Three strangers came to the tent. Abraham and Sarah had journeyed far – from northern Iraq, across Syria and down through Canaan and on into Egypt (where they had many adventures) and then back to Canaan.
Here they were: their flocks and herds around them. They pitched their tent under the oak trees. Strangers came – and were welcomed.
Stay with us Lord and rest your feet. Sit in the shade under this tree. Let me bring you something to drink. Quick! Prepare a meal, a fine feast
The guests, receiving hospitality, now offer their hosts a gift: a promise of a future with hope. You will have a son.
Sarah cannot believe it – she laughs to herself behind the flap of the tent – and she is afraid when they catch her out: “O but you did laugh.”
When the promise comes true, how does she feel?
It was a happy meeting. They name the child Isaac (Laughter).
Remembering and celebrating a promise fulfilled, the beginning of a hopeful future – with descendants that would outnumber the stars – all God’s doing – but God can raise up sons to Abraham from these stones.
It was faith that singled Abraham out. In faith he received the promise – and his true legacy is faith.
His true descendants and heirs are those who are heirs through hope – of the promise of God – and that hope is found in Jesus Christ.
It is through him, through Christ, that the basis of faith, of hope, and of love is revealed.
The gospel from Matthew today is the conclusion of his last chapter, a chapter that began with women going to the tomb of Jesus about the break of day.
“He has been raised,” they were told, “from the dead and is going on before you into Galilee; there you will see him.” They got the message and spread the news.
And the disciples did go to Galilee – they made their way to a mountain and Jesus met them there. They greet him, believers and doubters alike, shoulder to shoulder; they greet him as the holy one of God: they worship him. And now in a few quick words the risen Lord Jesus say so much.
“All authority has been given me on heaven and on earth.” He is the only Son of the Father, the one true living God who created all things. There is no other.
And this Jesus, now risen Lord, has a message for his disciples. A big task lies ahead. His earthly mission has ended.
The mission of the church now begins. So – he commissions them, and he empowers them.
He sends them forth to build his church, to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, and to bring its reality into the midst of the earth and all its peoples.
“Make all people my disciples; baptize them everywhere in the name of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; teach them to do all I have commanded you to do.”
As you have learned from me so go and teach. As I have made you disciples, disciple them. From here on the legacy now passes from one to another, from generation to generation. What I have given you – all that you have received, you must now pass on.
You will not be alone. For Emmanuel, God-with-us, says: I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Past, present, and future come together in this moment at the foundation of the Church.
On this mountain Jesus brings forth something beyond what Moses received on Sinai. He brings forth the living presence of God to accompany his messengers throughout the earth.
Worship, go, evangelize – and remember. Remember the promise given to Abraham and Sarah. Remember that their true descendants are the people of faith.
And remember Alban’s testimony to the one true living God who created all things.
Alban was living in a Roman town north of London when he found faith – or it found him. It came to his door in the person of a priest, fugitive in a time of persecution.
He sheltered the priest, welcomed him, gave him hospitality and safety, learned from him about ‘the one true living God who made all things’, and came to believe – so that he stood in the place of the priest and gave his life.
Hospitality, courage, and faith.
For his witness, for his faithfulness, he was executed, and won a crown in glory.
His faith we count as righteousness. It was his steadfast trust and witness that brought home to the people of the town the truth of the faith of the one true God.
What Alban did, living in his place in his time, was create a legacy of lasting witness.
People go there still, to the place where he was martyred, on pilgrimage, to the place so many now have gone before, where Alban simply stood the test of faith.
We may not be called to die by the sword but we may be called to simple witness to the truth of Christ, the promise of God, the faithful future, as heirs of hope that we like sons of Abraham may be raised up, may growth as heirs of hope and forebears of faith.
Courage, compassion, generosity, and hospitality – these gifts of faith are Alban’s legacy.
Fearless in the face of danger, Alban would not give up his faith. He testified to God’s truth.
Courage, compassion, and generosity; hospitality, bold truth telling, and unswerving faith, Alban in simple words led the way, a way so many pilgrims follow.
He followed the way of Christ through the Cross to Resurrection, through acceptance of Jesus’ gift on their behalf – and yes, its necessity – to a new life, a new way of living.
His allegiance was no longer to the gods of Rome, the gods of empire, the gods of greed, wealth, envy, instant gratification, the flash beauty of surface appearance, power, or hate.
Jesus calls all people to himself through all his people
All authority on earth and in heaven has been given to me; go – spread the good news.
Spread it to all nations and all generations – let this be your legacy, the living truth of the living God. He is Lord indeed.
O God, our Father, who gave to your servant Alban the gifts of faith, hospitality, compassion, generosity and courage, and sent people forth across the world to carry the word of your gospel to every creature, grant, we pray, a like spirit to your church, even at this present time. Further in all things the purpose of our community, that hidden things may be revealed to us, and new ways found to touch the hearts of all. May we preserve with each other sincere charity and peace, and, if it be your holy will, grant that this church, a place of your abiding, continue still to be a sanctuary and a light. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
+
Showing posts with label Saint Alban. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saint Alban. Show all posts
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Saturday, June 12, 2010
an alabaster jar
Last week was Legacy Sunday at St Albans. We addressed these questions: What is it that we have that we wish to pass on to future generations? What is of most value and meaning to us? What have we received that we must also pass on?
Next week we celebrate the Feast of Saint Alban, our patron saint. He left us a legacy of hospitality, courage, and faith, and of honesty and integrity.
This week, we look at how God’s reign means that everyone is of value and justice and mercy apply to all. The love of God is for everybody.
We celebrate the last day of the program year in the Sunday School and adult education. Sunday School and the adult Education Hour resume in the fall on the first Sunday after Labor Day. We celebrate the students and we celebrate the teachers and the director of our Sunday School program. We celebrate with graduating seniors.
All of this is about what we celebrate every week – the faith that we have received from others that we also pass on to those coming along after us, both those among us now and those we are yet to, or may never, meet, who will come after this time.
A penitent woman, a sinner of Christ’s own redeeming, the woman who anoints his feet: this is the person who recognizes the gift of grace in today’s gospel reading.
Simon, a Pharisee, curious, invites Jesus to dine at his home. Jesus comes and in the fashion of the time reclines at table, a horseshoe shaped low table, in the atrium (or open courtyard) of Simon’s house.
Then a woman comes in; not invited, she is expected to wait patiently in the shadows until the meal is over and then, perhaps, to gather up left over food or ask a favor of one of the invited guests. That is the custom. She breaks it.
She comes right up to Jesus. Apparently she intends to do what the host of the dinner has forgotten to do. She means to anoint his head – she has brought oil for the purpose, in a jar of alabaster no less – and to wash his feet. This is her intent. But she breaks down.
Instead of anointing his head with the oil, and washing his feet with water and drying them with a towel, her tears fall upon his feet and she then wipes his feet with her own hair, and, finally, anoints his feet with the perfumed oil. This is extraordinary, sensuous and remarkable.
What she has done is in sharp contrast to what Simon has done. Her attitude toward Jesus and how she behaves toward him are those of grateful love, of someone showing in action the release from a burden that they feel inside.
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise, said the Psalmist (51.17). Jesus responds to the woman with compassion and grace.
Simon the Pharisee, perhaps embarrassed that he has failed as host or just amused by this woman’s action, remarks (in his own mind) on the contrast between the man of God, the prophet Jesus is presumed to be, and the sinner, the woman of notorious reputation.
If he were a prophet, Simon says to himself, he would keep far away from her, for he would want to preserve his righteousness untainted by her sin. But Jesus breaks the rules.
He is a prophet and more than a prophet, more than Elijah or the baptizer John. What he does is to speak and to embody – to proclaim and to bring into reality – the good news of the kingdom of heaven.
It is present here in this place, in this time, in his action and his word; it is present in him.
By contrast to the attitude of Simon toward the woman, Jesus speaks and acts with compassion. He offers to her a word of grace. He defends her before the eyes of the worldly watchers at the table. And he tells her that her faith has made her right with God – her sins are forgiven. Go in peace, he says.
“Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus’ fellow guests are asking the right question. Who is this?
It is the one who does not try to preserve his status intact, who does not try to preserve the status quo out of fear of scarcity, but the one who responds out of the abundance of grace to the grateful heart of the repentant sinner, the one who gives away that all might live, the one who said, in the Gospel according to Luke,
"Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity." (Luke 6:38, The Message)
Who is this? It is the one who brings life, and brings it abundantly. It is the Lord.
"Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity." (Luke 6:38, The Message)
Simon sought to preserve intact a status, a static state he called righteousness. Jesus by contrast called on him to move forward into a dynamic future, a future with hope, in a faith in God's abundant grace.
The woman with the alabaster jar - she did incredible things, inexplicable things, extravagant things. Extravagant, incredible, inexplicable - unless you take into account who Jesus is. Who she knew he was.
Who is this? It is the one who brings life, and brings it abundantly. It is the Lord.
Blessed one, bless us, in the breaking of the bread, in the pouring of the wine, in the water that washes us in baptism. Bless us in the fellowship of faith, bless us with your ongoing presence in the Spirit. Bless us in the Word and in the deeds that show our grateful hearts in praise and love respond to you.
Give us this day the bread we need, the grace we have least to expect, and the power to move forward together in the name of Christ. Amen.
+
The Third Sunday after Pentecost 2010
1 Kings 21:1-21a, Psalm 5:1-8, Galatians 2:15-21, Luke 7:36-8:3
+
Next week we celebrate the Feast of Saint Alban, our patron saint. He left us a legacy of hospitality, courage, and faith, and of honesty and integrity.
This week, we look at how God’s reign means that everyone is of value and justice and mercy apply to all. The love of God is for everybody.
We celebrate the last day of the program year in the Sunday School and adult education. Sunday School and the adult Education Hour resume in the fall on the first Sunday after Labor Day. We celebrate the students and we celebrate the teachers and the director of our Sunday School program. We celebrate with graduating seniors.
All of this is about what we celebrate every week – the faith that we have received from others that we also pass on to those coming along after us, both those among us now and those we are yet to, or may never, meet, who will come after this time.
A penitent woman, a sinner of Christ’s own redeeming, the woman who anoints his feet: this is the person who recognizes the gift of grace in today’s gospel reading.
Simon, a Pharisee, curious, invites Jesus to dine at his home. Jesus comes and in the fashion of the time reclines at table, a horseshoe shaped low table, in the atrium (or open courtyard) of Simon’s house.
Then a woman comes in; not invited, she is expected to wait patiently in the shadows until the meal is over and then, perhaps, to gather up left over food or ask a favor of one of the invited guests. That is the custom. She breaks it.
She comes right up to Jesus. Apparently she intends to do what the host of the dinner has forgotten to do. She means to anoint his head – she has brought oil for the purpose, in a jar of alabaster no less – and to wash his feet. This is her intent. But she breaks down.
Instead of anointing his head with the oil, and washing his feet with water and drying them with a towel, her tears fall upon his feet and she then wipes his feet with her own hair, and, finally, anoints his feet with the perfumed oil. This is extraordinary, sensuous and remarkable.
What she has done is in sharp contrast to what Simon has done. Her attitude toward Jesus and how she behaves toward him are those of grateful love, of someone showing in action the release from a burden that they feel inside.
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise, said the Psalmist (51.17). Jesus responds to the woman with compassion and grace.
Simon the Pharisee, perhaps embarrassed that he has failed as host or just amused by this woman’s action, remarks (in his own mind) on the contrast between the man of God, the prophet Jesus is presumed to be, and the sinner, the woman of notorious reputation.
If he were a prophet, Simon says to himself, he would keep far away from her, for he would want to preserve his righteousness untainted by her sin. But Jesus breaks the rules.
He is a prophet and more than a prophet, more than Elijah or the baptizer John. What he does is to speak and to embody – to proclaim and to bring into reality – the good news of the kingdom of heaven.
It is present here in this place, in this time, in his action and his word; it is present in him.
By contrast to the attitude of Simon toward the woman, Jesus speaks and acts with compassion. He offers to her a word of grace. He defends her before the eyes of the worldly watchers at the table. And he tells her that her faith has made her right with God – her sins are forgiven. Go in peace, he says.
“Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Jesus’ fellow guests are asking the right question. Who is this?
It is the one who does not try to preserve his status intact, who does not try to preserve the status quo out of fear of scarcity, but the one who responds out of the abundance of grace to the grateful heart of the repentant sinner, the one who gives away that all might live, the one who said, in the Gospel according to Luke,
"Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity." (Luke 6:38, The Message)
Who is this? It is the one who brings life, and brings it abundantly. It is the Lord.
"Give away your life; you'll find life given back, but not merely given back—given back with bonus and blessing. Giving, not getting, is the way. Generosity begets generosity." (Luke 6:38, The Message)
Simon sought to preserve intact a status, a static state he called righteousness. Jesus by contrast called on him to move forward into a dynamic future, a future with hope, in a faith in God's abundant grace.
The woman with the alabaster jar - she did incredible things, inexplicable things, extravagant things. Extravagant, incredible, inexplicable - unless you take into account who Jesus is. Who she knew he was.
Who is this? It is the one who brings life, and brings it abundantly. It is the Lord.
Blessed one, bless us, in the breaking of the bread, in the pouring of the wine, in the water that washes us in baptism. Bless us in the fellowship of faith, bless us with your ongoing presence in the Spirit. Bless us in the Word and in the deeds that show our grateful hearts in praise and love respond to you.
Give us this day the bread we need, the grace we have least to expect, and the power to move forward together in the name of Christ. Amen.
+
The Third Sunday after Pentecost 2010
1 Kings 21:1-21a, Psalm 5:1-8, Galatians 2:15-21, Luke 7:36-8:3
+
Monday, May 17, 2010
The Legacy of Saint Alban
"I worship and adore the true and living God, who created all things." --Alban, First Martyr of Britain (3rd Century A.D.)
A third of the way around the world and over seventeen centuries ago, in a town about an hour's drive north of London, there lived a Roman Briton named Alban. This was in the latter days of the pagan Roman empire, and the church was still living under persecution. One day an itinerant Christian priest, on the run from the imperial troopers, came to Alban's door seeking shelter. A hospitable and courageous man - not to say a curious one - Alban let him in. They began to talk. Alban was so impressed with what the priest had to say about this newfound faith that it became his own faith too.
When the knock on the door came, as inevitably it would, Alban answered the door - in the priest's clothes. He was arrested and hauled before the magistrate, who demanded to know his name, his origins, and what he believed. My name is known to you as is my family, Alban replied, and I worship the living and true God who made all things. That was enough for the magistrate. Take him away! They led him across the river and up to the top of a hill, where they beheaded him with a sword.
For his faith, his courage, his charity, and the hospitable abundance of God he showed in his witness, Alban is remembered to this day in that town, once called Verulamium, now renamed Saint Albans in his memory.
Alban, by turning from pagan idols to the Christian faith, embrace a complete change of worldview. He let it cost him something precious: the life he knew. He did not, however, cling to his life when he was called upon to lay it down in service to Christ.
Alban extended hospitality to a stranger, and in so doing allowed his guest to challenge and change him. Later, on the strength of his new faith and his own charism of courage, he faced down the empire's representatives. He knew his allegiance to the one true living God mattered more than pleasing the court. He knew that life in abundance, eternal life, meant more than grasping onto his place in the world.
And so his life, a witness to all, inspires us - as an example, a model, and a sign pointing beyond itself to the One he worshiped: the living God whose love is ultimately revealed to us in his son Jesus Christ, and whose inspiration comes to us all through the holy Spirit.
This is the legacy of Saint Alban. May hospitality, courage, faith, and an eagerness for the abundance of life everlasting, show forth in our lives as well, as a church dedicated to God's glory, and the memory of Alban, first martyr of Britain.
THE ALBAN PRAYER
Almighty God,
We thank you for this place built to your glory
and in memory of Alban, first martyr of Britain.
Following his example in the fellowship of the saints,
may we worship and adore the true and living God,
and be faithful witnesses to the Christ,
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
AMEN
May we live by faith, walk in hope and be renewed in love, until the world reflects your glory and you are all in all. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, Church of Ireland, 2004)
***
Sources
Cathedral and Abbey Church of Saint Alban
http://www.stalbanscathedral.org/history/story-of-st-alban
Bede, Ecclesiastical History ("In Britain's isle was holy Alban born.")
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.html
http://www.sobornost.org/alban.html
+
For the Gospel Grapevine (June/July 2010), parish newsletter of Saint Alban's Episcopal Church, Edmonds, Wash.
JRL+
A third of the way around the world and over seventeen centuries ago, in a town about an hour's drive north of London, there lived a Roman Briton named Alban. This was in the latter days of the pagan Roman empire, and the church was still living under persecution. One day an itinerant Christian priest, on the run from the imperial troopers, came to Alban's door seeking shelter. A hospitable and courageous man - not to say a curious one - Alban let him in. They began to talk. Alban was so impressed with what the priest had to say about this newfound faith that it became his own faith too.
When the knock on the door came, as inevitably it would, Alban answered the door - in the priest's clothes. He was arrested and hauled before the magistrate, who demanded to know his name, his origins, and what he believed. My name is known to you as is my family, Alban replied, and I worship the living and true God who made all things. That was enough for the magistrate. Take him away! They led him across the river and up to the top of a hill, where they beheaded him with a sword.
For his faith, his courage, his charity, and the hospitable abundance of God he showed in his witness, Alban is remembered to this day in that town, once called Verulamium, now renamed Saint Albans in his memory.
Alban, by turning from pagan idols to the Christian faith, embrace a complete change of worldview. He let it cost him something precious: the life he knew. He did not, however, cling to his life when he was called upon to lay it down in service to Christ.
Alban extended hospitality to a stranger, and in so doing allowed his guest to challenge and change him. Later, on the strength of his new faith and his own charism of courage, he faced down the empire's representatives. He knew his allegiance to the one true living God mattered more than pleasing the court. He knew that life in abundance, eternal life, meant more than grasping onto his place in the world.
And so his life, a witness to all, inspires us - as an example, a model, and a sign pointing beyond itself to the One he worshiped: the living God whose love is ultimately revealed to us in his son Jesus Christ, and whose inspiration comes to us all through the holy Spirit.
This is the legacy of Saint Alban. May hospitality, courage, faith, and an eagerness for the abundance of life everlasting, show forth in our lives as well, as a church dedicated to God's glory, and the memory of Alban, first martyr of Britain.
THE ALBAN PRAYER
Almighty God,
We thank you for this place built to your glory
and in memory of Alban, first martyr of Britain.
Following his example in the fellowship of the saints,
may we worship and adore the true and living God,
and be faithful witnesses to the Christ,
who is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
AMEN
May we live by faith, walk in hope and be renewed in love, until the world reflects your glory and you are all in all. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, Church of Ireland, 2004)
***
Sources
Cathedral and Abbey Church of Saint Alban
http://www.stalbanscathedral.org/history/story-of-st-alban
Bede, Ecclesiastical History ("In Britain's isle was holy Alban born.")
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/bede-book1.html
http://www.sobornost.org/alban.html
+
For the Gospel Grapevine (June/July 2010), parish newsletter of Saint Alban's Episcopal Church, Edmonds, Wash.
JRL+
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Our version of "Ullathorne Sports" ...?
Come one, come all to the 1st annual
St Alban's Day
Medieval Festival and Feast!
Saturday June 21st
St Albans Church
21405 82nd Pl W
Edmonds, WA 98026
Games start at 3pm
Dinner at 5pm
Fund raiser Carnival Games by the Youth Group
Bouncy Castle - check!
Storyteller
Activities for all ages!
Tickets must be purchased in advance
and will be collected at the door!
Adults ~ $20.00
Kids under 10 ~ $10.00
To purchase tickets please contact ~
Erin Munday
206-778-5724
or via email at
siochain@live.com
John Leech (1817-64). 'A Nice Game for Two or More ...'
Punch, 17 August, 1861.
St Alban's Day
Medieval Festival and Feast!
Saturday June 21st
St Albans Church
21405 82nd Pl W
Edmonds, WA 98026
Games start at 3pm
Dinner at 5pm
Fund raiser Carnival Games by the Youth Group
Bouncy Castle - check!
Storyteller
Activities for all ages!
Tickets must be purchased in advance
and will be collected at the door!
Adults ~ $20.00
Kids under 10 ~ $10.00
To purchase tickets please contact ~
Erin Munday
206-778-5724
or via email at
siochain@live.com
John Leech (1817-64). 'A Nice Game for Two or More ...'
Punch, 17 August, 1861.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Among the roses of the martyrs, brightly shines Saint Alban…
"Among the roses of the martyrs, brightly shines Saint Alban…"
Long ago, two or three centuries after the first Pentecost, a man named Alban lived in the Roman town of Verulamium in the province of Britannia. He served the Emperor – Septimius Severus or possibly Diocletian – and did his duty by the pagan gods.
It was a time of persecution for the church. To Alban’s door came a Christian priest seeking sanctuary. Alban took him in, gave him shelter – and listened to his story.
When at last soldiers came to take away the guilty man, it was Alban, donning the white robe of the priest (and martyr) who gave himself up, taking the fugitive’s place.
They dragged him before the judge. Accused of Christianity, would there be enough evidence to convict him?
Soon enough, he confessed, in words that still ring true: "I worship and adore the true and living God, who created all things." He was condemned out of his own mouth.
The judge sentenced him to death and the soldiers led him away to the place of execution. There he bared his neck to the sword, and died witnessing to the new faith he had learned.
He never went to church, he never owned a Bible: he never had a chance to. And yet he was a faithful servant of Christ.
The story of Alban – a story of an unwavering witness to Christ, who followed in his footsteps even to his death – still has power. By his example, he calls us from false faith to true.
What fake gods have we followed? What tricksters of glamour, of image, of ease, of wealth, of power, have gratified us with their easy answers to life? What causes us to turn from them, and seek the face of the true and living God?
Last year, preaching at the shrine of Saint Alban in England, the Venerable Mark Oakley, Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe, identified these gods for modern Romans: “Gloss”, the goddess of beautiful surfaces; “Obese”, the god of insatiable acquisition; “Instantaneous”, the goddess who says you can have it all now; and “Punch”, the god of violence, institutional and systemic, and cult-god of hate.
We might pick other gods – but should we?
Better turn to the one true and living God, source of all being, eternal Word, and holy Spirit: he who calls us out of error into truth, out of bondage to desire and appetite into the freedom of grace and gratitude, out of the death-cult of Empire into the life of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Almighty God, by the Passover of your Son you have brought us out of sin into righteousness and out of death into life: Grant to those who are sealed by your Holy Spirit the will and the power to proclaim you to all the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty God, we thank you for this place built to your glory and in memory of Alban, Britain’s first martyr: following his example in the fellowship of the saints, may we worship and adore the true and living God, and be faithful witnesses to the Christ, who is alive and reigns, now and for ever. AMEN.
JRL+
http://www.stalbanscathedral.org.uk/index1.htm
http://www.stalbanscathedral.org.uk/pilgrimage2007.htm
Long ago, two or three centuries after the first Pentecost, a man named Alban lived in the Roman town of Verulamium in the province of Britannia. He served the Emperor – Septimius Severus or possibly Diocletian – and did his duty by the pagan gods.
It was a time of persecution for the church. To Alban’s door came a Christian priest seeking sanctuary. Alban took him in, gave him shelter – and listened to his story.
When at last soldiers came to take away the guilty man, it was Alban, donning the white robe of the priest (and martyr) who gave himself up, taking the fugitive’s place.
They dragged him before the judge. Accused of Christianity, would there be enough evidence to convict him?
Soon enough, he confessed, in words that still ring true: "I worship and adore the true and living God, who created all things." He was condemned out of his own mouth.
The judge sentenced him to death and the soldiers led him away to the place of execution. There he bared his neck to the sword, and died witnessing to the new faith he had learned.
He never went to church, he never owned a Bible: he never had a chance to. And yet he was a faithful servant of Christ.
The story of Alban – a story of an unwavering witness to Christ, who followed in his footsteps even to his death – still has power. By his example, he calls us from false faith to true.
What fake gods have we followed? What tricksters of glamour, of image, of ease, of wealth, of power, have gratified us with their easy answers to life? What causes us to turn from them, and seek the face of the true and living God?
Last year, preaching at the shrine of Saint Alban in England, the Venerable Mark Oakley, Archdeacon of Germany and Northern Europe, identified these gods for modern Romans: “Gloss”, the goddess of beautiful surfaces; “Obese”, the god of insatiable acquisition; “Instantaneous”, the goddess who says you can have it all now; and “Punch”, the god of violence, institutional and systemic, and cult-god of hate.
We might pick other gods – but should we?
Better turn to the one true and living God, source of all being, eternal Word, and holy Spirit: he who calls us out of error into truth, out of bondage to desire and appetite into the freedom of grace and gratitude, out of the death-cult of Empire into the life of the Kingdom of Heaven.
Almighty God, by the Passover of your Son you have brought us out of sin into righteousness and out of death into life: Grant to those who are sealed by your Holy Spirit the will and the power to proclaim you to all the world; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Almighty God, we thank you for this place built to your glory and in memory of Alban, Britain’s first martyr: following his example in the fellowship of the saints, may we worship and adore the true and living God, and be faithful witnesses to the Christ, who is alive and reigns, now and for ever. AMEN.
JRL+
http://www.stalbanscathedral.org.uk/index1.htm
http://www.stalbanscathedral.org.uk/pilgrimage2007.htm
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)