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The Audacious SevenLife Lessons from Seven Saints Who Didn’t Back Down

By Steve Case

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The Audacious Seven

Copyright © 2015 by Steve Case

Publisher: Mark OestreicherManaging Editor: Tamara RiceCover Design: Adam McLaneLayout: Marilee R. Pankratz

Creative Director: Steve McQueen

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval

without permission in writing from the author.

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

ISBN-13: 978-1-942145-06-6ISBN-10: 1942145063

The Youth Cartel, LLCwww.theyouthcartel.com

Email: info@theyouthcartel.com

Born in San DiegoPrinted in the U.S.A.

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THE AUDACIOUS SEVEN:What we can learn from the impudent, impertinent, insolent, presumptuous, cheeky, irreverent,

brazen, shameless, defiant, fresh, mouthy, saucy, sassy, nervy, daring, fearless, intrepid, brave,

courageous, valiant, heroic, plucky, daredevil, reckless, venturesome, mettlesome, gutsy,

spunky, and temerarious servants of God.

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For the Rev. Marjorie Ann Gerbracht-Stagnero (aka Rev. Madge),who taught me all things really are possible.

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INTRO

1. ST. PATRICK OF IRELAND

2. ST. CATHERINE OF SIENA

3. ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

4. ST. JOSEPH OF CUPERTINO

5. ST. MARINA THE MONK

6. ST. NICHOLAS OWEN

7. ST. VALENTINE OF ROME

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introduction

I used to live in Cleveland, Ohio. I love that town. Not a lot of people vacation in Cleveland. It has the Rock Hall, the Cleveland Symphony, the Great Lakes Shakespeare Company, amazing food, and it’s a short drive from the best roller coasters in the country. It also has grey skies and it snows ... a lot.

I worked in Akron. Forty-five minutes down the highway from Cleveland. From October to March the drive could often take more than an hour due to bad weather. And I had a teenager in my youth group at the time whose name was Thomas. Good kid. Thomas’s mom was Catholic but still came to our church sometimes and was a great supporter of the youth group.

One Sunday on the drive down I-77, I spun my car out and landed in a snow bank—early enough on a Sunday morning that there were few other cars. A kind gentleman pulled over and helped me push my car back onto the road. No harm done. But I was late to church and explained to my Sunday school class why. The next Sunday Thomas’s mom caught me after church and said she had a gift for me. It was a St. Christopher medal.

She said St. Christopher was the patron saint of travelers and that if I wore the medal and asked him, St. Christopher would watch over me when I drove to church.

So I began to study. It turns out, St. Christopher was a very large man who would stand in the river and carry people across who could not pay the ferryman. They would pay Christopher whatever they could afford. The story goes that one day St. Christopher was carrying a small boy on his shoulders across the river and noticed that the child became heavier and heavier as they went. When reaching the opposite bank, Christopher set the boy down only to find the boy was now a full-grown man and it was Jesus. Jesus blessed Christopher and told him to go into the world and lead others to God.

At the time I knew about St. Nicholas (he brought toys) and St. Patrick (he brought other entertainments), but other than that my knowledge of the extra-biblical saints was limited. So I began to learn as much as I could, and what you are reading is the result.

Saints are God’s special servants; and yes, we are all God’s special servants. We say this to our youth on mission trips and when wonderful things happen in the life of our congregation but ...

What about the architect who built houses with hidden cupboards to hide priests who performed marriage ceremonies when that was a crime?

What about the man who, in a far off time and place, gave away fire when fire was the difference between life and death in the village?

Would you be willing to give up everything for God ... literally evvv-reeeeee-thing?

Would you be willing to be tortured rather than say God does not exist?

Could you get into a debate with an atheist politician again and again knowing full well that if you scored a

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point in the debate you would be beaten and thrown into prison all as part of the politician’s entertainment?

These are the kinds of people we set aside to be recognized as “special servants” ... as saints.

bring it on

There is a classic “movie move” that you often see in action films. Try this with me. Hold your hand out in front of you. (Go ahead … it’s just you and me here.) Hold your hand out flat with the palm up. Now wave. Bring your fingers toward you as if you were doing a sort of backward wave. There it is. The “bring it” move.

Now put yourself in one of those action films. The hero of the story has been smacked down but not beaten. Somehow he manages to rise up, to stand and brush the dust from his shoulders. The villain stares in disbelief and can’t believe the hero still wants more. Our hero—that’s you—looks at the villain, strikes his fighting pose, and does the “bring it” move.

Are you with me on this? Have you seen it before?

There are some variations, but we usually find it toward the end of the movie when the big fight scene is taking place. And sometimes, the “bring it” move applies to life outside of the movie. Sometimes the world around us can come crashing down on our heads and we can either give up or summon the strength to stand up, look at the world, and say, “Bring it.”

The Audacious Seven looks at the lives of seven of God’s servants who went so far above and beyond the call that we refer to them as saints. Seven common, everyday individuals who had the opportunity to crawl into a hole and hide, but instead looked adversity in the eye and, with the power of the Spirit, made the “bring it” move.

These people ... these stories … are important. They are part of our story as believers. No matter what your denomination or what your faith journey, these stories helped bring you to this place. This here and now. You are who you are because the people in these stories got you here. They deserve recognition. They deserve to be set apart. They are special servants and they are part of the “great cloud of witnesses” cheering us onward in our faith.

each lesson in this book includes:An INTRODUCTION: Information to help leaders get to know each saintGUIDEPOSTS: Ideas for simple, in-a-nut-shell takeaways from each lesson THE PATH OF THE SAINT: A dramatized story of each saint’s life or passionFINDING OUR WAY: Scripture that further illuminates that saint’s spiritual passion for usTALKING IT THROUGH: Discussion questionsBE AUDACIOUS: An idea (or a few ideas) for taking the story into the world THE PRAYER OF THE SAINT: The prayer associated with or written by that saint

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Now, do not mistake the Guideposts for goals. Your group and your church are different from all others and nobody knows your youth group like you do. Merriam-Webster.com literally defines a guidepost as: a post next to a trail or road that has a sign on it with directions for travelers. These are a bit more like travelers’ tips. Take them or forge your own way—we’re all headed the same direction.

That said, no two discussions are going to go the same. Ask the questions, listen to the answers, and then ask questions based on those answers. The Guideposts are there to steer the discussions toward what you want your youth to learn. Just don’t forget you are learning too. See where the discussion takes you. These are just seven saints of hundreds. Their stories are our stories.

Now, let’s start with someone familiar …

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7THE AUDACIOUS SEVEN

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ST. PATRICK OF IRELAND

This is a great lesson to plan as close to St. Patrick’s Day as possible. The story here (and the man) is as far away from the commercialized version as can be. This is not a story of leprechauns with pots of gold. It’s not about getting drunk on green beer. It’s not about wearing green for the day. (Trivia: Most likely St. Patrick wore blue.)

The story of St. Patrick is about a man who overcame horrendous trials as a boy and then returned to the place he escaped from because God told him to. It’s the story of how one man found a way to meet the people where they were and give them the good news about Jesus.

It’s a close look at one of the most beautiful prayers ever written.

If possible, teach this lesson at night. Gather your group together around a candle. Sit on the floor. Draw in close. Tell the story with your quiet voice and keep the lesson quiet. There will be other lessons that require much more attitude but this one should be … close. Create some moments of stillness for God to move.

Pay attention to which lines from the St. Patrick Prayer seem to resonate with your group, then randomly text those lines out to all of them during the week that follows.

• God will send you into the most peculiar places. Just ask.• Give people the Truth and let the Truth do its own work.• Everything is connected.

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PPatrick squatted by the fire. He felt the heat on his skin. He often like to find that one spot where he could sit near the fire and feel the heat on his face but also feel the cold wind on his back. This “sweet spot” of cold and warm pleased him. It made him think of his life. He put the end of the long branch into the flame. He had cut the end of the branch to a fine point and rested the opposite end on his shoulder as he twirled the pointed end in the flame. He was careful not to let the point burn away.

Pulling the charred end from the flame he began to sketch the ever present shamrock onto the surface of a large stone. When people came from the village they would ask about it … He would never bring it up himself. He would wait for the question. And the question always came.

The villagers would see his giant fire and they would come. They would come for warmth. They would come out of curiosity. They would come out of weariness. They would come for his fire.

The druid priest was sitting by his own fire miles from this one. If the villagers needed fire for their hearth, they had to walk to the druid priest’s house. They would have to pay some sort of sacrifice. Then he would give them some of his fire and they could take it back to their homes. It was a long walk in the freezing cold and then longer still as they moved slowly back over the hills trying to keep the flames alive.

So Patrick built his fire high so the villagers could see. The walk to Patrick’s fire wasn’t even halfway to the druid priest’s house. They would come. They would offer their sacrifices to Patrick instead, who would wave them away with a smile. He would offer them food and drink—not just the fire—and eventually they would see the shamrock shaped drawn on the large rock and they would ask him about it. Patrick would explain the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost … the Three in One … the Trinity.

When the villagers would argue or claim their own druid faith, Patrick would simply point out that his God instructed him to give the fire away freely. His God told him to build the fire closer to the village. His God told him to give away the food and to teach the villagers about love.

Read: Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1 (just read from each passage until you feel like stopping)Do you believe the Trinity was around from the beginning? Read the opening lines of Genesis and the opening lines of the book of John. Genesis says the “Spirit” of God flew over the surface of the earth. John says “the Word” was present at the beginning. Genesis says God spoke “Light!” And later Jesus says, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). What is your understanding of the Trinity?

Read: Ephesians 4:4-6The word Trinity does not appear anywhere in the scriptures. Without the shamrock image how would you describe the Trinity to someone who has no knowledge of it?

Read: Philippians 1:12-30Patrick gave away fire. This is sort of like you handing out bottles of ice water to the sweating highway workers through the window of your car. When was the last time you showed God by actions rather than words?

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1. Imagine if you had to pay the fire department before they would put out the fire in your house. Would you be more likely to … a. pay up b. join a volunteer fire department

2. Make a list of things you must give your “whole self ” to and write them down together. (Note: Do not include any phrases from the “Hokey Pokey.”)

3. St. Patrick’s given name was Maewyn (MY-win) Succat and he is thought to have been either Scottish or Welsh. Kidnapped by Irish pirates as a teenager and forced to work as a shepherd for years, he finally escaped and returned home. But while home he was give a vision by God to return to Ireland and live among the Irish who had kidnapped him and preach the gospel to them.

Could you go back and take the boss who fired you out to lunch with your family? Or the teacher who flunked you out for dinner with your family? Why or why not?

Or think about the person who hurt you the most in life. What if you had the opportunity to talk with them? What would you say?

4. What was the hardest class you had in school? Who was the teacher who made the hard lessons make sense? Do you learn by doing or by reading or by hearing?

5. Consider if God called you to a specific group of people, the way he called St. Patrick to the Irish. Who do you think that might be today for you in your culture and your setting?

6. Look at this section, adapted from words in The Shield of St. Patrick—a special prayer he’s believed to have written. How would you finish each line?

I bind myself today to the strength of ____________________________

in obedience of ____________________________

in hope of ____________________________

in prayers of ____________________________

in preaching of ____________________________

in faith of ____________________________

in innocence of ____________________________

in deeds of ____________________________

In the original, Patrick mentioned binding himself “in the obedience of angels.” What do you think that means?

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Saint Patrick also wrote one of the greatest prayers ever. (Note: There is some argument as to whether or not he is the actual author of the prayer but it is the prayer most closely associated with him.) There are several translations of the prayer. Here is an adapted and abridged version:

I bind to myself todayThe strong name of the Trinity:I believe in their unity, the three in one and one in three.The Creator of the Universe.

I bind to myself todayThe strength of Christ’s birth with his baptism,The strength of his crucifixion with his burial,The strength of his resurrection with his ascension,The strength of his coming on the Judgment Day.

I bind to myself todayThe strength of the love of seraphim,In the obedience of angels,In the hope of resurrection unto reward,In prayers of patriarchs,In predictions of prophets,In preaching of apostles,In faith of confessors,In purity of holy virgins,In deeds of righteous men.

I bind to myself todayThe power of Heaven,The light of the sun,The radiance of the moon,The splendor of fire,The speed of lightning,The swiftness of wind,The depth of the sea,The stability of the earth,The firmness of rock.

I bind to myself todayGod’s power to guide me,God’s might to uphold me,God’s wisdom to teach me,God’s eye to watch over me,God’s ear to hear me,God’s word to give me speech,God’s hand to guard me,God’s shield to shelter me,God’s host to secure me,Against the snares of demons,Against the temptation of vices,Against the lusts of nature,Against everyone who wishes me harmed,Whether far or near,Whether few or with many.

Christ with me, Christ before me,Christ behind me, Christ within me,Christ beneath me, Christ above me,Christ at my right, Christ at my left,Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit downChrist when I ariseChrist in the fort, Christ in the chariot seat,Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,Christ in every eye that sees me,Christ in every ear that hears me.I bind to myself todayThe strong name of the TrinityI believe in their unity, the three in one and one in three.The Creator of the Universe.

Write down one line from St. Patrick’s Shield. Write in on a small piece of paper and put in your purse or wallet. Sometime this week, take it out and give it to someone or leave it behind at a coffee shop or pin it to a community bulletin board.