In the year 634AD,Oswald, the rightful heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Northumbria, and a Christian,  defeated the pagan usurper, Penda of Mercia and regained his kingdom.  The battlefield was known as Heavenfield or as the Anglo-Saxon Christian Chronicler, the Venerable Bede, insists – heavenly field because a heavenly victory was won. Christianity triumphed over paganism.

Oswald was a saintly man who had been living in exile on Iona where the Celtic monks taught him the faith.  His first desire, on regaining the kingdom, was that his people should embrace the Christian faith. So he sent to Iona and asked them for a monk to teach the Gospel.  A monk duly arrived but he met with little success and returned to Iona where he complained to his fellow monks that the Northumbrians were unteachable because, as he put it, they were uncivilized men and of a stubborn and barbarious disposition.  One of the monks who heard him, told the brother that had been too severe and that first he ought to have given the people the milk of more easy doctrine, till being by degrees nourished with the word of God, they should be capable of greater perfection…  His fellow monks probably thought that this was good advice so the Abbot decided he should go instead.  Aidan, for that was the monk, arrived in Northumbria in 635 and for the next 20 years he proclaimed the Gospel  converting the Northumbrians to Christianity.  Because, initially, he could not speak the native tongue, he was joined in his missionary work by King Oswald who translated his words to the people. A remarkable example of how Church and State can work together – perhaps there are lessons to be learned for our 21st Century mission!

Being a Celtic Christian, Aidan needed solitude to balance his activity for God so he spurned Oswald’s offer of rooms in Bamborough Castle, the King’s home. Instead he accepted the gift of Lindisfarne, known more often today  as Holy Island. This piece of land became an island twice a day and so it was perfect for Aidan’s mission. He built a monastery there and it became a great centre for the Missionary and Evangelistic work which swept the Gospel message through large tracts of England from Northumbria across to Cumbria, down to North Yorkshire and the Midlands.  Of importance to us is that the Gospel came from Lindisfarne to Essex – to Bradwell, where a Celtic monastery was established and the faith spread throughout Essex.   I tell you this story today because, where it not a Sunday, we would be keeping St. Aidan’s feast day.

At least that is one reason. There is another.  The first thing that Aidan did when he built his monastery is that he established a Christian school where young men came to learn about Christ and His Holy Gospel.  Initially there were 12 boys in imitation of the number of Christ’s disciples. 4 of these were brothers and it was two of these, Chad and Cedd, who took the Gospel to North Yorkshire establishing Christian centres at Lastingham and then Chad went to what is now Lichfield in the Midlands and Cedd sailed to Bradwell.

Aidan taught them the faith and then sent them out to witness to that faith amongst others.  As a pattern for our ministry and mission of today it takes some beating. 

I am reminded of something Bishop Dinis Singulane of Mozambique once told me.  He said that he had received a summons from a remote village. He was to come and spend a week with the villagers and teach them about Jesus. This he did and he marvelled that those he taught had given up their one week of holiday just to sit at his feet.   At the end of the week they thanked him and told him that for the next 51 weeks they would go around the area and teach others what they had been taught.  Then, Grandpa ,they said,  you will come back for another week and teach us more.

Both this story and that of St. Aidan, tells us something fundamentally important if we are to witness to the Gospel in the Epping area.  Before we can teach others about Jesus and His saving Gospel, we must learn it for ourselves.  Now, you may say that we already know it so this doesn’t apply to us.  OK, so I ask you this - How many people have heard about Christ from you this past week?  Whose lives have you touched with the love of God?  How many people have looked at you and seen that Jesus Christ has made a difference to who you are and to how you live your life?  and equally important, What new thing have you learned about God this week?  Feeding our faith and entering into an exploration of the Gospel is something Christians cannot neglect.  Before Aidan could send people out to share their faith, they had to know what that faith is. 

About 30 years ago, there was a movement in the Church called the Lay Apostolate.  The Lay Apostolate had a specific aim – to enthuse and instruct the Laity to become more the Church and to learn more about Christ.  One of its leading lights said that he feared that Church of England members walked around with the faith of a 12 year old.  By that he meant that we learn things about God in Confirmation class and, for the majority, that’s it. They don’t learn anything new from that time on.  An exaggeration and a bit over the top but we get his drift.  Christian learning; exploration of the faith; learning to live our lives as Christians –that’s  a lifelong process. 

When Paul, in today’s portion of the Epistle to the Romans lists the Christian virtues we must practice he was laying down a blueprint for how the Christian Community should be and should be seen to be.  It’s a very stirring list – genuine love, hatred of evil, holding fast to good and so on.  And it’s actually a tall order and not quite so easy to practice as it is to read.  Add to that what our Lord says about denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following him – about losing our lives to gain them and we recognise that being a Christian is far from an easy option.

Yet that kind of Christian Community – a sacrificial, loving, faithful one is what is asked of us.  We have to constantly learn and re-learn what it all means if we are to be effective as Christ’s disciples in the world today. We have to go on learning from him.

Aidan’s choice of Lindisfarne as his base was fortuitous. The island already existed. It was if it had been waiting a long time to fulfil its purpose.  It became a centre of solitude and learning.  If you have ever been to the island you will know that twice a day it changes its character. At one moment it is a busy, bustling, tourist centre and then suddenly, by the movement of the waves, it becomes a very different place – a silent, quiet haven where peace descends and where God can speak to hearts – and believe me I know many for whom that is true – myself included.

Yet it is connected twice a day to the mainland making it a place from which mission to the world was easy.  It provided a necessary balance between action for God and learning about him.  The Island is a symbol for our Christian lives.  For much of the time we are busy in the world with all its pulls upon our time and on our energy.   This is the place God in Christ calls us to witness and proclaim him. He has no other agents through which to do this except those he has called to be close to Him through baptism.  Yet those too need to be witnessed to and fed. They – and I really mean we – need to find our island of quietness where we can reflect prayerfully on the Gospel if we are to be truly effective in God’s work. 

Now there are all sorts of ways in which we can be helped in this reflection.  Opportunities for Christian education include the diocesan Christian Studies Course and the shorter courses offered by the Barking Programme.  This season for example, the Barking Programme is offering 2 sessions on Understanding the Eucharist; a day on St. Mark’s Gospel which will form our cycle of weekly readings from Advent Sunday; a Quiet Day for advent and an evening at St. John’s on praying the Labyrinth – learning how to use a special kind of prayer walk to reflect upon God.

In a couple of weeks time, the Team will be offering the Emmaus Christian learning course and, as you will read in the new edition of The Quarter  there is a Nurture programme which will help people to look at the person of Jesus and learn the meaning of some of the titles we use about him – Messiah, Lamb of God etc.  The new Church of England Daily Reflections which gives a short comment on a specific bible passage from the daily lectionary is another helpful way of learning more about the Bible and need not take more than ten minutes each day.  There is an extensive library in St. John’s, near the font, which is a resource for all the team Churches.  In the near future we will be starting a monthly discussion group which takes up one of the themes of the Sunday sermons.  The daily Morning Prayer in St. John’s is a bible-based service which provides prayerful reflection time.

These are just some of the things on offer and the ministry team can help any individual to find the right thing for them individually.  Informing ourselves about our faith and reflecting more deeply on Jesus Christ is an essential part of being his disciples today.  The Gospel accounts are packed with our Lord’s teaching specifically to those he gathered around him to both share his mission and lead that mission after Pentecost. If you took a pair of scissors and cut out from the Gospel those times when Jesus is instructing his disciples, you would remove about two thirds of the Gospel.  Spending time with Jesus is how the disciples grew in faith and gained confidence to proclaim the gospel.  It is also the method used by St. Aidan, following the practice of the Celtic saints.

One thing’s for sure – the Gospel would never have reached the hearts of the people of Essex had St Cedd not learned about Christ from Aidan.  It will not reach others in the Epping area if we have not learned from Christ.

Follow me, says Jesus – I want to lead you to the world around you and use you to convince people of my Good News of love and truth.  This is not an optional call – responding to it is the duty of all of us who claim to be Christians.