Saints and Martyrs of England

At home I have an icon of Christ surrounded by six saints and martyrs of Britain, the men and women who first brought the Gospel to this country. It reminds me of those who went before me in this country and it’s surrounding islands, bringing the truth about Christ to a pagan society. Patrick of Ireland, Augustine of Canterbury, Alban in the Roman Times. After Christianity was established in these islands the martyrs still came – Thomas Beckett of Canterbury who refused to bow the knee to the king, the Reformation martyrs on both sides who would not submit to the crown when their conscience told them otherwise. On into the seventeenth century with the Puritans like John Bunyan who thought devotion to Christ more important than conforming to a particular pattern of worship.

God, whom the glorious company of the redeemed adore,
assembled from all times and places of your dominion:
we praise you for the saints of our own land
and for the many lamps their holiness has lit;
and we pray that we also may be numbered at last
with those who have done your will
and declared your righteousness;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

A think a little Te Deum is in order.

In other news, we are presently at my wife’s in-laws. Gayle’s Gran died shortly after eight last night with us all around her, after advanced bladder cancer. One of the best deaths I’ve ever witnessed, just slipping slowly away in no pain.