An inspiration to many who have faced impossible odds

Here's the reflection that I shared at St Catherine's Wickford this evening:

St George was probably a soldier living in Palestine at the beginning of the fourth century. He was martyred at Lydda in about the year 304, the beginning of the Diocletian persecution, and became known throughout the East as 'The Great Martyr'. There were churches in England dedicated to St George before the Norman conquest. The story of his slaying the dragon is probably due to his being mistaken in iconography for St Michael, himself usually depicted wearing armour; or it may again be a mistaken identity representing Perseus's slaying of the sea monster, a myth also associated with the area of Lydda. George replaced Edward the Confessor as Patron Saint of England following the Crusades, when returning soldiers brought back with them a renewed cult of St George. Edward III made St George patron of the Order of the Garter, which seems finally to have confirmed his position.

In Hebrews 11 we are given a roll-call of heroes of the faith. It starts as we would expect: “They shut the mouths of lions, put out fierce fires, escaped being killed by the sword. They were weak, but became strong; they were mighty in battle and defeated the armies of foreigners. Through faith women received their dead relatives raised back to life.” But then it changes tack: “Others, refusing to accept freedom, died under torture in order to be raised to a better life. Some were mocked and whipped, and others were put in chains and taken off to prison. They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were killed by the sword. They went around clothed in skins of sheep or goats—poor, persecuted, and mistreated. The world was not good enough for them! They wandered like refugees in the deserts and hills, living in caves and holes in the ground.”

“What a record all of these have won by their faith!” the writer of this letter ends by saying and what an encouragement to us when we don’t always see St George defeating the dragon. Martin Luther King Jr concluded his last sermon, delivered at the Bishop Charles Mason Temple in Memphis, Tennessee on the eve of his assassination, by saying: "I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord." That is the attitude and trust that we need when facing dragons.

Just like Martin Luther King saying those words on the eve of his assassination, so the writer to the Hebrews says, “They did not receive the things God had promised, but from a long way off they saw them and welcomed them.” Howard Zinn, who was involved in the Civil Rights Movement, wrote this: “Social movements may have many 'defeats' — failing to achieve objectives in the short run — but in the course of the struggle the strength of the old order begins to erode, the minds of people begin to change; the protesters are momentarily defeated but not crushed, and have been lifted, heartened, by their ability to fight back."

The stories of the saints, like that of St George, aren’t there to give us a fool-proof cast-iron methodology for overcoming dragons but they can give us the inspiration and encouragement to take to the field and play our part. The saints have been an inspiration to many who have faced impossible odds in personal lives, communities, and globally. So, we pray: God of hosts, who so kindled the flame of love in the heart of your servant George that he bore witness to the risen Lord by his life and by his death: give us the same faith and power of love that we who rejoice in his triumphs may come to share with him the fullness of the resurrection. Amen.

For more on Hebrews 11, see my VCS exhibition 'A Question of Faith'.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

C.O.B. - Sheba's Return/Lion Of Judah.

Searching for a story to live by

Here's my reflection from today's Eucharist for St Martin-in-the-Fields:

‘He's a glamorous saint, says Dr Michael Carter, a historian at English Heritage, ‘… there … on his charger slaying a dragon.’ ‘His story, he continues, speaking, of course, of St George, ‘is something which crosses cultures and periods.’ St George ‘represents honour, bravery and he had royal and military associations.’ ‘There's so much in his legend that resonates with English values. He really is a patron of modern Britain in that he's quite diverse and international. It's down to the man, myth and mayhem that he became so popular.’

How to understand St George and how to celebrate St George’s Day? Michael Carter, in speaking about the man, the myth and the mayhem, reminds us that when we are dealing with a figure like St George we are wrestling with instances of overacceptance. Overacceptance involves fitting a story that has come your way - which often you didn’t invite or go looking for - into a larger story. For Christians that is ultimately the larger story of what God is doing with the world, but, as in the case of St George, it also includes, for example, the history of martyrdom within the Christian tradition and, in England, the story of what it means to be or become English and to be patriotic.

Sam Wells makes substantial use of the concept of overacceptance in his book on the place of improvisation in Christian life and ethical decision making. He says that, ‘Finding a way to live … is about identifying some kind of a story that traces together a series of otherwise inexplicable circumstances. Once you’ve done that, you then set about locating where you are in that story. And then you act your part in that story. You could pretty well summarise the human quest as simply as this: searching for a story to live by, discovering one’s place in that story, and living into that place in the story.’

When it comes to St George, as we’ve already reflected, there’s a whole set of interconnected and sometimes conflicting overarching stories, so we may need to take some time sorting through the different stories and trying to disentangle it order to find a story about our Patron Saint within which we may be happy to locate ourselves. For example, we might want to note that as well as being England’s Patron Saint, George is also the Patron Saint of Georgia, Bulgaria, Greece, India, Syria, Portugal and many cities – for example Genoa, Beirut, Rio de Janeiro, Barcelona, Moscow and Venice, among others. So, we might want to remember this Saint as an International Saint and explore the many different ways in which celebrations and ceremonies in his honour are held around the world, as well as here in England.

Another aspect of in his story is that St George is the patron of soldiers, armourers, farmers and sufferers of the plague and syphilis. During the Middle Ages, St George was regarded as one of the 'Fourteen Holy Helpers' - a group of saints people turned to for assistance in times of need, such as times of plague. That is an aspect of his story that may connect him to the story of lockdown in which we are currently living. That, and patronage of farmers - his name means ‘earth-worker’ – may help us find aspects of his story which are not to do with warfare and the military.

As well as exploring and disentangling the big stories of which St George has become a part, we can also return to the source, which, in his case, is the story of a Christian Roman soldier named Georgios, born in Cappadocia, Turkey around AD270, and martyred at Nicomedia, or Lydda, in modern day Israel, in the Roman province of Palestine in AD303, the beginning of the Diocletian persecution. Like many saints, St George was described as a martyr after he died for his Christian faith. It is believed that during the persecutions of the Emperor Diocletian, he was executed for refusing to make a sacrifice in honour of the pagan gods.

This source story connects with one of the overaccepting, overarching stories that we mentioned earlier; the history of martyrdom within the Christian tradition. The Greek word "martus" signifies a "witness". It is in this sense that the term first appears in Christian literature; the Apostles were "witnesses" of all that they had observed in the public life of Christ. The Apostles, from the beginning as the story of St Stephen makes clear, faced grave dangers, until eventually almost all suffered death for their convictions. Thus, within the lifetime of the Apostles, the term martus came to be used in the sense of a witness who at any time might be called upon to deny what he testified to, under penalty of death. From this stage the transition was easy to the ordinary meaning of the term, as used ever since in Christian literature; a martyr, or witness of Christ, as one who suffers death rather than deny the faith.

There continue to be Christians who experience persecution or martyrdom today and we must pray for and support our brothers and sisters in the persecuted Church. It is, probably, unlikely that we will share with them in that experience, even so, we can still share with them in the other meaning of martus; that of being a witness who gives testimony. We are called, with the Apostles, Saints and Martyrs to be those who tell our stories of encountering Jesus to others. We don’t have to understand or be able to explain the key doctrines of the Christian faith. We don’t have to be able to tell people the two ways to live or have memorized the sinner’s prayer or have tracts to hand out in order to be witnesses to Jesus. All we need do is to tell our story; to say this is how Jesus made himself real to me and this is the difference that has made. That may even be the very best way to celebrate St George’s Day.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

T Bone Burnett - River Of Love.