and that help others experience the reality of Christ in us.
Good words. More from me later