Guilsborough:  3 May 2003
Having polled listeners a couple of times to find the Greatest Britons of the Millennium – Shakespeare and Churchill as it turned out -  I see that the BBC has moved onto something more radical, namely, finding a replacement for St. George as our Patron Saint. The grounds for displacing him in our affections appear to be that he wasn’t British, probably didn’t kill a dragon and, even if he did, that deed occurred  in the Middle East. Moreover, he is not exclusive to us being the Patron Saint of Catalonia and I believe some other places as well. 
Most of the proposed replacements at least lived in this country and were historically recorded figures.  Take Odo the Severe, a tenth century Archbishop of Canterbury who preached virtuous living. But I fear that his message is not one that will strike much of a chord or be a vote winner to-day.  
The Venerable Bede’s Latin caused me a good deal of trouble when as a student, and for reasons that were never quite clear, I had to read his “History of the English Church”.  But I must not allow that prejudice too much weight: It was his  lack of curiosity, for example, never leaving his monastery at Jarrow even to visit nearby Hadrian’s  and his extreme gullibility towards claims about miracles that rules Bede out for me.  
I think we can omit St. Rumon or Ronan, described by the BBC as “somewhat controversial”.  It’s hard to see how he got on the shortlist anyway, except that journalists like controversy..  To begin with, he was French, often controversial in England.  His marriage came apart and his wife falsely accused him of kidnapping his daughter in a trunk, and then of being a werewolf. But exposure to the local king’s stag  hounds proved the contrary (they left him alone) and he lived happily ever after. 
Saints. Thomas More and Thomas a Becket, serious historical figures, must surely be strong contenders, not least because we know so much more about them and their beliefs.  
Then there is St. Jude. After the postponement of the Northern Ireland elections, the £500 million black hole in the education budget and the low turnout in the local elections one would be forgiven for agreeing with that wag who suggested that the ideal candidate would be St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes. 
I mention all these colourful characters not because I support a change of Patron Saint, but to illustrate how far myth plays its part in our Christian story 
Does it matter whether or not St. George slew a dragon or St. Patrick expelled snakes form Ireland? Did Saint David really spread his handkerchief on the ground, stand on it and levitate in a kind of aerial pulpit from which he spoke to his larger congregations?  Were the bones of St. Andrew really transported to Scotland and did his name, when invoked, cure stiffs necks and gout? 
Most Christians these days , of course, take these claims and stories with a hefty pinch of salt.  That does not diminish the importance of saints, however. We all need role models, and rallying points, and saints in my view can be seen in that light and thus perform a very useful function 

Similarly, most of us now recognise that one does not have to accept everything in the Bible as fact.  Darwinism and palaentology have debunked Genesis Chapter 1. But still we all love the story of Adam and Eve. The miracles that Jesus performed may or not be exactly as recalled and recounted by the Gospel writers years after his death. But we like to hear about them and we learn valuable lessons about his teaching from them. 
I thought about these issues during Lent when, commemorating the Temptation in the Wilderness, we give up something a pleasant habit or indulgence.  If I am honest, I felt rather self-satisfied with my own gesture this year. I didn’t even have to get non-alcoholic beer to stave off the pangs. 
As for what happened in the wilderness I have an open mind. We don’t know whether Jesus was literally taken up to a high mountain by the Devil and shown all the Kingdoms upon earth and subjected to the other temptations. But the underlying message of that story,  that earthly vanities are of no account when set against God’s word is one that we can all benefit from. 
Whatever doubts we may have about some Bible stories, the central core of our faith, lies, of course, in the various creeds -  non-negotiable beliefs.  “Born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried and on the third day he arose again………….. who for our salvation came down from heaven and was made man.”
With that basis for our faith, we can then turn to the two great commandments that we love God and love our neighbours as yourself   
 On love of God, we can learn a great deal from the Patron Saint of Northamptonshire – at least I’m claiming he ought to be – William Law, priest and theologian who lived an immensely long life in Kings Cliffe in the east of the County from 1686-1761   His Book a “ Serious Call to a Devout Life” was apparently a great influence in 18th century England, particularly on Samuel Johnson and John Wesley. And this is how Law put it:
“ Devotion signifies a life given to God.  He therefore is the devout man who lives no longer to his own will, or the way of the spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God, who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything who makes all parts of his common life parts of piety by doing everything in the name of God” 
 No room of ifs or buts there.  God becomes the central pivot of our lives.  When we accept that, we cannot pick and choose what we want to do as Christians; nor regard our Christianity, like Lord Palmerston, as all very well so long as is does not interfere with our private lives
Thomas a Kempis in the 14th century put the central challenges of the Christian faith very well 
“There will be many who love Christ’s heavenly kingdom but few who bear his cross.  Jesus has many who desire consolation, but few who care for adversity.  He finds many to share his table, but few will join him in the fasting. Many are eager to be happy with him, but few wish to suffer for him.”

Challenging words!   Frail as we are, we need help.  So words taken from the Collect for to-day seems particularly apposite  “Almighty God who hast given thine only son…. to be an ensample of godly life give us grace that we may also daily endeavour ourselves to follow in the blessed steps of his most holy life.  
Loving God and then that other great commandment loving our neighbour. The two central commitments of our Christian faith. 
So, I say don’t pay too much attention to the walls of Jericho, Jonah and the whale, water into wine or George and his dragon  
Rather, we can take comfort, even if we ourselves don’t go down in history, from the concluding words of that wonderful story   “The Bridge of San Luis Rey” which  you may remember the Prime Minister read at the memorial service for the victims of September 11th:
“  Even now, she thought, almost no one remembers Esteban and Pepita but myself…. But soon we shall all die and all memory of those five will have left the earth, and we ourselves shall be loved for a while and forgotten.  .But the love will have been enough; those impulses of love return to the love that made them  There is a land of the living and a land of the dead, and the bridge is love, the only survival, the only meaning.” 
We can, then, all accomplish something important so long as we remember that during our brief span on earth Christianity, here in Guilsborough, demands more of us than enjoying and believing colourful stories 
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