Sermon for the 23rd of April, 2023 - Patronal Feast of St George

St George has been celebrated in England for hundreds of years on 23rd April his feast day which was possibly the date of his martyrdom. He became popular with English kings, usurping the former National Patron, St Edmund, who many think should be reinstated. I live in Bury St Edmunds, so I couldn’t possibly comment!

From around 1100, St George’s help was also sought to protect the English army. In Shakespeare, Henry V, calls on the saint during his battle cry “Once more unto the breach, dear friends” crying “God for Harry! England, and St. George!”

St. George, so the story goes, came to England, and killed a dragon on Dragon Hill in Uffington, Oxfordshire, where the white horse is carved. On the hill it is said that no grass grows where the dragon's blood trickled down! All of this is a 12th century crusader myth, cooked up to rabble rouse National enthusiasm for killing Muslims in the holy land, hardly laudable. So, who was St George? Well, sorry but he never came to England.

In so far as we can know, George was born in the third century in Cappadocia, now Turkey, to Greek Christian parents, and we know he became a soldier in the Roman army. In so far as we can know, George was a high-ranking officer who protested the Romans' torture of Christians. The Roman emperor Diocletian ordered his death for failing to recant his faith. And that's how he became a Christian martyr. St. George is based on a real person, but his story is a murky mixture of fact and fiction.

I have to confess; some of the associations of St George as our National Patron, send cold shivers down my spine; the sight of a St George’s day flag with Its association with Nationalism and far right politics in this country, always disquiets me. Some people seem associate the white flag with the red cross as the symbol of a white land, which is more than alarming.

There are troubling signs around the planet of a strident resurgence of nationalism which divides rather than unities. There are forces that are drawing factions and creating a withdrawal from common interests. In an age when so many challenges are global, we need to be very careful with national pride and ambition.

To reflect upon St George now, might require us to let go of Nationalism and direct our minds and our hearts, to the future of our country as a part of a global community. St George didn’t slay dragons for his country. He slayed dragons for Jesus Christ. The dragons were the powerful Roman officers who would not let their soldiers be Christians. A Christian could not swear allegiance to any earthly power, this included the emperor, who saw himself as a God. To be Christian was to follow a man who relinquished power, to be executed by the Romans. Jesus to the Romans was a scandalous failure because he didn’t fight back. He let himself be killed. He was weak, and an army could not function with the rumour of a crucified weak and insignificant God. George was martyred for his faith in a crucified God, who spoke of love and he stood with his Lord as he said ‘If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you”.

George is the patron of England and patron of this church. What does that mean today? Can we stand with, not because he slayed a dragon, but because he stood up with Jesus and claimed his faith, in the face of brutal persecution. He was absolutely clear about his singular allegiance to Jesus as Lord. And so, he was martyred. He was a man who could be described as a lover of country, with loyalty to the emperor, serving as soldier and tribune. But when the emperor tried to purge the army of Christians through cruelty and execution, George stood up for his faith and his Lord. He put Jesus first above all other demands for his loyalty and allegiance. past holds shameful legacies, things done in the name of King and country. Imperialism and the slave trade are a blot on our history, and we can’t ignore them, as much as we might want to. It isn’t woke or political correctness, it’s about repentance. Changing our hearts and minds in the hope that we can create a new future, which is better than our past. Throughout our shared history, we have much to celebrate, but we also have much to mourn and repent of.

Our allegiance to king and country are being called in to sharp focus, as the coronation of our king gets ever nearer.  It’s obvious, both in the construction of the coronation celebrations and in the mood of the British people at large, that what it means to be British, has changed beyond recognition since Queen Elizabeth was crowned in 1953. Would there really have been several thousand republicans allowed to protest on the route of the royal coach, with shouts of “not our King”? Would anyone in 1953 have predicted that far more Muslims would attend a place of worship than Anglicans. And to be British now is certainly not only the preserve of white people.

When we celebrate our nation as it is now. We celebrate the Asian British. The Black British and the White British. Let us rejoice in who we are yes, but also confess our own sins of pride and hubris. And we must remember this, at the core of our heritage stands one who is not English, not white, and not documented—a refugee, and ultimately a convicted criminal—Jesus of Nazareth.

Our King will swear his allegiance to Jesus Christ, alongside allegiance to his people. The Kings agenda is set for him by God.

The King should, and I believe does, continue to stand up for the rights of the poor and the marginalised, the homeless and the refugee, The King is a King of a multicultural and multi coloured United Kingdom.

“Rome First” didn’t work for St George, my country first doesn’t work either, as St George demonstrated and witnessed with his life, there's another country, I've heard of long ago. Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know; for us it must be God’s Kingdom First! The Jesus Movement is a movement of love that does not divide but unites. It is selfless and self-giving. It is about hope not fear; love not hate. We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;

Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And so, let us strive for that common place which brings together all the nations and peoples of this world into one. And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.

Let us seek mutual understanding with hearts that love our distinctive character as British people, black, White, Brown people, those who have roots as deep as history and those who wish to put down the roots of a new life, safe from persecution and poverty. Jesus calls us to be neighbour, sister, brother, all in one family of God. For St. George, for us, and for all the saints, it is Jesus First. 

Pauls’ Letter to Timothy.
“The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him;”. Amen.

Fr Chris Eyden, Vice-Principal of Westcott House, Cambridge