British Evasion #3, July 26, Day 3, part 3 of 3

When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.

Revelation 6:9-11

After the microphone disaster at St Paul's, we were able to hear a sermon -- and a good one at that.

It being the Feast of St James the Apostle, Reverend Alan Moses of All Saints, Margaret Street preached on James' witness as the first apostle to be martyred for faith. James was killed by King Herod sometime in the middle part of the first century A.D.

Rev Moses spoke on the powerful attraction dying for one's faith can have upon people -- and how that attraction can be used to recruit people to smash planes into buildings and do other horrific things in the name of God. He explicitly mentioned how the lure of martyrdom is now being used to recruit young people -- he was at least partially implying young British people -- to leave home and come and join ISIS. And in a particularly sobering reference given our location, Rev Moses also explicitly referred to how martyrdom for faith was a driving force which drove 4 young men to board London tube cars and a double decker bus with suicide bombs 10 years ago this month.  Martyrdom can be a powerful motivator.

But this is never what we mean when we say a Christian martyr, the vicar said.  And that is the great lesson of St James the Apostle's life.

James and his brother John had wanted to call down thunder and destroy a city for its infidelity.  But Jesus rebuked them saying, "The Son of a man has come to give life -- not to take it."  James took the lesson to heart, Rev Moses said; and so should we -- we are to bear witness (that's actually what "martyr" means, "witness") to a faith that is life giving and not life destroying.

As Rev Moses preached, I thought of the display of the ten 20th century martyrs I had just seen outside Westminister Abbey.  The statues, which include Martin Luther King, Jr., Archbishop Oscar Romero, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer were dedicated together on the frieze outside Westminster in 1998 in niches which had set empty since the medieval period.  At the dedication of the statues, Rev Anthony Harvey, sub-dean of Westminster said, "There has never been a time in Christian history when someone, somewhere, has not died rather than compromise with powers of oppression, tyranny and unbelief."

There has never been a time; and there shall never be a time.  There are more empty niches to be filled; and the bodies of faithful martyrs shall fill them. I pray for those martyrs now.  I pray for their courage, for their strength, and for their witness.

And I pray for us also. I pray we would never confuse what we mean by the word "martyr" with that which some others might mean. A Christian martyr is one who follows, not in the way of oppression or tyranny or violence for the sake of one's faith, but rather in the way of Christ, the one who came not to take life but to give it -- and the life that he came to give was his very own.