Sermons

Edmund, King and Martyr
Sunday 19 November at 8am and 6.30pm

Maureen Williams
Readings: Matthew 10: 16-22

This weekend we are celebrating the festival of our patron saint, Edmund. Yesterday, the children had a lot of fun making crowns out of gingerbread and arrows out of straws with their prayers written on them, to remember his life as a king and death as a martyr. We have had a booklet to read about him and a Prayer Walk round the church with places to stop and thank God for Edmund's life and think about his influence on us today.

In the summer, Edmund was in the news. The historical facts known about his life as an English king have made him a strong contender to be patron saint of England over the claims of St George, who, after all, was the Turkish slayer of a mythical dragon. Edmund has a large following and we shall probably hear more about this claim in the future.

Records show that he was a Christian king in 9th century East Anglia; that he was captured in a battle with invading Danish forces and martyred at their hands in 870AD after refusing to serve as their vassal, and, more crucially, to renounce his Christian faith. Celebrating saints like Edmund, gives us the opportunity to remember that our faith has been handed on to us by men and women through the centuries who have chosen to follow Christ no matter what the cost. As we celebrate Edmund's life and witness in 9th century East Anglia, we remember people today who are suffering for their faith; people for whom persecution is a daily reality and even martyrdom, a real possibility.

On November 7th, a press release from Amnesty International celebrated the freedom from detention in Eritrea, of a gospel singer, Helen Berhane, who had been held without charge or trial for 2 ½ yrs, but, with concern, announced the recent arrest of 160 men, women and children who were members of churches not officially recognised in that country. Two of the men who were detained are reported to have died after being tortured in an effort to force them to renounce their faith. We need to pray for the Christians in Eritrea.

In St Edmund's, we've been selling beautifully carved olive-wood figures, made by Palestinian Christians whose lives are constrained under pressures from Israel on one side and the extreme fundamentalism of Hamas on the other - pressures which have reduced their number from 20% of the population in 1948 to less than 2% today.
And in a recent Church Times, there have been horrifying details of the torture and murder of a Syrian Orthodox priest in Mosul, Iraq. Suffering, persecution and martyrdom of Christians continue. We need to pray for the deteriorating situation of Christian communities across the Middle East.

What guidance does Jesus give to his disciples in the reading from Matthew about living and witnessing in the world and is this something that can help us in our Christian living today? At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus has told his disciples that they have -'to go' - 'go' to the towns and villages surrounding them. While the Bible does not record that they all became preachers, they are 'to go' as his witnesses. Jesus' last instruction before his ascension (Acts chapter 1 v8) was that his disciples were to be his witnesses, 'in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.'
This responsibility passes from the disciples in Jerusalem, to Edmund in 9th century East Anglia and to us today. It has been said that there is no more effective way for the church to grow, than for it to become a church full, not of preachers, but of witnesses.

Last week, John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, spoke to Readers in Newcastle about the need for Christian witness in public life. He launched an impassioned defence of Christianity in the face of what he described as 'a systematic erosion of the majority faith'. The bishop singled out Birmingham city council, which in 1998 renamed the Christmas holiday period Winterval and Torbay which had removed a cross from a local crematorium. Both these have now been changed, but the General Synod's appeal for Christmas - themed stamps this year has not been followed. Santa Claus, a snowman, a reindeer and a tree are as religious as the Christmas stamps get this year. Is it complacency, indifference or the fear of offending others that leads to a failure to witness to the Christian faith? Or should we be alert to what the Sunday Times called 'a creeping atheism'?

In Matthew chapter 10, the disciples are called 'to go' as Christ's witnesses. Jesus instructs them 'to go' expecting God to work. They are 'to go', expecting to be poor but to have enough. In today's reading, they are 'to go' as 'sheep among wolves', inoffensive and harmless, but prepared for a cruel and unfriendly world. They are 'to go' prepared for opposition because it is bound to come. They are 'to go' trusting that God will speak through them. They are 'to go' in confidence and not be afraid because God is in control. Finally, in v38, (after our reading,) they are 'to go' putting their whole life on the line, prepared to follow Jesus sacrificially, follow him on the way to the cross. That is how they - and we - are called 'to go'.

Like Edmund and the disciples, we have a choice. Edmund's choice was to go in the way that led to his death and martyrdom. We, too, may choose to go in ways that prove costly to us. For guidance in our choices, let us remember Peter's question in John chapter 6, 'Lord, to whom can we go? YOU have the words of eternal life'.

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay