Christianus Sum: Feast of St Alban

Picture taken from artuk.org.

An ordinary man who did an extraordinary thing. A simple story of one man standing up for what he believes in, bearing witness to his faith

Christianus sum: I am a Christian

Today we celebrate the feast of St Alban, the first martyr in the history of English Christianity, who died for his faith, by taking the place of another in death. He had given shelter to a stranger, a fugitive priest. Christianity was a religio illicita at the time, in the early third century of the Roman Empire, and wave after wave of persecutions saw the deaths of many. Alban had been inspired by this priest and had become a Christian. When the Romans arrived, he swapped clothes and therefore identity with the priest, allowing him to escape and took the punishment himself.

Christianus sum

He was beheaded, which was a less cruel way of death than many fellow Christians had suffered. Nero used Christians as human torches to light his banquets for example. The first saints were those who died in unimaginable agony, rather than deny their faith. The persecution of Christians continued into the fourth century and only really ended when the Emperor Constantine became a Christian and made our faith  legal.

It would be nice to think it did end there, all those years ago, but we know it did not. Becket, Joan of Arc, Thomas More, William Tyndale. The persecution and murder of Christians continued through the centuries, as our faith spread round the world. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Oscar Romero, Archbishop Luwum of Uganda, Martin Luther King and continue to this day. There is even an international watchlist which names the top 50 countries responsible. The top 50, think about that, the top three being North Korea, Afghanistan and Somalia. Every day, somewhere in one of these over 50 countries, 13 Christians are being killed and 12 churches attacked. Ordinary men and women, persecution has never had any boundaries with regard to gender or class for that matter defending their faith doing something extraordinary.

 Christianus sum

The word martyr is from the Greek and means to bear witness. That death is the inevitable outcome is not the point, bearing witness is. Martyrdom is the ultimate witness to the truth of Christ.

At one stage in the history of the early church, being a martyr was a prized state. We have evidence of this in the writings of Tacitus, Pliny, Eusebius. In 185 AD a large number of Christians presented themselves to the Pro Consul, according to Pliny, offering themselves as martyrs, but he only obliged  a few of them. Maximin, writing in the fourth century tells of 47 martyrs, 13 of which were volunteers, 18 drew attention to themselves and 16 were already under investigation.

Tertullian, the first proper theologian of the early church claimed that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church. This extraordinary thing, this martyria, this faithful speaking out for Christ, knowing death would be the result, fed the growth of the faith he believed, as have others have since. Is that true? Was the commitment of these ordinary people doing this extraordinary thing enough to inspire faith, and is it still? Evidence suggests our faith is still growing around the world, in the face of that still current persecution.

Those whose blood was shed are known as red martyrs.

But there are also white martyrs, a phrase coined by St Jerome, for those who totally surrendered their lives to Christ the desert Fathers of the early church, monastic communities through the ages and  they are still found everywhere, all over the world, and here in Putney.  Fellow Christians who have given, or lost, their lives to the service of Christ

And that brings me to today’s gospel reading, a clear message from Jesus: that those who love their life will lose it and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. This is echoed in the other three gospels. in Matthew: those who found their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake will find it, or Mark: those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel will save it, Or Luke: those who lose their life for my sake will save it.

Jesus is not asking us to lay down our lives as martyrs, but he is asking us to hate or lose our lives, to  turn our backs on the temporal world, to not be tempted by the allure of the here and now but to give our lives to him, with the promise of eternal life. Not only that, but this will bear fruit, this bearing witness to his truth. Using the metaphor of the grain of wheat to describe his own forthcoming death: he will die, be buried but bear fruit. Ge promises us that out of sacrifice, in his case the ultimate sacrifice,  will come fruit, the future Christian community, the church. Jesus is telling us to lay aside our lives to serve him and the reward is our salvation and eternal glory with God.

This is emphasised by Paul, if indeed Paul did write this letter to Timothy: I endure everything for the sake of the elect, those who believe, so that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. It is not easy, he writes, we must be soldiers, and athletes. Abiding by the rules and working as hard as farmers do.

If we lay aside our lives to serve Christ we will bear fruit, we will be true disciples, but we must repudiate a self-centred life and live for God to do so.

I am not suggesting that we volunteer for martyrdom, I am not suggesting we retreat to Putney Heath and live as ascetics like the Desert Fathers. But we can lose our lives to save them by serving Him. As we will pray at the end of the service, we can ask God to send us out as a living sacrifice to live and work for his praise and glory.

Ordinary people can do extraordinary things, little things, little steps, but all in the service of Christ. We can do extraordinary things in our lives. We can honour those who died rather than deny their faith.  To do so is an act of hope, an act of faith in God, an act of bearing witness, which will bear fruit.

Christianus sum