Baptism Sunday and Queen Bertha of Kent

Today the church celebrates the baptism of Christ; all part of the gradual revelation of who Christ is. The Methodist church has a ceremony of renewal of Baptismal vows on this Sunday. And we should certainly reflect of what our Baptism means to us; an early step on our journey of faith.

Or if you have never been baptised, perhaps today is the day when you ask yourself the question “What is stopping me from being baptised?”

Today I also suggest, is a day when we remind ourselves of those who have enabled us to step onto the path of Christian faith. And who we owe a debt to. Chief among the evangelists are St Peter who we hear about today in our reading from Acts, and St Paul.

This morning I would like us to reflect on some of those who are our spiritual benefactors and who we owe a great debt to and who I suggest we should give thanks to God for in our prayers.

Over the New Year if you were away from the built environment of London, you might have seen some wonderful sunsets. One evening, standing on the bank of a wide river, I experienced the sort of sunset that the artist Turner painted; that seemed to get more extreme as time elapsed.

And it occurred to me that over hundreds of years, people might have stood where I was, watching across the wide expanse of water, a winter sun set, giving thanks for the wonders of creation.

We know these waterways were major transport arteries, because not far away from where I stood a massive Saxon king’s ship had been buried, full of treasure to support him in the afterlife. The burial of King Raedwald at Sutton Hoo took place in 624 AD. Now a National Trust property, there is an interesting film about this, a conversation set just before the burial between a young girl and older woman preparing the consignment of treasure for burial. The young girl says “the Christ God says you don’t need all this in the afterlife – that everything you need will be given to you.”

And the older lady says “where are you hearing all this stuff from?”  “From the Frankish traders” the girl replies.

As I watched the sunset, I was reminded of this season of light, of God who calls us into light through the revelation of his Son into the radiance of his heavenly glory.

Thank God for the Frankish traders. Who interestingly had converted King Raedwald to Christianity, but he or those who buried him, couldn’t let go pagan rites relating to the afterlife. 

How had the King Raedwald become Christian?

Today, as we acknowledge our gift of faith, and give almighty thanks for the ministry and costly sacrifice of St Peter and St Paul, let’s remind ourselves of who made the gospel known to England and particularly London.

The Roman province of Britannia had accepted Christianity by the end of the fourth century but with the withdrawal of the Romans and invasions of the Anglo Saxons, the worship of pagan gods returned.

Christianity returned to Southern England in the late sixth century and for this we have to thank a lady called Bertha. She was a Christian, a daughter of the King of Paris who married King Aethelbert of Kent. It was through her influence that the King permitted Pope Gregory, a formidable administrator, to send a group of forty evangelists to England, under the leadership, initially faltering leadership of a monk from the Monastery of St Andrew in Rome called Augustine who almost gave up but was ordered to keep going.

Ehelbert converted and gave members of the Gregorian mission free reign.

But according to the historian Bede:

“Ethelbert did not compel anyone to accept Christianity; for he had learned from his instructors and guides to salvation, that the service of Christ must be accepted freely and not under compulsion.”

As the mission started to take hold, Augustine was called to Arles to be ordained an archbishop and returned to Canterbury, and so with the support of Bertha and Ethelbert, the see of Canterbury was founded with Augustine the first Archbishop. The second diocese was Rochester and the third was London where in 604, with the help of the Christian East Saxon King Saeberht, Mellitus was made the first bishop of the growing city of London and a cathedral dedicated to St Paul was built. And it would have been from London and the East Saxons that the Christian message would have made its way into the South Folk of the East Angles.

Mellitus was banished from London by Saeberht’s sons but from 619, would serve as the third Archbishop of Canterbury.

Mellitus was a missionary bishop.

London ordinands including me, study at “St Mellitus College.”

Naming the college after the Saint is not an act of antiquarian curiosity - it is laying claim to that same costly spirit of missionary love, the desire to see Christian churches grow and God’s Kingdom coming across this region and beyond, and seeing theology in service of that aim.

That spirit is as important to Christians in our modern 21st Century world as it was for their counterparts in the pagan 7th Century land of the East Saxons.

So today, as we give thanks for the gift of Baptism, let us give thanks to God for those who have set us and our spiritual benefactors on the journey of faith:

St Peter, St Paul, Queen Bertha, St Gregory the Great, St Augustine of Canterbury, King Ethelbert and St Mellitus.

Heavenly father, we thank you for all missionaries who leave their homes to proclaim your Word:
Grant them fervour for mission,
and perseverance for ministry,
that they and we might shine with your love and truth
in the diocese of London and beyond,
for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.